Elmo puppeteer accused of underage relationship

NEW YORK (AP) — The puppeteer who performs as Elmo on "Sesame Street" is taking a leave of absence from the popular kids' show following allegations that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy.

Sesame Workshop says puppeteer Kevin Clash denies the charges, which were first made in June by the alleged partner, who by then was 23.

In a statement issued Monday, Sesame Workshop said its investigation found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated. But it said Clash exercised "poor judgment" and was disciplined for violating company policy regarding Internet usage. It offered no details.

At his request, Clash has been granted a leave of absence in order to "protect his reputation," Sesame Workshop says. No duration for the leave was specified. Clash has voiced and animated Elmo since the 1980s.

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Well: A Vegetarian Thanksgiving Table

Every year, Well goes vegetarian for Thanksgiving to celebrate the fall harvest and the delicious vegetable dishes that take up most of the space on holiday tables.

This year, we have another terrific lineup of vegan and vegetarian recipes from some of your favorite food writers and chefs. Cooking up a meat-free celebration will inspire you to be more creative in the kitchen all year round, preparing vegetarian and vegan main courses and side dishes that burst with the flavors of the seasonal harvest. Even if you still plan to serve a traditional bird (although plenty of people skip the turkey), Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving series will give you some new recipes and inspiration for meat-free cooking to be enjoyed by all the omnivores and herbivores at your table.

To kick off Well’s 2012 Vegetarian Thanksgiving, I asked my favorite vegan chef, Chloe Coscarelli, to offer some of her fall favorites. I first learned about Ms. Coscarelli when I saw her bake her way to victory with dairy-free and egg-free vegan cupcakes on the popular Food Network program “Cupcake Wars.” Since then, she has released a new cookbook, “Chloe’s Kitchen,’’ appeared on the “Today” show and other programs and now plans to release another book, “Chloe’s Vegan Desserts,” in February.

The key to successful vegan cooking, says Ms. Coscarelli, is not to try to replicate meat and cheese dishes with fake no-meat products. Instead, the goal is to develop dishes with rich, satisfying flavors and textures that will make you forget you’re eating vegan food.

“It’s more about finding other flavors,” she said. “That’s a huge principle of my cooking and my recipes. I’m not throwing a bunch of fake cheese and fake meat on top of something and calling it a pizza.’’

I wanted to start our Vegetarian Thanksgiving series with recipes from Ms. Coscarelli because I have had so much success making many of her dishes. Her chocolate pumpkin bread pudding, made with coconut milk and organic canned pumpkin, is now a personal holiday favorite. At my house, we fill our plates with her Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Hazelnuts and love her Harvest-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms.

One of my favorites, a homemade fall pizza prepared with squash, caramelized onions and a decadent garlic and white bean purée, is featured below. Ms. Coscarelli also offers a unique vegan take on mashed yams (no butter!) and a delicious cauliflower and black-eyed pea dish that may become a new holiday tradition.

“Chloe’s Kitchen”
Roasted Apple, Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Pizza

This fall vegetable pizza is a great vegetarian main course, or it can be cut into pieces as an appetizer. The creamy consistency of the white bean purée makes this dish seem like a decadent treat, and you won’t even notice that it doesn’t have cheese.

Garlic White Bean Purée:
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons water

Pizza toppings:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup spinach
1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced

Pizza dough (store-bought is fine, or make your own)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make the Garlic White Bean Purée by blending the beans, oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper in a food processor. Add water, as needed, until a smooth consistency forms. Set aside. Can be made two days in advance.

2. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat and sauté onions until soft and lightly caramelized, about 20 to 30 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper.

3. While the onions are cooking, toss remaining 2 tablespoons oil with squash and season generously with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large-rimmed baking sheet and roast for 30 to 35 minutes until squash is fork-tender, turning once or twice with a spatula. Remove from oven and set aside. Turn heat up to 450 degrees.

4. Prepare pizza. Brush a large-rimmed baking sheet (approximately 9 by 13 inches) with oil. Stretch homemade or store-bought pizza dough into a rectangle and fit it into the prepared baking sheet. Spread a layer of the Garlic White Bean Purée evenly over the rolled-out dough. (You may not want to use all of it.) On top of the dough, arrange the spinach, caramelized onions, roasted butternut squash and apple slices. Season with salt and pepper, and brush the edges of the crust with olive oil.

5. Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes, rotating midway, until the crust is slightly browned or golden. Let cool, slice and serve.

Yield: 4 servings

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“Chloe’s Kitchen”
Coconut Mashed Yams With Currants

Try these easy butter-free, dairy-free mashed yams, dressed up with creamy coconut and an infusion of warm autumn spices. Every so often you’ll catch a plump currant that will make that bite even better.

3 large garnet or other yams, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup canned coconut milk, mixed well before measuring
1/3 cup maple syrup or packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup currants, soaked in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes and drained

1. Place yam pieces in a large pot and cover with cold water. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook until fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and return to pot.

2. Add coconut milk, maple syrup, salt and spices, and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Adjust seasoning to taste. Add more coconut milk for a creamier texture and more maple syrup for a sweeter flavor. Mix in currants and serve.

Yield: 6 servings

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“Chloe’s Kitchen”
Southern Skillet Black-Eyed Peas and Cauliflower With Quick Biscuits

Add a new flavor to your Thanksgiving table with this sweet and saucy black-eyed pea dish. Leftovers can be eaten in a bun, sloppy-Joe style. The biscuits are easy — no rolling or folding required.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 cups cauliflower florets, roughly chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup packed brown sugar or maple syrup
2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar
Quick Biscuits, recipe below
Whipped Maple “Butter,”recipe below

1. In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat and sauté onions and green peppers until soft. Add cauliflower and cook, stirring frequently, until it is lightly browned, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, cayenne and salt, and cook a few more minutes.

2. Stir in black-eyed peas, tomato sauce, water, soy sauce, brown sugar and vinegar. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve in soup bowls with biscuits and whipped maple “butter” on the side.

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“Chloe’s Kitchen”
Quick Biscuits With Maple “Butter”

Quick Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegan margarine, plus extra for brushing
3/4 cup soy, almond or rice milk

Whipped Maple “Butter”
1 cup vegan margarine, at room temperature
1/4 cup maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. You can make the dough by hand or using a food processor.

2. By hand: Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add margarine and cut it roughly into flour using a pastry cutter, until mixture is the texture of coarse meal with a few larger margarine lumps. Work quickly so the margarine does not melt. Add nondairy milk and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Do not overwork.

3. Food processor: Combine flour, baking powder and salt in the food processor and pulse for about 5 seconds until ingredients are combined. Add margarine and pulse in the food processor until mixture is the texture of coarse meal with a few larger margarine lumps. Work quickly so the margarine does not melt. Add nondairy milk and pulse a few times until just combined. Do not overwork.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and pat into an oblong shape, about 1 inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch floured cookie or biscuit cutter, cut the biscuits out and place them on a baking sheet. Brush the tops lightly with melted margarine and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden. Remove biscuits from oven immediately and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. Make the maple “butter.” In a mixing bowl, using a whisk or electric mixer, whip margarine with maple syrup until light and fluffy. Refrigerate until serving.

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I.H.T. Special Report: Oil & Money: China Leads the Way as Demand for Coal Surges Worldwide

Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times

Coal piles behind a yurt in Gobi, Mongolia. Coal remains a critical component of the world’s energy supply, despite its bad image.

RICHMOND, Va. — Last summer, nearly half of India’s sweltering population suddenly found the electricity shut off. Air-conditioners whirred to a stop. Refrigerators ceased cooling. The culprits were outmoded power generation stations and a creaky electricity transmission grid.

But another problem stood out. India relies on coal for 55 percent of its electrical power and struggles to keep enough on hand.

Coal remains a critical component of the world’s energy supply, despite its bad image. In China, demand for coal in 2010 resulted in a traffic jam 120 kilometers, or 75 miles, long caused by more than 10,000 trucks carrying supplies from Inner Mongolia. India is increasing coal imports.

So is Europe, as it takes advantage of lower coal prices in the United States. Higher-priced natural gas on the Continent is creating demand for more coal imports from the United States, where coal is taking a drubbing from less costly natural gas.

Dirty, fickle and dangerous, coal may seem an odd contender in a world where promising renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydroelectric power are attracting attention. Anathema to environmentalists because it creates so much pollution, coal still has the undeniable advantages of being widely available and easy to ship and burn.

The biggest attraction, however, is low cost. By many estimates, including that of Li Junfeng, longtime director general of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, burning coal still costs about one-third as much as using renewable energy like wind or solar.

Coal is not subject to the vagaries of windless or sunless days and can easily meet base-load demands of electricity consumers without interruption. So can nuclear power, but the nuclear industry is still reeling from the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. Countries like Germany have turned away from nuclear reactors.

Global demand for coal is expected to grow from 7.9 billion tons this year to 8.9 billion tons by 2016, with the bulk of new demand — about 700 million tons — coming from China, according to a Peabody Energy study. China is expected to add 240 gigawatts, the equivalent of adding about 160 new coal-fired plants to the 620 operating now, within four years. During that period, India will add another 70 gigawatts, via more than 46 plants.

“If you poke your head outside of the U.S., coal-fired plants are being built left and right,” said William Burns, an energy analyst with Johnson Rice in New Orleans. “Coal is still the cheapest fuel source.”

Besides strong demand for thermal coal, which is burned in power plants, use of metallurgical coal or coking coal, used in blast furnaces, is also expected to more than double in China, to about 1.7 billion metric tons by 2016, as the country’s steel mills churn out more steel for automobiles, skyscrapers, and export goods, the Peabody study says.

Coking coal will be increasingly in demand in other steel centers like Brazil and India, pushing coal companies to scrounge for new reserves in places like Botswana, Mongolia and Mozambique.

In all, coal use is expected to increase 50 percent by 2035, said Milton Catelin, executive director of the London-based World Coal Association

“Last year, coal represented 30 percent of world energy and that’s the highest share it has had since 1969,” he said.

Within a year or two, coal will surpass oil as the planet’s primary fuel, Mr. Catelin predicted.

For now, coal seems to be sidestepping a major potential impediment to its use. International accords restricting greenhouse gas emissions to prevent climate change so far have been ineffective.

China plans to put carbon-emission reducing equipment on new plants. But China and other big coal producers still have a long way to go in matters like mine safety. On average, about 2,500 Chinese coal miners die in accidents every year.

On Aug. 29, for instance, a blast at the Xiaojiawan mine in Sichuan province killed more than 40 miners. Officials blamed lax safety and overcrowding in the shafts.

Industry officials insist that as large Chinese coal companies like the Shenhua Group buy out smaller mines, and new technologies develop that can detect dangerous methane gas and automatically shut down mines, safety will improve.

Nowhere are the controversies surrounding coal more pronounced than in the United States. Coal became an important issue in the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, with the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, accusing President Barack Obama of being anti-coal.

The American coal industry says Mr. Obama is waging a “war on coal” in response to his proposed regulation of air pollution and surface mining in mountain areas.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 12, 2012

An earlier version of this article included an incorrect middle initial for the author. The initial (which he does not use in his byline) is A, not G.

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Syrian Opposition Groups Sign Unity Deal

DOHA, Qatar — Syrian opposition factions signed a tentative agreement on Sunday to create a unified umbrella organization that could pave the way for long-elusive international diplomatic recognition, as well as more funding and improved military aid from foreign capitals.

Roughly 60 opposition negotiators reached agreement after three days of haggling at a luxury hotel here. They have been under intense pressure, both from the soaring daily death toll in Syria and from foreign supporters alarmed by the drawn-out factional squabbling that has crippled previous attempts to ease the fighting.

“Today in Doha is the first time the different factions of the Syrian opposition are united in one body,” said Riad Hijab, the former Syrian prime minister and the highest level defector from the Damascus government. “So we ask the international community to recognize the Syrian opposition as the representative of the Syrians.”

The umbrella organization was designed to subsume the Syrian National Council, a previous attempt at unification that has appeared increasingly marginalized as Syria has descended into civil war. That group’s authority was undercut when it failed to attract sufficient support from key minorities, religious and tribal figures, businessmen — and most importantly, rebel units conducting the fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The hope among Western countries is that the new coalition, somewhat clumsily called the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, can establish itself and give local opposition councils the legitimacy to bring fighters under their authority. That would give an important counter-voice to the well-armed jihadist commanders who in many places have set the pace of the fighting and created worries that Islamists will gain a permanent hold. One of the first steps for the new group, likely to be known as the Syrian National Coalition in shorthand, is to elect new leadership, which could begin as early as Sunday night. One possibility for president is Riad Seif, 66, a Syrian businessman and longtime dissident who organized the unification effort and has gained support for the new post despite health issues.

One key change was that revolutionary councils from 14 Syrian provinces now each has a representative, though not all live in Syria. The hope is that will bind the coalition to those inside.

In addition, perhaps the most important body the new group is expected to form is the Revolutionary Military Council to oversee the splintered fighting organizations and to funnel both lethal and nonlethal military aid to the rebels. It should unite units of the Free Syrian Army, various militias and brigades in each city and large groups of defectors.

Before the ink was even dry on the final draft, negotiators were hoping that it would bring them the antiaircraft missiles they crave to take on Syria’s lethal air force. Both the United States and Britain have only offered nonmilitary aid to the uprising.

A similar attempt by the Syrian National Council to supervise the military never jelled — organizers said funding was too haphazard. Eventually foreign governments like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who are both funding and arming the rebels, found their own favorites.

Foreign capitals wanted this unification largely so they could coordinate their own efforts and aid through a group of technocrats. Once it receives international recognition, the coalition is supposed to establish a temporary government.

There is a kind of international choreography, what diplomats referred to as “sequencing” which is supposed to ensure both that the coalition lives up to its promises and that the international community strengthens it with incentives like a new international financial aid fund.

But there is a kind of Catch-22 aspect to the relationship between the new coalition and its backers, which also damaged the previous Syrian National Council. The foreign backers want to see the new organization functioning almost like a government-in-exile before they extend it the money and weapons promised, but coalition members said they need at least some of that aid in order to function.

Hala Droubi contributed reporting from Doha, Qatar.

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Bond soars with record $87.8M 'Skyfall' debut

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Bond's "Skyfall" has extended its worldwide box-office rule to North America, hauling in a franchise-record $87.8 million in its first weekend at U.S. theaters.

Adding in $2.2 million from Thursday night previews at IMAX and other large-format theaters, "Skyfall" has taken in $90 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That lifts the worldwide total for "Skyfall" to $518.6 million since it began rolling out overseas in late October. Internationally, the 23rd Bond flick added $89 million this weekend to raise its overseas revenue to $428.6 million.

The third installment starring Daniel Craig as British super-spy Bond, "Skyfall" outdid the $67.5 million U.S. debut of 2008's "Quantum of Solace," the franchise's previous best opening. "Skyfall" more than doubled the $40.8 million debut of Craig's first Bond film, 2006's "Casino Royale."

"Skyfall" already has passed the $407.7 million overseas total for "Quantum of Solace" and by Monday, it will top the $432.2 million international haul for "Casino Royale."

The Craig era has reinvigorated one of Hollywood's most-enduring franchises, whose first big-screen Bond adventure, "Dr. No," debuted 50 years ago.

"It's quite a testament to Bond, considering it's the 50th anniversary. What a great anniversary present," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, which produces the Bond films along with MGM.

"Skyfall" was the weekend's only new wide release, but Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" had a huge start in a handful of theaters. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president, "Lincoln" took in $900,000 in 11 theaters for a whopping average of $81,818 a cinema. By comparison, "Skyfall" averaged $25,050 in 3,505 theaters.

"Lincoln" centers on the months leading up to the president's assassination in April 1865, as he maneuvers to pass the 13th amendment abolishing slavery and end the Civil War. Distributor Disney will expand "Lincoln" into nationwide release of about 1,600 theaters Friday and may widen the film further over Thanksgiving week.

The film has strong Academy Awards prospects for two-time directing winner Spielberg, two-time acting recipient Day-Lewis and the rest of the cast, which includes Oscar winners Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

"The performances are some of the greatest of recent time," said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney. "I don't know if you're ever going to think about it again without seeing our actor as Lincoln. Daniel is extraordinary in the role."

"Skyfall" took over the top spot at the weekend box office from Disney's animated comedy "Wreck-It Ralph," which fell to No. 2 with $33.1 million, raising its domestic total to $93.7 million.

While "Skyfall" marked a new high for Bond's opening-weekend revenue, the film has a long way to go to match the biggest audiences 007 has ever drawn. Adjusted for inflation, Sean Connery's 1965 Bond adventure "Thunderball" would have taken in an estimated $508 million domestically in today's dollars, with its 1964 predecessor "Goldfinger" not far behind at $444 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The Bond films over the last two decades have come in around the $200 million range domestically in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Still, Craig's Bond is setting a new critical standard for the franchise. While "Quantum of Solace" had a so-so critical reception, "Skyfall" and "Casino Royale" are among the best-reviewed Bond films, with critics and fans enjoying the darker edge Craig has imprinted on 007.

"'Skyfall' is to the Bond franchise what 'The Dark Knight' was to the Batman franchise," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "By taking it to a whole other level, this is a different kind of Bond that can be taken really seriously."

Directed by Sam Mendes, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind "American Beauty" and Craig's director on "Road to Perdition," ''Skyfall" continues the current franchise's exploration into the emotional traumas that have shaped Bond's cool, aloof manner.

The film reveals secrets out of the past of Bond's boss, British spymaster M (Judi Dench), and pits 007 against a brilliant but unstable former agent (Javier Bardem) who's out for revenge.

Hollywood remains on a brisk pace this fall as the busy holiday season approaches. Overall domestic revenues totaled $172 million, up 26 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Immortals" led with $32.2 million.

For the year, domestic revenues are at $9.1 billion, up 4.3 percent from 2011's, according to Hollywood.com.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Skyfall," $87.8 million.

2. "Wreck-It Ralph," $33.1 million.

3. "Flight," $15.1 million.

4. "Argo," $6.7 million.

5. "Taken 2," $4 million.

6. "Here Comes the Boom," $2.6 million

7. "Cloud Atlas," $2.53 million.

8. "Pitch Perfect," $2.5 million.

9. "The Man with the Iron Fists," $2.49 million.

10. "Hotel Transylvania," $2.4 million.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Mind Faded, Darrell Royal’s Wisdom and Humor Intact Till End

Three days before his death last week at 88, Darrell Royal told his wife, Edith: “We need to go back to Hollis” — in Oklahoma. “Uncle Otis died.”

“Oh, Darrell,” she said, “Uncle Otis didn’t die.”

Royal, a former University of Texas football coach, chuckled and said, “Well, Uncle Otis will be glad to hear that.”

The Royal humor never faded, even as he sank deeper into Alzheimer’s disease. The last three years, I came to understand this as well as anyone. We had known each other for more than 40 years. In the 1970s, Royal was a virile, driven, demanding man with a chip on his shoulder bigger than Bevo, the Longhorns mascot. He rarely raised his voice to players. “But we were scared to death of him,” the former quarterback Bill Bradley said.

Royal won 3 national championships and 167 games before retiring at 52. He was a giant in college football, having stood shoulder to shoulder with the Alabama coach Bear Bryant. Royal’s Longhorns defeated one of Bryant’s greatest teams, with Joe Namath at quarterback, in the 1965 Orange Bowl. Royal went 3-0-1 in games against Bryant.

Royal and I were reunited in the spring of 2010. I barely recognized him. The swagger was gone. His mind had faded. Often he stared aimlessly across the room. I scheduled an interview with him for my book “Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story.” Still, I worried that his withering mind could no longer conjure up images of Steinmark, the undersize safety who started 21 straight winning games for the Longhorns in the late 1960s. Steinmark later developed bone cancer that robbed him of his left leg.

When I met with Royal and his wife, I quickly learned that his long-term memory was as clear as a church bell. For two hours, Royal took me back to Steinmark’s recruiting trip to Austin in 1967, through the Big Shootout against Arkansas in 1969, to the moment President Richard M. Nixon handed him the national championship trophy in the cramped locker room in Fayetteville. He recalled the day at M. D. Anderson Hospital in Houston the next week when doctors informed Steinmark that his leg would be amputated if a biopsy revealed cancer. Royal never forgot the determined expression on Steinmark’s face, nor the bravery in his heart.

The next morning, Royal paced the crowded waiting room floor and said: “This just can’t be happening to a good kid like Freddie Steinmark. This just can’t be happening.”

With the love of his coach, Steinmark rose to meet the misfortune. Nineteen days after the amputation, he stood with crutches on the sideline at the Cotton Bowl for the Notre Dame game. After the Longhorns defeated the Fighting Irish, Royal tearfully presented the game ball to Steinmark.

Four decades later, while researching the Steinmark book, I became close to Royal again. As I was leaving his condominium the day of the interview, I said, “Coach, do you still remember me?” He smiled and said, “Now, Jim Dent, how could I ever forget you?” My sense of self-importance lasted about three seconds. Royal chuckled. He pointed across the room to the message board next to the front door that read, “Jim Dent appt. at 10 a.m.”

Edith and his assistant, Colleen Kieke, read parts of my book to him. One day, Royal told me, “It’s really a great book.” But I can’t be certain how much he knew of the story.

Like others, I was troubled to see Royal’s memory loss. He didn’t speak for long stretches. He smiled and posed for photographs. He seemed the happiest around his former players. He would call his longtime friend Tom Campbell, an all-Southwest Conference defensive back from the 1960s, and say, “What are you up to?” That always meant, “Let’s go drink a beer.”

As her husband’s memory wore thin, Edith did not hide him. Instead, she organized his 85th birthday party and invited all of his former players. Quarterback James Street, who engineered the famous 15-14 comeback against Arkansas in 1969, sat by Royal’s side and helped him remember faces and names. The players hugged their coach, then turned away to hide the tears.

In the spring of 2010, I was invited to the annual Mexican lunch for Royal attended by about 75 of his former players. A handful of them were designated to stand up and tell Royal what he meant to them. Royal smiled through each speech as his eyes twinkled. I was mesmerized by a story the former defensive tackle Jerrel Bolton told. He recalled that Royal had supported him after the murder of his wife some 30 year earlier.

“Coach, you told me it was like a big cut on my arm, that the scab would heal, but that the wound would always come back,” Bolton said. “It always did.”

Royal seemed to drink it all in. But everyone knew his mind would soon dim.

The last time I saw him was June 20 at the County Line, a barbecue restaurant next to Bull Creek in Austin. Because Royal hated wheelchairs and walkers, the former Longhorn Mike Campbell, Tom’s twin, and I helped him down the stairs by wrapping our arms around his waist and gripping the back of his belt. I ordered his lunch, fed him his sandwich and cleaned his face with a napkin. He looked at me and said, “Was I a college player in the 1960s?”

“No, Coach,” I said. “But you were a great player for the Oklahoma Sooners in the late 1940s. You quarterbacked Oklahoma to an 11-0 record and the Sooners’ first national championship in 1949.”

He smiled and said, “Well, I’ll be doggone.”

After lunch, Mike Campbell and I carried him up the stairs. We sat him on a bench outside as Tom Campbell fetched the car. In that moment, the lunch crowd began to spill out of the restaurant. About 20 customers recognized Royal. They took his photograph with camera phones. Royal smiled and welcomed the hugs.

“He didn’t remember a thing about it,” Tom Campbell said later. “But it did his heart a whole lot of good.”

Jim Dent is the author of “The Junction Boys” and eight other books.

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F.B.I. Said to Have Stumbled Into News of David Petraeus Affair

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. investigation that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to an unidentified third person, a government official briefed on the case said on Saturday.

When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell’s e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair, said the official, who spoke of the investigation on the condition of anonymity.

The person who complained about harassing messages from Ms. Broadwell, according to the official, was not a family member or a government official. One Congressional official who was briefed on the matter on Friday said senior intelligence officials had explained that the F.B.I. investigation “started with two women.”

“It didn’t start with Petraeus, but in the course of the investigation they stumbled across him,” said the Congressional official, who said the intelligence officials had provided no other information about the two women or the focus of the inquiry. “We were stunned.”

Mr. Petraeus said in a statement that he was resigning after 14 months as head of the Central Intelligence Agency because he had shown “extremely poor judgment” in engaging in the affair after 37 years of marriage.

The government official dismissed a range of media speculation that the F.B.I. inquiry might have focused on leaks of classified information to the press or even foreign spying. “People think that because it’s the C.I.A. director, it must involve bigger issues,” the official said. “Think of a small circle of people who know each other.”

The F.B.I. investigators were not pursuing evidence of Mr. Petraeus’s marital infidelity, which would not be a criminal matter, the official said. But their examination of his e-mails, most or all of them sent from a personal account and not from his C.I.A. account, raised the possibility of security breaches that needed to be addressed directly with him.

“Alarms went off on larger security issues,” the official said. As a result, F.B.I. agents spoke with the C.I.A. director about two weeks ago, and he learned in the discussion, if he was not already aware, that they knew of his affair with Ms. Broadwell, the official said.

Web-based e-mail like Gmail and Yahoo Mail can be quite vulnerable to hacking, and it is possible that F.B.I. experts were studying whether Mr. Petraeus’s accounts had been compromised. Any possibility that hackers could use the C.I.A. director’s e-mail as a route to break into sensitive government computer systems would be an obvious concern.

But the fears of bigger security problems proved unjustified, and the security questions were resolved, the official said.

Neither the Congressional intelligence committees nor the White House learned of the investigation or the link to Mr. Petraeus until this week, officials said. Some Congressional staff members said they believed that the bureau should have informed at least the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees about the unfolding inquiry, and the committees are likely to demand an explanation of why they were not told.

White House officials said they were informed on Wednesday night that Mr. Petraeus was considering resigning because of an extramarital affair. On Thursday morning, just before a staff meeting at the White House, Mr. Obama was told. That afternoon, Mr. Petraeus went to see him and informed him that he strongly believed he had to resign. Mr. Obama did not accept his resignation right away, but on Friday, he called Mr. Petraeus and accepted the resignation. 

“Dave’s decision to step down represents the loss of one of our nation’s most respected public servants,” James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, said in a statement on Friday.

A senior intelligence official said on Saturday that Mr. Clapper had learned of Mr. Petraeus’s situation only when the F.B.I. notified him about 5 p.m. on Tuesday. That night and the and next day, the official said, the two men discussed the situation, and Mr. Clapper told Mr. Petraeus “that he thought the right thing to do would be to resign,” the intelligence official said. 

Mr. Clapper notified the president’s senior national security staff late Wednesday that Mr. Petraeus was considering resigning because of an extramarital affair, the official said.

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Philip Roth Is Retiring; Amazon Glitch Disables Buy Buttons

Today in books and publishing: Philip Roth confirms his retirement; Amazon‘s mysteriously vanishing buy buttons; Kobo expands to Italy, Kindle considers China; cities in literature.

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Philip Roth wraps it up. One of America’s most celebrated living novelists has been hinting at retirement for a while now. But he didn’t choose to make a big announcement in a prominent stateside literary organ like The New York Review of Books. He chose instead to let it out in interviews with the foreign press over recent weeks. Last month he told Nelly Kaprièlian of French magazine Les Inrockuptibles that he hasn’t written new material in three years, and doesn’t plan to write any new novels. “To tell you the truth, I’m done,” he said frankly, “Nemesis will be my last book … Enough is enough! I no longer feel this fanaticism to write that I have experienced in my life.” He said the same thing in an interview with Italian magazine La Repubblica earlier this month. His publisher Houghton Mifflin confirmed that Roth is entering retirement. It looks the 74-year-old writer will have plenty of time to go over his life story and thoughts on literature with his new biographer, Blake Bailey. [Salon]

RELATED: How to Game Amazon Prime; Random House Consolidates in the Spanish Market

Where did Amazon‘s buy buttons go? Late last night, customers looking to replenish their Kindles with fresh e-books were probably quite frustrated. No matter how hard anyone clicked, there was no way to purchase e-books from Penguin, Random House, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and HarperCollins through Amazon. A company spokesperson later confirmed that it was just a technical slip-up, and buy buttons were quickly restored. But given Amazon’s propensity to punish publishers that don’t bend to its will with disabled buy buttons, this brief black-out set off a minor panic in publishing land. Why were only Big Six publishers affected? Did it have anything to do with the ongoing agency pricing legal battles or the Penguin Random House merger? Though it seems to have been nothing more serious than a technical goof, it’s a stark reminder that Amazon has the ability—as well as the leverage—to shut down publishers’ most important connection with consumers at the click of a mouse. [New York Observer]

RELATED: Chart: The Rapid Gains of the E-book

E-reading takes a global turn. E-books may be taking firm holds in the U.S., but they have a long way to go before they became the global format of choice for readers. Italy may be going in an increasingly digital direction soon, with the country’s largest bookseller Mondadori Group partnering with Kobo to stock Touch e-readers in its hundreds of stores. 34,000 e-books will be available for Italian readers. China is another largely untapped market, one that Amazon is eyeing enviously. ZDNet’s Liau Yun Qing reports that Kindles may become available there as early as this month. “If Amazon brings its e-reader to China, it will face competition from Chinese e-commerce player Dangdang which launched its e-reader in July at a retail price of 599 yuan (US$ 79),” she writes. “In comparison, the cheapest Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, which includes “Special Offers”, retails at US$ 119 in the United States.” [ZDNet]

RELATED: New Batman Comic Postponed; Books Banned in China Thrive in Hong Kong

Cities in literature. Mark Binelli’s new book Detroit City Is the Place to Be is all about the Motor City—its ascent during America’s industrial golden age, and its struggle to redefine itself. Given his obsession with the urban, Publishers Weekly decided to tap Binelli for a list of his favorite books that take specific cities as a central theme. It’s more interesting than most lists on this subject might have been. For instance, he shines a light on Joan Didion not for her classic takes on San Francisco or New York, but for her book Miami. And his favorite books to take on New York—Ben Katchor’s The Jew of New York and Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel—are refreshing inclusions. His favorite book about Detroit, Elmore Leonard’s City Primeval, is also a bit surprising. [Publishers Weekly]

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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AP source: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez break up

NEW YORK (AP) — A source confirms to The Associated Press that Justin Bieber is no longer Selena Gomez's "Boyfriend."

The source is not authorized to discuss the split with the press and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The breakup apparently happened last week. Distance and their busy schedules were cited as factors.

Eighteen-year-old Bieber is touring to promote his latest album, "Believe," which contains the hit "Boyfriend." Twenty-year-old Gomez is filming a "Wizards of Waverly Place" reunion for the Disney Channel.

The pair made their relationship public in February 2011.

E! News was the first to report the split.

Bieber seems to be doing OK, at least publicly. On the red carpet of Wednesday's Victoria's Secret fashion show he said, "I'd rather be here than anywhere in the world."

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Online:

http://www.justinbiebermusic.com/

http://www.selenagomez.com/

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The New Old Age Blog: The Emotional Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

Let’s talk about the emotional aftermath of the storm that left tens of thousands of older people on the East Coast without power, bunkered down in their homes, chilled to the bone and out of touch with the outside world.

Let’s name the feelings they may have experienced. Fear. Despair. Hopelessness. Anxiety. Panic.

Linda Leest and her staff at Services Now for Adult Persons in Queens heard this in the voices of the older people they had been calling every day, people who were homebound and at risk because of medical conditions that compromise their physical functioning.

“They’re afraid of being alone,” she said in a telephone interview a few days after the storm. “They’re worried that if anything happens to them, no one is going to know. They feel that they’ve lost their connection with the world.”

What do we know about how older adults fare, emotionally, in a disaster like that devastating storm, which destroyed homes and businesses and isolated older adults in darkened apartment buildings, walk-ups and houses?

Most do well — emotional resilience is an underappreciated characteristic of older age — but those who are dependent on others, with pre-existing physical and mental disabilities, are especially vulnerable.

Most will recover from the disorienting sense that their world has been turned upside down within a few weeks or months. But some will be thrown into a tailspin and will require professional help. The sooner that help is received, the more likely it is to prevent a significant deterioration in their health.

The best overview comes from a November 2008 position paper from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry that reviewed the effects of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. After Katrina, “the elderly had the highest mortality rates, health decline and suicide rates of any subgroup,” that document notes. “High rates of psychosomatic problems were seen, with worsening health problems and increased mortality and disability.”

This is an important point: Emotional trauma in older adults often is hard to detect, and looks different from what occurs in younger people. Instead of acknowledging anxiety or depression, for instance, older people may complain of having a headache, a bad stomachache or some other physical ailment.

“This age group doesn’t generally feel comfortable talking about their feelings; likely, they’ll mask those emotions or minimize what they’re experiencing,” said Dr. Mark Nathanson, a geriatric psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center.

Signs that caregivers should watch out for include greater-than-usual confusion in an older relative, a decline in overall functioning and a disregard for “self care such as bathing, eating, dressing properly and taking medication,” Dr. Nathanson said.

As an example, he mentioned an older man who had “been sitting in a cold house for days and decided to stop taking his water pill because he felt it was just too much trouble.” Being distraught or distracted and forgetting or neglecting to take pills for chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease can have immediate harmful effects.

Especially at risk of emotional disturbances are older adults who are frail and advanced in age, those who have cognitive impairments like Alzheimer’s disease, those with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia or major depression, and those with chronic medical conditions or otherwise in poor physical health, according to the geriatric psychiatry association’s position paper.

A common thread in all of the above is the depletion of physical and emotional reserves, which impairs an older person’s ability to adapt to adverse circumstances.

“In geriatrics, we have this idea of the ‘geriatric cascade’ that refers to how a seemingly minor thing can set in motion a functional, cognitive and psychological downward spiral” in vulnerable older adults, said Dr. Mark Lachs, chief of the division of geriatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College. “Well, the storm was a major thing — a very large disequilibrating event — and its impact is an enormous concern.”

Of special concern are older people who may be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia who are living alone. For this group, the maintenance of ordinary routines and the sense of a dependable structure in their lives is particularly important, and “a situation like Sandy, which causes so much disruption, can be a tipping point,” Dr. Lachs said.

Also of concern are older people who may have experienced trauma in the past, and who may suffer a reignition of post-traumatic stress symptoms because of the disaster.

Most painful of all, for many older adults, is the sense of profound isolation that can descend on those without working phones, electricity or relatives who can come by to help.

“That isolation, I can’t tell you how disorienting that can be,” said Bobbie Sackman, director of public policy for the Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York City. “They’re scared, but they won’t tell you because they’re too proud and ashamed to ask for help.”

The best remedy, in the short run, is the human touch.

“Now is the time for people to reach out to their neighbors in high-rises or in areas where seniors are clustered, to knock on doors and ask people how they are doing,” said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

Don’t make it a one-time thing; let the older person know you’ll call or come by again, and set up a specific time so “there’s something for them to look forward to,” Dr. Kennedy said. So-called naturally occurring retirement communities with large concentrations of older people should be organizing from within to contact residents who may not be connected with social services and find out how they’re doing, he recommended.

In conversations with older adults, offer reassurance and ask open-ended questions like “Are you low on pills?” or “Can I run out and get you something?” rather than trying to get them to open up, experts recommended. Focusing on problem-solving can make people feel that their lives are being put back in order and provide comfort.

Although short-term psychotherapy has positive outcomes for older adults who’ve undergone a disaster, it’s often hard to convince a senior to seek out mental health services because of the perceived stigma associated with psychological conditions. Don’t let that deter you: Keep trying to connect them with services that can be of help.

Be mindful of worrisome signs like unusual listlessness, apathy, unresponsiveness, agitation or confusion. These may signal that an older adult has developed delirium, which can be extremely dangerous if not addressed quickly, Dr. Nathanson said. If you suspect that’s the case, call 911 or make sure you take the person to the nearest hospital emergency room.

This is a safe place to talk about all kinds of issues affecting older adults. Would you be willing to share what kinds of mental health issues you or family members are dealing with since the storm so readers can learn from one another?

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