THIS JUST IN: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will play the half-time slot at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, snagging the most-watched musical showcase of the year, according to the organizers. This year, more than 148 million viewers in the U.S. watched Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play at the championship game of American football, the National Football League said on Sunday. The Super Bowl, scheduled for February 1, will be televised by NBC. MORE ALSO: Federal regulators on Sunday night were pressing for the sale of yet another troubled bank — this time, the Wachovia Corporation […]
KILLADELPHIA: Stick Up Men Get Rough Justice
INQUIRER: City police concluded a probe of a fatal shooting in a Southwest neighborhood that was in self-defense. A man in his 20s was fatally shot twice in the chest shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday in the 5100 block of Warrington Street near South 52d Street in Southwest Philadelphia. Police Information Officer Christine O’Brien said the man and a 17-year-old male accomplice were attempting to rob two other men on the street. They were shot by the men they were trying to hold up, O’Brien said. The teen was shot twice in the left arm and was in stable condition […]
GAMBLOR: John McCain, Casino First
NEW YORK TIMES: Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings. A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting […]
EARLY WORD: Celebrate Banned Books Week
Celebrate Your Freedom to Read! Banned Books Week, September 27-October 4, 2008 Each year libraries, schools, and book lovers come together for Banned Books Week, a celebration of our freedom to read without censorship. The American Library Association receives hundreds of reports every year about books and other materials that have been threatened with removal from public libraries and schools. For each known incident, four or five others go unreported. The children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” topped the 2007 list of most challenged books. Get involved in the fight against censorship. Attend one of these two Banned Books events […]
LAME: Palin Bails On Debate Watch Party; McCain Travels Thru Time, Wins Debate Before It Happens
LIVE FROM THE WASILLA WITCH TRIAL: Obama supporters vastly outnumber Palin supporters out front of the Irish Pub, Philadelphia, 6:41 PM [Photos by KEVIN C. BROWN] BOSTON HERALD: Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is scheduled to appear at a tavern near Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square — but to leave before the presidential debate.The Irish Pub is to welcome ticketed guests at 5 p.m. Friday. One of the owners, Mark O’Connor, tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that Palin is expected to show up between 7 and 7:30 p.m. and greet people. O’Connor says she should leave around 8:30 p.m., half an hour […]
KILLADELPHIA: Court Kills New Gun Laws Dead
INQUIRER: Philadelphia officials cannot enact gun laws tougher than Pennsylvania’s law, a state appeals court ruled today in throwing out city ordinances that would have limited gun purchases to one a month and banned assault weapons, among other things. Commonwealth Court dismissed a lawsuit against the Legislature filed by two members of Philadelphia’s City Council, Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller. The court cited language in several gun ordinances the council passed last year that the measures cannot take effect unless the Legislature were to let municipalities enact stricter laws. That has not happened. “While we understand the terrible […]
GAYDAR: Is That All There Is To An Apocalypse?
BY AARON STELLA Well, here we are again with another exciting edition of GAYDAR! This week, we’re traveling back in time to turn-of-the-century Alabama, the land of pork rinds, pickled pigs feet, deep-fried snickers and Creationism. Know that it wasn’t the simple fare or the relaxed colloquialisms, or even the Biblical science, that drew my family to the middle of nowhere. We were pilgrims, in the loosest sense of the word, in that we desired a new start, and a place where we could worship freely with fellow Catholics — oh yeah, and we were on the run from […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
[Illustration by JAY BEVENOUR] FRESH AIR Australian singer Nick Cave and and his band, the Bad Seeds, are best known for angry, twisted, ballad-like lyrics. Their 2008 album, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!, was inspired, in part, by the Biblical story of Lazarus. It is Cave’s 14th studio album. In an article about Cave in Entertainment Weekly, Chris Nashawaty writes, “Over the years Cave’s songwriting has become more intricate and challenging, almost literary in its ambitions. He’s one of the few artists in rock & roll, or any medium, really, who’s managed to get better with age.” RADIO TIMES Hour 1 We […]
BREAKING: Milton Street Gets 30 Months Behind Bars
ACTION NEWS: The older brother of former Philadelphia Mayor John Street has been sentenced to 2½ years in prison and fined $413,000 for not filing tax returns. Prosecutors say Milton Street willfully avoided paying taxes on nearly $3 million in income. He was sentenced Friday, handcuffed and ordered to start serving his time immediately. MORE
BREAKING: McCain Blinks, Palin Wins Pageant
WASHINGTON POST: The news that John McCain will debate Barack Obama tonight in Mississippi is a concession by the Arizona Senator that his attempt to score a quick political victory on legislation to bail out the financial sector did not pan out as he had hoped. McCain suspended his presidential campaign with much fanfare on Wednesday, insisting that the crisis in financial markets and the seeming stalemate on Capitol Hill required that politics be set aside for the good of the country. But, over the intervening 24 hours, McCain saw what looked at first like a brilliant political gambit turn […]
PIMPIN AINT EASY: Goode Thug Bitchslaps Reporter
PHILLY CLOUT: The Fox 29 News Vs. W. Wilson Goode Jr. mess appears to have turned physical today. Here is video from the Fox 29 News web site of reporter Claudia Gomez chasing Goode after his comments in Council today. A man wearing a fedora — no, really — appears to step in her way several times. Then we get this exchange: Gomez to man in hat: “You just slapped me!” Man in hat: “No I didn’t. I put my hand up and you ran into it.” MORE MYFOXPHILLY: Click To Watch Video PREVIOUSLY: Goode Aide Calls Fox29 ‘Racist’ For […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran spoke at the United Nations this week, his translator was Hooman Majd. But Majd isn’t a professional translator. He’s been a record executive, a film producer, and a writer. Based in New York, he’s written for GQ, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Salon.com; he’s also a contributing editor at Interview, and he contributes occasionally to The Huffington Post. His new book is called The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Farnaz Fassihi, the Wall Street Journal’s deputy bureau chief of the Middle […]