NEW YORK TIMES: It is always a risky proposition when anyone tries to codify the spirit of a proudly independent, nonconformist scene. (And in this case Mr. Armisen, a nine-season veteran of “Saturday Night Live” and resident of New York would seem to have less of a claim to it than Ms. Brownstein, a guitarist and singer from the Portland rock band Sleater-Kinney, which broke up in 2006.) But together Mr. Armisen and Ms. Brownstein, two guileless if unlikely collaborators, hope they possess enough street cred to serve as ambassadors of Portland’s counterculture and to present their version of it, […]

PITCHFORK: Back in October, we reported that jangle rock OGs the Feelies were working on their first full-length since 1991’s Time for a Witness. Well, their work is officially complete: Here Before, the first album from the Feelies in two decades, is set for release March 29 via Bar/None. MORE PREVIOUSLY: The Feelies are one of those inscrutable but beloved band’s bands whose influence far exceeds their royalty statements and, as a consequence, the period on the last sentence in their bio keeps turning into a comma. Borne of the suburban garages of North Haledon, New Jersey, they released Crazy […]

INQUIRER: An abortion doctor has been arrested and charged with the murder of a patient and seven live infants whose spines were severed with scissors at a West Philadelphia clinic that has been described as a house of horrors, officials said today. District Attorney Seth Williams said the doctor, Kermit P. Gosnell, was charged following a grand jury investigation. Gosnell, 69, lost his medical license last year after health officials determined his clinic posed “a clear danger to the public.” Gosnell was arrested this morning, officials said. He has maintained his innocence. The seven infants were born alive in the […]

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Encouraged by one-time tourmate Elvis Presley to sing the tougher strain of rhythmic country music known as rockabilly, Wanda Jackson was peerless in her field from the start. Bob Dylan deemed her “an atomic bomb in lipstick.” Now, despite being nearly six decades removed from her raucous and feisty first sides (as well as a long detour into gospel music), Ms. Jackson remains the Queen. In 2003, she cut a comeback album with longtime devotees like Elvis Costello and the Cramps, and toured the revival circuit with other early rock ‘n’ rollers. But it’s her forthcoming album, […]

PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY: At last month’s pre-trial conference, Johnson surprised the court by revealing that he fired court-appointed attorney Lee Mandell and instead hired lawyer Douglas Dolfman. Dolfman’s first motion was to announce that his client will not accept a plea and instead wants a jury trial. It was revealed this morning that the state’s plea deal was life in prison plus 40-80 years. If convicted at trial, Johnson, who was 18 years old at the time of the murder, could face the death penalty. […] Judge Hughes told Johnson that the type of sophisticated defense that his case would require […]

INQUIRER: Rodriguez, a convicted felon, was required to submit his DNA when he was released from jail this summer. It had been waiting to be uploaded into the state police database since Oct. 25, because of a backlog that averages about eight weeks. Philadelphia police submitted DNA taken from the crime scenes on Nov. 23. Had his DNA been in the system then, he might have been identified about three weeks before the final victim was killed. MORE PREVIOUSLY: Police Have Strangler Suspect In Custody

NEW YORK TIMES: A former senior Swiss bank executive said on Monday that he had given the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, details of more than 2,000 prominent individuals and companies that he contends engaged in tax evasion and other possible criminal activity, Ravi Somaiya and Julia Werdigier report in The New York Times. Rudolf M. Elmer, who ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, refused to identify any of the individuals or companies, but he told reporters at a news conference that about 40 politicians and “pillars of […]

DAILY NEWS: Police just announced that they’ve arrested Antonio Rodriguez, identified tonight as the Kensington Strangler. Rodriguez was arrested on Mutter Street near Westmoreland in Kensington. MORE MSNBC: DNA links the 21-year-old alleged serial killer to three murders in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, police said at a Monday night news conference. During that news conference a 911 call came in saying that Rodriguez was hiding out in a house on the 3300 block of Mudder Street. MORE DAILY MAIL: Philadelphia police say they have caught a serial killer who has been dubbed the Kensington Strangler – after a $37,000 […]