The benevolent Beastie: Adam Yauch remembered

In this July 26, 2006 photo, Beastie Boys Adam 'MCA' Yauch, left, Adam Horovitz (Adrock), centre, and Mike Diamond (Mike D) pose for a photograph in Toronto. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Harris)

In this July 26, 2006 photo, Beastie Boys Adam 'MCA' Yauch, left, Adam Horovitz (Adrock), centre, and Mike Diamond (Mike D) pose for a photograph in Toronto. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Harris)

FILE - In this May 12, 2009 file photo, musician Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys, attends a special evening to honor artist Ross Bleckner's appointment as Goodwill Ambassador at the United Nations. Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper who co-founded the seminal hip-hop group, has died at age 47. The cause of death wasn't immediately known. Yauch, who's also known as MCA, was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland in 2009. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)

FILE - In this July 26, 2006 file photo, Beastie Boys members Adam Yauch "MCA," center, Adam Horovitz "Adrock," left, and Mike Diamond "Mike D," reflected in a mirror, pose for a photograph during an interview in Toronto, Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper who co-founded the seminal hip-hop group, has died at age 47. The cause of death wasn't immediately known. Yauch, who's also known as MCA, was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland in 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Harris)

FILE - In this 1989 file photo originally provided by Capitol Records, members of the Beastie Boys, from left, from left, Adam Horovitz, known as Adrock, Michael Diamond, known as Mike D and Adam Yauch, known as MCA, are shown. Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper who co-founded the seminal hip-hop group, died, Friday, May 4, 2012, at age 47 after a nearly three-year battle with cancer. Also known as MCA, Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous salivary gland in 2009. (AP Photo/Capitol Records)

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 1994 file photo, members of the Beastie Boys, Adam Yauch, known as MCA, left, Adam Horovitz, known as Adrock, foreground right, and Michael Diamond, known as Mike D, rehearse at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper who co-founded the seminal hip-hop group, has died at age 47. The cause of death wasn't immediately known. Yauch, who's also known as MCA, was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland in 2009.(AP Photo/Justin Sutcliffe, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? When the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just weeks ago, the New York trio was down a man.

Michael "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz took the stage with a letter from their missing band mate: Adam "MCA" Yauch, who was too ill to attend. He was suffering from a cancerous salivary gland first diagnosed in 2009.

In the letter, which Horovitz read, Yauch dedicated the honor to his fellow B-Boys, "who have walked the globe with me."

"To anyone who has been touched by our band, who our music has meant something to, this induction is as much ours as it is yours," said Yauch.

It was typical generosity from Yauch, the gravelly-voiced rapper who helped make the Beastie Boys one of the seminal groups in hip-hop and whose good-hearted nature led him to humanistic causes and made him beloved in hip-hop. One of his most famous rhymes was a sweet ode to women, which he called "long overdue": "To all the mothers and sisters and wives and friends/ I want to offer my love and respect to the end."

When the news came Friday that earlier that morning, Yauch, 47, had died after a nearly three-year battle with cancer, the words from his letter felt particularly apt. The outpouring of sadness at the loss, and celebration of the music Yauch helped created, was immediate and vast, shared across social media by those close to him, rappers influenced by "Paul's Boutique" and hip-hop listeners raised on Beastie Boys videos.

The rapper Q-Tip, a member of another major New York hip-hop group, A Tribe Called Quest, recalled that the Beastie Boys "showed us the ropes." Sean "Diddy" Combs called Yauch "a true pioneer and a creative force who paved the way for so many of us." The rapper Nas lamented the loss of a "brother": "MCA was so cool," he said.

For Eminem, Yauch was an undeniable touchstone: "I think it's obvious to anyone how big an influence the Beastie Boys were on me and so many others."

Yauch was an integral, founding member to the ever-weaving trio: three Jewish kids from New York who found widespread respect in a hip-hop world with few credible white performers.

In a span of more than a quarter century that covered four No. 1 albums and more than 40 million records sold, the Beastie Boys played both prankster and pioneer? a simultaneously goofy and groundbreaking act that helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream.

The demure, gray-haired Yauch wasn't the most boastful B-Boy; he was the thoughtful one and a steady source of the trio's innovative spirit. A practicing Buddhist, he led the group in performing concerts to benefit Tibet and, as a filmmaker, he helped create their imagery.

"The group's music crossed genres and color lines, and helped bring rap to a wider audience," said Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy. "Yauch was an immense talent and creative visionary."

Adam Nathanial Yauch, born in Brooklyn, formed the Beastie Boys with high school friend Diamond. Originally conceived as a hardcore punk group, they played their first show on Yauch's 17th birthday.

In the letter read at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Yauch recalled their early days at his parents' home in Brooklyn, "where we used to practice on hot Brooklyn summer days after school, windows open to disturb the neighborhood."

The group became a hip-hop trio soon after Horovitz joined and coalesced after Yauch dropped out of Bard College two years into his studies. They released their chart-topping debut "Licensed to Ill" in 1986, a raucous album led by the anthem "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)".

It was the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard chart, and while it remains popular, its irreverent rock-rap fusion bore few hints of an act with staying power.

"Adam was incredibly sweet and the most sensitive artist, who I loved dearly," Russell Simmons, whose Def Jam label released "Licensed to Ill," said on his website.

In the seven studio albums that followed, the Beastie Boys expanded sonically and grew more musically ambitious.

Their follow-up, 1989's "Paul's Boutique," ended any suggestion that the group was a one-hit wonder. Extreme in its sampling and thoroughly layered, the album (produced by the Dust Brothers) was ranked the 156th greatest album ever by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.

The Beastie Boys would later take up their own instruments ? a rarity in hip-hop ? on the album "Check Your Head" and subsequent releases. Yauch played bass. Later, they would even release an album of instrumentals, which won one of their three Grammys in 2007.

On "Pass the Mic," he rapped: "If you can feel what I'm feeling then it's a musical masterpiece / If you can hear what I'm dealing with then that's cool at least / What's running through my mind comes through in my walk / True feelings are shown from the way that I talk."

For many, the Beastie Boys' lyrics ? overflowing torrents of wit, humor and rhyme ? were always the main draw. While other forms of hip-hop celebrated individualism, the Beastie Boys were a verbal tag team. Yauch once rapped, "on the tough guy style I'm not too keen."

Their popularity perhaps peaked with 1994's "Ill Communication," which spawned several of their most famous music videos, including "Sure Shot" and the Spike Jonze-directed "Sabotage" ? a hit highlighted by Yauch's bass solo. (MTV, which played a key role in the Beasties' rise, hurriedly assembled an hour-long tribute show to Yauch on Friday night.)

Yauch used the group's growing fame to attract awareness for Tibetan Buddhists. He founded the Milarepa Fund to promote activism for Tibet in defense of what the nonprofit considered China's occupational government.

In 1996, Yauch and Milarepa produced a hugely popular benefit concert for Tibet in San Francisco, which was followed by more international concerts over the next decade.

"He was a goofball and behind a lot of their prankiness, but if you wanted to talk to him about what was going on in the world and social issues and everything, you got a totally different guy," said Rick Krim, executive vice president of music and talent relations at Vh1.

Introducing the group at the Rock Hall, Public Enemy rapper Chuck D said the Beastie Boys "broke the mold."

"The Beastie Boys are indeed three bad brothers who made history," Chuck D said. "They brought a whole new look to rap and hip-hop. They proved that rap could come from any street ? not just a few."

Yauch also went under the pseudonym Nathanial Hornblower when working as a filmmaker. He directed numerous videos for the group, as well as the 2006 concert film "Awesome: I F-----' Shot That!" (shot entirely by fans given cameras) and the basketball documentary, "Gunnin' for that (No.) 1 Spot."

In 2008, he co-founded the noted independent film distribution company Osciolloscope Laboratories, named after his New York studio.

Yauch is survived by his wife, Dechen Wangdu, and his daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.

Yauch's illness, about which he first expressed hope that it was "very treatable," forced the group to cancel shows and delayed the release of their last album, "Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2." He hadn't performed in public since 2009.

But the enduring popularity of the Beastie Boys across some 28 years is one of the steadiest paths of success in pop music ? a time remarkable for the constant, warm camaraderie between Yauch, Horovitz and Diamond.

"They are truly rock's most realized group ? not hip-hop but all music, really," wrote Questlove, the drummer for the Roots, who toured with the Beastie Boys. "I mean, did we really expect the most thoughtful, mature, considerate act in music to be the same brats who gave us 'Licensed To Ill'?"

___

AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody and AP writer Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Northern California fishermen free entangled whale

This image provided April 17, 2012, by Capt. Dave?s Dolphin and Whale Safari shows a gray whale entangled in netting in the waters off the coast of Southern California April 17, 2012. Federal wildlife officials say that a whale tangled in a large fishing line that went missing during previous rescue attempts has been freed by a fisherman. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesman Jim Milbury says that a crabbing boat's captain and crew spotted the gray whale in the ocean off Bodega Bay on Thursday. Captain Mark Anello and his crew spent 90 minutes working to free the 40-ton mammal. (AP Photo/Capt. Dave?s Dolphin and Whale Safari, file)

This image provided April 17, 2012, by Capt. Dave?s Dolphin and Whale Safari shows a gray whale entangled in netting in the waters off the coast of Southern California April 17, 2012. Federal wildlife officials say that a whale tangled in a large fishing line that went missing during previous rescue attempts has been freed by a fisherman. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesman Jim Milbury says that a crabbing boat's captain and crew spotted the gray whale in the ocean off Bodega Bay on Thursday. Captain Mark Anello and his crew spent 90 minutes working to free the 40-ton mammal. (AP Photo/Capt. Dave?s Dolphin and Whale Safari, file)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Crab fisherman Mark Anello noticed something odd near his boat off the Northern California coast: three buoys floating nearby were moving. Motoring closer he saw a gray whale tangled in a large fishing line.

It was the same whale, officials determined later, that was first spotted hundreds of miles south off the Orange County coast April 17, dragging several buoys attached to a net.

At that time, rescuers attempted to free the marine mammal, but it disappeared. It was spotted about a week later still entangled off the coast of Monterey County.

On Thursday, Anello was out on his 48-foot wooden crab boat about 3? miles off the coast of Sonoma County near Bodega Bay, located about 67 miles north of San Francisco.

As Anello, a fourth-generation fisherman, and two others on his boat the Point Ommaney moved closer, they found the orange and white buoys connected to the whale that measured close to the length of his vessel, said Tony Anello, Mark's father.

"They come up slowly alongside the whale, and the whale started fighting at first," the elder Anello said. "Then the whale decided to calm down."

Using 12-foot, bamboo poles with hooks on the end, Mark Anello and his crew spent 90 minutes freeing the 40-ton mammal, which had been nicknamed "June" by rescuers who had earlier tried to free it.

Once the creature was free from the ropes, nets and buoys it took a lap around the vessel.

"The whale circled the boat, surfaced and took off," Tony Anello said. "It was like it was saying thank you."

Monica DeAngelis, the federal marine mammal biologist who led earlier rescue attempts, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains a network of volunteer disentanglement teams trained to rescue animals in distress.

She said the captain and the crew that rescued June were not part of the network, and that in general she would advise anyone who encounters a tangled whale to report the animal's location and stay with it but wait for trained rescuers to arrive, not least because such a massive animal can be dangerous.

"They're actually quite fortunate that they did not get injured," DeAngelis said. Still, she called Anello a "steward of the sea."

"I'm not going to rain on their parade. They did something amazing, and they probably did save the life of this animal," she said.

Generally, tampering with whales qualifies as a federal offense under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. But DeAngelis said Anello and his crew were exempted under the law's "good Samaritan" clause.

Tony Anello echoed DeAngelis' fears, saying his son and crew could have been hurt by the large creature. But he also said while fishing gear was the cause of the whale's woe, many fishermen care deeply about the sea and a sustainable fishery.

"There are fishermen who care about the ocean," he said. "We are stewards of the ocean and want a sustainable fishery."

Associated Press

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Bear that fell from tree dies after being hit by car

A young bear that became an Internet sensation after falling from a tree has died after being hit by a car. It was a whirlwind week for the bear, which shot to prominence last week when it climbed into a tree near the University of Colorado campus, then fell to safety after being tranquilized by local police.

The Denver Post reports that the 208-pound black bear had wandered into the Denver-bound lanes of U.S. highway 36 when a vehicle struck it at 5:40 Thursday morning.

"It's a bummer. It's so hard to go through this and not be able to give these bears a good place to live," said Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill. "The community sees relocating bears as a kind of perfect solution, and unfortunately it's a really difficult proposition."

Churchill said authorities were able to identify the bear by an ear tag that had been placed on him after the tree incident last week.

After it was safely removed from the tree near the CU campus, wildlife officials had relocated the bear to a wilderness area about 50 miles west of Boulder, according to the Post.

Colorado State Patrol Trooper Josh Lewis told the paper that two cars were involved in the accident, resulting in minor injuries to one of the drivers.

The accident happened when Kale Broeder, 22, hit the bear after switching lanes to avoid a vehicle that had put on its emergency lights and pulled over to avoid hitting the bear.

"He saw (the first car) move over to the right with flashers on, and he moved over to the left lane and that's when he hit the bear," the driver's father, Gary Broeder, said. "It was in the middle of the road."

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Jetman swoops across Brazilian skyline (+video)

The Swiss aviator Yves Rossy recently flew across the Rio de Janeiro sky with his jet-propelled wing, parachuting safely to a southern Brazilian beach.

Thursday morning, the Swiss pilot Yves Rossy fell into the blue Rio de Janeiro sky with the backward rolling entry of a scuba diver. He began with a downward plunge toward the Brazilian cityscape, then leveling off and completing a barrel role before vapor-trailing past the Deco statue Cristo Redentor, tracking south and finally pulling his parachute to land safely on Copocabana beach.

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All of this was done with the jet-powered wing that Rossy helped design.

Lasting over 11 minutes, this was only one in a series of flights made by the self-described "Jetman." Over the past half-decade, he has flown across the Grand Canyon, over the Alps and even between actual jet airplanes.

His recent successes have come with some ominous setbacks, though. In 2009, Rossy attempted to fly across the Strait of Gibraltar, which geographically separates Spain from Morocco, but strong winds and engine complications forced him to scuttle into the Mediterranean, where he had to be rescued by?helicopter.?The Spanish coast guard later retrieved his jet wing.

Rossy's wing is the result of over a decade of trouble-shooting, which decade has seen over 15 prototypes of the model. In its current design, the wing is made from carbon-fiber and spans roughly eight feet. Strapped to the back of the pilot, it is propelled by four mounted kerosene jet engines up to speeds of 189 miles per hour.

Classified as a legitimate aircraft by the FAA, the wing was engineered to let Rossy "fly like a bird, with a minimum of instruments but with the ability to steer himself in space," according to the Jetman website. One of the most complex technologies Rossy's wing employs, aside from the engines, are the altimeter, used for safety purposes, and the throttle that Rossy holds in his hand. He uses his body to steer.

Perhaps more interesting than Rossy's innovative technology is the endeavor it embodies. Human flight has always been motivated by the desire to mimic bird flight. The word "aviation," after all, comes from the Latin word for bird, "avis." By attempting to create the most visceral experience of human flight, the Jetman project might be the truest expression of our envy for the utter freedom of the birds that soar overhead.

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Touch? Teaches Objects To Sense Your Touch

Researchers at Disney and Carnegie Mellon University have created an interesting new technology using Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing that allows nearly any object to sense multiple points of contact on its complex service. This would allow, for example, doorknobs to understand when to lock and unlock based on your finger position and environmental controls based on the user's current body position. Lying down? The lights go out. Feet on the floor? The lights go up. The technology, built jointly by CMU and the Disney Research Institute in Pittsburgh, Penn., can also add more interesting interaction to smartphones. Even bodies of water can turn into "touchscreens" with your position inside the liquid registering as a touch event.

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Are educators showing a 'positive bias' to minority students?

Public release date: 4-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Carla Capizzi
capizzi@andromeda.rutgers.edu
973-353-5262
Rutgers University

And keeping them from doing their best?

Remember that teacher you grumbled about back in your school days, the really tough one who made you work so hard, insisted you could do better, and made you sweat for your A's? The one you didn't appreciate until after you graduated and realized how much you had learned?

Minority students in the U.S. might have fewer of those teachers, at least compared to white students, and as a result they might be at a significant learning disadvantage.

A major study, led by Rutgers-Newark psychology professor Kent D. Harber, indicates that public school teachers under-challenge minority students by providing them more positive feedback than they give to white students, for work of equal merit. The study, which is currently available online at http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2012-10763-001/ in the Journal of Educational Psychology (JEP), involved 113 white middle school and high school teachers in two public school districts located in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area, one middle class and white, and the other more working class and racially mixed.

Teachers read and commented on a poorly written essay which they believed was composed by a student in a writing class. Some teachers thought the student was black, some thought the student was Latino, and some thought that the student was white. Teachers believed that their feedback would be sent directly to the student, in order to see how the student would benefit from their comments and advice.

In fact, there was no actual student, and the poorly written essay was developed by Harber and his team. The real purpose was to see how teachers would respond to subpar work due to the race of the student who composed it. As Harber and his team predicted, the teachers displayed a "positive feedback bias," providing more praise and less criticism if they thought the essay was written by a minority student than by a white student.

An important aspect of the positive bias was that it depended on how much social support teachers received from their fellow teachers and administratorsbut only if the student was black. In This case, teachers lacking social support showed the positive bias, while those who enjoyed support did not show the bias. Teachers who thought the student was Latino showed the bias, regardless of their school-based social support.

"The social implications of these results are important; many minority students might not be getting input from instructors that stimulates intellectual growth and fosters achievement," notes Harber. "Some education scholars believe that minorities under-perform because they are insufficiently challengedthe 'bigotry of lowered expectations,' in popular parlance," he explains. "The JEP study indicates one important way that this insufficient challenge might occur: in positively biased feedback," according to Harber.

Harber believes that the positive feedback bias might help explain the stubborn academic performance gap between minority students and white students, an enduring social problem that threatens to "reverse social successes won through legislation, jurisprudence, and changing cultural attitudes" toward minorities. Previous attempts to address the performance gap have, correctly, examined inequalities in school funding, racism, and distrust of academia in some minority communities, notes the report.

The current study suggests that the performance gap might also be due to a cause that has received relatively little attention: the nature of instructional feedback from white teachers to minority students.

Harber believes the study's findings have implications not only for educational systems in the U.S. but also for businesses and in fact any organization where performance appraisals and feedback are crucial tools for training and development.

The study builds on and expands Harber's previous demonstrations of the positive feedback bias, involving college students in 1998 and in 2004, and teacher trainees in 2010. His partners on this latest study are: Jamie L. Gorman and Frank P. Gengaro, Rutgers University, Newark; Samantha Butisingh and William Tsang, Rutgers University, New Brunswick; and Rebecca Ouellette, Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Harber and his team believe their findings could have broad implications for teachers, parents and students, and business leaders. He is available to explain in detail how the research was conducted, who was involved, the analysis and outcomes.

###

To arrange an interview, please contact Carla Capizzi, 973/353-5263, or email: capizzi@rutgers.edu.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 4-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Carla Capizzi
capizzi@andromeda.rutgers.edu
973-353-5262
Rutgers University

And keeping them from doing their best?

Remember that teacher you grumbled about back in your school days, the really tough one who made you work so hard, insisted you could do better, and made you sweat for your A's? The one you didn't appreciate until after you graduated and realized how much you had learned?

Minority students in the U.S. might have fewer of those teachers, at least compared to white students, and as a result they might be at a significant learning disadvantage.

A major study, led by Rutgers-Newark psychology professor Kent D. Harber, indicates that public school teachers under-challenge minority students by providing them more positive feedback than they give to white students, for work of equal merit. The study, which is currently available online at http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2012-10763-001/ in the Journal of Educational Psychology (JEP), involved 113 white middle school and high school teachers in two public school districts located in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area, one middle class and white, and the other more working class and racially mixed.

Teachers read and commented on a poorly written essay which they believed was composed by a student in a writing class. Some teachers thought the student was black, some thought the student was Latino, and some thought that the student was white. Teachers believed that their feedback would be sent directly to the student, in order to see how the student would benefit from their comments and advice.

In fact, there was no actual student, and the poorly written essay was developed by Harber and his team. The real purpose was to see how teachers would respond to subpar work due to the race of the student who composed it. As Harber and his team predicted, the teachers displayed a "positive feedback bias," providing more praise and less criticism if they thought the essay was written by a minority student than by a white student.

An important aspect of the positive bias was that it depended on how much social support teachers received from their fellow teachers and administratorsbut only if the student was black. In This case, teachers lacking social support showed the positive bias, while those who enjoyed support did not show the bias. Teachers who thought the student was Latino showed the bias, regardless of their school-based social support.

"The social implications of these results are important; many minority students might not be getting input from instructors that stimulates intellectual growth and fosters achievement," notes Harber. "Some education scholars believe that minorities under-perform because they are insufficiently challengedthe 'bigotry of lowered expectations,' in popular parlance," he explains. "The JEP study indicates one important way that this insufficient challenge might occur: in positively biased feedback," according to Harber.

Harber believes that the positive feedback bias might help explain the stubborn academic performance gap between minority students and white students, an enduring social problem that threatens to "reverse social successes won through legislation, jurisprudence, and changing cultural attitudes" toward minorities. Previous attempts to address the performance gap have, correctly, examined inequalities in school funding, racism, and distrust of academia in some minority communities, notes the report.

The current study suggests that the performance gap might also be due to a cause that has received relatively little attention: the nature of instructional feedback from white teachers to minority students.

Harber believes the study's findings have implications not only for educational systems in the U.S. but also for businesses and in fact any organization where performance appraisals and feedback are crucial tools for training and development.

The study builds on and expands Harber's previous demonstrations of the positive feedback bias, involving college students in 1998 and in 2004, and teacher trainees in 2010. His partners on this latest study are: Jamie L. Gorman and Frank P. Gengaro, Rutgers University, Newark; Samantha Butisingh and William Tsang, Rutgers University, New Brunswick; and Rebecca Ouellette, Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Harber and his team believe their findings could have broad implications for teachers, parents and students, and business leaders. He is available to explain in detail how the research was conducted, who was involved, the analysis and outcomes.

###

To arrange an interview, please contact Carla Capizzi, 973/353-5263, or email: capizzi@rutgers.edu.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Chen's escape shames officials, but breaks no law

This undated photo provided by the China Aid Association shows blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangchen, left, with his son, Chen Kerui, center, and his wife Yuan Weijing in Shandong province, China. Chen, a well-known dissident who angered authorities in rural China by exposing forced abortions, made a surprise escape from house arrest on April 22, 2012, into what activists say is the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing, posing a delicate diplomatic crisis for both governments. (AP Photo/www.ChinaAid.org)

This undated photo provided by the China Aid Association shows blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangchen, left, with his son, Chen Kerui, center, and his wife Yuan Weijing in Shandong province, China. Chen, a well-known dissident who angered authorities in rural China by exposing forced abortions, made a surprise escape from house arrest on April 22, 2012, into what activists say is the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing, posing a delicate diplomatic crisis for both governments. (AP Photo/www.ChinaAid.org)

This undated photo provided by the China Aid Association is said to show blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangchen, left, visiting with a victim of a forced abortion. Chen, a well-known dissident who angered authorities in rural China by exposing forced abortions, made a surprise escape from house arrest on April 22, 2012, into what activists say is the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing, posing a delicate diplomatic crisis for both governments. (AP Photo/www.ChinaAid.org)

BEIJING (AP) ? Since blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was being held under illegal house arrest, his only offense in escaping may have been to embarrass his captors ? vengeful local officials bent on punishing him for exposing forced abortions.

Even police in Beijing seem to tacitly acknowledge this, with a Chen supporter saying Tuesday that officers have noted in recent days that the activist broke no laws in his surprising escape through the security cordon surrounding his farmhouse in eastern China.

Activists say Chen was delivered into the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing late last week, and that American and Chinese officials are deliberating his fate in hopes of resolving the situation before the arrival of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for high-level talks.

Bob Fu of the Texas-based group ChinaAid, citing a source close to both governments, said they are discussing a deal to secure American asylum for Chen. However, Chen's supporters have said he does not want to leave the country. The U.S. State Department has repeatedly refused to comment on the case.

In the days since Chen reached the presumed custody of U.S. diplomats, security forces and officials have detained several of his supporters for questioning, including Beijing-based activist and Chen's friend, Hu Jia.

However, Hu said that the two police officers who questioned him in Beijing acknowledged that Chen, as well as two other activists who helped him flee his home in eastern China, did not act illegally.

"They are all free citizens," Hu quoting the police officers as saying. "For them to come to Beijing and so on, there is nothing illegal about it. They are free to do so. They did not do anything wrong, they have no legal trouble. We just want to understand the situation and verify it."

Hu also said that he understood from meeting with Chen after the escape that Chen did not wish to flee to the U.S.

Beijing police had no immediate response to a faxed request for comment.

The police acknowledgment is an indication that Chen's troubles with the authorities have primarily been about revenge by local leaders, who had seemed especially bitter and personal in their mistreatment of Chen.

Even after he served four years in prison on charges his supporters say were fabricated, local officials kept him and his wife confined at home since his release in September 2010. They did so despite lacking any legal basis, prevented outsiders from visiting the family and occasionally beat him and his wife up.

Burly men patrolling the village and stationed on a main road leading into the community have beaten up would-be visitors to Chen's house, thrown stones at reporters and threatened diplomats.

In trying to resolve Chen's current plight, Beijing could lay the blame on local officials as a way to save face. In a similar fashion, when a village in southern China protesting against land seizures drove their local leaders out late last year, higher level authorities resolved the dispute by blaming village leaders they said had acted corruptly.

But the central government has never shown much inclination to stop the authorities in Shandong province's Linyi city, which oversees Chen's village of Dongshigu. The Chinese government has a long history of ignoring its own laws.

"The fact is that the Chinese central government of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao passively or actively condoned, if not outright encouraged local government officials and security forces in Shandong to victimize Chen Guangcheng and his family for years," said Human Rights Watch researcher Phelim Kine.

"The unlawful confinement and abuse endured by Chen Guangcheng and his family and now his subsequent escape only heightens justifiable domestic and international concerns about the state of rule of law in China," Kine said in emailed comments.

Chen angered local authorities after documenting forced late-term abortions and sterilizations and other abuses in his rural community, but he was sentenced for allegedly instigating an unrelated attack on government offices and organizing a group of people to disrupt traffic.

Chen's documentation and the international media attention it drew at the time had prompted the National Population and Family Planning Commission to investigate. The agency validated Chen's claims and said in late 2005 that some Linyi officials had been punished, with some of them removed from their posts and others detained.

However, once Chen started getting in trouble with the local officials during the ensuing year, the national agency looked the other way.

"We have no information about Mr. Chen Guangcheng," agency spokesman Hao Hongcai said in July 2006. "This issue now belongs to the local authorities."

In a video apparently shot last week after his escape, Chen also urged Premier Wen Jiabao to punish the local authorities, saying people were not clear if the violations were the acts of local officials or ordered by the central government.

"I think you should give people a clear answer in the near future," Chen said. "If we start an investigation and tell the truth to the people, the result is obvious. If you continue to ignore it, what will people think?"

Associated Press

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