VOL. CLXIII . . . No.

56,594 2014 The New York Times NEWYORK, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014
Late Edition
Today, sun and clouds, low humid-
ity, high 77. Tonight, mostly clear,
cooler than average, low 64. Tomor-
row, partly sunny, a bit warmer,
high 81. Weather map, Page B12.
$2.50
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By JULIE BOSMAN
and MATT APUZZO
FERGUSON, Mo. For four
nights in a row, they streamed
onto West Florissant Avenue
wearing camouflage, black hel-
mets and vests with POLICE
stamped on the back. They car-
ried objects that doubled as
warnings: assault rifles and am-
munition, slender black night-
sticks and gas masks.
They were not just one police
force but many, hailing from com-
munities throughout north St.
Louis County and loosely coordi-
nated by the county police.
Their adversaries were a rag-
tag group of mostly unarmed
neighborhood residents, hun-
dreds of African-Americans
whose pent-up fury at the police
had sent them pouring onto
streets and sidewalks in Fergu-
son, demanding justice for Mi-
chael Brown, the 18-year-old who
was fatally shot by a police offi-
cer on Saturday.
When the protesters refused to
retreat from the streets, threw
firebombs or walked too close to
a police officer, the response was
swift and unrelenting: tear gas
and rubber bullets.
To the rest of the world, the im-
ages of explosions, billowing tear
gas and armored vehicles made
this city look as if it belonged in a
chaos-stricken corner of Eastern
Europe, not the heart of the
American Midwest. As a result, a
broad call came from across the
political spectrum for Americas
police forces to be demilitarized,
and Gov. Jay Nixon installed a
new overall commander in Fer-
guson.
At a time when we must seek
to rebuild trust between law en-
forcement and the local commu-
In Wake of Clashes, Calls to Demilitarize Police
Trend for Armor Use
Began as Response
to 9/11 Attacks
Continued on Page A13
By JULIE CRESWELL
and ROBERT GEBELOFF
PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. By
10 a.m. the heat was closing in on
the North Shore of Long Island.
But 300 miles down the seaboard,
at an obscure investment compa-
ny near Washington, the forecast
pointed to something else: profit.
As the temperatures climbed
toward the 90s here and air-con-
ditioners turned on, the electric
grid struggled to meet the de-
mand. By midafternoon, the
wholesale price of electricity had
jumped nearly 550 percent.
What no one here knew that
day, May 30, 2013, was that the in-
vestment company, DC Energy,
was reaping rewards from the
swelter. Within 48 hours the firm,
based in Vienna, Va., had made
more than $1.5 million by cashing
in on so-called congestion con-
tracts, complex financial instru-
ments that gain value when the
grid becomes overburdened, ac-
cording to an analysis of trading
data by The New York Times.
Those profits are a small frac-
tion of the fortune that traders at
DC Energy and elsewhere have
pocketed because of maneuvers
involving the nations congested
grid. Over the last decade, DC
Energy has made about $180 mil-
lion in New York State alone, The
Times found.
Across the nation, investment
funds and major banks are wa-
gering billions on similar trades
using computer algorithms and
teams of Ph.D.s, as they chase
profits in an arcane arena that
rarely attracts attention.
Congestion occurs when de-
mand for electricity outstrips the
immediate supply, sending
prices higher as the grid strains
to deliver power from distant and
often more expensive locations to
meet the demand. To help power
companies and others offset the
Traders Profit
As Power Grid
Is Overworked
Deals to Smooth Prices
Prove Lucrative
Continued on Page B7
By TIM ARANGO
BAGHDAD Prime Minister
Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Thurs-
day night that he had agreed to
relinquish power, a move that
came after days of crisis in which
his deployment of extra security
forces around the capital had
raised worries of a military coup.
Mr. Malikis decision held out
the prospect of a peaceful transi-
tion of power, based on demo-
cratic elections and without the
guiding hand of American mil-
itary forces, which would be a
first in modern Iraqs troubled
history of kings, coups and dicta-
torships.
His decision to step aside came
after heavy pressure from the
United States, which has de-
ployed warplanes in Iraq to tar-
get Sunni Islamist militants and
suggested that more military
support would be forthcoming if
Mr. Maliki was removed from
power. Iran also played a decisive
role in convincing Mr. Maliki that
he could not stay in power.
Mr. Maliki, 64, agreed to end
his legal challenge to the nomina-
tion of his replacement, Haider
al-Abadi, 62, a member of Mr.
Malikis own Dawa Party, who
was chosen Monday by Iraqs
president.
On state television, standing
next to Mr. Abadi and other party
PREMIER OF IRAQ
ACCEDES TO CALLS
TO GIVE UP POWER
POLARIZING FIGURE GOES
Malikis Decision Raises
Hopes for a Peaceful
Transition
Continued on Page A8
By SARAH LYALL
OCEANPORT, N.J. She
looked like nothing out of the or-
dinary, just another platinum
blonde in baggy shorts hanging
out at the miniature golf course.
But in the rarefied, close-knit, hy-
percompetitive world of profes-
sional miniature golf, Olivia Pro-
kopova is nothing short of leg-
endary.
Olivia? Theres no fear in
her, said Rick Alessi, 57, a mu-
nicipal heavy-equipment opera-
tor from Erie, Pa., who is to com-
pete against her in the 2014 Unit-
ed States Open Miniature Golf
Tournament that begins here on
Friday. She just loves the game.
There are many unusual things
about Prokopova, beyond the fact
that last year she swept the
sports three top competitions
the United States Open, the Mas-
ters and the world champion-
ships for an unprecedented
triple crown in miniature golf.
In a sport dominated by mid-
dle-aged American men, she is
foreign, 19 years old, and shes a
gal, said John Forbes, the man-
ager of the Bluegrass Miniature
Golf Course, the elegantly land-
scaped spot, free of plastic
clowns and windmills, where the
tournament is to take place.
While few people have heard of
the top players, or indeed, any of
the players at all, Prokopova is a
Mini Golf as Career? She Gets Past the Obstacles
MATT RAINEY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Olivia Prokopova, 19, a Czech miniature golfer, swept the sports top three pro events last year.
Continued on Page B10
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
LUHANSK, Ukraine Every
night, as darkness falls over
Luhansk, the focus now of in-
tense humanitarian concern and
geopolitical intrigue, a cat-and-
mouse artillery duel begins.
In a neighborhood of high-rise
apartments, residents can read-
ily identify the hollow pops of
mortars as they echo among the
buildings. After that, rebel fight-
ers can be seen hastily disman-
tling the weapons and hauling
them away.
An hour or so later, the Ukrain-
ian militarys response comes:
the whistle and boom of incoming
artillery shells, fired from guns
outside the city, in a fruitless at-
tempt at silencing the rebel gun-
ners.
Ukraine and Russia are now
jousting over Moscows intent to
send a 260-truck convoy of aid to
Luhansk to relieve what Presi-
dent Vladimir V. Putin called in a
speech on Thursday a major hu-
manitarian catastrophe here.
But to people standing in the
bread and water lines that snake
through the streets, life here is
tough but far from catastrophic.
In the predawn, the city comes
alive with pedestrians carrying
plastic water bottles, headed for
the working fountains and gro-
cery stores, on the assumption
that fewer shells land early in the
morning. One grocery had noo-
dles, gum, sugar, eggs and vodka.
The only relief most people
here seek is from the shelling,
which goes on night and day.
I have everything I need but
peace, Valentina Simonyenko, a
retiree standing in line for water
from a spring, said Thursday.
Later, she said, she would buy
bread. Look around, everybody
is just terrified of the bombing.
Luhansk is indeed a grim
place, besieged and partly aban-
doned, with no electricity or run-
ning water, where hospitals are
A Ukraine City Under Siege,
Just Terrified of the Bombing
YURI KOCHETKOV/
EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
EN ROUTE A Russian aid con-
voy moved Thursday toward
eastern Ukraine. Page A6.
Continued on Page A6
This article is by John
Schwartz, Michael D. Shear and
Michael Paulson.
FERGUSON, Mo. President
Obama on Thursday called for an
end to the violence here, de-
nouncing actions both by the po-
lice and by protesters. Hours lat-
er, the Missouri governor, Jay
Nixon, ordered the state highway
patrol to take over security oper-
ations from local law enforce-
ment.
Clashes between heavily
armed police officers and furious
protesters in Ferguson have de-
fined the aftermath of an officers
fatal shooting of an unarmed
teenager on Saturday, and the
latest moves came as federal and
state officials scrambled to quell
the growing crisis. Alarm had
been rising across the country at
images of a mostly white police
force, in a predominantly Afri-
can-American community, aim-
ing military-style weapons at
protesters and firing tear gas and
rubber bullets.
Capt. Ronald S. Johnson, the
highway patrol official appointed
by the governor to take over the
response, immediately signaled a
change in approach. Captain
Johnson told reporters he had or-
dered troopers to remove their
tear-gas masks, and in the early
evening he accompanied several
groups of protesters through the
streets, clasping hands, listening
to stories and marching along-
side them.
On Thursday night, the ar-
mored vehicles and police cars
were gone, and the atmosphere
was celebratory. A street barri-
caded on previous nights was
filled with slow-moving cars
blasting their horns. A man
played a drum across the street
from a convenience store that
was looted this week. And there
were few signs of police officers,
let alone a forceful response.
Kimaly Diouf, co-owner of Re-
hoboth Pharmacy, said the rea-
New Tack on Unrest Eases Tension in Missouri
WHITNEY CURTIS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Capt. Ronald S. Johnson of the state highway patrol at a demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. The patrol took over security Thursday.
Troopers Move In
as President
Seeks Calm
Continued on Page A12
HACKERS IN TURMOIL Efforts to
name an officer caused rifts in the
Anonymous collective. PAGE A13
IMAGES OF THE PAST Photo-
graphs draw comparisons to past
scenes of racial unrest. PAGE A14
Team owners chose Rob Manfred, a
high-ranking executive in Major League
Baseball for many years, to succeed
Bud Selig in one of the most powerful
positions in sports. After falling just
short in the initial ballot, Manfred beat
out Tom Werner, putting an end to a
contentious election process. PAGE B9
SPORTSFRIDAY B9-15
Baseball Picks a Commissioner
Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, killed in Af-
ghanistan, was recalled at his funeral as
an empathetic manager. PAGE A3
NATIONAL A3, 11-14
General Honored at Arlington
The Drive East festival of Indian dance
and music takes audiences deep into the
mystery of acting and identity. PAGE C1
WEEKEND C1-28
Dance as Transformation
As spending rises on compounded
drugs, like a cream for diaper rash that
runs $1,600, insurers and others are tak-
ing steps to limit their use. PAGE B1
BUSINESS DAY B1-8
High Cost of Bespoke Drugs
Hoping to deter others from migrating
illegally, the Justice Department has
moved children to the head of the line to
see immigration judges, a course that
could lead to deportation within months
rather than years. PAGE A16
NEW YORK A16-20
Youths to Be Deported Faster
In a bid to reverse declining ratings,
NBC will replace the anchor David
Gregory with Chuck Todd. PAGE B3
Change at Meet the Press
Thousands of Pakistanis joined Imran
Khan, the former cricket star and party
leader, and a prominent cleric in an anti-
government protest. PAGE A4
INTERNATIONAL A4-10
Marching to Islamabad
In South Carolina, researchers are ask-
ing people to count fireflies. PAGE A11
Backyard Laboratory, Aglow
David Brooks PAGE A23
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23
While President Obama de-
clared the siege of the Yazidis to
be over, Yazidi leaders disputed
the assertion. Pages A8 and A9.
The State of a Siege
The percentage of New York State ele-
mentary- and middle-school students
passing statewide math exams inched
up in 2014 while reading scores re-
mained flat. The test was made more
difficult last year. PAGE A17
Slight Increase in Test Scores
C MY K Nxxx,2014-08-15,A,001,Bs-4C,E2