UK’s BRIT Awards slammed as celebration of bland

LONDON (Reuters) – “Sensible” and “sober” are words not normally associated with rock and roll, but they summed up how music critics viewed Wednesday night’s BRIT Awards ceremony at the London O2 Arena.

Viewing figures for commercial broadcaster ITV1, which aired British pop’s biggest night live, were the highest for a decade, so organizers, advertisers and the acts who performed were unlikely to care too much about what experts thought.

Gordon Smart, showbusiness editor at the Sun tabloid, summed up the mood, writing: “Well, rock’n'roll is officially dead. Where have all the rock stars gone?”

The big winner on the night, one that was widely predicted, was Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sande, who picked up the coveted British album award for “Our Version of Events”, her debut which was the UK’s top seller of 2012.

She also won the best British female honor, and English singer Ben Howard was the only other multiple winner, claiming the male solo artist and breakthrough categories.

“Welcome to the new boring,” said Daily Telegraph music critic Neil McCormick, describing Howard, Sande and other winners Mumford & Sons (best group) and One Direction (BRITs Global Success Award).

“All – to different degrees – extremely talented, vibrant, emotional, committed, entertaining musical performers beloved of enormous audiences,” he wrote. “And all as dull as dishwater.”

He concluded his review with a rallying cry: “I just hope there is some young punk out there, watching that, thinking the music business needs a right royal kick up the posterior.”

CASH BEFORE CUTTING EDGE

The BRITs have long had a reputation for putting commercial success above artistic originality, and 2013 was no exception.

Will Hodgkinson of The Times newspaper said the lack of spark at the glitzy ceremony perhaps reflected broader economic and social concerns in Britain.

“When times are hard people behave well and hang on to their jobs, which is why the high jinks and chaos of the past, like Jarvis Cocker wiggling his bum at Michael Jackson, was sadly absent,” he said.

In one of the most frequently recalled moments of BRITs history, Cocker invaded the stage while Jackson was performing in 1996 before being escorted away by security.

Even last year had a frisson of controversy, when Adele’s speech was cut short to make way for Blur to perform, prompting her to raise her middle finger.

Adele picked up another award in 2013 – best single for Bond theme tune “Skyfall” – but she did not attend, preferring to rehearse for her upcoming performance at the more widely viewed Oscars ceremony on Sunday.

Nick Hasted, writing in the Independent, said what was most “depressing” about the BRITs was how they were dovetailing with other awards like the Mercury Prize and the BBC’s “Sound of…” poll identifying up-and-coming talent.

“As it shrinks, the music industry is becoming ever more adept at controlling what enters the mainstream,” Hasted said. “The moribund album charts, lacking inspiration and challenge, show how well they’ve succeeded.”

Critics did have more positive things to say about many of the performances, which included Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift from the United States and Sande, Howard, Mumford & Sons, One Direction, Muse and Robbie Williams from Britain.

And there was good news on the TV viewing front. According to the Guardian, the average audience was just over 6.5 million, a 27.8 percent share and the highest since 2003.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; editing by Stephen Addison)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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‘Bloodless’ Lung Transplants for Jehovah’s Witnesses

Eric Kayne for The New York Times

SHARING HOME AND FAITH A Houston couple hosted Gene and Rebecca Tomczak, center, in October so she could get care nearby.

HOUSTON — Last April, after being told that only a transplant could save her from a fatal lung condition, Rebecca S. Tomczak began calling some of the top-ranked hospitals in the country.

She started with Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, just hours from her home near Augusta, Ga. Then she tried Duke and the University of Arkansas and Johns Hopkins. Each advised Ms. Tomczak, then 69, to look somewhere else.

The reason: Ms. Tomczak, who was baptized at age 12 as a Jehovah’s Witness, insisted for religious reasons that her transplant be performed without a blood transfusion. The Witnesses believe that Scripture prohibits the transfusion of blood, even one’s own, at the risk of forfeiting eternal life.

Given the complexities of lung transplantation, in which transfusions are routine, some doctors felt the procedure posed unacceptable dangers. Others could not get past the ethics of it all. With more than 1,600 desperately ill people waiting for a donated lung, was it appropriate to give one to a woman who might needlessly sacrifice her life and the organ along with it?

By the time Ms. Tomczak found Dr. Scott A. Scheinin at The Methodist Hospital in Houston last spring, he had long since made peace with such quandaries. Like a number of physicians, he had become persuaded by a growing body of research that transfusions often pose unnecessary risks and should be avoided when possible, even in complicated cases.

By cherry-picking patients with low odds of complications, Dr. Scheinin felt he could operate almost as safely without blood as with it. The way he saw it, patients declined lifesaving therapies all the time, for all manner of reasons, and it was not his place to deny care just because those reasons were sometimes religious or unconventional.

“At the end of the day,” he had resolved, “if you agree to take care of these patients, you agree to do it on their terms.”

Ms. Tomczak’s case — the 11th so-called bloodless lung transplant attempted at Methodist over three years — would become the latest test of an innovative approach that was developed to accommodate the unique beliefs of the world’s eight million Jehovah’s Witnesses but may soon become standard practice for all surgical patients.

Unlike other patients, Ms. Tomczak would have no backstop. Explicit in her understanding with Dr. Scheinin was that if something went terribly wrong, he would allow her to bleed to death. He had watched Witness patients die before, with a lifesaving elixir at hand.

Ms. Tomczak had dismissed the prospect of a transplant for most of the two years she had struggled with sarcoidosis, a progressive condition of unknown cause that leads to scarring in the lungs. The illness forced her to quit a part-time job with Nielsen, the market research firm.

Then in April, on a trip to the South Carolina coast, she found that she was too breathless to join her frolicking grandchildren on the beach. Tethered to an oxygen tank, she watched from the boardwalk, growing sad and angry and then determined to reclaim her health.

“I wanted to be around and be a part of their lives,” Ms. Tomczak recalled, dabbing at tears.

She knew there was danger in refusing to take blood. But she thought the greater peril would come from offending God.

“I know,” she said, “that if I did anything that violates Jehovah’s law, I would not make it into the new system, where he’s going to make earth into a paradise. I know there are risks. But I think I am covered.”

Cutting Risks, and Costs

The approach Dr. Scheinin would use — originally called “bloodless medicine” but later re-branded as “patient blood management” — has been around for decades. His mentor at Methodist, Dr. Denton A. Cooley, the renowned cardiac pioneer, performed heart surgery on hundreds of Witnesses starting in the late 1950s. The first bloodless lung transplant, at Johns Hopkins, was in 1996.

But nearly 17 years later, the degree of difficulty for such procedures remains so high that Dr. Scheinin and his team are among the very few willing to attempt them.

In 2009, after analyzing Methodist’s own data, Dr. Scheinin became convinced that if he selected patients carefully, he could perform lung transplants without transfusions. Hospital administrators resisted at first, knowing that even small numbers of deaths could bring scrutiny from federal regulators.

“My job is to push risk away,” said Dr. A. Osama Gaber, the hospital’s director of transplantation, “so I wasn’t really excited about it. But the numbers were very convincing.”

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DealBook: J. Crew Chief and American Express Invest in Warby Parker

Warby Parker, the hip purveyor of retro-style glasses, has solidified ties with two of its most prominent fans.

Now the three-year-old start-up can count Millard S. Drexler, the chief executive of J. Crew, and American Express as participants in its latest round of financing, which closed last month at $41.5 million.

The two join an already expansive group of investors that includes General Catalyst Partners, Spark Capital, Tiger Global Management, Thrive Capital and Menlo Ventures.

The presence of Mr. Drexler and American Express highlights the growing popularity of Warby Parker, whose founders created the online glasses seller in their spare time at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and quickly struggled to meet consumer demand.

Company executives first closed the round last September at $37.5 million, but left some room and time for select investors to come in as well.

“We’ve tried to be very deliberate in getting people with specific expertise,” Neil Blumenthal, one of Warby Parker’s founders, said in an interview. “Nobody knows retail like Mickey. And within financial services, nobody knows a brand more prominent than American Express.”

Mr. Blumenthal and another founder, David Gilboa, declined to comment on the valuation that the round is based on. But they said that their investors consider the retailer a lifestyle brand, which commands a higher value than an e-commerce company.

Since its founding, Warby Parker has shown significant potential in its business: selling prescription glasses and now sunglasses almost exclusively online at relatively low costs. The company has emphasized customer service by allowing prospective buyers to try on several frames before buying, and using Facebook and Twitter as ways to keep in touch with customers.

Its growth over the last three years has been largely through word of mouth, with the company having run its first television ads this year.

The company has drawn the attention of investors who hope it is less an e-commerce platform and more a brand poised to become the next Tory Burch. Such has been the demand that Silicon Valley venture capitalists regularly flew to New York to beg the founders for breakfast — and then a chance to invest.

“They treat clients like relationships,” Joel Cutler, a founder of General Catalyst, said of Warby Parker’s management. “They’re very much oriented toward telling people about a lifestyle they want to associate with.”

Among those believers is Mr. Drexler, whose successes at Gap and then J. Crew have elevated him to a wise man of retail. He began having regular lunches with Warby Parker’s founders to chat about their retail ideas.

By the time the company began raising its series B round of financing, company executives wanted stronger ties with Mr. Drexler, their informal coach.

“He was excited about some of the exciting retail stuff we were doing,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “When it was time to raise money, we wanted to get him formally involved.”

American Express has been a supporter for some time as well. The firm’s vice chairman, Edward Gilligan, invited Warby Parker executives to speak to employees early in the start-up’s life. The financial services titan also is sponsoring Warby Parker’s “Class Trip,” a cross-country promotional tour aboard a lavishly furnished yellow school bus.

While Warby Parker is collaborating with American Express on its Sync program, which offers rebates to Twitter users, there are no similar plans yet to work with J. Crew on retail partnerships, Mr. Blumenthal said. The emphasis remains on selling directly to consumers.

But the company is looking to raise its profile even more. It has been working with the Standard line of hotels on programs like artists-in-residence and a seaplane ferry from downtown Manhattan to the Hamptons.

It is also in talks with Google on providing stylish options for the tech giant’s computerized glasses product, according to people briefed on the matter.

“We really feel like we’re in an inflection point,” Mr. Gilboa of Warby Parker said. “We feel like we have a really solid foundation for the brand.”

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Athletes cash in on California's workers' comp

SACRAMENTO — In his seven-year career with the Denver Broncos, running back Terrell Davis, a former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, dazzled fans with his speed and elusiveness.

At the end of his rookie year in 1995, he signed a $6.8-million, five-year contract. Off the field he endorsed Campbell's soup. And when he hung up his cleats, he reported for the National Football League Network and appeared in movies and TV shows.

So it may surprise Californians to find out that in 2011, Davis got a $199,000 injury settlement from a California workers' compensation court for injuries related to football. This came despite the fact Davis was employed by a Colorado team and played just nine times in California during an 88-game career, according to the NFL.

Davis was compensated for the lifelong effects of multiple injuries to the head, arms, trunk, legs and general body, according to California workers' compensation records.

He is not alone.

Over the last three decades, California's workers' compensation system has awarded millions of dollars in benefits for job-related injuries to thousands of professional athletes. The vast majority worked for out-of-state teams; some played as little as one game in the Golden State.

All states allow professional athletes to claim workers' compensation payments for specific job-related injuries — such as a busted knee, torn tendon or ruptured spinal disc — that happened within their borders. But California is one of the few that provides additional payments for the cumulative effect of injuries that occur over years of playing.

A growing roster of athletes are using this provision in California law to claim benefits. Since the early 1980s, an estimated $747 million has been paid out to about 4,500 players, according to an August study commissioned by major professional sports leagues. California taxpayers are not on the hook for these payments. Workers' compensation is an employer-funded program.

Now a major battle is brewing in Sacramento to make out-of-state players ineligible for these benefits, which are paid by the leagues and their insurers. They have hired consultants and lobbyists and expect to unveil legislation next week that would halt the practice.

"The system is completely out of whack right now," said Jeff Gewirtz, vice president of the Brooklyn Nets — formerly the New Jersey Nets — of the National Basketball Assn.

Major retired stars who scored six-figure California workers' compensation benefits include Moses Malone, a three-time NBA most valuable player with the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers and other teams. He was awarded $155,000. Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin, formerly with the Dallas Cowboys, received $249,000. The benefits usually are calculated as lump-sum payments but sometimes are accompanied by open-ended agreements to provide lifetime medical services.

Players, their lawyers and their unions plan to mount a political offensive to protect these payouts.

Although the monster salaries of players such as Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning make headlines, few players bring in that kind of money. Most have very short careers. And some, particularly football players, end up with costly, debilitating injuries that haunt them for a lifetime but aren't sufficiently covered by league disability benefits.

Retired pros increasingly are turning to California, not only because of its cumulative benefits but also because there's a longer window to file a claim. The statute of limitations in some states expires in as little as a year or two.

"California is a last resort for a lot of these guys because they've already been cut off in the other states," said Mel Owens, a former Los Angeles Rams linebacker-turned-workers' compensation lawyer who has represented a number of ex-players.

To understand how it works, consider the career of Ernie Conwell. A former tight end for the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints, he was paid $1.6 million for his last season in 2006.

Conwell said that during his 11-year career, he underwent about 18 surgeries, including 11 knee operations. Now 40, he works for the NFL players union and lives in Nashville.

Hobbled by injuries, he filed for workers' compensation in Louisiana and got $181,000 in benefits to cover his last, career-ending knee surgery in 2006, according to the Saints. The team said it also provided $195,000 in injury-related benefits as part of a collective-bargaining agreement with the players union.

But such workers' compensation benefits paid by Louisiana cover only specific injuries. So, to deal with what he expects to be the costs of ongoing health problems that he said affect his arms, legs, muscles, bones and head, Conwell filed for compensation in California and won.

Even though he played only about 20 times in the state over his professional career, he received a $160,000 award from a California workers' compensation judge plus future medical benefits, according to his lawyer. The Saints are appealing the judgment.

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That Syncing Feeling

“Smart, or stylish?” That’s the question facing casual watch aficionados looking for a new, high-tech addition to their collection.

On one hand (er, wrist), you’ve got the Pebble and other smartwatch upstarts, which come with built-in smartphone connectivity, customizable screens, and burgeoning developer communities eager to feed their app ecosystems. They also, by and large, look like uninspired pieces of mass-produced Chinese plastic, and that’s because they are.

On the “stylish” end of the spectrum is … not much. Except this: Citizen’s Eco-Drive Proximity.

The Citizen learns the current time from your phone, and the watch’s hands spin around to the correct positions.

By all outward appearances, the Proximity looks like any another chronograph in a sea of handsome mechanical watches. It has all the features you’d expect, including a 24-hour dial, day and date, perpetual calendar and second time zone. But housed within its slightly oversized 46mm case is a Bluetooth 4.0 radio, so it’s capable of passing data over the new low-energy connectivity standard appearing in newer smartphones, including the iPhone 5 and 4S. And for now, the Promixity is only compatible with those Apple devices.

Initial pairing is relatively easy. After downloading Citizen’s notably low-rent iOS app, you can link the watch to your phone with a few turns and clicks on the crown.

The gee-whiz feature is the automatic time sync that takes place whenever you land in a different time zone. Once connected, the Citizen learns the current time from your phone, and the watch’s hands spin around to the correct positions — a welcome bit of easy magic, considering the initial setup is a tedious finger dance.

The watch can also notify you of incoming communications. Once you’ve configured the mail client (it only supports IMAP accounts), you’ll get notified whenever you get a new e-mail — there’s a slight vibration and the second hand sweeps over to the “mail” tab at the 10-o’clock position. If a phone call comes in, the second hand moves to the 11-o’clock marker. If the Bluetooth connection gets lost because the watch or phone is outside the 30-foot range, you get another vibration and the second hand moves to the “LL” indicator. And really, that’s the extent of the functionality around notifications.

But notable in its absence is the notification I’d like the most: text message alerts. And it’s not something Citizen will soon be rectifying because the dials and hardware aren’t upgradable.

I also experienced frequent connection losses, particularly when attending a press conference with scads of Mi-Fis and tethered smartphones around me. This caused dozens of jarring vibrations both on my wrist and in my pocket, followed by a raft of push notifications on my phone informing me of the issue. Reconnecting is easy (and generally happens automatically), but the lack of stability in certain environments matched with the limited capabilities of the notifications had me forgetting to reconnect and not even worrying about it later on.

But actually, I’m OK with that. I still like the fact that it never needs charging. Even though there aren’t any solar cells visible on the dial, the watch does have them. They’re hidden away beneath the dial, and yet they still work perfectly. And even when its flagship connectivity features aren’t behaving, it’s still a damn handsome watch. It feels solid, and it looks good at the office, out to dinner, or on the weekend — something very few other “smart” watches on the market can claim.

However, those things can be said of almost all of Citizen’s EcoDrive watches. The big distinguishing feature here is the Bluetooth syncing and notifications, and they just don’t work that well.

WIRED A smart watch you won’t be embarrassed to wear. Charges using light. Combines classic styling with cutting-edge connectivity. Subtle notifications keep you informed without dominating your attention.

TIRED Loses Bluetooth connection with disturbing frequency. Limited notification abilities. No text message alerts. Janky iPhone app.

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Off the Dribble: Salley Offers a Healthy Assist

When Carmelo Anthony went on a vegetarian diet a few weeks ago and caused the biggest culinary conundrum in sports since fried chicken and beer had starring roles in the Red Sox clubhouse, John Salley could only shake his head.

Anthony’s diet was blamed for his sluggish play and the Knicks’ 3-4 record during the 15-day fast.

Anthony admitted that his body felt “depleted out there.”

But Salley, the former N.B.A. player, said that if Anthony had eaten a vegetarian diet correctly, he would have felt invigorated and anything but depleted.

And not just for two weeks but for the entire season.

For Salley, many of his salad days in the N.B.A. really were salad days. Particularly kale salad.

Salley, a 6-foot-11 power forward and center, became a vegetarian in January 1991 after he felt he had to make changes in his lifestyle, much like Anthony’s stated desire for “clarity in his life.”

Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish or poultry, but may eat dairy products like cheese, eggs, yogurt or milk.

Salley had read a story about the Celtics’ Robert Parish, whom he had always admired, and his interest in yoga and a red-meat-free diet.

While Parish’s regimen was not total vegetarian, he recently said that it made a difference in his career, helping him withstand the rigors of playing center against behemoths in the paint.

“My diet consisted of chicken, fish, seafood, salad, pasta and organic when possible,” he said. “I had very little sugar and drank a gallon of water every day. I also ate rice and beans, peas, cabbage, mustard, collards greens and assorted nuts. I would always focus on healthy eating. My success depended on my body and I tried to do right by it. ”

His body responded with 20 years of service in his Hall of Fame career. Parish retired at 43.

Salley was striving for similar health and success.

“I was 27, and I felt I had to change my life,” Salley said. “My knees were sore, my joints ached, I had back problems and my cholesterol was 275. ”

When he was with the Pistons, Salley visited a nutritionist in Detroit who advised him to eliminate fried foods and adopt a macrobiotic diet (grains and vegetables).

Salley, invigorated and healthy, had his best season in 1991. A defensive specialist, he had more energy and quickness and averaged a career best 9.5 points a game.

He kept his healthy diet a secret from his burly Bad Boy Piston steak-and-pork-chop teammates, who included Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn and Dennis Rodman.

“I would tell them all the time,” Salley said, “if you go into a steak house it’s not that they have a certain thing inside the dead flesh or they cook it differently. They make it the same way everybody else does. All you’re doing is eating dead food.”

Salley would search out health food restaurants with a few tables or just counter service for his diet staples of quinoa, kale, spinach, stir fried vegetables, brown rice and wheatgrass on the menu.

“It was hard to find places in 1991,” he said. “So many times I would go into restaurants and ask the cook to steam my vegetables and make me the lightest fish.”

But it was worth it.

“I was playing so well it was crazy,” he said.

During his career, Salley, who retired in 2000, won four championships with the Detroit Pistons, the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.

He now follows a vegan diet, which eliminates all dairy foods in addition to animal products.

“I’m eating raw,” said Salley, 48. “And I make all my food with no sugar, no salt and no oil.”

Salley is familiar with Anthony’s foray into vegetarian living. The Knicks star followed the Daniel Fast based on the book of Daniel in the Bible, which espouses a diet of mainly liquid and vegetables.

“He felt depleted because you need to find a natural source of vitamin B12,” Salley said.

B12 is not found in any significant amounts in plant food, and a deficiency can cause fatigue, weakness and tingling in the legs.

It can also cause irritability. Anthony said his diet might have caused him to lash out at Kevin Garnett in a game against the Boston Celtics.

“He didn’t take any supplements to help his body,” Salley said. “He did not get his body to heal. It’s like cutting yourself and not putting a Band-Aid on. He just got part of the plan right.”

Salley is working to make sure children get the plan right with food choices. He spreads the word about healthy eating in the community, having lobbied Congress for more vegetarian options in school lunches.

Although Anthony may have struggled to maintain his vegetarian diet, other N.B.A players and athletes have embraced it.

James Jones of the Miami Heat and Anthony’s teammate A’mare Stoudemire are vegetarians.

Baseball’s Prince Fielder, the triathlete Brendan Brazier, the mixed martial artist Mac Danzig, the bodybuilder Derek Tresize and the tennis player Serena Williams are among athletes who are vegans or vegetarians.

Dr. Joel Kahn, a clinical professor of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine and medical director of wellness programs, preventive cardiology, and cardiac rehabilitation at Detroit Medical Center, has counseled Salley and other athletes about the benefits of vegan and vegetarian diets.

“A plant-based, whole-food diet low on sugar and gluten is very anti-inflammatory and ideal for rapid recovery from workouts,” he said.

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Major Banks Aid in Payday Loans Banned by States

Major banks have quickly become behind-the-scenes allies of Internet-based payday lenders that offer short-term loans with interest rates sometimes exceeding 500 percent.

With 15 states banning payday loans, a growing number of the lenders have set up online operations in more hospitable states or far-flung locales like Belize, Malta and the West Indies to more easily evade statewide caps on interest rates.

While the banks, which include giants like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, do not make the loans, they are a critical link for the lenders, enabling the lenders to withdraw payments automatically from borrowers’ bank accounts, even in states where the loans are banned entirely. In some cases, the banks allow lenders to tap checking accounts even after the customers have begged them to stop the withdrawals.

“Without the assistance of the banks in processing and sending electronic funds, these lenders simply couldn’t operate,” said Josh Zinner, co-director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, which works with community groups in New York.

The banking industry says it is simply serving customers who have authorized the lenders to withdraw money from their accounts. “The industry is not in a position to monitor customer accounts to see where their payments are going,” said Virginia O’Neill, senior counsel with the American Bankers Association.

But state and federal officials are taking aim at the banks’ role at a time when authorities are increasing their efforts to clamp down on payday lending and its practice of providing quick money to borrowers who need cash.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are examining banks’ roles in the online loans, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter. Benjamin M. Lawsky, who heads New York State’s Department of Financial Services, is investigating how banks enable the online lenders to skirt New York law and make loans to residents of the state, where interest rates are capped at 25 percent.

For the banks, it can be a lucrative partnership. At first blush, processing automatic withdrawals hardly seems like a source of profit. But many customers are already on shaky financial footing. The withdrawals often set off a cascade of fees from problems like overdrafts. Roughly 27 percent of payday loan borrowers say that the loans caused them to overdraw their accounts, according to a report released this month by the Pew Charitable Trusts. That fee income is coveted, given that financial regulations limiting fees on debit and credit cards have cost banks billions of dollars.

Some state and federal authorities say the banks’ role in enabling the lenders has frustrated government efforts to shield people from predatory loans — an issue that gained urgency after reckless mortgage lending helped precipitate the 2008 financial crisis.

Lawmakers, led by Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, introduced a bill in July aimed at reining in the lenders, in part, by forcing them to abide by the laws of the state where the borrower lives, rather than where the lender is. The legislation, pending in Congress, would also allow borrowers to cancel automatic withdrawals more easily. “Technology has taken a lot of these scams online, and it’s time to crack down,” Mr. Merkley said in a statement when the bill was introduced.

While the loans are simple to obtain — some online lenders promise approval in minutes with no credit check — they are tough to get rid of. Customers who want to repay their loan in full typically must contact the online lender at least three days before the next withdrawal. Otherwise, the lender automatically renews the loans at least monthly and withdraws only the interest owed. Under federal law, customers are allowed to stop authorized withdrawals from their account. Still, some borrowers say their banks do not heed requests to stop the loans.

Ivy Brodsky, 37, thought she had figured out a way to stop six payday lenders from taking money from her account when she visited her Chase branch in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn in March to close it. But Chase kept the account open and between April and May, the six Internet lenders tried to withdraw money from Ms. Brodsky’s account 55 times, according to bank records reviewed by The New York Times. Chase charged her $1,523 in fees — a combination of 44 insufficient fund fees, extended overdraft fees and service fees.

For Subrina Baptiste, 33, an educational assistant in Brooklyn, the overdraft fees levied by Chase cannibalized her child support income. She said she applied for a $400 loan from Loanshoponline.com and a $700 loan from Advancemetoday.com in 2011. The loans, with annual interest rates of 730 percent and 584 percent respectively, skirt New York law.

Ms. Baptiste said she asked Chase to revoke the automatic withdrawals in October 2011, but was told that she had to ask the lenders instead. In one month, her bank records show, the lenders tried to take money from her account at least six times. Chase charged her $812 in fees and deducted over $600 from her child-support payments to cover them.

“I don’t understand why my own bank just wouldn’t listen to me,” Ms. Baptiste said, adding that Chase ultimately closed her account last January, three months after she asked.

A spokeswoman for Bank of America said the bank always honored requests to stop automatic withdrawals. Wells Fargo declined to comment. Kristin Lemkau, a spokeswoman for Chase, said: “We are working with the customers to resolve these cases.” Online lenders say they work to abide by state laws.

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Gunfire and deadly crash rattle the Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS — A spectacular predawn crash on the Strip — triggered when bullets fired from a black Range Rover peppered a Maserati — hit this resort city right between the eyes. In the end, three people were dead and a major intersection under lockdown during a three-state manhunt for the shooters, leaving even casino veterans used to the extraordinary scratching their heads.

The mayhem was sparked, witnesses told police, by a quarrel early Thursday at a hotel valet stand.

The two vehicles left the Aria resort hotel and were heading north on Las Vegas Boulevard at 4:20 a.m., an hour when the casino marquees shine brightly but the gambling thoroughfare is largely empty. At Harmon Avenue, occupants inside the Range Rover opened fire on the Maserati, police said.

The silver-gray sports car, which was struck several times, sped into the intersection at Flamingo Road, ramming a Yellow cab. The taxi exploded, killing the driver and a passenger. Four other vehicles in the intersection were also involved in the crash and explosion, but officers offered no details.

"Omg Omg Omg that car just blew up!" one witness tweeted shortly after the crash, posting a photo of the wreckage. "God Bless their Souls! Omg!"

The driver of the Maserati died later at a hospital, police said. A passenger in the vehicle received minor injuries and was being interviewed by investigators. At least three others were also injured.

Police in Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah were on alert for the distinctive black Range Rover SUV, described as having dark-tinted windows, black rims and out-of-state paper dealer plates.

"We are going to pursue these individuals and prosecute them," Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said at an afternoon news conference. "This act was totally unacceptable. It's not just tragic but unnecessary — the level of violence we see here in Las Vegas and across America."

Authorities had not publicly identified the dead. But a Las Vegas television station late Thursday identified the taxi driver as Michael Boldon, 62, who the station said had recently moved here from Michigan to care for his 93-year-old mother.

The victim's son, who drives a limousine, told Fox News 5 that he last talked with his father after 3 a.m., and later called his cellphone shortly after the crash to warn him to avoid the Strip. But there was no answer.

The station also identified the driver of the Maserati as Ken Cherry, a rap artist from Oakland who also is known as "Kenny Clutch." The station quoted family members identifying Cherry as the driver. An Internet video of a Cherry song called "Stay Schemin" shows two men in a vehicle on the Strip.

Police had more questions than answers.

"It began with a dispute at a nearby hotel and spilled onto the streets," said Capt. Chris Jones of the Las Vegas Police Robbery and Homicide Division.

The morning's events threw the Strip into disarray all day. The gambling boulevard's busiest and best-known intersection was cordoned off by yellow police tape until nightfall, keeping traffic and curious pedestrians away from the carnage. Even skywalks were blocked off.

While slot machines beeped and card games continued inside casinos around the accident scene — including the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Paris Las Vegas — hotel bell captains were fielding questions from tourists who had awakened to news of the crash and the Strip shutdown. The alleys and side streets between nearby hotels were clogged with pedestrians who inched along on narrow sidewalks, past delivery doors, many making their own paths between the landscaped bushes and palm trees.

Even casino industry workers were thrown into turmoil. Hotel maids and dealers who finished their midnight shifts after dawn were left without bus service home. "I'm stranded," said Tiruselam Kefyalew, 25, a maid. "What a day to leave my cellphone at home."

Limousine drivers who normally prowl the city's gambling core improvised detours. Some said the police blockade would cost them $500 or more in lost business and tips.

"Most people understand, but you have your complainers," said Jim DeSanto, a limo driver who waited for fares outside Bally's casino. "Those people will complain, even when everything is perfect."

Well after noon, guests peered out nearby hotel windows and others leaned into the street to glimpse the crime scene.

"Hey, honey, it must have happened right here," one man told his wife as they left Caesars around noon. The tourist, who would only say that he had arrived from Tampa, Fla., the previous evening, had looked out his hotel window at 4:30 to see a vehicle in flames.

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Building of the Week: Atlas' Exoskeleton

Each week, Wired Design brings you a photo of one of our favorite buildings, showcasing boundary-pushing architecture and design involved in the unique structures that make the world's cityscapes interesting. Check back Fridays for the continuing series, and feel free to make recommendations in the comments, by Twitter, or by e-mail.

Like a big, square, beetle, Wageningen University's Atlas Building is primarily supported by its exoskeleton. The concrete latticework reduces the need for pillars on the inside, and the building contains a large, open atrium with footbridges between floors. Completed in 2007, Atlas was also built with convertible labs, so it can be reconfigured internally as its occupants' needs change. Designed by Rafael Vinolly Architects and OeverZaaijer Architecture and Urbanism, the building houses Wageningen's Water and Climate Center, Soil Group, and Environmental Sciences Group. as well as a massive, hanging globe of the Earth, fittingly.

Top photo: Courtesy of Rafael Vinoly Architects;

Bottom photo: Courtesy Flickr/Erik van Ravenstein

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Well: Savory Pie Recipes for Health

Pie is an indulgence often saved for holiday time. But this week Martha Rose Shulman shows us how to bake a pie and eat it too, without the guilt. She offers savory vegetable pies, showcased in whole grain crusts. She writes:

This week I slowed down and made pies: savory ones filled with vegetables … I used a number of different crusts for my winter pies. My favorite remains the whole wheat yeasted olive oil crust that I have used before in this column, but I also worked with a simple Mediterranean crust made with a mix of whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and olive oil. And for those of you who are gluten-free, I made another foray into gluten-free pastry and produced one I liked a lot, which was a mix of buckwheat flour, millet flour and potato starch. It had a strong nutty flavor that worked well with a very savory, very vegan, tofu and mushroom “quiche.” They are all simple to mix together and easy to roll or press out. And if you don’t feel like dealing with a crust, just use Greek phyllo. The important things, after all, are the savory vegetables inside.

Here are recipes for a pie crust and four savory winter vegetable pies.

Whole Wheat Mediterranean Pie Crust: A simple Mediterranean crust made with a mix of whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and olive oil.

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Mixed Greens Galette With Onions and Chickpeas: A tasty way to use bagged greens in a dish with Middle Eastern overtones.

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Goat Cheese, Chard and Herb Pie in a Phyllo Crust: A garlicky mix of greens and your choice of herbs inside a crispy phyllo crust.

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Tofu Mushroom ‘Quiche’: A vegan dish with a deep, rich flavor.

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Winter Tomato Quiche: Canned tomatoes can be used in the off season for a delicious dinner.

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