A Brooklyn church with more than 30,000 members, the Christian Cultural Center is run with corporate efficiency. And the pastor has the mayor’s ear.

Big Pulpit

A study of people 90 and over without a trace of dementia has begun to alter understandings of the aging brain.

At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age

In documents, interviews and court hearings, details of a homegrown terror plot and the checkered life stories of the four men charged further emerged.

In Bronx Bomb Case, Missteps Caught on Tape

President Obama faced criticism from the right for his plan to bring terror suspects to prisons on American soil and from the left for hewing too closely to George Bush’s approach.

Obama Faces Pitfalls on Detainees

“Drag Me to Hell” gives Sam Raimi something he hasn’t had since his first film — complete creative control.

After Spidey, a Return to Hell

As school districts face budget gaps, some teachers are offering to forgo raises, take pay cuts or dig into their own pockets.

The New Math: Teachers Share Recession’s Pain

Written in full de Tocquevillean mode, the British historian Simon Schama's Big Book about America is best when it abandons its election-year campaign tour to search out characters from the buried mounds of history.

Mirror on America

Real estate ads are just like personal ads: the idea is to get you to fall in love, sight unseen. Valerie Haboush specializes in these come-ons. She’s behind some of the catchiest ads in New York City.

The Poet of Property

Garrow Kedigian made a condition of buying his apartment the ownership of an attic he found.

The Windfall Attic

Madison Nipp, 22, a newly minted financial planner, offers some ideas to other recent college graduates.

Financial Wisdom From a New Graduate

The company is getting ready to release Rebecca, a 9-year-old girl living on the Lower East Side in 1914 with her Russian-Jewish immigrant parents.

American Girl’s Journey to the Lower East Side

Kind leading men, an aw-shucks American Idol, cute advertising: smiles are spreading across the culture. Have a nice day.

Back by Popular Demand

The Obama administration has proposed high-level meetings on migration between the two countries, reviving a channel that was closed under President George W. Bush.

U.S. Signals Willingness to Talks With Cuba

A developer’s proposal for a 17-story building 98 feet from the bridge is as wired politically as the bridge is with steel.

Money and Politics Meet at the Brooklyn Bridge

Under the guidance of its chief, Alan Mulally, the company has maintained control of its destiny.

Ford’s Cheerleader and Chief

The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Nott, performed two remarkable concerts at Avery Fisher Hall this week.

Setting Bartok’s Craggy Beauty Within Its Contemporary Landscape

Roberto Benigni is about to begin a short North American tour of “TuttoDante,” a monologue about the “Divine Comedy” that mixes literary insights with off-the-cuff political jokes.

Funnyman Takes on Dante’s ‘Comedy’

BankUnited was seized by regulators and sold to a consortium of private equity firms on Thursday, in the largest bank failure this year.

Regulators Seize and Sell Florida’s Biggest Regional Bank

Chinalco is under pressure to reorganize its deal with the heavily indebted Australian mining company Rio Tinto. A revision of the terms is almost inevitable, and Rio has everything to play for.

Sitting Pretty at Rio Tinto

An article in some editions on Thursday about the arrests of four men suspected in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y., included erroneous descriptions from a law enforcement official about the men’s ethnic origins. One is a Haitian immigrant and the other three are African-Americans; none are of Arabic descent.

Corrections

An article on Thursday about the possibility that California will hold a convention to overhaul its constitution misstated, in some editions, the date of a ballot proposition that would create open primaries in the state. It will appear on the ballot in June 2010, not next month.

An article on Sunday about Solicitor General Elena Kagan, a potential nominee for the Supreme Court, misstated the title of Michael Ratner, who commented on his preference for a more liberal choice. He is the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, not its executive director.

An article on May 14 about Norway’s relative economic stability in the midst of a global downturn misstated its debt status. While the government enjoys a budget surplus and is a net creditor, it has liabilities related to social security and other programs equal to about 50 percent of its gross domestic product; its ledger is not “entirely free of debt.”.

The Breakingviews column on Wednesday, about the introduction of the Shareholder Bill of Rights in Congress, misidentified the consulting firm that released a study on the percentage of chief executives who also serve as board chairmen. It is Booz & Company, not Booz Allen Hamilton.

The Books of The Times review on May 14, about “Gone Tomorrow,” by Lee Child, and “Even,” by Andrew Grant, misstated a word in the opening paragraph of “Gone Tomorrow.” The paragraph says: “Suicide bombers are easy to spot. They give out all sorts of telltale signs. Mostly because they’re nervous. By definition they’re all first-timers.” It does not say, “Maybe because they’re nervous.”.

May 22, 2009

Headlines from May 22, 2009

Big Pulpit

At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age

In Bronx Bomb Case, Missteps Caught on Tape

Obama Faces Pitfalls on Detainees

After Spidey, a Return to Hell

Billboard 200

Epiphany

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Fantasy Ride

Unstoppable

Together Through Life

Historical Context for May 22, 2009