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VOL. CCLXIV NO. 151 * * * * * * *

SATURDAY/SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27 - 28, 2014

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WEEKEND

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n Oil and gas companies arecutting capital budgets andservice companies are weigh-ing layoffs after a roughly50% drop in crude prices. A1n Finra doesn’tmake publicall the regulatory red flags ithas about brokers, promptingcalls from state regulators formore expansive disclosure. A1n The SEC plans to fix aflaw in its electronic distri-bution of corporate regulatoryfilings that gives rapid-firetraders a time advantage. B1nSony’s PlayStation Networkremained offline Friday, whileMicrosoft had restored XboxLive, after outages a hackergroup said were its doing. B1n The Dow industrials andS&P 500 notched records,with the blue chips gaining23.50 points to 18053.71. En-ergy prices slipped. B2n Japan plans to sell part ofits state-owned postal service,Japan Post, to the public assoon as August, and plans tolist its financial units. B2n Aereo can auction off itsTV streaming technology afterit struck a deal with broad-casters over the sale process,a bankruptcy judge said. B3n Ferrari’s chairman wantsto expand production, arguinga surge in emerging-marketwealth justifies an increase. B1n Singapore’s exchange ispushing into riskier marketsto stay competitive as stock-trading volume falls. B2

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CONTENTSBooks..........................C5-10Corporate News........ B3Eating & Drinking D1,4,5Heard on Street.......B12In the Markets...........B4Letters to Editor......A12

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InsideNOONAN A13

A Parishioner’sPlea: SpareThis Church

GOP lawmakers are pre-paring a variety of bills

that would make substantialchanges to the immigrationsystem, suggesting that in-terest in addressing immi-gration law remains alive. A4The Chamber of Commerce,which helped Republicans inthe midterm election, called onthe GOP to enact a vigorouslegislative program. A4n Ukraine cut off electricityand train and bus services toCrimea, moves that could raisetensions with Russia. Visa andMasterCard are suspendingoperations in Crimea. A9n Facebook, Twitter andGoogle have started resistingRussian government ordersto remove information abouta rally next month in supportof an opposition leader. A9n Chinese anticorruptionagents are investigating asenior official at a govern-ment agency that has probedforeign companies. A8n The U.S., Japan and SouthKorea agreed to sign an in-telligence-sharing pact aimedat improving defenses againstNorth Korean missiles. A8n South Asian communitiesheld services to mark the 10-year anniversary of a tsunamithat killed 228,000 people. A9n Civics instruction is mak-ing a comeback after yearson the back burner of the na-tion’s educational agenda. A3

U.S. oil and gas companieshave been an engine of growththrough much of an otherwiselackluster economic expansion,providing steady employment,solid wages and fierce competi-tion for workers across wideswaths of the country.

Now, after a roughly 50%plunge in oil prices, explorationand production companies are cut-ting capital budgets, service com-panies are weighing layoffs andnonenergy firms that popped upto support the industry are brac-ing for a protracted slowdown.

One company caught in the in-dustry downturn is Hercules Off-shore Inc. The Houston-basedfirm is laying off 324 employees,roughly 15% of its workforce, be-cause oil companies aren’t re-newing contracts for its offshoredrilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexicowhile crude prices are depressed.

“It’s been breathtaking,” saidJim Noe, executive vice presidentof Hercules, which was foundedin 2004. “We’ve never seen thisglut of supply and dislocation inoil markets. So we’re not sur-prised to see a significant declinein demand for our services.”

Lower oil prices are still ex-pected to provide an overallboost to the U.S. economy. Con-sumers are spending less on gas-oline and more at retailers andrestaurants, while many compa-nies are benefiting from cheapercosts for energy and raw materi-als—giving a boost to hiring out-side the energy sector. Moneythat would have gone to im-ported oil—the U.S. remains anet importer—will remain athome.

The U.S. Energy InformationPleaseturntothenextpage

BY JEFFREY SPARSHOTT

Oil JobsSqueezedAs PricesPlummet

Jomah, a 17-year-old Syrianwho joined Islamic State lastyear, sat in a circle of traineesfor a lesson in beheading, acourse taught to boys as youngas 8.

Teachers brought in threefrightened Syrian soldiers, whowere jeered and forced to theirknees. “It was like learning tochop an onion,” Jomah said.“You grab him by the foreheadand then slowly slice across theneck.”

A teacher asked for volun-teers and said, “Those who be-head the infidels will receivegifts from God,” recalled Jomah,who didn’t want his full namerevealed. The youngest boysshot up their hands and severalwere chosen to participate. Af-terward, the teachers orderedthe students to pass around thesevered heads.

“I’d become desensitized bythat time,” said Jomah, who hassince defected to Turkey withhis family. “The beheading vid-eos they’d shown us helped.”

The enrollment of hundredsof boys in such militant trainingcamps is another tragic facet ofSyria’s nearly four-year-longcivil war—and its impact couldtrouble the Middle East for yearsto come. Parents worry theirboys will be forever lost to theindoctrination of Islamic State.

The militant group, which hasseized large swaths of Syria andIraq, has remade the secular ed-ucation system in territory un-der its control, leaving familiesto choose between a radical Isla-mist education or nothing.

Islamic State religious schoolsin the Syrian provinces ofAleppo and use Deir Ezzour—where, for example, chemistryhas been replaced by religiousstudies—have become a conduitfor recruiting boys to the fight-ing ranks, five former child sol-diers and several adult militantstold The Wall Street Journal inTurkey, where they are refugees.

One of them, 17-year-old Is-mail, said he was ordered thissummer by his Islamic State su-periors to help behead every

PleaseturntopageA5

BY MARIA ABI-HABIB

The Child Soldiers of SyriaBoys Who Escape Islamic State Recount Horrors; ‘Like Learning to Chop an Onion’

For years, Brad Margus hasjuggled two goals as chief execu-tive: Make money, and find curesfor his children.

He just co-founded a startup,Exigence Neurosciences Inc., inpart to seek treatments for histwo sons who have ataxia-telan-giectasia, or A-T, a rare progres-sive and eventually fatal neuro-logical disease.

There is no effective drug forit, and the 54-year-old Mr. Mar-gus, of Boca Raton, Fla., says hisgoal is to find one. His new com-pany will also need to stay inbusiness, which means plowingmoney and time into projectsthat promise profits.

His dilemma: The most promising revenues arein brain diseases more common than A-T, such asAlzheimer’s. So he plans to focus there first, as hedid in a previous company he also hoped might

identify A-T treatments. His workmay lead to answers for his boys’disease, he says, but “I may notmake it in time for my own kids.”

Not long ago, this dilemmawas unusual. Enterprising par-ents wanting to speed drug de-velopment for a child typicallyformed foundations to raisemoney for someone else’s re-search.

There are roughly 5,300 hu-man diseases known by molecu-lar basis and about 500 havetreatments, says the National In-stitutes of Health. Rare ailmentsoften don’t have medicines, inpart because many drug compa-nies don’t want to make riskybets on the small markets theyrepresent.

Now, there is a small cadre of parents like Mr.Margus starting for-profit ventures to make thosebets. Nonprofits have limitations, they say, because

PleaseturntopageA10

BY AMY DOCKSER MARCUS

PROFIT MOTIVE

Parents Struggle to CureLovedOnes, andMakeMoney

Wall Street’s own nationalwatchdog doesn’t make public allthe regulatory red flags it hasabout brokers, prompting callsfrom state regulators for moreexpansive disclosure.

Investors checking disciplin-ary records from the FinancialIndustry Regulatory Authority,or Finra, can see that in BennettBroad’s 35-year career as astockbroker, he has faced 25 cus-tomer complaints involving al-leged trading abuses, and that 15ended in payouts to clients.

What they won’t see is that a

former employer, UBS AG,launched an internal investiga-tion into Mr. Broad’s businesspractices back in 2003 and then,according to state regulators,“permitted” him “to resign.” Atleast eight of his 25 complaintsinvolved conduct after that in-vestigation.

Finra, an industry-fundedoverseer of brokers, encouragesinvestors to check its Bro-kerCheck Web page to look forregulatory red flags about indi-vidual brokers, including com-plaints, regulatory actions, ter-minations for cause and personalbankruptcies. Mr. Broad’s Bro-

Pleaseturntothenextpage

BY JEAN EAGLESHAMAND ROB BARRY

National Records MissMany Brokers’ Red Flags

Source: National Institutes of HealthThe Wall Street Journal

Bitter PillLess than 10% of the roughly5,300 diseases known bymolecular basis have treatments.

Approximately 500 are treatable

Approximately 4,800have no knowntreatment

Solemn Goodbye to a Fallen New York City Police Officer

KevinHagen

forTh

eWallS

treetJournal

A white-truffle glut is rufflingthe expensive-restaurant scene.

Locanda Verde, an Italian res-taurant in Manhattan’s Tribecaneighborhood, is now servingwhite truffles shaved over pastafor the bargain price of $50, downfrom $100 last year.

“We call it truffles for the peo-ple,” says chef Andrew Carmellini.

The restaurant has also ex-panded an event called Trufflepal-ooza, which features three coursesof white-truffle indulgence. It usedto be a one-night affair. This year,Trufflepalooza ran for two monthsand truffles will be offered onNew Year’s Eve.

A wet, warm summer in North-

ern Italy, where theworld’s most desir-able white trufflesare dug up, has pro-duced a bumperfungi crop. Thatpushed prices downabout 50% from lastyear, according tochefs, dealers andrestaurant opera-tors.

The steep drop sparked an un-precedented frenzy as trufflehunters, brokers and chefs havescrambled to move the delicatemerchandise. That has led to someunheard-of contortions in priceydining rooms.

“They’re like diamonds,” saidJohn Magazino, import specialist

at the Chefs’ Ware-house, a specialtyfood distributor inRidgefield, Conn. Hesaid wholesaleprices are the low-est he has seen inabout 15 years. He’sselling truffles forjust below $1,000 toabout $2,400 a

pound depending on their size,down from $4,000 to $7,000 apound in 2006. Larger truffles typ-ically cost more.

“The biggest ones aren’t neces-sarily the best ones, but they lookreally cool,”Mr. Carmellini said, ashe shaved a generous portionfrom a fig-sized truffle over po-

PleaseturntopageA8

BY ALEXANDRA WEXLER

Gastronomes Foraging for Bargain Truffles Are In Lucki i i

Glut Ripples Through Pricey Eateries; Only $900 a Pound

White truffles

BLUE LINE: Colleagues carried the coffin of Officer Rafael Ramos to a Queens church, a week after he was shot along with Officer Wenjian Liu.

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