Delaware and Race 1:27 PM by JEFF FUSCO RELATED: The tug-boat mate in last summer’s deadly duck-boat accident was talking to family members on his cell phone about his son’s life-threatening emergency moments before the July 7 crash, according to an investigative report released Monday. The report from the National Transportation Safety Board said Matt Devlin, first mate on the tug Caribbean Sea, made or received 21 cell-phone calls during the 2.5 hours leading up to the accident. One of those calls began five minutes before the tug pushed a barge into the duck boat and continued until one minute […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
[Photo by CLAUDE SHADE/CC MEDIA via FRESH AIR] FRESH AIR “His voice would make even Hank Williams cry,” Nicholas Dawidoff once wrote of Jimmie Dale Gilmore in The New York Times Magazine. Gilmore, a singer from West Texas, writes songs that would be described as alternative country. But for his forthcoming album, Heirloom Music — in which Gilmore teams up with the band The Wronglers — he says he was thinking more in terms of bluegrass music — although that’s not an exact description. “We were calling it old-timey music, but that still wasn’t quite accurate,” he says. “But [bluegrass […]
NPR FOR THE TONE DEAF: National Public Radio CEO Steps Down In The Wake Of O’Keefe Sting Video
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: NPR chief executive officer Vivian Schiller resigned Wednesday in the wake of a sting video that showed fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) criticizing Jews and disparaging conservatives, the tea party movement, and former NPR political analyst Juan Williams, whose firing in October may have set into motion one of the most tumultuous eras in NPR’s 41-year history. James O’Keefe, the controversial conservative sting artist behind the ACORN “pimp videos,” said Mr. Williams’s firing in October sparked the latest sting operation, in which two actors posing as representatives of a Muslim Brotherhood front group met with Mr. Schiller, […]
Archdiocese Suspends 21 Priests Pending An Investigation Into Widespread Child Abuse Allegations
NEW YORK TIMES: Parishioners began filing into the massive Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul here just before noon for Ash Wednesday services, their heads bowed, as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia faces one of its biggest crises. On Tuesday, it announced it had suspended 21 priests in connection with allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate behavior with minors. Cardinal Justin Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, who was officiating at the service, was expected to address the scandal, which has many in his 1.1-million-member church reeling. A dozen protesters stood quietly by the front doors carrying placards. One read: “Name […]
POT CALLS KETTLE BLACK: Virulently Anti-Terrorist Congressman Was An Apologist For IRA Terror Tactics
NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Representative Peter King, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, thinks that Muslims aren’t doing enough to stop the scourge of terrorism in their own community. And so on Thursday, he’ll begin a series of hearings on the radicalization of Muslims in America, or as Muslim congressman Keith Ellison calls it, “a witch hunt.” […] King rose to power as a Long Island politician in the eighties in part thanks to strong support from Irish-Americans. Back then, King didn’t see it as a community’s job to police terrorists in its midst. In fact, he didn’t seem to […]
SIDEWALKING: Forget About It Jake, It’s Chinatown
10th & Cherry, Monday 2:33 PM by JEFF FUSCO
TONIGHT: Blair Witch Trial
It’s March. It is, or it was, or it’s going to be fifty degrees today, depending on when you read this. Point: it’s about time to leave hibernation. Nurse your winter-wounded-heart at Johnny Brenda’s, with pints of lo-fi love. Say Hi (To Your Mom) is headlining the evening (and no longer saying hi to your mom; apparently it’s been four years and you shouldn’t ask about it). His new 2011 release Um, Uh Oh, “has expanded beyond bedroom-pop eccentricities to embrace dark, ominous (but still major-key) synths, toothy bass and roughed-up electric guitars,” restless vocals and deals with the devil. […]
Corbett Balances Budget On The Backs Of School Kids; Marcellus Shale Drilling To Remain Tax-Free Gimme
INQUIRER: In education, Corbett’s budget would wipe out nearly $550 million in basic education funding – a 10 percent cut from this year – and another $650 million for higher education. The four so-called “state-related” universities, including Temple and Lincoln, also would also take a big hit, losing more than 50 percent of their state funding. The state system of higher education, which includes the state universities, also would see its funding cut in half. To offset the pain of cuts to public schools, the governor is asking school districts to reopen their collective bargaining agreements to push for a […]
KITCHEN BITCH: Brewing A Belgian Tripel
BY MAVIS LINNEMANN My boyfriend Doug had been pining for a brew kit for months, so I got him one for Christmas for about $80 from our local Brew ‘n’ Grow. (Yes, that’s really what it’s called. It’s for home brewers and folks into organic gardening and growing hydroponic, um, plants.) The kit came with almost everything Doug needed, except a brew kettle ($40 for a 5-gal. kettle on fermentrationtrap.com) and a glass carboy, i.e., a fermenter, which he got for $35 from the Brew ‘n’ Grow. Once we had the all the supplies for actually making the beer, we […]
REMEMBER: You Are What You Tweet
[Illustration via CHIBBEL] HUFFINGTON POST: Twitter is a powerful communication tool used by the likes of protesters, journalists, astronauts and public officials. But tweeters should take caution: the microblogging service is also frequented by employers, insurance companies, law enforcement agents, even criminals. And as search engines like Google and Bing take steps to further integrate Twitter updates into query results, it’s more important than ever to watch what you tweet. Given the platform’s simplicity and 140-character limit, it can be tempting to dash off Twitter updates without pausing to consider the impact they can have. Experts agree that users should […]
SAME AS IT EVER WAS: Obama Cries Uncle On Gitmo
TIME: As expected, Defense Secretary Robert Gates suspended the two-year ban on new action in military commissions for detainees at Guantanamo Bay today, resuming a practice Obama did away with as one of his first acts in office. For background on the tortured arc of Obama’s rightward move on this issue, see the piece I did with Weisskopf here. More recently, Pro-Publica’s Dafna Linzer looked at last year’s deliberations at the White House here. New charges under the commissions are expected in days or weeks, but are not expected to include big name 9/11 detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. MORE […]
MOVE ALONG: Nothing To See Here Folks
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