If we’re taking sides in the Barbara Walters vs. Star Jones bitchfight, I’m with Starr, people.The backstory: In her tiresome new book, Barbara dishes on Starr’s weight-loss surgery, among other things. Inevitably asked for her comment, Jones put the smack down: “It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book,” Jones told Us. “It speaks to her true character.”SNAP! Called […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR W/ Guest Host DAVE DAVIES The United States is home to less than five percent of the world’s population — and almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Adam Liptak, national legal correspondent for The New York Times, says that’s one of the ways America’s legal system differs from those of other countries. Liptak’s recent series for The Times, “American Exception,” looks at the ways the American justice system is unique — including high incarceration rates, the awarding of punitive damages, felony murder liability for accomplices and commercial bail bondsmen. “Americans are locked up for crimes — from […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Swinging Nightstick Of Truth
Feds Clarify Status Of Johnny Doc Investigation; Deny Immunity From Prosecution Federal prosecutors said in a court filing yesterday that they are “pursuing an ongoing investigation” of electricians-union honcho John Dougherty, who they said is a “subject” of a criminal investigation. As a result, they said, a federal judge should not grant him immunity to testify in the upcoming trial of electrical contractor Donald “Gus” Dougherty Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Gray said yesterday that granting John Dougherty immunity to testify in the case could jeopardize any future investigation and prosecution of the union leader. The feds claim that Gus […]
BREAKING: Cops Catch Cop Killer
NBC 10 is reporting that police have captured Eric Floyd, wanted in connection with the murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski…He was captured in southwest Philadelphia, reportedly cops used Sgt. Liczbinski’s handcuffs to secure Floyd… DEVELOPING… UPDATE: Police received a tip Wednesday night that Floyd was possibly in an abandoned property on Windsor Avenue near 54th Street. Police found the fugitive by himself at the property, unarmed. They later handcuffed him with Liczbinski’s handcuffs — a department tradition — and took him to police headquarters, according to a police source. Floyd’s arrest ends a massive police manhunt, aided by the FBI […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded ground troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, has since been speaking out about the conduct of the Iraq war — especially about what he calls the Bush administration’s “catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan.” His views take book form in Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story, which also details his rise from an impoverished Texas childhood to become the Army’s highest-ranking Hispanic officer. When Sanchez relinquished command of group troops in Iraq to Gen. George Casey in 2004, investigations into torture at Abu Ghraib prison were being conducted. […]
EARLY WORD: Cinco De Miro
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THUG LIFE: Cops Gangbang Shooting Suspects
DAILY NEWS: Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey yesterday asked Philadelphians not “to rush to judgment” when watching a video showing baton-wielding cops repeatedly striking, kicking and stomping three young men whom they had stopped after a triple shooting in Hunting Park. “On the surface, it certainly does not look good in terms of the amount of force that was used,” Ramsey said during a news conference with Mayor Nutter at police headquarters. Ramsey said that an Internal Affairs investigation is under way. D. Scott Perrine, a defense attorney representing the three men, said the commissioner seemed to be making excuses […]
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS: Nefarious Rocky Statue Plot Afoot; WIP Promises 24-7 Goon Squad Protection
[Photo by iirraa via FLICKR] CRAIGSLIST: Need to recruit someone who is a Pittsburgh native, living in Philly. I want you to put a Penguins jersey on the Rocky statue and take pictures. I am going to send it in to the Post-Gazette and other media outlets to show some pride. If you are interested please reply to this ad ASAP. INQUIRER: This morning on WIP (610 AM), host Angelo Cataldi was on the case, appealing for a thug lookalike — a big guy with “menacing facial hair” — to “guard” the statue from 8 a.m. through noon, when a […]
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW: 54th & Kingsessing
[Photos by JUSTIN ROMAN] BY JEFF DEENEY We discovered the pile of teddy bears gathered around the base of a stop light at 54th and Kingsessing while on our way to the scene of another recent homicide in Southwest Philly. This wasn’t the first time we stumbled upon a street memorial by accident while en route to another site; it isn’t surprising in this extremely violent part of town, and especially not along Kingsessing Avenue, which has had a double-digit number of shootings and homicides along its length over the last two years. A clue as to who is memorialized […]
KILLLADELPHIA: 1 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: A 29-year-old man was shot to death in the city’s Brewerytown neighborhood last night, police said this morning. Delaney Humphrey, of the 1500 block of Hollywood Street, was shot in the head, chest and stomach around 10:20 p.m. in the 1500 block of North Dover Street, police said. Humphrey was transported to Hahnemann University Hospital and pronounced dead at 11:52 p.m. No arrests were reported.
TONITE: The Marshall Plan
As a young musician, Marshall Allen (b.1924) performed with pianist Art Simmons, Don Byas and James Moody before enrolling in the Paris Conservatory of Music. After relocating to Chicago, Allen became a pupil of Sun Ra, subsequently joining the his Arkestra in 1958 and leading Sun Ra’s formidable reed section for next 40 years (a role akin to the position Johnny Hodges held in the Duke Ellington Orchestra). Marshall, along with John Gilmore, June Tyson and James Jacson, lived, rehearsed, toured and recorded with Sun Ra almost exclusively for much of Ra’s musical career. As a member of the Arkestra, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Al Gore, who galvanized public opinion with his advocacy on global warming, sees danger in another poisoned environment, this one metaphorical: In his book The Assault on Reason [CLICK TO READ EXCERPT], just published in paperback, he argues that what used to be called civil discourse is threatened by a combination of public apathy and political cynicism. In our infotainment-mad culture, Gore writes, the public attention span is short, the media are easily distracted, and a politics driven by fear and uninterested in facts has undermined the essential functions of democracy. “When evidence that any reasonable person can […]