1. society
2. unrest and war

CMYK
Nxxx,2015-02-11,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
Late Edition
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VOL. CLXIV . . . No. 56,774
$2.50
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015
© 2015 The New York Times
OFFICER IS SAID
TO BE INDICTED
IN MAN’S DEATH
OBAMA IS TO SEEK
WAR POWER BILL
FROM CONGRESS
MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE
A FORMAL COMBAT PLAN
Unarmed Victim Was
Shot in Brooklyn
Stairwell
Both Parties Skeptical of
Strategy Against the
Islamic State
By AL BAKER
and J. DAVID GOODMAN
By JEREMY W. PETERS
A New York City police officer
was indicted Tuesday in the fatal
shooting of an unarmed black
man in a Brooklyn public housing
complex stairwell in November,
several people familiar with the
grand jury’s decision said.
Officer Peter Liang, 27, who
had been on the force for less
than 18 months, was patrolling a
darkened stairwell at the Louis
H. Pink Houses in East New York
when he fired a single shot that
fatally struck the man, Akai Gurley, as he walked downstairs.
Less than 12 hours after the
shooting, Police Commissioner
William J. Bratton called Mr. Gurley, 28, “totally innocent” and
characterized the shooting as an
“unfortunate accident.”
A grand jury impaneled last
week decided it was a crime. The
jurors indicted Officer Liang on
several charges, including second-degree manslaughter, said a
law enforcement official, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity because the indictment
had yet to be unsealed. The other
charges are criminally negligent
homicide, reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and
two counts of official misconduct,
the official said.
A formal announcement in the
case was expected on Wednesday by Kenneth P. Thompson, the
Brooklyn district attorney who,
in just over a year in office, has
drawn considerable attention
with his move to decriminalize
possession of small amounts of
marijuana and his aggressive review of decades-old convictions.
The killing of Mr. Gurley followed fatal encounters between
the police and unarmed black
men — Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.; Eric Garner on Staten
Island — and, while the circumstances of Mr. Gurley’s death
were different, it tore into already fraying relations between
law enforcement and minority
communities around the country.
Mr. Gurley’s name joined others
Continued on Page A25
BRENDAN HOFFMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Surrounded by War, and Preparing to Be Part of It
Ukrainian recruits by the Sea of Azov trained to defend Mariupol if, as expected, the pro-Russian rebels strike there next. Page A6.
Political Clout in Mexico, Homes in the U.S.
TOWERS OF SECRECY
Fourth of five articles.
By LOUISE STORY
and ALEJANDRA XANIC von BERTRAB
In the fall of 2013, one of Mexico’s top housing
officials posted an item on Twitter about an advertising campaign promoting mortgages for
low-income Mexicans. The campaign’s message
was simple: “The most important thing in life is
in your house.”
It carried the tag line, “Homes with value.”
The official, Alejandro Murat Hinojosa,
knows something about homes with value, especially across the border.
Over the years, he and members of his immediate family — starting with his father, José Murat Casab, a former governor of Oaxaca — have
bought at least six properties in the United
States, including two condominiums near a ski
resort in Utah, another at the beach in South
Texas and at least one in Manhattan, according
to records and interviews. In New York, José
Murat’s children have also lived for periods of
time in one of the more modest condos at the
luxurious Time Warner Center overlooking
Central Park.
Ownership of the homes was often obscured
through variations on family names listed on
deeds or through shell companies, according to
records examined by The New York Times. In
fact, on the day the younger Mr. Murat tweeted
about the housing program, public filings in
Florida recorded the transfer of a $750,000 Boca
Raton condo that had been purchased in his
wife’s name to an entity called IMRO 2013 Trust.
The Murats’ real estate holdings stand in contrast to the Everyman image that José Murat,
renowned for his political might and booming
A State Apart:
Gay Marriage
And Alabama
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
and SHAILA DEWAN
personality, worked to project as governor.
“I arrived to the state government with my
wife, Lupita, and my four children,” he said a
year before his term ended in 2004. “And I’m
leaving as I arrived, with the same trousers,
with the same shoes, with the same shirts and
the same car.”
The Murat properties, which emerged during
a Times investigation into the people behind
shell companies that own condominiums at the
Time Warner Center, have not been the subject
of any official inquiry and there is no evidence
of any wrongdoing behind the purchases. But
the private assets of Mexico’s public officials
have come under intense focus recently with a
fresh round of revelations and protests centered
on the country’s endemic corruption.
Last fall, a scandal erupted over reports that
a government contractor had built a multimillion-dollar home for the wife of Mexico’s
president, Enrique Peña Nieto. While Mr. Peña
Continued on Page A22
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — On
Sunday night, Blake Guinn, a 21year-old city councilman in a
deeply conservative suburb here,
looked on Facebook and learned
that, once again, Chief Justice
Roy S. Moore of the State Supreme Court had defied a federal
court in the name of state sovereignty. Somehow, it did not seem
entirely unexpected.
“I support states’ rights, too,”
said Mr. Guinn, a self-described
Christian conservative who voted
for Chief Justice Moore in 2012.
“But I just feel like time and time
again we pick the wrong and losing battles.”
Alabama is a conservative
state where more than a third of
the residents are evangelical
Protestants, seven out of 10 oppose same-sex marriage — including blacks and whites alike —
and the state motto is a bellicose
“We Dare Defend Our Rights.”
Alabama is not unique among
states in strongly opposing samesex marriage, and it is not alone
in bristling under a federal court
order that goes against a subContinued on Page A15
WASHINGTON — The Obama
administration has informed lawmakers that the president will
seek a formal authorization to
fight the Islamic State that would
prohibit the use of “enduring offensive ground forces” and limit
engagement to three years. The
approach offers what the White
House hopes is a middle way on
Capitol Hill for those on the right
and left who remain deeply skeptical of its plans to thwart extremist groups.
The request, which could come
in writing as early as Wednesday
morning, would open what is expected to be a monthslong debate
over presidential war powers and
the wisdom of committing to another unpredictable mission in
the Middle East while the nation
is still struggling with the consequences of two prolonged wars.
Congress has not voted to give
a president formal authority for a
military operation since 2002
when it backed George W. Bush
in his campaign to strike Iraq after his administration promoted
evidence, since discredited, that
Saddam Hussein’s government
possessed unconventional weapons.
The new request to conduct
military operations would repeal
that authorization. But it would
leave in place the broad authority
to counter terrorism that Congress granted Mr. Bush in 2001
after the Sept. 11 attacks, which
many Democrats now believe is
being interpreted too broadly to
justify military actions that were
never intended.
After more than a decade of
war and 7,000 American military
lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan,
President Obama will face doubts
not only from Democrats who
want stricter limitations set on
where he can send troops and
how long his authority will last,
but also from Republicans, who
are dubious of the administration’s strategy for defeating the
Islamic State extremist group.
The White House has tried to
Continued on Page A16
Williams Suspended, at Low Point in His Career; Stewart to Depart at High Point
6-Month Hiatus and
a Murky Future
By EMILY STEEL
and RAVI SOMAIYA
Brian Williams, the embattled
NBC news anchor whose credibility plummeted after he acknowledged exaggerating his
role in a helicopter episode in
Iraq, has been suspended for six
months without pay, the network
said on Tuesday night.
“This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position,” Deborah
Turness, the president of NBC
News, said in a memo. Lester
LLOYD BISHOP/NBC
Brian Williams
Holt, who stepped in for Mr. Williams this week, will continue as
the substitute, the network said.
The suspension culminated a
rapid and startling fall for Mr.
Williams, who at age 55 was not
only the head of the No. 1 evening
news show, but also one of NBC’s
biggest stars, a frequent celebrity
guest on “Saturday Night Live,”
“30 Rock” and the late-night talk
show circuit.
Mr. Williams has been drawing
9.3 million viewers a night, and
his position seemed unassailable.
Even as the stature of the nightly
newscast faded in the face of
real-time digital news, Mr. Williams was one of the most trusted
names in America and commanded the respect accorded predecessors like Walter Cronkite, Tom
Brokaw and Peter Jennings.
But his embellishment of his
helicopter journey and questions
about his other reporting undermined the trust viewers placed in
him. In the six days since he admitted his mistake, he was pilloried relentlessly online, with
Continued on Page B4
Comic Who Became
a Political Power
By DAVE ITZKOFF
Jon Stewart, who turned Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”
into a sharp-edged commentary
on current events, delivering the
news in layers of silliness and
mockery, said on Tuesday that he
would step down after more than
16 years as its anchor.
Mr. Stewart, whose contract
with Comedy Central ends in
September, disclosed his plans
during a taping of the program on
Tuesday. Saying that “in my
heart, I know it is time for some-
INTERNATIONAL A3-13
NATIONAL A14-23
FOOD D1-8
Hostage’s Death Is Confirmed
Killings Perplex St. Louis
Dark Temptations
The parents of
Kayla Mueller,
right, who was abducted by the Islamic State group,
said they had received photos from
the militants that
confirmed she is dead.
As the homicide rate fell in most cities
last year, it jumped in St. Louis. One theory is a “Ferguson effect,” with crime
rising elsewhere while local authorities
PAGE A14
focused on the suburb.
A special issue explores the silky
joys of chocolate:
recipes for rich
desserts, suggestions for Valentine’s Day gifts, advice on pairing
wines and a report on home cooks who
make their bars from scratch. PAGE D1
Tools for the War on Warming
PAGE A12
Strauss-Kahn’s Lust Defense
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former International Monetary Fund chief, said
he had not known prostitutes were
present at orgies he attended. PAGE A13
Security Move in Yemen
The United States suspended embassy
operations in Yemen because of the “uncertain security situation.”
PAGE A8
NEW YORK A20-25
Praise for Mayor’s Rikers Plan
A proposal to add $54 million to the Correction Department budget is seen as
showing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s commitPAGE A25
ment to reform the jail.
A scientific panel called for more research, including outdoor experiments,
on technologies to intervene in nature to
PAGE A17
counter climate change.
ARTS C1-7
BUSINESS DAY B1-9
Activist Investor Targets G.M.
The former Goldman Sachs financier
Harry J. Wilson hopes to gain a board
seat and persuade the carmaker to buy
back $8 billion in shares.
PAGE B1
Top Credits for Ex-Sony Chief
Amy Pascal, left,
who quit after the
media giant’s
hacking scandal,
will produce some
blockbuster film
franchises. PAGE B1
When Things Get Out of Hand
“The Slap,” an American adaptation of
an Australian television series, begins
Thursday on NBC and is a suspenseful
comedy of ill manners that examines
how ordinary lives can be derailed by
PAGE C1
one rash act. A review.
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27
Frank Bruni
PAGE A27
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RICK KERN/GETTY IMAGES FOR COMEDY CENTRAL
Jon Stewart
one else” to have the opportunity
he had, Mr. Stewart told his audience that he was still working out
the details of his departure,
which “might be December,
might be July.”
“I don’t have any specific
plans,” Mr. Stewart said, addressing the camera at the end of his
show, at times seeming close to
tears. “Got a lot of ideas. I got a
lot of things in my head. I’m going to have dinner on a school
night with my family, who I have
heard from multiple sources are
lovely people.”
“I’m not going anywhere tomorrow,” Mr. Stewart added,
“but this show doesn’t deserve
an even slightly restless host,
and neither do you.” Comedy
Central did not elaborate on the
future of the show, except to say
that it “will endure for years to
come.”
In becoming the nation’s satirist in chief, Mr. Stewart imbued
the program with a personal
sense of justice, even indignation.
For a segment of the audience
Continued on Page B4