Well: Southern Flavors on a Vegetarian Table

If you’re looking for new ways to cook vegetables, a trip south of the Mason-Dixon line is a good place to start. The fair weather and long growing season of the South means there’s always a plentiful supply of fresh vegetables and produce.“We live in Memphis, and it’s true there is a lot of barbecue, but there are a good deal of farmers’ markets too,” says Amy Lawrence, co-author of “The Southern...

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BP to Admit Crimes and Pay $4.5 Billion in Gulf Settlement

BP, the British oil company, said Thursday that it would pay $4.5 billion in fines and other payments to the government and plead guilty to 14 criminal charges in connection with the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago. US Coast Guard, via Associated PressThe explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico that was connected to a well owned by BP...

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Israelis Launch Major Assault on Gaza, Killing Hamas Commander

ReutersPalestinians extinguished a fire after an Israeli airstrike on a car carrying Ahmed al-Jabari, who ran Hamas's military wing, on Wednesday in Gaza City. GAZA — Israel on Wednesday launched one of the most ferocious assaults on Gaza since its invasion four years ago, hitting at least 20 targets in aerial attacks that killed the top military commander of Hamas, drew strong condemnation from Egypt...

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App Smart: Apps That Dart and Delight, on Tablets Piloted by Android

Tablets are changing computing, there’s no doubt. I realized this when I saw my 2-year-old son pick up an iPad and master its basic controls, including discovering a child’s app, in about half an hour. The iPad led the way into this brave new world more or less alone at first. It has taken until now for the sheer pressure of innovation inside Apple’s rivals to lead to some great Android-based tablets...

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Filthy Water in California Farmworker Communities

Jim Wilson/The New York TimesStudents at Stone Corral Elementary in Seville, Calif. The school budgets $100 to $500 a month for bottled water. SEVILLE, Calif. — Like most children, the students at Stone Corral Elementary School here rejoice when the bell rings for recess and delight in christening a classroom pet. But while growing up in this impoverished agricultural community of numbered...

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Filthy Water in California Farmworker Communities

Jim Wilson/The New York TimesStudents at Stone Corral Elementary in Seville, Calif. The school budgets $100 to $500 a month for bottled water. SEVILLE, Calif. — Like most children, the students at Stone Corral Elementary School here rejoice when the bell rings for recess and delight in christening a classroom pet. But while growing up in this impoverished agricultural community of numbered...

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Samuel Adams Brewer Counsels Small Businesses

Gretchen Ertl for The New York TimesJim Koch, who started brewing Samuel Adams Boston Lager at his house in 1984, and Carlene O'Garro, who runs a cake business, participate in a program in which big businesses help small ones. Carlene O’Garro’s cake business was barely a month old when she arrived at the Samuel Adams brewery in South Boston recently to meet with business counselors, but she brought...

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White House Supports Top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan

President Obama has faith in Gen. John R. Allen, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, the White House spokesman said on Tuesday, after it was disclosed that the general was under investigation for what the Pentagon called “inappropriate communication” with the woman whose complaint to the F.B.I. set off the scandal involving David H. Petraeus’s extramarital affair. “The president...

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Critic’s Notebook: Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Halo 4

ActivisionCall of Duty: Black Ops II. If you’re playing a popular video game on your television these days, there’s a good chance that you’re pretending to shoot something. ArtsBeatBreaking news about the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia and more.A sortable calendar of noteworthy cultural events in the New York region, selected by Times critics. ActivisionA...

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‘Half-Match’ Bone Marrow Transplants Cure Sickle Cell in Trial

In her mid-20s, Yetunde Felix-Ukwu wore a Fentanyl patch that delivered enough narcotic to knock most adults out cold. Yet it barely kept her pain, caused by sickle cell disease, tolerable. Even with the patch, she was hospitalized almost every month for the pain, which she said was “like being hit with a hammer, searing, throbbing, you name it.” A debilitating genetic disorder, sickle-cell...

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