NH bills: Bosses can’t seek social media passwords

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire is considering joining a handful of states that bar employers from asking job applicants and employees for their social media user names and passwords.

The House’s labor committee is holding a hearing on two similar bills Tuesday that would prohibit an employer from requiring the disclosure. Maryland, California, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey and Illinois have similar laws and two dozen besides New Hampshire are considering legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In their effort to vet job applicants, some companies and government agencies have started asking for passwords to log into a prospective employee’s accounts on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Critics call it an invasion of privacy akin to handing over the keys to the person’s house.

State Sen. Donna Soucy, a co-sponsor on both New Hampshire bills, said Monday that employers can gain access to information about an employee or job applicant through social media accounts like Facebook that they otherwise could not legally obtain. She said people post personal information about themselves on Facebook or others post on the person’s page that should be protected.

She said she has not heard of any New Hampshire employers demanding the information.

“I think the issue is something we need to consider a lot more seriously than we used to” with the growth of social media accounts, she said. “At the very least, I would hope we would have a study.”

Soucy, D-Manchester, said employers can use information on social media accounts to discriminate. For example, the applicant might be obese but the person’s weight would not be required on the application. The employer might not know until seeing a picture on Facebook, she said.

“Would they interview them if they saw their picture on Facebook?” she said.

Soucy said other people can post information on the person’s page that the person might not delete before a prospective employer saw it.

“As responsible as somebody might trying to be, it is still a reflection on them,” she said.

Allowing employers access to social media accounts also gives them access to others linked to the account at the infringement on their privacy, she said.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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The Lede: Latest Updates on the Pope’s Resignation

The Lede is providing updates on Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement on Monday that he intends to resign on Feb. 28, less than eight years after he took office, the first pope to do so in six centuries. (Turn off auto-refresh to watch videos.)

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Eagles, QB Vick agree to restructured deal

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Quarterback Michael Vick, who was slated to earn $16 million next season, has agreed to a restructured deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Vick, who was injured and inconsistent last season, eventually giving way to rookie Nick Foles, now has a three-year contract, and will compete with Foles over the next nine months to see who runs new coach Chip Kelly's offense this season.

Vick, who returned to start the season finale vs. the New York Giants in December because Foles was injured, finished the season with 2,362 yards passing, 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Eagles finished 4-12 and in last place in the NFC East.

Andy Reid was fired as coach the day after the season ended, and Kelly was hired last month. Vick, who will be 33 when next season begins, is still elusive when healthy, and seems equipped to run Kelly's aggressive, up-tempo offense that he is bringing to the Eagles from Oregon.

"He wanted to be here," Kelly said Monday in his first meeting with the media following his opening press conference on Jan. 17. "I had never met him before. The one thing that attracted me to him, is Michael is a competitor. Nick is, too. You want guys who want to compete."

Vick was signed by Philadelphia in 2009, and became the starter in 2010. He led the Eagles that season to an NFC East title, and a memorable 38-31 December win over the Giants in which he rallied the team from a 21-point deficit.

There are questions, of course, about his durability and his age, as he now seems far removed from that resurgent 2010 season. He finished that year with 3,018 yards passing, 676 yards rushing and 30 total touchdowns.

"He's younger than (Dallas quarterback) Tony Romo, and he's right about the same age as (Giants quarterback) Eli Manning," Kelly said. "The only reason I say that is because I told Michael that this morning, and he didn't know."

Vick only played in 10 games last season, and in the finale vs. New York, he had a quarterback rating of just 68.4 en route to a 42-7 loss.

"I looked at the films, and studied the tape. When you look at Michael, it's his toughness. That cannot be overrated at all," Kelly said. "We looked at his skillset. He still has that skillset. He can still throw the football.

"He's got an unbelievable release, and it's our job as coaches to make sure he can get the ball out quickly."

All told, Vick has started 35 games for Philadelphia over the last three seasons. Foles has started six. The Eagles scored just 280 points last season as they endured an eight- and a three-game losing streak. Only Arizona (250) scored fewer in the NFC.

When asked which quarterback would work with the first-team offense in training camp, Kelly smiled and quickly showed he's going to be able to handle the Philadelphia media just fine.

"We'll go alphabetical," he said with a grin. "First name? Last name? We'll flip a coin."

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Well: Price for a New Hip? Good Luck Getting a Reliable Estimate

Jaime Rosenthal, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, called more than 100 hospitals in every state last summer, seeking prices for a hip replacement for a 62-year-old grandmother who was uninsured but had the means to pay herself.

The quotes she received might surprise even hardened health care economists: only about half of the hospitals, including top-ranked orthopedic centers and community hospitals, could provide any sort of price estimate, despite repeated calls. Those that could gave quotes that varied by a factor of more than 10, from $11,100 to $125,798.

Ms. Rosenthal’s grandmother was fictitious, created for a summer research project on health care costs. But the findings, which form the basis of a paper released on Monday by JAMA Internal Medicine, are likely to fan the debate on the unsustainable growth of American health care costs and an opaque medical system in which prices are often hidden from consumers.

“Transparency is all the rage these days in government and business, but there has been little push for pricing transparency in health care, and there’s virtually no information,” said Dr. Peter Cram, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa, who wrote the paper with Ms. Rosenthal. He added: “I can get the price for a car, for a can of oil, for a gallon of milk. But health care? That’s not so easy.”

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act focused primarily on providing insurance to Americans who did not have it. But the high price of care remains an elephant in the room. Although many experts have said that Americans must become more discerning consumers to help rein in costs, the study illustrates how hard that can be.

“We’ve been trying to help patients get good value, but it is really hard to get price commitments from hospitals — we see this all the time,” said Jeff Rice, the chief executive of Healthcare Blue Book, a company that collects data on medical procedures, doctors visits and tests. “And even if they say $20,000, it often turns out $40,000 or 60,000.”

There are many caveats to the study. Most patients — or insurers — never pay the full sticker price of surgery, because insurance companies bargain with hospitals and doctors for discounted rates. When Ms. Rosenthal balked at initial high estimates, some hospitals produced lower rates for a person without insurance.

But in other ways the telephone quotations underestimated prices, because they did not include the fees for outpatient rehabilitation, for example.

In an accompanying commentary, Andrew Steinmetz and Ezekiel J. Emanuel of the University of Pennsylvania acknowledged that there was “no justification” for the inability to provide estimates or for the wide range of prices. But they said that more rigorous data on quality — like infection rates and unexpected deaths — were required to know when high prices were worth it.

“Without quality data to accompany price data, physicians, consumers and other health care decision makers have no idea if a lower price represents shoddy quality of if it constitutes good value,” they wrote.

But, broadly, researchers emphasized that studies had found little consistent correlation between higher prices and better quality in American health care. Dr. Cram said there was no data that “Mercedes” hip implants were better than cheaper options, for example.

Jamie Court, the president of the California-based Consumer Watchdog, said: “If one hospital can put in a hip for $12,000, then every hospital should be able to do it. When there’s 100 percent variation in sticker price, then there is no real price. It’s about profit.”

Dr. Cram said the study did contain some good news: some of the country’s top-ranked hospitals came up with “bargain basement prices” in response to repeated calls. “If you’re a good consumer and shop around, you can get a good price — you don’t have to pay $120,000 for a Honda,” he said.

But that shopping can be arduous in a market not set up to respond to consumers. To get a total price, Ms. Rosenthal often had to call the hospital to get its estimate for on-site care, and a separate quote from doctors. And many were simply perplexed when she asked for a price upfront, Ms. Rosenthal said, adding, “The people who answered didn’t know what to do with the question.”

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How to Cope With Time Zone Changes and Jet Lag When Flying

Ilona De March, who lives in Amsterdam and travels frequently to Atlanta, has a strict rule when she flies across time zones: no alcohol.

A business traveler for 20 years, Ms. De March, a president at BCD Travel, knows the intricacies of long-haul flying — what works and what doesn’t.

When she arrives, she has another guideline. “I don’t lie down because then I would fall asleep,” she said. “I get busy working; I contact people in Atlanta. Then I am able to go to sleep at the right time.” What is the right time?

For her, the right time is nighttime in Atlanta. “I am trying to listen to my own body,” said Ms. De March, who oversees BCD Travel’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

She still relishes the lifestyle. “I still haven’t lost the interest,” she said, though she added that “the travel isn’t as glamorous as it used to be, with tighter security.”

Yet, according to circadian rhythm experts, the lifestyle can take a toll on the mind and body. Just how much it affects an individual varies.

Research from June 2012 by AirPlus International, a global corporate card provider, in partnership with Business Travel Market, showed that executives who travel frequently could suffer from “decreases in mental capacity, increased stress levels and decreased productivity.”

The study, which used a tiny device called the Bodyguard to monitor heart rate variations, compared travelers with nontravelers during a 72-hour period.

The business travelers showed reduced mental capacity, diminished communication skills, decreased ability to concentrate and engage others, reduced tolerance levels and an increased risk of ill health. It corroborated earlier research by Mark Rosekind, the former director of NASA’s fatigue countermeasures program who is now a member of the National Transportation Safety Board. The average executive’s productivity and performance while traveling drops up to 20 percent, largely because of insufficient sleep, according to Dr. Rosekind’s research.

How well individuals cope with crossing time zones varies, and everyone must learn what works. “There are some people who can do it,” said Simon Shepard, a physical therapist in London for Optima-life, a British health and performance organization. He worked on the AirPlus study. “There are some people who are adaptable and can cope very well,” he said. But some people are less aware of travel’s effects, and believe they are sleeping better than they are. Mr. Shepard says he encourages frequent travelers to fly in first class or business class, avoid alcohol, move around while in flight, arrange for an early hotel check-in, have a car waiting when they arrive and stay hydrated before, during and after the flight.

David F. Dinges, a performance expert who has worked with NASA astronauts and has conducted research in the area of sleep deprivation and time zones, agreed that everyone dealt with travel across time zones differently. “Some tolerate it better than others. All get in deficit. There are large individual differences.”

Generally, he said, there are three types of people when it comes to crossing time zones. One, which he calls Type 3, who are very disrupted, “really affected”; Type 2, who are somewhat affected; and Type 1, who seem to take longer before they show the effects of frequent travel across time zones. “They cope pretty well,” said Dr. Dinges, who is chief of the division of sleep and chronobiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Dinges, who travels frequently from Philadelphia to Moscow and Philadelphia to Paris, recounted instances when he and other scientists had arrived in Moscow, Paris, Singapore or Tokyo, and, while waiting in the lobby for a limousine to take them to a meeting, boasted of how well they did with the time zone difference and lack of sleep. The next thing he heard, Dr. Dinges said, was one scientist asking: “Where’s my computer?” Then another: “Where’s my passport?” Both headed back to their hotel rooms to get the missing items.

“What people say has nothing to do with reality,” Dr. Dinges said. “You can have loss of short-term memory, which is especially likely to happen in a novel environment.”

One of the benefits of proper sleep is that it ensures that the brain works efficiently.

Sleep deprivation, Dr. Dinges said, is associated with obesity, diabetes, stroke and heart attack, which could be enough to make frequent travelers question their lifestyle, and some do, he said. Those who have the most difficulty are the ones who quit the lifestyle, if they can. “Eat fish, salad, fruit, juices for vitamins and energy,” said Chris Crowley, senior vice president for global client management for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for BCD Travel. “The big lesson is not to drink alcohol. I’ve been traveling like this for 20 years. I used to accept the first glass of Champagne offered. I would be sluggish and struggling when I arrived. You have to approach the long-haul travel like you’re at work, as a kind of mission. Be as fit as you possibly can be, as well as you possibly can be.”

Dr. Dinges, 63, who has been traveling to far-flung places for 35 to 40 years, said he had developed routines particular to his needs. He does not sleep on planes, drinks no alcohol, avoids rich foods and does not put his airplane seat back, choosing to work instead. “Know your strengths and weaknesses, what happens to you, what kind of mistakes you’re likely to make.” In addition, he said, he tries to arrive at his destination the day before his business meetings.

Over-the-counter sleep medication usually remains in the body for less time than prescription drugs, he said. “Know what drug at which dose is right for you. Don’t guess at it, and don’t mix sleep medication with alcohol.”

Those who travel across time zones recommend a nap to keep going. “Grab sleep whenever you can,” said Mr. Crowley, who travels 220 to 230 days a year. “Even if you’re not tired, you’ll sleep an hour.”

One caveat: Set two or three alarms to make sure you are awake in time for the business meeting or other work commitment.

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Tech wizards honored by Oscars organizers

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) – Some of the most ingenious behind-the-scenes innovators, whose breakthroughs in computer technology and other fields were key to the making of movies such as “Shrek” and “Avatar,” were awarded at an early Oscar organizers’ ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

From the team who developed a system to bring to life computerized digital stunt doubles for fantastic creatures in movies such as “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” to the man who simply developed one of the most versatile lighting delivery systems in film production, the Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards showcased emotional speeches and lifetimes of work for those whose lives are spent behind the camera.

The Beverly Hills ceremony honored 25 individuals with nine awards. Unlike the main Oscars ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, February 24 and will only recognize movie achievements from 2012, the Scientific and Technical Awards honored those with a proven record of achievement in the process of making feature films.

The ceremony was hosted by actors Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana, who respectively played Captain James T. Kirk and Uhura in “Star Trek” in 2009 and who will reprise those roles in this May’s sequel. Saldana payed tribute to the night’s honorees, saying they made it possible for life in front of the camera.

Richard Mall received perhaps the greatest applause of the night, for his invention of the Matthews Max Menace Arm, a portable device which allows studio lights to be moved and positioned all over a set, often where normal lighting cannot be used because of on-site restrictions of other difficult conditions.

“I am a little humbled to be up here with all this technology, because basically I built something in my garage,” Mall said to applause and cheers. He thanked his wife for all the strange noises that had come out of that garage. His invention has been sold to over 40 countries and used in more than 300 films.

The evening was also devoted to people who had invented systems such as “Tissue: A Physically-Based Character Simulation Framework,” which has made huge advances in bringing to life computer-generated characters such as Gollum in “The Hobbit“. An Academy Plaque for Scientific and Engineering went to Simon Clutterbuck, James Jacobs and Dr. Richard Dorling for this technique.

The team of Daniel Wexler, Lawrence Kesteloot and Drew Olbrich that created the Light system for computer graphics at PDI/DreamWorks was awarded for technical achievement. Their work, which combines light, color and rendering in one, was used in “Shrek,” “Madagascar” and other animated DreamWorks pictures.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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IHT Rendezvous: Sharper Tongues in China's Year of the Snake?

BEIJING — The Snake is determined and smart, according to traditional Chinese beliefs. Today is New Year’s Day in China, the first day in the Year of the Snake, and a good day to ask: Will Xi Jinping, a “snake” set to become president in March (Mr. Xi was born in a Year of the Snake, in 1953) bring change to China?

Whether or not one believes in feng shui — the thought system based on geomancy, astronomy and folk wisdom of which the 12-yearly animal cycle is part — many here swear by it, and that makes the confluence of the man and the year important.

As the rational economist He Fan said last year, at the beginning of the Year of the Dragon: Feng shui may not be rational, but it is “symbolic,” “and that’s important, because that’s how China’s political culture works.”

So as ordinary people across the nation settle into their hard-earned, weeklong holiday amid the thunder of festival firecrackers, some are wondering whether recent calls by Mr. Xi to attack corruption and “criticize sharply” the ruling Communist Party will bring unwelcome shocks to members of the privileged classes in China, including the party, the government and state-run companies, widely seen as too powerful and too corrupt.

Skepticism about real change is rife, for sure, but signs say maybe, at least to some degree. And if that sounds woolly, it is because making predictions in China is notoriously difficult. Yet it is also important as the nation grows in international stature: As Bloomberg News notes, 2012 may have marked the year when China became the world’s largest trading nation. China was last the world’s biggest economy during the Qing dynasty, Bloomberg noted (though back then it didn’t focus on trade, Bloomberg wrote).

Some say the change has already begun, amid a deepening campaign against corruption announced by Mr. Xi after he was appointed general secretary of the party in November. The state’s anti-corruption warnings are being taken more seriously now than at any time in the past decade because they come from Mr. Xi, who is regarded as potentially a strong leader fast establishing his dominance, already the most eminent member of the seven-man Standing Committee of the Politburo, China’s inner circle of power.

One sign: Traditionally lavish end-of-the-year parties thrown by powerful state-owned companies, and thus paid for from the public purse, have been canceled in large numbers, causing great satisfaction among ordinary people as high-end restaurants in Beijing are suddenly available for traditional New Year family dinners. In previous years, getting a booking was impossible. This year, it’s not.

Another sign: a recent call by Mr. Xi for “sharp criticism” of the Communist Party.

“Chinese leader Xi Jinping has urged the Communist Party of China (CPC) to be more tolerant of criticism and receptive to the views of non-communists,” Xinhua, the state-run news agency, reported last week.

“The CPC should be able to put up with sharp criticism, correct mistakes if it has committed them and avoid them if it has not,” Xinhua quoted Mr. Xi as saying, adding that nonparty members should “have the courage to tell the truth, speak words jarring on the ear, and truthfully reflect public aspirations.”

The call has been — what else? — sharply criticized, in fast and furious microblog postings showing just how deep is the well of resentment against the state’s heavy hand in some quarters.

Shortly after 9 a.m. on New Year’s Day, Ai Weiwei, the artist, snapped on his Twitter account: “First sentence of the New Year, release all political prisoners.”

The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper, gathered more acerbic responses:

The venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee: “Will you stop silencing and shutting down microblog accounts?”

Xu Xiaonian, an economics professor: “Will you stop censoring books and media reports?”

Chen Tongkui, an academic: “Will you stop press censorship?”

Wang Xiaoyu, another academic: “Can you not delete the comments on this microblog post?”

The real estate magnate Ren Zhiqiang: “Will you stop criminalizing people’s speech and sentencing them to re-education through labor?”

Cui Weiping, an academic: “Will you put an end to police harassment” of activists and netizens?

Yet, for many ordinary Chinese, there is hope. Incomes are rising, and there is a whiff of, yes, change in the air. In a recent, colorfully presented survey by TNS, part of Kantar, an information and consulting group, 88 percent of people surveyed in China were positive about the Year of the Snake, the company said.

As Mr. He said of last year, which saw the dramatic downfall of the political scion Bo Xilai, seen by some as a contender for Mr. Xi’s position, amid a murder and corruption scandal: “Something happens in every Dragon Year, even if it’s just a turning point.” Often, the real action begins a year or two later.

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Snedeker, Hahn tied for the lead at Pebble

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — At least this time, Brandt Snedeker feels it's a fair fight.

He started the final round at Torrey Pines seven shots behind Tiger Woods. A week later in the Phoenix Open, he went into the final round six shots behind Phil Mickelson.

Snedeker, the hottest player in golf this year without a win to show for it, put matters into his own hands Saturday by running off four straight birdies along the prettiest part of Pebble Beach for a 4-under 68 that gave him a share of the lead with 31-year-old rookie James Hahn in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

"You never know what tomorrow holds, but I feel like I'm in great position, and I'm going to be surely more prepared, no matter who is around me in the last group," said Snedeker, who posted his ninth straight round in the 60s. "I'm probably going to have the most experience of anybody in those last couple groups of winning a golf tournament."

That won't make Sunday any easier.

Snedeker made a detour to the CBS Sports booth after his round, and then headed straight to the practice green. He was irritated by missing four birdie putts inside 10 feet, including on the last two holes that cost him some room for error on the final day.

Hahn birdied his last three holes for a 66 at Spyglass Hill, putting him in the final group for the first time. They were at 12-under 202, one shot ahead of Chris Kirk, who had a 64 on the super-fast greens of Monterey Peninsula.

Mickelson tumbled down the rocks and down the leaderboard on the final hole at Pebble Beach.

The defending champion hit a tee shot on the par-5 18th that ran over the cliff and down toward the beach. Mickelson went down to see if the ball could be found — and possibly played — when his right foot gave way and he handed hard on his back side, bracing for the fall with his hands.

For all the celebrity antics that are part of the show Saturday at Pebble, this is the one video that might go viral.

"I got lucky," Mickelson said. "I didn't get hurt."

Not physically, anyway. Mickelson hit his next shot into the Pacific Ocean and had to scramble for a triple bogey, leaving him 11 shots behind and ending his hopes of a record-tying fifth win at Pebble Beach.

All the attention now shifts to Snedeker, who has shot in the 60s in 15 out of his 18 rounds this year. Mickelson had a good look at Snedeker last week in Phoenix when he finally put him away with late birdies on the back nine.

"He's been playing great golf these last couple of weeks ... and it looks like this could be his week," Mickelson said. "But final round at Pebble Beach, a lot of things happen and he has to play one more good round. I know he has it in him, but he still has to go do it."

A year ago, Mickelson came from six shots off the lead to win. There were two dozen players within six shots of the lead after Saturday's round, a group that included Retief Goosen and U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, whose 7-under 65 at Pebble was the lowest score to par all week.

Pebble Beach was simply majestic on Saturday, with a blazing sun shining across the Pacific coast and temperatures in the upper 50s.

Snedeker began his big run with a 3-wood up the hill and onto the green at the par-5 sixth for a two-putt birdie. He followed with a 10-foot birdie on the seventh, and then hit two of his best shots on two of the toughest holes at Pebble — a 7-iron over a corner of the ocean to about 5 feet below the hole on the eighth, and a baby cut with an 8-iron that plopped down 4 feet away for a birdie on the ninth.

He didn't make many putts the rest of the way, however, and had to settle for a 68.

In his last nine rounds, Snedeker's average score is 67.8. The difference has been his driving, which went from a weakness to strength late last summer when he won the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup. Now he wants a trophy to back up the low scores.

"You want to win any time you have a chance because you don't know how many times you're going to get that in a year," Snedeker said. "I've had a couple chances the last couple weeks— haven't been the best chances. And this week, I have a great chance going into tomorrow. And you need to capitalize on those chances."

Snedeker missed four birdie putts inside 10 feet, including the last two holes. He badly misjudged the break on an 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th and made a weak effort from 8 feet on the 18th hole.

"The last two really upset me because I felt like I really stayed patient all day and had done a great job and hit two great shots on the last couple of holes," Snedeker said. "Those are the kind of putts you need to put some room between you and whoever else you're going to be around."

In this case, that would be Hahn, who seems to thrive in any environment.

Until now, Hahn was best known for his "Gangnam Style" celebration of his birdie on the 16th hole at the Phoenix Open. If he was secure enough to dance before the rowdiest gallery in golf, then he should be OK playing in the final group at Pebble Beach with a round that could severely change his career path.

At stake are a two-year exemption and a trip to the Masters.

"I'm not even in next week's tournament, so to me, a top-10 finish would be great," Hahn said. "So if you want to compare the Northern Trust Open to Augusta, we can. I would love to play another week out on tour, but just to learn from Brandt Snedeker, he's one of the hottest golfers on the planet right now."

Hahn isn't one of those can't-miss rookies. He's only a year older than Snedeker, and took a far different path to the big leagues. He dropped out of California, and then took time off to work at an advertising agency, earned his realtor's license and even sold shoes at Nordstrom's.

"I feel like I'm playing well just because I feel comfortable," he said. "You know, comfortable and having fun, that's when I'm playing my best golf. ... I feel like my attitude on the golf course is better than it has been in recent years, and not getting so frustrated out there, just kind of enjoying the moment. I keep saying that, but it's a blast to be inside the ropes and a member of the PGA Tour."

DIVOTS: Mike Weir, who missed every cut last year, had four birdies on his last eight holes to make his second cut this year. ... Among those missing the cut were two-time Pebble winner Dustin Johnson, Padraig Harrington and Geoff Ogilvy. Ogilvy, who has not broken par in his last three events, is assured of missing the Match Play Championship. ... Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who played with Tiger Woods last year, is leading the pro-am with Jordan Spieth as his partner. San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander were among those making the cut.

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For Families Struggling with Mental Illness, Carolyn Wolf Is a Guide in the Darkness

When a life starts to unravel, where do you turn for help?

Melissa Klump began to slip in the eighth grade. She couldn’t focus in class, and in a moment of despair she swallowed 60 ibuprofen tablets. She was smart, pretty and ill: depression, attention deficit disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, either bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder.

In her 20s, after a more serious suicide attempt, her parents sent her to a residential psychiatric treatment center, and from there to another. It was the treatment of last resort. When she was discharged from the second center last August after slapping another resident, her mother, Elisa Klump, was beside herself.

“I was banging my head against the wall,” the mother said. “What do I do next?” She frantically called support groups, therapy programs, suicide prevention lines, anybody, running down a list of names in a directory of mental health resources. “Finally,” she said, “somebody told me, ‘The person you need to talk to is Carolyn Wolf.’ ”

That call, she said, changed her life and her daughter’s. “Carolyn has given me hope,” she said. “I didn’t know there were people like her out there.”

Carolyn Reinach Wolf is not a psychiatrist or a mental health professional, but a lawyer who has carved out what she says is a unique niche, working with families like the Klumps.

One in 17 American adults suffers from a severe mental illness, and the systems into which they are plunged — hospitals, insurance companies, courts, social services — can be fragmented and overwhelming for families to manage. The recent shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., have brought attention to the need for intervention to prevent such extreme acts of violence, which are rare. But for the great majority of families watching their loved ones suffer, and often suffering themselves, the struggle can be boundless, with little guidance along the way.

“If you Google ‘mental health lawyer,’ ” said Ms. Wolf, a partner with Abrams & Fensterman, “I’m kinda the only game in town.”

On a recent afternoon, she described in her Midtown office the range of her practice.

“We have been known to pull people out of crack dens,” she said. “I have chased people around hotels all over the city with the N.Y.P.D. and my team to get them to a hospital. I had a case years ago where the person was on his way back from Europe, and the family was very concerned that he was symptomatic. I had security people meet him at J.F.K.”

Many lawyers work with mentally ill people or their families, but Ron Honberg, the national director of policy and legal affairs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said he did not know of another lawyer who did what Ms. Wolf does: providing families with a team of psychiatrists, social workers, case managers, life coaches, security guards and others, and then coordinating their services. It can be a lifeline — for people who can afford it, Mr. Honberg said. “Otherwise, families have to do this on their own,” he said. “It’s a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week job, and for some families it never ends.”

Many of Ms. Wolf’s clients declined to be interviewed for this article, but the few who spoke offered an unusual window on the arcane twists and turns of the mental health care system, even for families with money. Their stories illustrate how fraught and sometimes blind such a journey can be.

One rainy morning last month, Lance Sheena, 29, sat with his mother in the spacious family room of her Long Island home. Mr. Sheena was puffy-eyed and sporadically inattentive; the previous night, at the group home where he has been living since late last summer, another resident had been screaming incoherently and was taken away by the police. His mother, Susan Sheena, eased delicately into the family story.

“I don’t talk to a lot of people because they don’t get it,” Ms. Sheena said. “They mean well, but they don’t get it unless they’ve been through a similar experience. And anytime something comes up, like the shooting in Newtown, right away it goes to the mentally ill. And you think, maybe we shouldn’t be so public about this, because people are going to be afraid of us and Lance. It’s a big concern.”

Her son cut her off. “Are you comparing me to the guy that shot those people?”

“No, I’m saying that anytime there’s a shooting, like in Aurora, that’s when these things come out in the news.”

“Did you really just compare me to that guy?”

“No, I didn’t compare you.”

“Then what did you say?”

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American and US Airways Are Expected to Announce Merger This Week

After months of negotiations, American Airlines and US Airways are expected this week to announce a merger, which would create the nation’s biggest airline and concentrate even further a once-fragmented industry.

A merger would expand American’s domestic network, particularly in the Northeast and the Southwest, and create a more formidable competitor internationally. The combined airline would jump ahead of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both of which have grown through mergers of their own in recent years.

The combination would probably bring to an end the wave of consolidation that has swept the industry. Since 2001 there have been five large mergers, reducing the number of airlines to three main carriers, along with a handful of low-cost carriers like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue, and regional carriers.

These mergers have led to cuts in service to many smaller cities around the country. But they have also created healthier and more profitable airlines that are able to invest in new planes and products. Faced with rising fuel costs, and losing tens of billions of dollars in the last decade, airline executives argued that the only way to survive was to consolidate capacity.

American, which has been in bankruptcy protection since November 2011, is currently the nation’s third-largest airline with domestic and international flights; US Airways is the fourth.

The boards of both carriers are expected to meet on Monday to approve the combination, which then needs to be approved by a bankruptcy judge in New York. A tie-up also requires the approval of federal regulators and antitrust authorities. But analysts expect regulators to approve the deal since there is little overlap between the two networks and no hubs in the same cities.

Even if the deal clears all these hurdles, the merged airline still faces a range of challenges. Airline mergers are often rocky — involving complex technological systems, big reservation networks as well as large labor groups with different corporate cultures that all need to be combined seamlessly. United angered passengers last year after a series of merger-related computer and reservation mistakes, and late and delayed flights.

A deal would be a major victory for Doug Parker, the chairman of US Airways, who began pursuing a merger with the bigger carrier soon after American filed for bankruptcy. His argument — that American could succeed against bigger airlines only if it combined networks with US Airways — swayed American’s creditors who have a critical say in the company’s future.

The carriers have been discussing a deal for months. In recent days, both sides have moved much closer but were still trying to figure out how much the merged carrier would be worth and how management positions would be split.

Tom Horton, American’s chairman, who was opposed to a merger for much of the last year, was offered a position as nonexecutive chairman, said a person familiar with the matter but who asked not to be identified because the talks were still under way. US Airways shareholders could end up with about 28 percent of the new airline, and American’s creditors would have 72, this person said.

A merger could be structured to take effect as American exits bankruptcy. The airlines are pushing for a deal before Feb. 15, when some nondisclosure agreements with American bondholders are set to expire.

The new airline will be called American Airlines and based in Dallas. It will have a combined 94,000 employees, 950 planes, 6,500 daily flights, nine major hubs, and total sales of nearly $39 billion. It would be the market leader on the East Coast, the Southwest and South America. But it would remain a smaller player in the Pacific and Europe, where United and Delta are stronger.

Mr. Parker deftly outmaneuvered Mr. Horton by lobbying American’s employees. He gained an important edge last April when he won the public support of American’s three main labor groups. More recently, pilots from both airlines agreed on how they would work together if the merger succeeded.

The success of these labor discussions, even before the merger was formally discussed, helped persuade American’s creditors to follow Mr. Parker’s strategy.

Mr. Horton, and American’s management team, had argued that they should complete the carrier’s reorganization and emerge from bankruptcy as an independent airline before considering any mergers.

But under pressure from Mr. Parker, the management of American Airlines was eventually forced by its creditors to talk to Mr. Parker about a merger. All that was left then was to figure out who was going to lead the merged airline and how much it would be worth.

Mr. Parker, more than anyone in the business, knows the difficulty of integrating two airlines. In 2005, he orchestrated the merger of the airline he was then running, America West, with a larger carrier, US Airways. But pilots from each of these two original airline have yet to agree to a common contract and seniority rules, and, to this day, cannot fly together.

The difficulty is likely to be compounded at American. In bankruptcy, American cut thousands of jobs, reduced benefits, froze pensions, and sought higher productivity rules from its employees.

Before the US Airways-American deal, the last major combination was the acquisition of AirTran by Southwest, completed in 2011. That followed the merger of United and Continental Airlines in 2010, which created the current leader, and before that Delta with Northwest.

American has major hubs in Dallas, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. But it has been steadily losing ground to its rivals over the last decade while racking up losses that have totaled more than $12 billion in over 10 years.

US Airways has hubs in Phoenix, Philadelphia and Charlotte, and has a big presence at Washington’s National Airport.

Its shareholders will have to vote on the proposed merger.

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