“Former Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small had inquired about the institution’s insurance policies with Chubb Group at a time when he collected compensation from the insurer as a member of Chubb’s board of directors, people familiar with the contacts said yesterday. Smithsonian officials previously said Small was never involved in the museum’s insurance policies.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Online Radio Stations Protest Royalties With Silence
“Across the Internet, the music will die today. It’s a protest staged by online radio stations to preview what they say will happen when substantially higher royalty rates kick in next month, silencing for good stations that can’t afford them. Thousands of webcasters will replace their music streams today with periods of silence and occasional messages about the dispute, urging people to press Congress to reverse the royalty rate and fee increase set by a federal board.”
Why Shielding Kids From Violent TV Isn’t Congress’ Job
“This week, Congress will once again consider what to do about the perceived threat to children from television violence,” Laurence H. Tribe writes. “Even the staunchest critics of TV violence must concede that only certain depictions cause real concern. But letting government decide which depictions threaten children’s welfare (and therefore should be labeled or otherwise restricted or segregated) is both unconstitutional and unwise.”
Pasadena Exec: Musicians’ Grievance Part Of Process
“Responding to a musicians union’s claim of unfair labor practices, Pasadena Symphony executive director Tom O’Connor said Monday that the filing was ‘part of a normal process.’ The union grievance is in response to a proposed merger between the symphony and the Pasadena Pops Orchestra.”
Treatment Of Rushdie Signals A Society’s Values
Salman “Rushdie’s new honor raises the same question now that his work raised when Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a fatwah against him in 1989. Do we choose to live in a world that honors writers or in a world that kills them?”
To Kenya, A Voluntary Return Of Stolen Statues
“For some two decades the nine carved statues were displayed in the Park Avenue apartment of the producer Lewis M. Allen and the screenwriter Jay Presson Allen. … Ranging from four to six feet tall, the objects, known as vigango, were looted in recent decades from the burial sites of the rural Mijikenda people on the Kenyan coast.” Now Kenya is getting the objects back from Brooke Allen, the couple’s daughter.
Getty Still Buying Antiquities, True’s Successor Says
However much scrutiny other museums face over their acquisition of antiquities, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles probably faces more. But newly appointed antiquities curator Karol Wight — a protegee of her predecessor, Marion True, who remains on trial in Rome on looting charges — “declared that despite the pressures, she did not intend to play a passive role in the international antiquities trade. ‘We do intend to be active in the market,’ she said. ‘This still is a growing collection.'”
An Unlikely Opera Singer, Embraced By The People
“A 36-year-old dentally challenged cellphone salesman wins a nationally televised talent contest in Britain, and suddenly, all sorts of questions are raised about the role of classical music in our world. That is because the winner, Paul Potts, from Wales, triumphed with a rendition of ‘Nessun dorma,’ the tenor aria from Puccini’s ‘Turandot,’ at a contest with the trappings and audience — seemingly — of the mass entertainment world.”
Low-Income Housing: Where Design Gets Adventurous
This spring, the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave three of its design awards “to housing complexes built by nonprofit developers, while an urban design commendation celebrated the rebirth of a public housing project. This isn’t a fluke, or political correctness applied to subsidized housing. It reflects a surprising aspect of today’s urban landscape: Many of the most progressive buildings — both in appearance and function — are designed expressly for low- and moderate-income residents.”
In Praise Of “So You Think You Can Dance” (Really!)
“Even though you may imagine that ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is just a dippy ‘American Idol’ also-ran, even though you’d rather iron your soft pants and regrout your tub than watch dorky teenagers waltzing or, worse yet, putting on ‘funky hats’ and ‘hip-hopping’ or whatever they call it, this show really is worth watching. … Each performance, whether it’s a contemporary extravaganza of tangled limbs and faux-passionate emoting or a faux-passionate Argentine tango or a romantic, graceful faux-passionate waltz, depends on the real passion of the dancers involved.”