FOX 29: “We believe that this enhanced design is consistent with a number of the city’s planning and urban design objectives, and will support the rapid construction and opening of the SugarHouse casino on North Delaware Avenue,” says SugarHouse architect Ian Cope. “Do not call this proposal anything but what it is, which is a scaled back, strip mall, cut-rate version of a casino that will at least, at one phase, put about 1500 surface parking spaces on the river in direct violation of the most basic principles of waterfront planning, development and design,” says anti-casino activist Matt Ruben. MORE
Jay Bennett Death Ruled An ‘Accidental Overdose’
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Former Wilco member Jay Bennett died of an overdose of a painkiller, the Champaign County coroner said Tuesday, and his office is investigating Bennett’s death as an accident. Tests showed Bennett died from fentanyl, a drug often prescribed to treat chronic pain, said the coroner, Duane Northrup. Bennett, who died May 24 at his home in Urbana, had posted a few weeks earlier on his MySpace site that he would need hip-replacement surgery. “A decade plus of multiple nightly stage jumps and various other rock and roll theatrics had finally taken a toll that I could no longer […]
MYSTERY SOLVED: Turns Out Missing South Carolina Governor Was In Argentina Cheating On His Wife
NEW YORK TIMES: Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, apologized in a rambling news conference on Wednesday for having an extra-marital affair with a woman in Argentina, ending a mystery over his week-long disappearance that had infuriated lawmakers and seemed to put his rising political career in jeopardy. Governor Sanford admitted he had been in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since Thursday, not hiking on the Appalachian Trail as he told his staff. In revealing an affair that had gone on for about a year — and which he had disclosed to his wife, Jenny, five months ago, he said: “This […]
Last Summer’s Televised Cop Beatdown Goes On Trial
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The lawyer for a man accused of shooting three people on a North Philadelphia street corner last year says the only eyewitness has changed details of what he saw in the course of five statements. Defense lawyer Mary Maran, representing Pete Hopkins Jr., says police want to get a conviction in order to justify the actions of police officers who pummeled her client and his co-defendants. The beating was captured on video by a TV news helicopter and resulted in four officers getting fired. Assistant District Attorney Carol Meehan Sweeney acknowledges that the videotape overshadows the case. But […]
PRESIDENT ARCHIE BUNKER: Secret Tapes Reveal Nixon Was Pro-Abortion For Interracial Pregnancies
NEW YORK TIMES: On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence. Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies. “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.” Nine months […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Bloody protests in the streets of Iran following that nation’s June 12 presidential election have captivated the world’s attention, but what does it all mean? Political analyst Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace joins Fresh Air to discuss this unprecedented moment in the country’s political history. Before joining Carnegie, Sadjadpour was the chief Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, based in Tehran and Washington, D.C. A regular contributor to BBC World TV and radio, CNN, National Public Radio and PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Sadjadpour has written for The Washington Post, The New York […]
When Bad Tattoos Happen To Dumb Good People
THE TELEGRAPH: Kimberley Vlaminck had insisted she dozed off after asking the tattooist for just three small stars – then woke in horror to find her face was covered. The Belgian blamed the Flemish-speaking tattooist for not being able to understand her French and English instructions. Amid a frenzy of media attention, she then said she would sue the tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, for the £9,000 she needed for laser surgery to have them removed. She said after the tattooing last week: “It is terrible for me. I cannot go out on to the street. I look like a freak.” […]
ED MCHMAHON RIP: You Were Correct, Sir!
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Notwithstanding the dozen years of hosting “Star Search,” a role in the 1997 Tom Arnold sitcom “The Tom Show,” a high-profile Cash4Gold ad during the last Super Bowl and all that knocking on people’s doors in the name of the Publishers Clearing House, McMahon was a professional sidekick, a less-than-equal partner in an enterprise of which he was nevertheless a vital part: Thinking of Johnny, one proceeds quickly and naturally to Ed, who by dint of association was almost as famous as his boss — I say “almost” to include that fraction of the world that may […]
Barney Frank Files Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana
WBZ: A controversial law in Massachusetts could go national if Congressman Barney Frank gets his way. Frank has filed a bill that would eliminate federal penalties for personal possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana. It would also make the penalty for using marijuana in public just $100. “I think John Stuart Mill had it right in the 1850s,” said Congressman Frank, “when he argued that individuals should have the right to do what they want in private, so long as they don’t hurt anyone else. It’s a matter of personal liberty. Moreover, our courts are already stressed and […]
OUTRAGE: Families Of Dead Forced To Pay ‘Bullet Fee’
WALL STREET JOURNAL: When Mr. Alipour didn’t return home that night, his parents began to worry. All day, they had heard gunshots ringing in the distance. His father, Yousef, first called his fiancée and friends. No one had heard from him. At the crack of dawn, his father began searching at police stations, then hospitals and then the morgue. Upon learning of his son’s death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a “bullet fee”—a fee for the bullet used by security forces—before taking the body back, relatives said. Mr. Alipour […]
CAN’T HAPPEN HERE: Why Iranians Took To The Streets After A Stolen Election, But Americans Did Not
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA Iran, 2009. Millions take to the streets to protest what is widely perceived to be a stolen election, despite the prevailing threat of arrest, bodily harm and a body count that currently numbers a dozen protesters shot dead by government forces. And still, day after day, the Iranian people take to the streets to protest the gross violation of their democratic rights. Rewind. The year is 2000. The place is Florida in the immediate aftermath of a presidential election — Bush vs. Gore. The initial tally has Bush ahead by a mere 300 […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Top Five Things You Need to Know About the Old 97’s at the TLA Last Night
1) The Old 97’s would be a much more depressing band if Rhett Miller weren’t around. The structure of “An Evening With the Old 97’s,” as the show was billed, gave a unique insight into what half of the 97’s bring to the table: With no opening acts, first was a solo set by bassist Murry Hammond, who trudged through a dozen dirges that were about as cheery as a plane crash. “I’m all about the funerals,” he noted before one particularly depressing Carter Family cover. Next was a set of poppy love songs by lead singer Rhett Miller. While […]