INQUIRER: Brian P. Tierney, president and CEO of Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., lashed out at his company’s lenders Wednesday, suggesting that they were purposefully trying to financially destroy the media firm by seeking to delay the company’s scheduled April 27 auction. […] Should the auction be delayed, the company’s bankruptcy case could drag on well into the summer and beyond, which would be a financial disaster, Tierney said. The company has estimated that it will run out of operating cash by July. MORE UPDATE: Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C.’s bankruptcy auction remains scheduled for April 27. A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court […]
THE PEACE CORPS DIARIES: Letter From Paraguay
EDITOR’S NOTE: The author [pictured above with the jawbone of a cow] just started a two year hitch in the Peace Corps doing health counseling in rural Paraguay. BY SAINT JOHN BARNED-SMITH I was walking back from a pickup soccer game yesterday. One of my fellow [Peace Corps] trainees called me over to where he was standing with three other people. They had clustered around a black cow tied to a tall pole, which it was circling slowly. “Hurry up, we’re helping a cow give birth,” he said. That’s when I noticed two miniscule hooves poking out underneath the cow’s […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR As a teenager, Frank Meeink was one of the most well-known skinhead gang members in the country. He had his own public access talk show, called The Reich, he appeared on Nightline and other media outlets as a spokesman for neo-Nazi topics, and he regularly recruited members of his South Philadelphia neighborhood to join his skinhead gang. At 18, Meeink spent several years in prison for kidnapping one man and beating another man senseless for several hours. While in prison, Meeink says, he was exposed to people from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds and started reevaluating […]
WHY MUSIC MATTERS: Nick Cave
WHY MUSIC MATTERS: Music Matters is a collective of people across the music industry, including artists, retailers, songwriters, labels and managers, formed to remind listeners of the significance and value of music. MORE
DOPE: NJ Weedman Comes Home, Gets Busted
INQUIRER: Ed Forchion doesn’t deny it. There was a pound of marijuana – “high-grade California Kush” – in the trunk of his rent-a-wreck when he was stopped in Mount Holly on Thursday night by a state trooper. The dreadlocked Rastafarian, better known as “NJ Weedman,” who ran unsuccessfully for New Jersey governor and U.S. and state representative on the Marijuana Party ticket, was released from the Burlington County jail on Tuesday after posting $50,000 bail on drug possession and distribution charges. He did not intend to be arrested, said Forchion, 45. “But now that I’ve been charged, it feels like […]
TONITE: Concord Rock City
[artwork by A. MICAH SMITH] WILCO HQ: Tune into live a stream of the Wilco show tonight from the Concord, NH Capital Center for the Arts. Music begins around 8pm eastern time (US) . Note there is no support band and Wilco’s sets have been clocking in at or near the 3 hour mark. Stick around for the long haul. It’s well worth it.
CUCKOO’S NEST: Dude Who Threatened Congressman On YouTube Deemed Unfit To Stand Trial
INQUIRER: A Philadelphia man who threatened a Congressman and his family in a YouTube video has been found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment. Norman Leboon, 38, [NOT pictured, above] will be sent to a federal prison and mental health facility for four months, with the goal of treating him so he is capable of standing trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert K. Reed said Tuesday. Leboon appears in the video attacking U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.), the Republican House whip. MORE PREVIOUSLY: LUNATIC FRINGE: Feds Raid Christian Apocolypto Militia; Local Man Arrested For YouTube Death […]
Everything You Never Wanted To Know About…
[via SCHOOLS ONLINE]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: With A.P. Ticker
A.P. discusses Philly’s new weed policy, ‘collateral murder’ in Iraq, the Donovan McNabb trade and, of course, the Fightins.
Federal Court Rules In Favor Of Comcast On ‘Net Neutrality’; Internet Expected To Start Sucking
NEW YORK TIMES: A federal appeals court on Tuesday dealt a sharp blow to the efforts of the Federal Communications Commission to set the rules of the road for the Internet, ruling that the agency lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks. The decision, by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, specifically concerned the efforts of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, to slow down customers’ access to a service called BitTorrent, which is used to exchange large video files, most often […]
THE JERKY BOY: Captain Janks Pranks Fox News
HUFFINGTON POST: A prank call to Fox News by an infamous Howard Stern super-fan made it on air on Monday. During a segment on a West Virginia mining accident, the trickster known as Captain Janks was introduced by anchor Shepard Smith as “Richard Kendrowski,” a spokesperson for “the energy company.” Asked to share information about the accident, Janks blurted out, “We’ve learned that Jamie Foxx is a c**t and that Howard Stern rules.” “That’s unfortunate,” Smith quickly interjected. “It’s never happened to us here but it’s always distressing when there are six people killed at a mine disaster and we’re […]
REEFER SADNESS: District Attorney Clarifies New Pot Policy, Not Quite As Groovy As First Reported
DAILY NEWS: [District Attorney Seth] Williams, deluged by phone calls, issued a statement yesterday afternoon that stated: “We are not decriminalizing marijuana – any effort like that would be one for the Legislature to undertake.” The D.A. noted that people who are stopped by police while possessing marijuana would still be arrested and fingerprinted, and could face the harshest penalty by law – 30 days in jail. “They will still have to answer to the charges,” Williams said, “but they will be doing so in a speedier and more efficient process.” McCaffery said the summary diversion plan, which should take […]
Casino To Be A Wynn-Wynn For Wynn Says Wynn
INQUIRER: Casino mogul Steve Wynn on Monday declared that his plans for a South Philadelphia casino would be “Wynn top to bottom,” carrying both his name and signature design. After meeting for an hour and fifteen minutes with Mayor Nutter at City Hall Monday night, Wynn said in an interview with The Inquirer: “We only have one brand. We don’t have a down-market brand. It’s our place.” When Wynn Resorts surfaced in February as a new developer to take over the faltering Foxwoods Casino project, there was speculation that he might not bring his style of high-end casinos to Philadelphia. […]