INQUIRER: Brenda Orr of Doylestown was trapped in a burning bed, immobilized by multiple sclerosis, when she dialed 911 on Jan. 29. Twenty-eight seconds passed before a Bucks County dispatcher answered Orr’s call. Then he put her on hold. It took 26 more seconds for a second dispatcher to pick up. “911. The bed is on fire,” Orr, 53, yelled into her phone. By then a minute had elapsed since Orr had first dialed. A half-minute later, she spoke her final words before the phone went dead. “The bed is fully inflamed,” she said. Bucks County officials, acknowledging that Orr’s […]
IN 1987: I Saw An X-Ray Of Girl Passing Gas
BY JONATHAN VALANIA First thing you should know is that what I am about to tell you violates a solemn pact that was made by all involved: Whatever happens in 1987 stays in 1987. I grew up in Pennsyltucky — Allentown, PA, to be exact — and by the time I was getting to the be the age where you just WANNA GET THE FUCK OUT OF DODGE, a shiny new superhighway literally appeared out of thin air, connecting the hinterlands of the Keystone State to New York City with a directness and efficiency that was heretofore unimaginable. You could […]
MOBY: Alice
Featuring guest vocals by Smokey and S.O. Simple of Nigerian hip-hop group 419 Squad and Aynzli. New Moby album drops April 1st. Can’t wait that long? Go here.
HOT DOCUMENT: A Slap On The Dick
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EARLY WORD: There’s A Creep In The Cellar
As promised, tomorrow we will share some hazy memories about our gloriously misspent ’80s youth, specifically about following a band called the Butthole Surfers around like the Grateful Dead. We would share today, but the statute of limitations doesn’t run out until tomorrow. You know how it is. Anyway, we will also — God willing — have an interview with Gibby Haynes on Friday. It was supposed to happen to today but Gibby lost his phone in DC last night. Some things never change. In the meantime, we will be giving away a limited number of tickets for Saturday’s show. […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Paging Karl Rove
This Myspace bulletin went out to Friends of Hillary this morning, but by this afternoon it had mysteriously disappeared: “This is the kind of sexism that needs to be stopped. Sexism that is masked as some kind of joke or meant to be light hearted. I don’t find this funny and I don’t know how anyone could wear a shirt like this and call themselves a Democrat. Sadly Sexism is still alive in politics.” — Hillary For President [Hat tip to CITIZEN MOM] RELATED: COLUMBUS, Ohio — The man who served as national manager of former President Clinton’s 1992 campaign […]
NEWS CLUES: ‘So Local It Hurts’ Edition
THIS JUST IN: Philly’s Most Wanted Caught Teaching 8th Grade Math One of Philadelphia’s Most Wanted has been found. He was teaching at a city school in North Philadelphia. Arnesx Honore, 33, has taught math to eighth-grade boys since 2003 at the Hunting Park alternative school in North Philadelphia. Honore, accused of attacking a 17-year-old girl in August 2006, was wanted on sexual-assault charges, police said. According to court records, Honore was arrested on charges of raping a minor on April 1, 2006, but all charges were dismissed because the witness was unavailable. It was unclear this morning whether the […]
CINEMA: Locust Abortion Technician
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS (2007, directed by Cristian Mungiu, 113 minutes, Romania) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC If this is the Romanian New Wave than I’d hate to see their Punk. Raw and unflinching, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a bleak journey into the darkest days of two young female students during the waning years of Communist Romania. Cristian Mungui’s unblinking look at a black market abortion won the Golden Palme at last year’s Cannes Festival and it probably needed that title to receive distribution in the U.S., its dour Eastern European outlook and […]
STEAL THIS LINK: Listen Like Thieves
After a bit of legal wrangling, Bay Area DJ/producer Amplive‘s Rainydayz Remixes project is here to stay. (Rainydayz being the Zion I member’s reimagining of Radiohead‘s In Rainbows with assistance from MCs like Too $hort, Del the Funky Homosapien, Chali 2na, and his Zion I partner MC Zumbi.) And it’s available for download now by following this very link. [via PITCHFORK]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
SCOOBY DOOBIE DO: Snacks, Woody’s, Last Night [Photos by TIFFANY YOON/CLICK TO ENLARGE]
YES WE CAN: Obama Sweeps The Potomac Primaries
WASHINGTON POST: Sen. Barack Obama swept to convincing victories over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Democratic presidential primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, extending his winning streak since Feb. 5 to eight. In a victory speech tonight in Madison, Wis., Obama declared “we’re on our way,” but warned that the job of brining about fundamental change in Washington was far from done. “We know it takes more than one night – or even one election – to overcome decades of money and the influence; bitter partisanship and petty bickering that’s shut you out, let you down and […]
FORECAST: Iceman Cometh
ACCUWEATHER: WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM EST WEDNESDAY…
BREAKING: Senate Hands Bush Blank Check For Spying On Americans & Blanket Immunity For Telecoms
NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — After more than a year of heated political wrangling, the Senate handed the White House a major victory Tuesday by voting to broaden the government’s spy powers after giving legal protection to phone companies that cooperated in President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program. The Senate rejected a series of amendments that would have restricted the government’s surveillance powers and eliminated immunity for the phone carriers, and it voted in convincing fashion — 69 to 29 — to end debate and bring the issue to a final vote. That vote on the overall bill was an almost […]