Measures

MEXICO CITY - The world's happiest people aren't in Qatar, the richest country by most measures. They aren't in Japan, the nation with the highest life expectancy. A poll released Wednesday of nearly 150,000 people around the world says seven of the 10 countries with the most upbeat attitudes are in Latin America. Many of the seven do poorly in traditional measures of well-being, such as Guatemala, torn by decades of civil war followed by waves of gang-driven criminality. It ranks seventh in positive emotions.

An effort to set a curfew on late-night businesses in Camden is the wrong approach to fight crime in the city. Pushed by Mayor Dana L. Redd, the proposal would force most retail outlets to close at 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnights on weekends. Currently, there are no restrictions and some businesses, such as Chinese-food takeouts and fried-chicken eateries, are open 24-hours or at least until the early-morning hours. City officials contend there is a strong correlation between crime and late-night businesses, but they have not provided any data to support their case.

Joint responsibility to provide justice President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe of Philadelphia Common Pleas Court wants what all parties tasked with protecting the city's citizens want: a criminal-justice system that administers justice swiftly and efficiently. But, by unfairly targeting those advocating for the same end - court-appointed defense attorneys - this shared goal is lost. ("Judge tells lawyers to speed cases up," Monday). Defense attorneys are but one cog in a machine that is in desperate need of repair, operating alongside the Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, court administrators, and the judiciary itself.

"Among the many vital jobs to be done, the nation must not only radically readjust its attitude toward the Negro, but must incorporate in its planning some compensatory consideration for the handicaps he has inherited from the past. Our society has been AGAINST the Negro for hundreds of years. How then can he be absorbed into the mainstream of American life if we do not do something special FOR him now? "The Negro is not struggling for some abstract vague rights, but for concrete improvement in his way of life.

In 2006, voters dethroned House Republicans. Two years later, Democrats were on a roll as Barack Obama won the White House. In 2010, voters alarmed over the growing cost and reach of the federal government booted his party from control of the House and rehired the GOP in a landslide. Results from Tuesday's off-year elections, with setbacks for the small-government tea party movement and social conservatives, suggest that American voters are far from settled heading into 2012. In Ohio, voters repealed Republican Gov. John Kasich's law limiting collective-bargaining rights for public employees by a margin of 63 to 37 percent.

In 2006, voters dethroned House Republicans. Two years later, Democrats were on a roll as Barack Obama won the White House. In 2010, voters alarmed over the growing cost and reach of the federal government booted his party from control of the House and rehired the GOP in a landslide. Results from Tuesday's off-year elections, with setbacks for the small-government tea party movement and social conservatives, suggest that American voters are far from settled heading into 2012. In Ohio, voters repealed Republican Gov. John Kasich's law limiting collective-bargaining rights for public employees by a margin of 63 to 37 percent.

TRENTON - Gov. Christie, a Republican, found himself in an unusual position Friday when he vetoed 14 bills containing tax cuts and tax breaks sent to him by a Democratic Legislature. With a folder containing the vetoes in front of him and his lieutenant governor at his side, Christie explained at a news conference that he rejected nearly half of the 30-bill economic-stimulus package - dubbed "Back to Work NJ" - because the measures were "irresponsible. " Christie said the bills, some of which had broad support from GOP lawmakers, would have resulted in $600 million in lost revenue during the next fiscal year and was not accompanied by spending cuts.

Twelve minutes into her audition at prestigious Roosevelt University in Chicago, pianist Karina Kontorovitch's worst nightmare came to pass. She couldn't remember what to play next in Dmitri Shostakovich's Prelude and Fugue No. 15. So she went back a few measures to redeem herself, only to get stuck in the same spot. Very upset, she thanked the panel and walked out. A year later, after getting into Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music as a graduate student, she was introduced to a "little orange pill" that she says helped launch her professional career.

Philadelphia Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. announced Friday that the School District had begun mailing layoff notices to 3,783 employees, informing them they will lose their jobs July 1 because of the district's financial crisis. The list includes 676 teachers, 283 counselors, 127 assistant principals, and 1,202 noontime aides. "These … employees are more than numbers: these are people — professionals — who play important roles in the lives of thousands of students throughout our city," Hite said at a news briefing.

Despite multiple complaints, shoddy demolition work at 22d and Market Streets went uninspected for more than three weeks before the deadly collapse of a building Wednesday, raising basic questions about the city's competence regulating demolition projects. Six people were killed and 14 injured when a four-story brick wall fell onto an adjoining single-story Salvation Army thrift shop. Mayor Nutter and Licenses and Inspections Commissioner Carlton Williams acknowledged Thursday that the city had granted a demolition permit for that project without any inquiry into the contractor's qualifications for demolition work.