– The hiring committee at Pittsburg High School took Amy Robertson's list of credentials—including supposed master’s and doctorate degrees—at face value. But not the school's students, whose investigation has since led to their new principal's resignation. After Robertson was hired for the job at the Kansas school last month, with an annual salary of $93,000, six student journalists writing for the school's Booster Redux newspaper began to dig into her past—only to find things "just didn’t quite add up," one student tells the Washington Post. For example, Corllins University, where Robertson claimed to have been educated, was accused of selling degrees, had no known physical address, and wasn't accredited by the Department of Education. Robertson told the students she attended Corllins before it lost accreditation, but she also "presented incomplete answers, conflicting dates, and inconsistencies in her responses," the Redux reported. Robertson, who has lived in Dubai for the last two decades, told the Kansas City Star last week that she wouldn't comment on her credentials because the students' "concerns are not based on facts." It was "red flags" about her time in Dubai that turned up during an electronic search of her name that prompted the students' full investigation; initially, one of the student journalists was planning to write a standard article introducing the students to their new principal. Ultimately, Robertson resigned Tuesday after she was unable to verify an undergraduate degree she said she received from the University of Tulsa, a Redux adviser tells the Post. The students are getting plenty of praise for their investigative work from professional journalists. The school superintendent, meanwhile, says it was up to the school board to review Robertson's credentials before approving the hire, which it did.

Expand this summary.

Days after student reporters at Pittsburg High School in Kansas dug into the background of their newly hired principal and found questionable credentials, she resigned from the $93,000-a-year job.

 “She was going to be the head of our school, and we wanted be assured that she was qualified and had the proper credentials,” said Trina Paul, a senior and an editor of the Booster Redux, the school newspaper. “We stumbled on some things that most might not consider legitimate credentials.”

 Minutes into a closed special meeting Tuesday night of the Pittsburg Community Schools Board of Education, board president Al Mendez emerged to announce to a packed boardroom that Amy Robertson, the new principal, had resigned.

 “In light of the issues that arose, Amy Robertson felt it was in the best interest of the district to resign her position,” Superintendent Destry Brown said in a statement after the executive session.

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 The board agreed with that decision and said will reopen the principal position Wednesday morning and contact others who had applied for the job to see if they are still interested.

 “Our goal is to find the best person to be our principal that we can find,” Brown said. “I know the students want that too.”

 Pittsburg journalism adviser Emily Smith said she is “very proud” of her students. “They were not out to get anyone to resign or to get anyone fired. They worked very hard to uncover the truth.”

 Students journalists published a story Friday questioning the legitimacy of the private college — Corllins University — where Robertson got her master’s and doctorate degrees years ago. U.S. Department of Education officials, contacted by The Star, confirmed student reports; the federal agency could not find evidence of Corllins in operation. The school wasn’t included among the agency’s list of schools closed since 1986. Robertson earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa.

 Students found and The Star confirmed the existence of several articles referring to Corllins as a diploma mill — where people can buy a degree, diploma or certificates. And searches on the school’s website go nowhere. No one from the university responded to emails sent by The Star this week.

 Contacted by email Friday, Robertson, who has lived off and on for 19 years in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, said, “The current status of Corllins University is not relevant because when I received my MA in 1994 and my PhD in 2010, there was no issue.”

 She also said, “All three of my degrees have been authenticated by the US government.” Robertson declined to comment directly on students’ questions about her credentials, saying, “I have no comment in response to the questions posed by PHS students regarding my credentials because their concerns are not based on facts.”

 The Pittsburg Board of Education approved hiring Robertson at its meeting March 6.

 In a news release about the hiring, district spokesman Zach Fletcher said that “Robertson comes to Pittsburg with decades of experience in education.”

 Robertson is CEO of Atticus I S Consultants, “an education consulting firm where she gained leadership and management experience at the international equivalence of a building administrator and superintendent,” the release said.

 Robertson, after application reviews and interviews with administrators, faculty and students, “emerged as the best fit” for the job, said Brown. He said the district relies on the Kansas Department of Education to approve a candidate’s credentials.

 “I felt like she is very knowledgeable about what is going on in education today in college and career readiness, she is very familiar with Common Core, she knows about how a building works and about maintaining a safe environment,” he said.

 He was surprised students questioned Robertson’s credentials.

 “The kids had never gone through someone like this before,” Brown said. But he said he encouraged them to seek answers. “I want our kids to have real-life experiences, whether it’s welding or journalism.”

 Despite questions, Brown said Friday that the district’s school board had “100 percent supported the Robertson hire.”

 Tuesday night he said he felt bad about how it all turned out. “ I do feel it is my responsibility. As superintendent I feel like I let the teachers and the students down. I publicly admit that.”

 Robertson, who he said also has a teaching degree from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, isn’t licensed in Kansas. She would have had to take classes at Pittsburg State University, pass a test and acquire her license before she could officially hold the principal post. That isn’t uncommon for someone hired from outside the state, Brown said.

 Maddie Baden, a 17-year-old Pittsburg High junior, said the student news staff began looking into Robertson’s background after an electronic search of her name turned up several articles published by Gulf News about an English language school connected to Robertson in Dubai.

 The 2012 articles said Dubai’s education authority had suspended the license for Dubai American Scientific School and accused Robertson of not being authorized to serve as principal of that school. The private, for-profit school received an “unsatisfactory” rating on Dubai education authority inspection reports every year from 2008 to 2012 and was closed in September 2013.

 “That raised a red flag,” Baden said. “If students could uncover all of this, I want to know why the adults couldn’t find this..”

 She had originally interviewed Robertson for a routine school newspaper story “to introduce the new principal to the community,” Baden said. “No one knew who she was.”

 Pittsburg is about 90 minutes south of Kansas City on U.S. 69. The high school has 900 students.

 Six students worked about three weeks looking into Robertson’s past work and education.

 When they went to Corllins University’s website, “We found a website that didn’t work,” Baden said. And a student checking with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation found that Corllins was not listed in its database of 7,600 schools accredited by a recognized accrediting agency in the United States.

 But officials there told The Star the school could have been accredited in the past. ||||| High school journalists in Kansas investigated their principal and found discrepancies in her credentials, prompting her to resign. Professional journalists like The Post's David Fahrenthold congratulated the kids for asking tough questions. (Monica Akhtar,Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

 Connor Balthazor, 17, was in the middle of study hall when he was called into a meeting with his high school newspaper adviser.

 A group of reporters and editors from the student newspaper, the Booster Redux at Pittsburg High School in southeastern Kansas, had gathered to talk about Amy Robertson, who was hired as the high school’s head principal on March 6.

 The student journalists had begun researching Robertson, and quickly found some discrepancies in her education credentials. For one, when they researched Corllins University, the private university where Robertson said she got her master’s and doctorate degrees years ago, the website didn’t work. They found no evidence that it was an accredited university.

 “There were some things that just didn’t quite add up,” Balthazor told The Washington Post.

 The students began digging into a weeks-long investigation that would result in an article published Friday questioning the legitimacy of the principal’s degrees and of her work as an education consultant.

 On Tuesday night, Robertson resigned.

 “In light of the issues that arose, Dr. Robertson felt it was in the best interest of the district to resign her position,” Pittsburg Community Schools announced in a statement. “The Board has agreed to accept her resignation.”

 The resignation thrust the student newspaper staff into local, state and national news, with professional journalists nationwide applauding the students for asking tough questions and prompting change in their administration.

 “Everybody kept telling them, ‘stop poking your nose where it doesn’t belong,'” newspaper adviser Emily Smith told The Post. But with the encouragement of the superintendent, the students persisted.

 “They were at a loss that something that was so easy for them to see was waiting to be noticed by adults,” Smith said.

 In the Booster Redux article, a team of six students — five juniors and one senior — revealed that Corllins had been portrayed in a number of articles as a diploma mill, a place where people can buy a degree, diploma or certificates. Corllins is not accredited by the U.S. Department of Education, the students reported. The Better Business Bureau’s website says Corllins’s physical address is unknown and the school isn’t a BBB-accredited institution.

 “All of this was completely overlooked,” Balthazor said. “All of the shining reviews did not have these crucial pieces of information … you would expect your authority figures to find this.”

 Robertson had been living in Dubai for more than 20 years before she was hired for the position. She said she most recently worked as the chief executive of an education consulting firm known as Atticus I S Consultants there.

 In a conference call with the student journalists, Robertson “presented incomplete answers, conflicting dates and inconsistencies in her responses,” the students reported. She said she attended Corllins before it lost accreditation, the Booster Redux reported.

 When contacted by the Kansas City Star after the publication of the students’ article, Robertson said all three of her degrees “have been authenticated by the U.S. government.” She declined to comment directly on students’ questions about her credentials, “because their concerns are not based on facts,” she said.

 In an emergency faculty meeting Tuesday, the superintendent said Robertson was unable to produce a transcript confirming her undergraduate degree from the University of Tulsa, Smith said.

 During the course of their reporting, the students spent weeks reaching out to educational institutions and accreditation agencies to corroborate Robertson’s background, some even working through spring break. Their adviser, Smith, had to recuse herself from the story because she was on the committee that hired Robertson. So the students sought the help of Eric Thomas, executive director of the Kansas Scholastic Press Association, and other local and national journalists and experts.

 Under Kansas law, high school journalists are protected from administrative censorship. “The kids are treated as professionals,” Smith said. But with that freedom came a major responsibility to get the story right, Smith said. It also meant overcoming a natural hesitancy many students have to question authority.

 “At the very beginning it was a little bit exciting,” Balthazor said. “It was like in the movies, a big city journalist chasing down a lead.”

 But as the students began delving deeper into the story, keeping notes on a whiteboard, “it really started hitting me that this is a much bigger deal,” Balthazor said.

 The students were among those packed into a school boardroom Tuesday night when the school board president announced Robertson’s resignation. After the announcement, a parent in the audience stood up and asked school officials if they would be recognizing the student journalists for uncovering crucial details about Robertson’s background. The superintendent said he would be meeting with the students Wednesday to personally thank them.

 “We’d broken out of our comfort zones so much,” Balthazor said. “To know that the administration saw that and respected that, it was a really great moment for us.”

 After local news broke that Robertson had resigned, numerous national journalists — including The Post’s David Fahrenthold — tweeted the students’ story, congratulating them for their work.

 “Holy crap,” Balthazor thought, “why are these people paying attention to this little journalism story from southeast Kansas?”

 While the high school junior was leaving track practice Tuesday night, he learned in a group message with his newspaper staff that Todd Wallack, a reporter for the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, had tweeted the students’ story, saying: “Great investigative work by high school journalists.” Balthazor sat in his car in the parking lot and immediately called his mom to tell her the news.

 “I honestly thought they were joking at first,” Balthazor said. The Booster Redux staff had watched the movie “Spotlight” in class last year, Balthazor said. “It was awesome to know that such respected members of the journalism community had our backs.”

 After graduation, Balthazor said, he hopes to pursue a degree in creative writing or filmmaking. Even though he doesn’t necessarily plan to stick with journalism, Balthazor said the past few weeks had been “surreal.”

 “Most high schoolers would never get even close to an opportunity to get to experience something like this,” he said.

 Read more from Morning Mix:

 A teen asked his grandmother to her first prom. Too old, said the school.

 Paper says columnist tried to remove his articles criticizing Trump to get a State Department job. It backfired.

 America is ‘over-stored’ and Payless ShoeSource is the latest victim ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||


Article:
A good night’s sleep can be transformative. Among its benefits are improved energy and mood, better immune system functioning and blood sugar regulation, and greater alertness and ability to concentrate. Given all of these benefits, the fact that a third of the human lifespan is spent sleeping makes evolutionary sense. However, sleep appears to have another important function: helping us learn. Across a plethora of memory tasks—involving word lists, maze locations, auditory tones, and more—going to sleep after training yields better performance than remaining awake. This has prompted many sleep researchers to reach a provocative conclusion: beyond merely supporting learning, sleep is vital, and perhaps even directly responsible, for learning itself.

 Recent discoveries from neuroscience provide insights into that possibility. Sleep appears to be important for long-term potentiation, a strengthening of signals between neurons that is widely regarded as a mechanism of learning and memory. Certain memories acquired during the day appear to be reactivated and “replayed” in the brain during sleep, which may help make them longer lasting. In some instances the amount of improvement that occurs on memory tasks positively correlates with the length of time spent in certain stages of sleep. These and other findings are generating great excitement among sleep researchers, as well as prompting heated debates about the degree to which sleep may or may not be involved in learning.

 To date, most sleep and learning research has focused on recall, which is the capacity to remember information. However, new research by Stéphanie Mazza and colleagues at the University of Lyon, recently published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests another potential benefit of sleep: improved relearning. Relearning refers to the process of re-acquiring forgotten information. Because we cannot possibly remember all of the information that we encounter, it is often necessary to go back and learn that information again. That’s when relearning occurs—such as when preparing for an exam, taking a refresher course, or simply revisiting a topic after an extended period of time. According to this new research, sleep supercharges relearning: it can enable us to relearn twice as quickly and up to three times more effectively.

 In the study, 40 French-speaking adult participants learned a list of 16 Swahili-French word pairs (for example, nyanya-tomate), relearned those word pairs after a period of 12 hours that did or did not include sleep, and were tested on their memory for the word pairs after one week and after six months. Each participant completed the study as part of a randomly-assigned “wake” or “sleep” group. In the wake group, the initial learning session occurred at 9 AM and the relearning session occurred at 9 PM on the same day; in the sleep group, the initial learning session occurred at 9 PM and the relearning session occurred at 9 AM on the next day, after a night of sleep. During the learning session, participants first studied all of the word pairs. Next, the Swahili word from each pair was shown by itself while participants attempted to recall its French equivalent. After each attempt, the correct answer was displayed, allowing participants to study further. The learning session concluded after each pair was successfully recalled once. At the relearning session, participants again attempted to recall the French word of each pair, and then continued cycling through the entire list until they could recall all pairs perfectly. Thus, by the time the relearning session was complete, any word pair that had been forgotten in the intervening 12 hours had been practiced until it could be correctly recalled once more.

 During the initial learning session there were no observed performance differences between the sleep and wake groups, which suggests that a similar degree of learning occurred in both groups. However, substantial differences emerged at the relearning session: participants in the sleep group recalled an average of 10 word pairs on their first attempt, whereas those in the wake group could only muster up about 7; in addition, those that had slept took only about three cycles through the list to finish relearning, whereas those that had not slept needed twice that amount. Even the lowest-performing members of the sleep group—those that had forgotten more word pairs than other members and had the most to relearn—still took fewer cycles to relearn than the best performing (and least forgetful) members of the wake group.

 Along with that impressive result, a benefit of having slept between the learning and relearning sessions was also evident over the long term. After one week, participants in the sleep group correctly recalled more word pairs than those in the wake group (an average of 15 vs. 11), and after six months, their recall performance, while attenuated due to some forgetting, was three times better than that of the wake group (an average of 9 vs. 3). Thus, despite the fact that both groups had practiced to a level of perfect recall during the relearning session, only those that had slept prior to relearning accrued any long-term memory benefits.

 The fact that participants in the sleep group engaged in relearning was also critical for their improved long-term performance. In a follow-up to the main experiment, a control group of 20 additional participants followed nearly all of the same procedures as the sleep group, including training at the same times of day and sleeping after initial learning. However, in place of the relearning session, these participants only briefly practiced the list of word pairs one time. Without relearning, their subsequent recall performance was no better than the wake group. Thus, it was the combination of sleeping after initial learning, plus engaging in relearning itself, that generated long-term memory benefits.

 Mazza and her colleagues interpreted their results as evidence that sleep “transforms” memories, making the effects of initial learning stronger and empowering subsequent relearning. By this interpretation, sleep not only prevents memories from being forgotten, it also makes it easier to restore memories during relearning. In support of this conclusion, the authors noted that total sleep time was positively correlated with recall and relearning performance (the longer participants slept, the better they tended to do on both). This pattern, similar to that observed in prior research, is consistent with two possibilities: either a sleep-specific mechanism boosts learning, which sets the stage for improved relearning, or sleep allows regularly occurring learning processes to occur without interference, which also boosts memory and expedites relearning. Both possibilities remain viable in this and related research, thus inviting future studies to tease the two apart.

 Moreover, while this latest study reveals an important and largely unknown potential benefit of sleep, it remains to be determined whether the same benefits will manifest in other circumstances (such as when relearning non-verbal materials). It is also important to note that Mazza and her colleagues had their sleep and wake groups train at different times of day. In a recent meta-analysis of sleep and motor learning research, Tim Rickard and I found that such “varied time” experimental designs often yield better performance in sleep vs. wake groups regardless of whether there is a sleep-specific learning benefit. This may be due to the fact that humans vary in fatigue levels, alertness, and other characteristics according to the time of day and their natural urge to sleep—differences that may not necessarily manifest in the sleepiness surveys that participants of sleep studies are often asked to take (as occurred in the present study). Further research in which the sleep and wake groups are not subjected to such widely divergent schedules is needed to address this issue.

 At present, these new results suggest that sleeping between study sessions can be a particularly potent learning strategy, and especially when learners take the time to repeatedly revisit and relearn in order to achieve a high level of performance. For instance, if a set of materials needs to be completely mastered, such as an official manual in preparation for a licensure exam, then those materials should be repeatedly studied across multiple study sessions and in between periods of sleep. Scheduling those study sessions to occur shortly before going to bed is also likely to improve future remembering and relearning. In a world where an uninterrupted night of sleep seems to be increasingly rare—and many of us try expensive and unproven ways to improve learning and memory—these may be some of the most compelling reasons yet to embrace the Land of Nod. ||||| Abstract

 Both repeated practice and sleep improve long-term retention of information. The assumed common mechanism underlying these effects is memory reactivation, either on-line and effortful or off-line and effortless. In the study reported here, we investigated whether sleep-dependent memory consolidation could help to save practice time during relearning. During two sessions occurring 12 hr apart, 40 participants practiced foreign vocabulary until they reached a perfect level of performance. Half of them learned in the morning and relearned in the evening of a single day. The other half learned in the evening of one day, slept, and then relearned in the morning of the next day. Their retention was assessed 1 week later and 6 months later. We found that interleaving sleep between learning sessions not only reduced the amount of practice needed by half but also ensured much better long-term retention. Sleeping after learning is definitely a good strategy, but sleeping between two learning sessions is a better strategy. |||||Summary:

– It's well established through previous research that sleep after learning is best for many memory-related tasks, including word lists, mazes, auditory tones, and so on. Sleep seems so vital to recall that some speculate it is directly responsible for, not just supportive of, learning, reports Scientific American. So researchers out of the University of Lyon chose to investigate another aspect of learning—not recall but relearning, where something previously learned has been forgotten and must be re-acquired. Reporting in the journal Psychological Science in August, they wroite that, coupled with practice, "Sleep makes perfect," and that "sleeping after learning is definitely a good strategy, but sleeping between two learning sessions is a better strategy." The team tested 40 French-speaking adults tasked with learning 16 Swahili words. Some learned them at night, slept, and relearned them in the morning, while others learned the words in the morning, didn't sleep, and relearned them at night. The group that slept between sessions performed so much better that even those who forgot the most words relearned them faster during their morning session than the least forgetful members of the group relearning the words at night. The results don't clarify which is at play—sleep boosting learning, which helps improve later relearning, or sleep simply allowing for uninterrupted learning processes to speed up relearning—but either way, sleeping between studying seems worth a shot. (This woman only sleeps three hours a night.)


News article:

The following article, which has provoked much criticism, should have included acknowledgment of the serious nature and number of allegations that had been made against the writer, Jian Ghomeshi. In October 2014, Ghomeshi—about whom multiple women had filed harassment complaints—was fired from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation after executives saw evidence that he had caused physical harm to a woman. Shortly after, more than twenty women accused him of sexual abuse and harassment, which included hitting, biting, choking, and verbal abuse during sex. Many of these allegations were made in respected publications, including The Toronto Star. That November, Ghomeshi was charged with the sexual assault of three women. (Sexual assault, under Canada’s Criminal Code, can include threats and nonconsensual physical contact. There is no specific legal provision for rape as it is defined in US law.) In January 2015, additional counts of sexual assault were brought against him by three more women. He was acquitted of all charges, and settled a further charge of sexual assault, of a coworker at the CBC, out of court with a peace bond and public apology. Substantial space will be devoted to letters responding to this article in the next issue of The New York Review, dated October 25, 2018.

 Not so long ago, I spoke to hundreds of thousands of listeners across North America every day on a public radio show. These days, the closest I come to public performance is at a neighborhood karaoke bar in New York. Even that can have its perils. One night last year, I was waiting my turn to sing when a woman spotted my name on the list. “Jian!” she said to me. “Your name is Jian? Ha! Hey, you know who ruined that name for you?” “No. Who?” I said, bracing myself. For the first time, she looked straight at me—and stopped smiling.

 For her, it was like one of those excruciating moments when you accidentally include the butt of a joke in a reply-all e-mail. For me, it was just another day in the life of the notorious Jian. She apologized and said all the right things. And I said all the right things back. (“How could you have known?”) Mostly I felt bad because she felt bad. But then we rallied and sang a duet together. And then we became friends and are regularly in touch. Chalk up one more human being who no longer thinks I’m a creep.

 Here’s the thing about being an erstwhile “celebrity” who is now an outcast: You’re not just feeling sorry for yourself. You’re also feeling sorry for everyone around you—sometimes even the strangers. You can see the anxiety in their faces as they stammer out banalities, studiously avoiding the subject of career (or lack thereof), making vague gestures of encouragement that trail off into silence. ||||| Ian Buruma, the former editor-in-chief of the New York Review of Books who was forced out of the job on Wednesday amid a row over his editorial judgment relating to #MeToo, has complained of being “publicly pilloried” and “convicted on Twitter”.

 A day after the announcement of Buruma’s departure from the literary magazine, the NYRB itself has yet to give an explanation for the rift with its chief editor – only the third person to hold the top post since the review was founded in 1963. The silence means Buruma has got his side of the story out first, portraying himself as a victim of social media bullying.

 New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma departs amid outrage over essay Read more

 In an interview with the Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland, the writer and academic said he had been “convicted on Twitter, without any due process”. He characterized his fate as “rather ironic”.

 “As editor of the New York Review of Books I published a theme issue about #MeToo-offenders who had not been convicted in a court of law but by social media. And now I myself am publicly pilloried.”

 The storm that toppled Buruma from one of the most prestigious journalistic seats in America erupted this month when he published a long article by the former Canadian broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi. The celebrity was acquitted in March, 2016, of sexual assault and choking relating to three women.

 At least a further 17 other women have also made serious allegations of improper sexual conduct against Ghomeshi. Yet in the essay, Ghomeshi tried to defend himself against the accusations, saying they were “inaccurate”.

 Ghomeshi said he wanted to give a more “nuanced” view of what had happened.

 The article prompted furious debate on social media and widespread criticism of Buruma’s decision to publish on the grounds that, though Ghomeshi had been acquitted, he remained subject to multiple claims of violent behavior from many women. The dispute was aggravated when Buruma gave an interview last week to Slate in which he said it was not “really my concern” to take a view on Ghomeshi’s allegedly violent behavior and argued that there were “undesirable, or at least unresolved, aspects” aspects to the way the Canadian star had been treated.

 Buruma commissioned the Ghomeshi article several months ago, and faced strong opposition to publication from members of the NYRB staff. The former editor-in-chief told Vrij Nederland: “The staff was initially not unanimously positive about publication, but once the decision to publish was made, we agreed. Also the publisher was initially positive.”

 He insisted that he had not been fired from the NYRB job but had been put in a position where he felt he had to step down because of a combination of social media hounding and pressure from academic advertisers to the magazine who were not happy about the Ghomeshi scandal. “University publishers, whose advertisements make publication of the New York Review of Books partly possible, were threatening a boycott,” Buruma said.

 “They are afraid of the reactions on the campuses, where this is an inflammatory topic. Because of this, I feel forced to resign – in fact it is a capitulation to social media and university presses.” ||||| Dutch version here.

 ‘I am embroiled in a big scandal, in the middle of storm on social media,’ said Ian Buruma on the phone from New York. ‘It is rather ironic: as editor of The New York Review of Books I published a theme issue about #MeToo-offenders who had not been convicted in a court of law but by social media. And now I myself am publicly pilloried.’

 For the moment, he does not want to comment on his sudden departure from the renowned, bi-weekly The New York Review of Books. But because Vrij Nederland was about to publish a long interview with him, Buruma made an exception for VN – although he is not willing to go deeply into the case and he terminated the conversation after a brief exchange.

 He is about to write a resignation letter to publisher/owner Rea. S Hederman, says Buruma. A month earlier, during the interview, he was very enthusiastic about his new job, his young editorial team and his wealthy, but progressive publisher. And he is still. Just as he is... |||||

 Liam Casey and Adina Bresge, The Canadian Press

 A former editor at the New York Review of Books says he stands by his decision to publish a controversial essay written by disgraced former radio host Jian Ghomeshi.

 Ian Buruma told Vrij Nederland, a Dutch magazine, that he lost his job after an intense backlash to the article from social media and magazine advertisers.

 "It is rather ironic: as editor of The New York Review of Books I published a theme issue about .MeToo offenders who had not been convicted in a court of law but by social media," the Dutch native said to Vrij.

 "And now I myself am publicly pilloried."

 Last week, the magazine published Ghomeshi's essay, titled "Reflections from a Hashtag," where he wrote he had "deep remorse" for the way he treated people, but said the accusations from the women were inaccurate.

 Ghomeshi was acquitted in March 2016 of four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking involving three women and later signed a peace bond after apologizing to a fourth woman that saw another count of sexual assault withdrawn.

 The essay sparked an online backlash from those who said the former CBC radio host should not have been given such a prestigious platform to write an unchallenged first-person piece. Critics complained that the piece wasn't properly fact-checked and was self-serving to a man trying to rehabilitate his image.

 On Wednesday, the magazine added an editorial note clarifying several details about the allegations against Ghomeshi, how they emerged and the legal proceedings that followed.

 Buruma says he was not fired from the prestigious literary magazine, but felt forced to resign after he was told by his publisher that university publishers who advertise in the Review of Books were threatening a boycott.

 "They are afraid of the reactions on the campuses, where this is an inflammatory topic," Buruma said to Vrij.

 "Because of this, I feel forced to resign -- in fact it is a capitulation to social media and university presses."

 He admits he didn't gauge the forces of the .MeToo movement.

 "I still stand behind my decision to publish," Buruma says now. "I expected that there would (be) intense reactions, but I hoped that it would open a discussion about what to do with people who behaved badly, but who were acquitted in a court of law."

 Romayne Smith Fullerton, an associate professor in Western University's faculty of information and media studies, said it's the intransigence of those with influence like Buruma that has made her less and less optimistic about the potential for gender equality in journalism and beyond over her 22 years of teaching.

 "It makes me feel like we haven't come very far," she said. "I feel often like there's more push back. That there are less people who are willing to even stand up for equality, let alone what I would see as advancing the cause of women."

 Smith Fullerton said the magazine's lack of transparency about the events that transpired over the roughly weeklong controversy has sown distrust among readers.

 "I would like to see the magazine step up, and acknowledge what they see as their own deficiencies," she said. "One of the biggest and most valuable pieces of currency journalism has is credibility. If you're going to throw it under the bus, don't be sad when you don't have an audience."

 There is a place for journalism about the cultural forces that have enabled bad male behaviour, said Smith Fullerton, as well as the perspectives of men who have been accused, like Ghomeshi. But those accounts shouldn't come in the form of an unchallenged, first-person essay in a highbrow literary magazine, she said.

 "Until we actually reach a spot where we are in fact equal, then we need to advocate on the side of those who are not equal," she said. "And we do not yet have an equal workplace, a equal social sphere, or an equal public sphere."

 The New York Review of Books declined to comment. ||||| The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It by Warren Farrell and John Gray

 Healing from Hate: How Young Men Get Into—and Out of—Violent Extremism by Michael Kimmel

 White American Youth: My Descent into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement—and How I Got Out by Christian Picciolini |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– The former editor-in-chief of the New York Review of Books—who abruptly left his post after running an essay by #MeToo villain Jian Ghomeshi—has given an interview with a Dutch publication blaming his downfall on Twitter and university publishers, the Guardian reports. "As editor of the New York Review of Books I published a theme issue about #MeToo offenders who had not been convicted in a court of law but by social media," says Ian Burama of the Oct. 11 issue, which actually focuses on modern male struggles and female empowerment. "And now I myself am publicly pilloried." He also blames academic advertisers who were unhappy about the Ghomeshi piece. "University publishers, whose advertisements make publication of the New York Review of Books partly possible, were threatening a boycott," says Burama. "They are afraid of the reactions on the campuses, where this is an inflammatory topic. Because of this, I feel forced to resign..." But the head of the Association of University Presses says he's unaware of any such boycott threat, the Washington Post reports. And with the Review keeping mum, most commentators and critics are slamming Burama for giving an alleged serial assaulter such a highly regarded platform. "One of the biggest and most valuable pieces of currency journalism has is credibility," an associate professor in Canada tells CTV. "If you're going to throw it under the bus, don't be sad when you don't have an audience."


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– Reince Priebus is out as White House chief of staff, the AP reports, as President Trump announced in a tweet Friday: "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American...." Trump continued, "...and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration." Kelly, a retired general and the current Homeland Security secretary, was named in a New York Times report last night as Trump's preferred replacement for Priebus, and CNN reports that Priebus resigned privately Thursday. Trump also spoke about the change Friday after Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, calling Priebus a "good man" and saying Kelly "will do a fantastic job."

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 This will NOT appear anywhere on Newser ||||| You are on Twitter Mobile because you are using an old version of Safari. Learn more here ||||| Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump drove out his chief of staff on Friday, replacing Reince Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in an explosive move that ends a turbulent six-month tenure.

 "The President wanted to go a different direction," Priebus told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" Friday evening. "A president has a right to hit a reset button. I think it's a good time to hit the reset button. I think he was right to hit the reset button."

 "I'm always going to be a Trump fan," Priebus said. "I'm on Team Trump and I look forward to helping him achieve his goals and his agenda for the American people."

 In his interview with CNN, Priebus repeatedly said he submitted his resignation to the President privately on Thursday. Yet throughout the day on Friday, sources close to him insisted that he was not resigning.

 But around 5 p.m. ET, Trump made the announcement on Twitter just after landing on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

 "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff," Trump tweeted. "He is a Great American... and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration."

 It wasn't until after the President named Kelly as his new chief of staff on Friday afternoon that sources close to Priebus reached out to reporters to say that he had resigned the day before. Other White House officials questioned that version of events, suggesting Priebus and his allies were trying to put a positive spin on the President's abrupt decision to bring on Kelly.

 The move followed months of on-again, off-again speculation that Priebus would soon be ousted from an administration where he has consistently drawn heavy criticism for failing to stem the flow of leaks and struggled to impose a sense of order in a chaotic White House beset by controversies.

 Priebus, who was brought on by the outsider President in large part because of his Washington relationships, also wound up carrying a hefty share of the blame for the White House's legislative stumbles, including the latest failure to pass a health care replacement bill.

 Rumors of infighting among Trump's staff eventually devolved into all-out warfare, bursting dramatically into the open late Thursday with a vulgar screed from incoming communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

 Priebus also lacked strong support from key members of Trump's inner circle. Two sources familiar with the situation said Trump's family -- including daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, among the President's most trusted advisers -- had lost faith in Priebus. One of those sources says Trump's kin urged the President to finally execute a long-pondered shake-up.

 White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is expected to stay, at least for now, sources told CNN. The President has sounded out people recently about whether to keep Bannon, including some conservatives who convinced Trump that getting rid of Bannon would damage the President with his base, a person familiar with the conversation told CNN. One of those conservative voices was Rep. Mark Meadows, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, who met with the President at the White House on Friday, a source familiar with the discussion said.

 Priebus, who had traveled with Trump to Long Island for an event on gang violence, was seated inside a Secret Service van on the tarmac when the message came down. His vehicle split away from the motorcade and departed for Washington before Trump himself got off the plane.

 New York Rep. Peter King, who traveled with Priebus and Trump to Long Island, said there was no hint of the impending shake-up during the flight, recalling Priebus' "poker face" aboard Air Force One.

 Later, the outed chief of staff told CNN he had offered his resignation on Thursday.

 "I think General (John) Kelly is a brilliant pick," Priebus said in the interview, conducted from the White House Roosevelt Room. "We'll be working on a transition here for a couple weeks together with General Kelly starting on Monday morning. So this is not like a situation where there are a bunch of ill will feelings."

 JUST WATCHED Reince Priebus' interview with Wolf (full) Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Reince Priebus' interview with Wolf (full) 15:32

 Kelly takes over

 Trump sent a message of thanks to Priebus after his initial announcement, and told reporters at the air base that Priebus was a "good man."

 "John Kelly will do a fantastic job," Trump told reporters. "General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. He's a great great American. Reince is a good man."

 Kelly is due to begin his tenure as Trump's chief of staff on Monday when he'll participate in a meeting of Trump's cabinet, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Conversations between Trump and Kelly about the role began two weeks ago, Sanders said.

 Trump tapped Kelly after last November's election to run his Department of Homeland Security, a position that put Kelly in charge of the administration's policies on issues including immigration, cybersecurity, countering domestic terrorism and aviation security.

 A Marine, Kelly served in the military for nearly five decades and served in positions including chief of Southern Command and senior assistant to the secretary of defense. He also worked as a legislative liaison to Congress and served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His son, Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.

 Unusual White House power structure

 Priebus' 189-day tenure as chief of staff is the shortest in modern presidential history, according to David Cohen, a University of Akron professor who studies the position.

 The former Republican National Committee chairman faced a difficult task from the outset as he attempted to wrangle a hodgepodge of rival staff factions divided by ideology and allegiance, his influence supplanted by several other top advisers -- including the President's own kin -- who reported directly to Trump and not to the chief of staff.

 Priebus' appointment was announced alongside Bannon's, the former Breitbart editor in chief who was appointed chief strategist. The President's son-in-law Jared Kushner was named senior adviser and soon thereafter his wife -- the President's eldest daughter -- Ivanka Trump was as well.

 JUST WATCHED Trump: John Kelly will do a fantastic job Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump: John Kelly will do a fantastic job 00:46

 Week of drama with Scaramucci

 But it was the appointment of Scaramucci to communications director last Friday that set off Priebus' final unraveling. Within days of his appointment, Scaramucci, who was added to the roster of top aides who circumvent the chief of staff and report directly to the President, took to the airwaves and suggested Priebus was responsible for leaks coming out of the White House. He leveled those charges on CNN moments after speaking with Trump.

 Priebus had worked against Scaramucci joining the administration when the New York hedge fund manager was first considered for a post and, while the two attempted to put on a show of unity in Scaramucci's first days at the White House, it quickly became clear the two men would continue to be at odds with each other.

 The rivalry came to an explosive head on Thursday evening, when vulgar comments Scaramucci made about Priebus were published in the New Yorker.

 Scaramucci called Priebus a "paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac," and offered no apology. Trump did not defend his top aide against the remarks.

 In his CNN interview, Priebus repeatedly declined to respond to the comments.

 "I'm not going to get into this personal stuff," he said.

 Republican Party stalwart

 Priebus, a Wisconsin native, joined the administration as chief of staff after a nearly six-year tenure as chairman of the RNC, the final months of which he spent in a dual role as a top adviser to Trump's campaign.

 Priebus was tapped for the post at the urging of top congressional Republicans -- including House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Wisconsinite and close friend -- who advised Trump that he needed a Washington insider to help him shepherd his legislative agenda.

 That left Priebus with the blame for many of the administration's legislative stumbles, including the arduous attempts at passing a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare -- which Priebus had advised Trump to make his first legislative priority, promising him swift victory.

 On Friday, Ryan was not given a heads-up about the announcement.

 In a statement, the speaker said Priebus "has left it all out on the field, for our party and our country."

 The pick was unexpected for many in the Trump campaign who saw Priebus as the embodiment of the Washington Republican establishment Trump had defeated in the primaries, and Trump and Priebus did not always see eye-to eye.

 Still, Priebus helped Trump bridge the divide with many establishment Republicans during the general election and into Trump's tenure as president, serving as a key bridge between the outsider President and the insider politics he found himself at the center of.

 Priebus is just the latest former RNC official to leave the administration, following the departure of White House press secretary Sean Spicer -- who resigned in protest over Scaramucci's hire -- and the ouster of deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, a key Priebus ally who exited the administration after just two months on the job.

 This story is breaking and will be updated. |||||


Article:

Story highlights The incident took place the night before Montana's congressional election

 Greg Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault

 (CNN) Greg Gianforte, the Montana congressman-elect who was accused of "body slamming" a reporter, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault Monday morning.

 Judge Rick West sentenced Gianforte to a 180-day deferred sentence, 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management and a $300 fine along with a $85 court fee.

 West originally sentenced Gianforte to a four days of jail time, to be completed in part through a work program, but switched instead to the hours of community service and anger management as those guilty of assault charges are ineligible for the work program.

 A misdemeanor assault conviction in Montana carries a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500, according to the state government website.

 Gianforte has apologized to the journalist, Ben Jacobs, and also pledged to donate $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that promotes press freedom, "in the hope that perhaps some good can come of these events."

 Read More ||||| Tweet with a location

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 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| President Trump on Friday said he had no regret for making light of Rep. Greg Gianforte's physical assault on a reporter at a Montana rally Thursday night.

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 "No, that was a different league, a different world," Trump said on Friday when asked whether he regretted Thursday's comments -- made amid outrage he's expressed over the alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

 "That was a tremendous success last night in Montana and Greg is a great person, he’s a tough cookie, and I’ll stay with that," Trump said, again offering praise for the congressman who body-slammed a reporter last year as he campaigned during a special election for Montana's at-large congressional seat. The incident was caught on audiotape. Gianforte went on to win the election and is now up for reelection.

 "Any guy that can do a body slam, he is my type!" Trump said to cheers Thursday night.

 Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

 "I was in Rome with leaders when I heard about it, and I heard that he body-slammed a reporter," Trump said.

 Trump said he was afraid Gianforte would lose after the moment, but then recalled, "Wait a moment, I know Montana."

 Gianforte pleaded guilty and was sentenced to community service for the incident. He apologized on the night of his election victory, saying, "When you make a mistake you have to own it."

 The White House Correspondents' Association has since come out to condemn the president comments.

 "All Americans should recoil from the president's praise for a violent assault on a reporter doing his Constitutionally protected job. This amounts to the celebration of a crime by someone sworn to uphold our laws and an attack on the First Amendment by someone who has solemnly pledged to defend it. We should never shrug at the president cheerleading for a violent act targeting a free and independent news media," WHCA President Olivier Knox said in a statement.

 For Trump, the Montana Senate race is personal.

 Trump came to Montana on the attack against Tester, a two-term Democratic senator, who is in a close race against Matt Rosendale, the current state auditor.

 The president has made it his mission to unseat Tester, whose office publically released information about alleged misconduct that led to White House physician Adm. Ronny Jackson’s failed nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jackson denied allegations of misconduct and that he overprescribed medications, but eventually withdrew his name from consideration. Trump never forgot.

 Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

 “That’s really why I’m here,” Trump said. “I can never forget what Jon Tester did to a man of the highest quality. It was vicious.”

 The president spoke at length about immigration and falsely said that Democrats are supporting a caravan of immigrants traveling up from Central America.

 “They wanted that caravan and there are those who say that caravan didn’t just happen, it didn’t just happen. A lot of reasons that caravan -- 4,000 people -- but I just want to thank the Mexican government because they’re stopping it hopefully before it ever gets to Mexico,” Trump said.

 “As you know, I’m willing to send the military to defend our Southern border if necessary all because of the illegal immigration onslaught brought by the Democrats because they refuse to acknowledge or to change the laws -- they like it,” Trump said.

 Trump said that the midterm elections will be “an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order and common sense -- that’s what it’s going to be.”

 Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

 At times, the president veered off script, talking about the first lady’s trip to Africa and controversy over her pith hat (“I think she bought it in Los Angeles!”) and fake allegations he wears a toupee (“He wears a hairpiece”).

 But then he would swerve back on course to talking about Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test in a state home to many Indian reservations: “It’s too bad because I can’t call her Pocahontas anymore.”

 While Trump comfortably won the Big Sky state by 20 points, Tester, a moderate Democrat, maintains a slight lead in what has become one of the most expensive political contests in the small state’s history as millions of dollars have poured into Montana. It’s the president’s third trip to Montana, and Tester is only a few points ahead of Rosendale in recent polls.

 AP

 Tester has touted a bipartisan record in the Senate, even publishing a full-page newspaper ad at the beginning of the summer thanking the president for signing 16 of his bills into law on everything from government waste to veterans affairs.

 “We can’t let Jon Tester and the radical liberal agenda win, they’ll go after President Trump,” Rosendale said.

 While the president’s ire toward Tester is rooted in Jackson, many of the voters ABC News spoke with before the rally began didn't seem to know his name.

 “I really don’t have any thoughts about him,” Jeffrey Stenger from Polson, Montana, told ABC News.

 His wife Lynn jumped in, to remind him he was the White House physician who “got in a spat with Tester.”

 “He has a good instinct of reading people, even in the beginning of the election he called people out and said the truth. So far, he hasn’t lied to me,” Stenger said. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more |||||
What is a summary?

– "Any guy that can do a body-slam, he's my guy," President Trump shouted to a cheering Montana audience Thursday night as he simulated slamming someone to the ground, then noting, "I shouldn't say that." Trump was discussing Rep. Greg Gianforte, who assaulted Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs last year during the special election for the House seat vacated by Ryan Zinke, a misdemeanor assault to which he pleaded guilty and completed community service and an anger management class. Trump said after the incident, he feared Gianforte had blown his chance at the congressional seat. "I said, 'Oh, this is terrible, he's gonna lose the election,'" Trump recounted. "Then I said, 'Well, wait a minute—I know Montana pretty well. I think it might help him.' And it did." Trump was in Big Sky Country stumping for Matt Rosendale in his race for Democrat Jon Tester's Senate seat. Reaction came quickly: John Mulholland, US editor of the Guardian, put out a statement after the rally blasting Trump's words as "an attack on the First Amendment," asking for an apology and adding, "In the aftermath of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it runs the risk of inviting other assaults on journalists both here and across the world." ABC News reports on what the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale calls the "most significant" and "truly horrible" moment in the rally: "The president is gleefully applauding violence against a journalist." Trump also praised Gianforte as "smart" and then advised the crowd to "never wrestle him." (Trump seems to acknowledge Khashoggi is dead.)


An obese state judge who allegedly cold-cocked a Legal Aid lawyer after drunkenly bragging “I f—king kill people!” was arraigned Tuesday for the bizarre October incident.

 Robert Beltrani, 53, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court, wearing a gray suit and sporting a quarter-size lump on his forehead.

 He was hit with misdemeanor assault, attempted assault and harassment raps for the altercation in Chelsea with lawyer Sam Roberts.

 He was released without bail and an order of protection was issued in Roberts’ favor.

 As Beltrani left court, he mumbled profanities under his breath but declined to comment on the case.

 On Oct. 20, the administrative judge for the Board of Parole landed in hot water after throwing back one too many at a party on West 18th Street celebrating a new law firm.

 As Beltrani stood in front of the venue at about 11:30 p.m., he bellowed to Roberts: “Yeah, I’m the judge. I do justice and I f—ing kill people!,” the complaint states.

 As Roberts turned away, the feisty jurist socked him in the face, court papers allege.

 Beltrani, who weighs nearly 300 pounds, drunkenly toppled over, knocking into Roberts and sending them both tumbling to the sidewalk, the complaint says.

 The unhinged judge landed on top of Roberts, who lost consciousness when his head and body smashed into the pavement.

 Beltrani took off and Roberts was rushed to the hospital, where he was treated for a separated shoulder and a black eye.

 “It was nuts!” Robert said of the attack. “I was happy, I had just won a trial, I was with friends celebrating their new firm — until I ended up in the emergency room.”

 He met the judge for the first time earlier that night, and they chatted briefly. “He seemed somewhat belligerent and intoxicated,” Roberts noted. “He was saying things like you could learn a lot from me, you better watch out, don’t disrespect me.”

 As Roberts, 48, was leaving the event, Beltrani showed up itching for a fight, the lawyer said.

 “It was very surprising,” Roberts remarked. “The guy probably needs help.”

 Beltrani has been suspended from his job pending an investigation, a source said.

 The New York State Department of Corrections didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

 Beltrani’s lawyer, Dan Ollen, declined to comment. ||||| The parole judge arrested for allegedly slugging a Legal Aid attorney after a party was charged Tuesday with misdemeanor assault and harassment.

 Robert Beltrani, 53, was before a Manhattan Criminal Court judge for the first time since the boozy Oct. 20 incident on W. 18th St. in Chelsea.

 He didn’t remain at the scene, authorities said, and later received a desk appearance ticket ordering him to appear in court Tuesday.

 Beltrani stayed mum as he left the courthouse with his attorney Daniel Ollen and an order of protection in favor of Sam Roberts, the alleged sucker-punch victim.

 Drunken judge sucker-punches Legal Aid lawyer after party

 Roberts was knocked out and suffered a separated shoulder, torn labrum, black eye and other injuries after a brief exchange with Beltrani, who was visibly drunk, according to witnesses.

 Beltrani stayed mum as he left the courthouse with his attorney Daniel Ollen and an order of protection in favor of Sam Roberts (pictured), the sucker-punch victim. (Alec Tabak for New York Daily News)

 The judge allegedly socked Roberts — who was walking in front of him — as the attorney turned away from Beltrani following a brief verbal encounter.

 “Yeah, I’m the judge,” Beltrani allegedly said. “I do justice and I f---ing kill people!”

 Beltrani, who oversees state parole cases at the Rikers Island jail complex, was placed on administrative leave following the incident.

 He faces up to a year behind bars if convicted on the top count.

 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| Order in the court, anarchy in the streets.

 An allegedly drunk state judge, after bragging that he was a homicidal menace, sucker-punched a Legal Aid lawyer — and left the man lying unconscious on a Chelsea sidewalk, according to cops and witnesses.

 Robert Beltrani, 53, an administrative law judge with the state Department of Parole, fled the scene in his car after the Oct. 20 beatdown following a nearby party, cops said.

 “I do justice,” the burly judge reportedly announced twice before belting attorney Sam Roberts without provocation. “I f---ing kill people.”

 Brooklyn judge in hot water for hurling threat at prosecutor

 Roberts, 48, suffered a black eye and a separated shoulder when he hit the ground after taking a pair of unexpected blows to the head from the beefy Beltrani.

 The incident was captured in its entirety on security video, sources said.

 “The judge is so fat and drunk that he falls on top of (Roberts),” a witness told the Daily News. “It looked like Sam was dead . . . It was a complete sucker punch. I think in a fair fight, Sam probably knocks this guy out.”

 The lawyer was rushed by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital for treatment of his injuries. Beltrani walked away on W. 18th St. toward Sixth Ave. and headed for home, a witness told The News.

 Montana judge scolded for giving man who raped daughter 60 days

 The judge was tracked down after another witness took down his license plate and contacted investigators, police said.

 The 53-year-old judge was issued a desk appearance ticket after surrendering Wednesday at the 13th Precinct station house.

 Robert Beltrani and Roberts met at a party full of Legal Aid lawyers before the encounter. (Jay Davies for new york daily news)

 Beltrani also served as chairman for the Queens Republican Party in 2014-15. Attempts to reach him by phone and email for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

 He was placed on administrative leave pending further investigation of the bizarre beatdown, according to a source. Roberts, after meeting Friday with Manhattan prosecutors, said felony charges were possible.

 N.C. judge convicted of bribing FBI agent with Bud Light

 “I can definitely say there was no physical provocation and I was completely cold-cocked and taken by surprise by this,” Roberts told The News. “He didn’t like me. . . . There were definitely no threats or anything like that.”

 According to Roberts, the drunken judge was already spewing obnoxious comments when they were introduced last week by a mutual acquaintance.

 “There was no fight or altercation,” the defense lawyer said. “I do remember him saying that he knew a lot. He would be able to teach me a lot.

 “I wasn’t really interested in talking to this guy or having much communication with him. Maybe I wasn’t polite to him. I don’t know.”

 Judge accused of giving lighter sentences for sexual favors

 The party was filled with Legal Aid lawyers and others in the criminal justice system.

 Roberts said he’d tried to slip away from the bash when Beltrani launched into some self-promotional blather.

 “Don’t disrespect me,” he said the judge warned him at one point. “Watch out.”

 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! |||||

Write a summary.

– A party in October ended with a Legal Aid lawyer lying unconscious on a New York City sidewalk, and on Tuesday, a state parole judge who handles Rikers Island cases was charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment in the case, the New York Daily News reports. Robert Beltrani, 53, was said to be at the same Oct. 20 party as attorney Sam Roberts, 48, per the New York Post, and an allegedly intoxicated Beltrani reportedly said some inflammatory words to Roberts just after 11:30 that night as they stood outside the venue. "Yeah, I'm the judge," Beltrani said, per the complaint against him. "I do justice and I f---ing kill people!" Beltrani then allegedly sucker-punched Roberts as he tried to walk away, then fell on top of him on the sidewalk. Roberts was knocked out and suffered a separated shoulder, a black eye, and other injuries. He told the Daily News in October that Beltrani just didn't seem to like him after they were introduced, that he tried to disengage and may have been impolite to Beltrani, and that at one point the judge warned him, "Don't disrespect me. Watch out." The Post, which noted Beltrani showed up to court Tuesday with a "quarter-size lump on his forehead," adds that he left the courtroom without comment, "[mumbling] profanities under his breath." He was released without bail; Roberts received an order of protection against him. (An Iowa man died over the summer after being sucker-punched.)


– It was, writes Kurt Schlosser at Today.com, a "first-class move." Amy Adams gave up her first-class seat to a US serviceman today on a Delta flight from Detroit to Los Angeles. ESPN's Jemele Hill, also on the flight, first called attention to the move via tweet, then elaborated in an email to Today. "When we were waiting to board, I saw her glance the soldier's way and then she said something to the person she was traveling with," recounts Hill. Once on board and seated in first class, Adams spoke to a flight attendant, vacated her seat for the serviceman, and headed back to coach. The five-time Oscar nominee was born on a military base during her dad's stint in the military, notes E! Online.

Expand this summary.

UPDATE: Her new seatmate, journalist Ernest Owens, tweeted a photo of himself with the actress, pictured above.

 __________________________

 Amy Adams is a class act.

 The five-time Academy Award nominee gave her first class seat to an American serviceman who was also on her Delta flight. Adams, 39, took his seat in coach during their flight from Detroit to Los Angeles.

 Jemele Hill, co-host of ESPN's Numbers Never Lie, broke the news via Twitter Friday morning. "I'm an even bigger fan now," she tweeted. Hill was unaware that Adams was born on a military base during her father's days in the service. The family moved several times before settling in Colorado when she was 8.

 Hill recounted the experience via e-mail. "When we were waiting to board, I saw her glance the soldier's way and then she said something to the person she was traveling with," Hill wrote to NBC's Today in a message from the flight. "Once we boarded, I saw she was in first class. I was upgraded to first class and she was a couple rows behind me. I think she must have said something to the flight attendant, because before we took off she had vacated her seat and the flight attendant brought the soldier to her seat." ||||| share tweet pin email

 Lucas Jackson / Today Amy Adams, at the Time 100 gala in New York in April.

 Actress Amy Adams pulled a first-class move on Friday during a flight from Detroit to Los Angeles when she gave up her prime seating to an American serviceman who was also on the plane. An account of what happened was relayed on Twitter by Jemele Hill, co-host of ESPN's "Numbers Never Lie," who also spoke with TODAY.com via email.

 "When we were waiting to board, I saw her glance the soldier's way and then she said something to the person she was traveling with," Hill said in an email from the flight. "Once we boarded, I saw she was in first class. I was upgraded to first class and she was a couple rows behind me. I think she must have said something to the flight attendant, because before we took off she had vacated her seat and the flight attendant brought the soldier to her seat."

 Hill at first thought that the serviceman was unaware who had surrendered his or her seat to him, but a flight attendant told Hill that the man did indeed chat privately with Adams near the front of the plane.

 "I just thought it was incredibly classy and thoughtful," Hill said. "I already was a fan of hers, but now I'm a bigger one after today."

 Hill's followers on Twitter echoed that sentiment about the five-time Oscar nominee.

 Hill also said that Adams' new seat on the Delta flight was in coach.

 A passenger named Ernest Owens even got to shoot a selfie with the actress after telling her that she was classy for giving up her seat. Owens told "Inside Edition" that "(Adams) said it's something she always wanted to do and she just decided to put her money where her mouth is."

 When the plane landed in L.A., "Inside Edition" caught up with Adams, who said, "I didn't do it for attention for myself. I did it for attention for the troops."

 Adams, 39, received her latest Oscar nomination this past year for her role in "American Hustle." Prior to that, she was nominated for roles in "The Master," "The Fighter," "Doubt," and "Junebug."

 One of Hill's Twitter followers pointed out that Adams was born on a U.S. military base in Italy and grew up on a base in Colorado.

 A representative for the actress has not yet responded to TODAY.com's request for comment — and Hill didn't want to bother the sleeping serviceman during the flight.

 Hill's show, "Numbers Never Lie," airs weekdays at noon on ESPN2.

 Follow Kurt Schlosser on Google+ |||||


Stephen Harper is heading to a crucial summit of NATO leaders where the Western military alliance will give itself the power to respond to threats more quickly in the face of Russia’s continued effort to destabilize and break up Ukraine.

 NATO leaders are set to approve a rapid-reaction military force, drawn from their respective defence capabilities, that could be deployed to a crisis in Eastern Europe within two days, alliance officials say. This “spearhead” unit would have a permanent command centre staffed by rotating alliance members as well as supply depots located in various regions so troops would not have to fly in all their equipment.

 “This spearhead … could include several thousand troops, ready to respond where needed with air, sea and special-forces support,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference Monday in Brussels.

 NATO’s existing response force takes five days for the first units to arrive.

 This summit, originally meant to mark the end of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, will instead signal a shift to the defence of Europe as the alliance’s central concern once more.

 Mr. Harper departed Ottawa Tuesday morning for the U.K. He'll first visit London to promote bilateral trade and investment in light of the Canada-European Union free-trade deal and then proceed to a Cardiff-area resort in Wales for talks with NATO member country leaders.

 The rapid-response force would not help Kiev, which has been battling pro-Moscow rebels for months after Russia unilaterally seized Crimea this spring and now has Vladimir Putin pressuring it to discuss “statehood” for southeast regions of Ukraine.

 Canadian officials, speaking on background, made it clear that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has no plans to deploy troops to Ukraine, which is currently taking steps to apply for membership in the Western military alliance. It’s unclear if, or when, Kiev might be admitted into the club, which has an agreement to defend member countries against attack.

 NATO appears to have shelved a proposal to permanently station alliance troops in new bases along its eastern flank, a measure sought by members such as Poland as a means of providing a deterrent to further Russian aggression. Member countries such as Germany rejected the idea because such a move could provoke Moscow.

 The rapid-reaction force, which could serve as a deterrent in its own right, appears to be a compromise. NATO officials said the force could grow from a small number to as large as a brigade, which would mean between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. It means NATO would be ready to quickly respond to Russian aggression that goes beyond Ukraine, which the alliance has confirmed with satellite imagery is now fighting Russian troops, and not just pro-Moscow rebels, on its own soil.

 Canada will be asked to contribute soldiers and equipment to NATO's new high-alert force.

 But the Canadian government refused to say Monday whether it would contribute on a regular basis to this rapid-reaction force, with officials saying only they would “consider all measures accordingly and look forward to discussions at the summit.”

 The alliance, said Fen Hampson, director of the Global Security and Politics program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont., “is divided between its East European and Baltic members who are deeply worried that Putin won’t stop with Ukraine if he gets what he wants, and its major powers, Germany, the U.K. and France, who continue to believe that Putin is amenable to negotiation and persuasion.”

 Canada was also wary of the proposal to permanently station NATO troops in new bases because there was insufficient detail on which allies might pay the bills or contribute troops and what the rules of engagement would be. “None of that was clear,” a Canadian official said.

 The Harper government, expected to go to the polls in 2015, is also balking at a push for NATO countries to boost military spending to at least 2 per cent of gross domestic product. The British government is calling for this commitment at the summit. Britain is among a small minority of NATO members that currently spend 2 per cent or more of GDP on defence, while Canada spends roughly 1 per cent.

 Canadian officials defend their position, saying the NATO pledge goes beyond what Canadian taxpayers would support. They say Canada shouldered a big burden with its decade-long Afghanistan deployment and its contribution to Operation Protector in Libya.

 The Harper government has chopped military spending to balance the books, and a recent study said on an inflation-adjusted basis that Canada’s defence budget is now smaller than it was in 2007.

 Ottawa has a ship, six fighter jets and rotating shifts of Canadian Armed Forces members on training exercises in Europe to help reassure NATO member countries concerned about further Russian aggression in the region. It’s also matched sanctions imposed on Russians and Ukrainians linked to Moscow’s efforts to menace Ukraine.

 Mr. Hampson said the summit marks a watershed moment for the alliance. “NATO is facing its greatest crisis since the Berlin and Cuban crises of the Cold War,” he said. “NATO can show that it is a real alliance that is prepared to stand up to Putin’s incursions, or it can fade into oblivion by issuing more frothy communiqués that commit its members to little.”

 Editor's note: An earlier version of this article stated incorrectly that the next federal election is in 2016. This version has been corrected to say the vote is in 2015. ||||| KIEV/MOSCOW Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia on Monday of "direct and undisguised aggression" which he said had radically changed the battlefield balance as Kiev's forces suffered a further reverse in their war with pro-Moscow separatists.

 In the latest in a string of setbacks in the past week, Ukraine's military said it had pulled back from defending a vital airport in the east of the country, near the city of Luhansk, where troops had been battling a Russian tank battalion.

 Poroshenko said in a speech there would be high-level personnel changes in the Ukrainian armed forces, whose troops fled a new rebel advance in the south which Kiev and its Western allies say has been backed up by Russian armored columns.

 Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called on Sunday for immediate negotiations on the "statehood" of southern and eastern Ukraine, blamed Kiev's leadership for refusing to enter into direct political talks with the separatists.

 European Union leaders decided at a summit on Saturday that the direct engagement of Russian troops in the war - still denied by the Kremlin - called for a stepping up of economic sanctions unless Moscow pulled its soldiers back.

 With German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressing that accepting Russia's behavior was not an option, EU ambassadors were to start discussing a new package of measures that could include a ban on Europeans buying Russian government bonds, EU sources said.

 Until last week Ukraine had appeared close to crushing the four-month rebellion in the east, which erupted after a pro-Moscow president was forced out of power by popular protests. But then the rebels opened a new front to the south on the coast of the Sea of Azov, pushing towards the city of Mariupol.

 AGGRESSION

 Poroshenko repeated Kiev's belief that Russian forces are helping the rebels to turn the tide of the war. "Direct and undisguised aggression has been launched against Ukraine from a neighboring state. This has changed the situation in the zone of conflict in a radical way," he said in his speech at a military academy in Kiev.

 Defense Minister Valery Heletey added on his Facebook page that Ukraine no longer faced a threat from separatists but outright war with Russian troops. "Unfortunately, in such a war, the losses will be numbered not in their hundreds, but in thousands, even tens of thousands," he said. "We must refrain from panic and show that Ukrainians are not about to surrender."

 In the Belarussian capital, Minsk, separatists sat down for preliminary peace talks with Ukraine, saying they would be prepared to stay part of Ukraine if they were granted "special status", according to Russian news agencies.

 But they said one of their key conditions would be for Kiev to immediately end its military offensive.

 The separatists' demands did not appear, at first sight, to be acceptable to Kiev since they would leave the rebels in control of the territories of Ukraine's industrialized east and exercising a trade policy tilted towards Russia and away from integration with the European Union, which is Kiev's key aim.

 Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Ukrainian forces had pulled back from the airport near Luhansk. However, they had destroyed seven Russian tanks and identified a major build-up of Russian forces to the north and south of the city.

 "According to our operational data, there are no fewer than four (Russian) battalion-tactical groups in Ukraine," he told reporters, adding that each one comprised 400 men.

 Speaking during a visit to Siberia, Putin repeated his call for talks. "The current Kiev leadership does not want to carry out a substantive political dialogue with the east of its country," state news agency Itar-Tass cited him as telling journalists.

 Putin also said the separatists were trying to force Ukrainian troops from their current positions where they were firing on civilian targets. "The aim of the militia fighters is to push away these armed forces and their artillery to not give them the possibility to shoot on residential areas," he said.

 NON-ALIGNED STATUS IN DOUBT

 Kiev has clung to a non-aligned status as it tried to steer between two dominant powers - Russia to the east and Europe to the west. However, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Ukraine's political leaders expect a new parliament to abandon this status after an election next month in a possible prelude to an application to join the Western alliance.

 Putin made his statehood remarks two days after comparing the Kiev government with Nazis and warning the West not to "mess with us". On Sunday, Putin's spokesman said his call for talks on the statehood of southern and eastern Ukraine did not mean Moscow now endorsed rebel calls for independence for territory they have seized.

 However, Merkel took a hard line, although she acknowledged the sanctions have hurt German exporters to the Russian market.

 "I have to say there is also an impact when you are allowed to move borders in Europe and attack other countries with your troops," she told a news conference. "Accepting Russia's behavior is not an option. And therefore it was necessary to prepare further sanctions."

 EU leaders asked the executive European Commission to prepare further sanctions within a week, building on steps taken at the end of July, which targeted the energy, banking and defense sectors. "I'm hearing that a ban on buying Russian government bonds could be in the next package," an EU official familiar with the preparations said.

 The July round forbade Europeans from buying or selling new bonds, shares or other financial instruments with a maturity of more than 90 days issued by major state-owned Russian banks.

 COMMON SENSE

 Putin called for the EU to think twice about stepping up the sanctions, which were first imposed after Russia's annexation of Ukraine in March. "I hope that common sense will prevail and we will work in a normal modern way," the Interfax news agency reported him as saying.

 He won support from China, with which Putin wants to trade more as the West tightens its restrictions.

 "A political solution is the only way out. Sanctions do not help to solve the underlying problems in Ukraine," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

 Several EU countries heavily dependent on Russian gas supplies, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria, opposed new measures, which require unanimous agreement.

 "I consider sanctions meaningless and counterproductive," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Sunday. "I reserve a right to veto sanctions harming national interests of Slovakia."

 The EU could ban gas exports and limit industrial use as part of emergency measures to protect household energy supplies this winter as it prepares for a possible halt in Russian supplies due to the crisis, a source told Reuters.

 The United States and EU already extended sanctions after a Malaysian airliner was shot down over rebel territory in July, killing 298 people. Moscow has responded by banning the import of most Western foodstuffs and shutting down McDonald's restaurants but so far energy shipments to the EU have been unaffected.

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there would be no military intervention from Russia in Ukraine. Moscow denies the presence of Russian tanks and troops there, despite what NATO and Western governments have said is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

 (Additional reporting by Richard Balmforth in Kiev, Mark Trevelyan and Thomas Grove in Moscow, Noah Barkin in Berlin, Jan Strupczewski, Adrian Croft and Martin Santa in Brussels and Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing; Writing by David Stamp; Editing by Giles Elgood) ||||| Image copyright Reuters Image caption Tensions between Russia and Nato countries are high over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine

 Russia is to alter its military strategy as a result of the Ukraine crisis and Nato's presence in eastern Europe, a top Russian official says.

 Mikhail Popov, a Kremlin adviser, said that deteriorating relations with the US and Nato would be reflected in the updated strategy.

 Nato said on Monday it would boost its presence in eastern Europe to protect its members.

 Ukrainian troops are battling pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine.

 About 2,600 people have died since fighting began in April.

 Ukraine's defence minister on Monday accused Russia of launching a "great war" that could claim tens of thousands of lives - claims dismissed by Russia, which denies actively supporting the rebels.

 'Aggravating tensions'

 Mr Popov, deputy secretary of Russia's National Security Council, told Russia's RIA news agency that "the military infrastructure of Nato member states" was "getting closer to [Russian] borders, including via enlargement".

 Nato's actions were one of the key "external threats" to Russia, he said.

 "Nato's planned action... is evidence of the desire of US and Nato leaders to continue their policy of aggravating tensions with Russia", Mr Popov said.

 There were no details on how the doctrine might change.

 Analysis - Jonathan Marcus, diplomatic correspondent

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Russia has indicated it will respond to Nato's increasing presence in eastern Europe

 Almost on the eve of Nato's summit gathering in Wales, the Russian government has signalled that it will respond to Nato's plans to make preparations to deploy crisis response forces to Eastern Europe, closer to Russia's borders.

 Nato insists that while there will be pre-positioned supplies and more exercises in Poland for example, these will not be permanent new bases. But that is not going to cut much ice in Moscow.

 The comments by the top Kremlin security adviser Mikhail Popov has signalled that these new Nato deployments, along with missile defence plans and the Ukraine crisis, will play into a review of Russia's own defence planning.

 Moscow is getting its retaliation in first with the stage set for worsening tensions between Russia and the Nato alliance.

 There are growing questions now as to just how far the Kremlin is prepared to go in seeking to influence the Ukraine fighting on the ground.

 Nato announced its plans on Monday for a rapid response force of several thousand troops to protect eastern European members against possible Russian aggression.

 The force, to be made up of troops provided by member states on a rotating basis, would be able to be deployed within 48 hours, Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Nato Secretary-General Rasmussen: "We must face the reality that Russia does not consider Nato a partner"

 Military equipment and supplies would be pre-positioned in member states in the east so the force could "travel light, but strike hard if needed", he added.

 Mr Rasmussen insisted that the plans would not breach the 1997 Nato-Russia Founding Act, which forbids the presence of permanent bases in eastern and central Europe.

 The new measures are set to be approved at a Nato summit in Wales this week.

 'Runway destroyed'

 The Nato security alliance covers 28 member states, including Eastern European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic. It does not include Ukraine.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption David Stern reports on Ilovaysk, a town soldiers say was emptied by pro-Russian rebels

 Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has said that he aims to put the country on the path towards Nato membership.

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said such efforts were "undermining" attempts to reach a peace deal with the rebels.

 Crisis talks between Ukraine officials, rebels and Russian envoys ended without agreement on Monday.

 Ukraine's army has been forced to retreat amid a series of gains by pro-Russian rebels in both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and further south around the port of Mariupol.

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Residents shelter from artillery fire in a basement on the outskirts of Donetsk

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The UN estimates that at least 260,000 people have been displaced in Ukraine

 Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that 15 servicemen had been killed in the past 24 hours, with another 49 wounded.

 On Monday, Ukraine's army said it had been forced to withdraw from Luhansk airport after it was attacked by Russian tanks.

 The acting Luhansk region administration chief Irina Verihina told Ukraine's 112 TV: "Our troops have withdrawn, but the runway is completely destroyed. There's no way planes can land there."

 The UN's refugee agency estimates that at least 260,000 people have been displaced inside the country, with most of those affected from eastern Ukraine.

 Meanwhile, more than 800,000 Ukrainians, mainly ethnic Russians, have arrived in Russia since January this year, bringing the total number of people displaced by the conflict to more than a million, it added.

 'I can take Kiev'

 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accused Russia of "direct, overt aggression against Ukraine".

 Russia has repeatedly denied Ukrainian and Western accusations that it is providing troops and equipment to the rebels.

 Meanwhile, a Russian official responded to allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin had commented: "If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks."

 The reported comments were said to be made in a phone call to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and were reported in Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

 Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters that whether or not the words were spoken, the quote "was taken out of context and had a totally different meaning".

 Russia's strained relations with Nato |||||

Write a summary.

– Tough talk as NATO-Russia relations continue to deteriorate: NATO leaders, who meet in the UK later this week, are planning a "rapid reaction" force that can deploy to Russia's worried Eastern European neighbors within 48 hours, reports the New York Times. The "spearhead" force would have a permanent command center to allow it to respond swiftly to threats, the Globe and Mail notes. "This spearhead ... could include several thousand troops, ready to respond where needed with air, sea, and special-forces support," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters. The NATO summit in Newport, Wales, is especially important because "Russia thought it can change the borders of a sovereign European country by force, and this is happening not very far from NATO's borders," says Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, calling for fresh plans to ensure all members of the alliance are "equally and strongly protected." Russian defense chiefs, meanwhile, say NATO's actions are "evidence of the desire of US and NATO leaders to continue their policy of aggravating tensions with Russia" and that Moscow plans to craft a new military doctrine in response to NATO plans and the Ukraine crisis, the BBC reports. In Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia of "direct and undisguised aggression" yesterday as government forces continued to suffer reverses, including a retreat from the Luhansk airport, where the Ukrainian military says a Russian tank battalion supported pro-Russia rebels, Reuters reports.