Via Newspaper Guild memo: Andrew C. Kassner, an attorney representing Citizens Bank, called “unconscionable” the raises to Brian Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Media Holdings and Inquirer publisher, Richard Thayer, the Company’s chief financial officer, and Mark Frisby, a senior vice president in charge of production and labor issues and publisher of the Daily News. Kassner said lenders found out about the raises – which boosted Tierney’s annual salary to $850,000 and Thayer’s and Frisby’s to $475,000 — a short time before the Company filed for bankruptcy protection. The Company had rejected lenders’ requests to give up the raises, Kassner said. […]
PAY TO PLAY: Councilman Kelly Aide Convicted
PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL: A former aide to a Philadelphia councilman was among three men convicted in a corruption case Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia said. Christopher Wright [pictured left, making O-Face], a former aide to Councilman Jack Kelly, developer Ravinder Chawla of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., and Chawla’s attorney Andrew Teitelman of Newtown, Pa., were convicted of conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud, honest services mail fraud, and mail fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Wright, 45, of Philadelphia was accused of trading on his position as Kelly’s aide from June 2005 to January 2008 to […]
EXPLAINER: Why Lawyers Make The Big Bucks
Because they can say shit like this out loud in a court of law with a completely straight face: “The Philadelphia Inquirer has been published in Philadelphia since 1828. It’s over 180 years old and it is an institution and a treasure to its community,” said McMichael. He said no one — including the local investor group that bought the newspapers for $515 million in 2006 — foresaw how the economy and other factors would rout the newspaper industry. “These people put $150 million cash into this thing,” McMichael said of the investor group brought together by Tierney, who is […]
TONITE: Burn The Witch
BY DAVID STAMPONE Witch? Yeah, that’s the heavy (“doom-“/”stoner-“) rock group from Western Mass., the one with a key member arguably more famous for his association with a legendary band from back in the late 80s/early 90s. That would be Witch drummer J. Mascis: he of few words and much shred, forever to be recognized as a hazily crooning indie-rock guitar god from the mid ’80s on, primarily as leader of Dinosaur Jr. (who reformed a few years ago and are due for a second post-reunion album this summer; just signed to Indiana label Jagjaguwar, FYI). In Witch, Mascis stows […]
USELESS INFORMATION: David Lynch’s Twitter
[by DAVMO] Good morning. It’s Monday, Feb. 23, 2009. Here in LA, gray, overcast skies & a slight breeze. Looks like rain. 60°F 16°C. Have a nice day. about 20 hours ago from web To think: He used to read our mind, now he reads the weather. Who says you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows? Oh, right. That guy.
MUGSHOT: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
BEAVER COUNTY TIMES: NEW CASTLE, PA — Jordan Anthony Brown doesn’t mesh with his new surroundings. He’s swimming in his jail-issued shirt, and his pant legs are cuffed six times to keep them off the floor. He cries and is scared. He misses his dad. He wants to go back to school. He wants to go home. Jail isn’t a place for an 11-year-old, his attorney said. “It’s surreal, just surreal,” said New Castle attorney Dennis Elisco, who is representing the boy. “Bizarre, really.” Jordan Brown is accused of shooting and killing 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn son Friday […]
STRANGER THAN FICTION: ‘The Land Of Twins’
NEW YORK TIMES: CÂNDIDO GODÓI, Brazil — A sign at the entrance to Cândido Godói says, “Garden City and Land of Twins.” More than 80 percent of its 6,700 residents are of German descent. They began arriving around World War I, lured by the prospect of cheap land, an agreeable farming climate and incentives from the Brazilian government to colonize the area.The twins phenomenon is centered in the 300-person settlement of São Pedro, the part of Cândido Godói where the Grimms live. “It can’t all be explained by genetics,” said Mr. Grimm, himself a twin. Geneticists would like to disagree […]
THE INQUISITION: Doctors Examining British Gitmo Detainee Cite Signs Of Multiple Severe Beatings
THE GUARDIAN: Former British resident Binyam Mohamed arrives back in Britain tomorrow after his release from Guantanamo Bay. British and US lawyers claim that sustained beatings — which have only recently stopped — have left him with severe psychological and physical problems. Binyam Mohamed will return to Britain suffering from a huge range of injuries after being beaten by US guards right up to the point of his departure from Guantánamo Bay, according to the first detailed accounts of his treatment inside the camp. During medical examinations last week, doctors discovered injuries and ailments resulting from apparently brutal treatment in […]
TOM CRUISE: Is Not Safe At Any Speed
Hilarious ad for Jimmy Kimmel Live from last night’s Oscars telecast.
POLLS: Legalizing Marijuana More Popular Than GOP
YGLESIAS: Inspired by this Chris Bowers post, here’s a chart I made comparing public support for legalizing marijuana to the approval ratings for Rush Limbaugh and various Republican Party leaders that I found on PollingReport. MORE FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM: The first poll, conducted last week by Rasmussen Reports, has 40 percent of Americans in support of legalizing the drug and 46 percent opposed. The second, conducted in January by CBS News, has 41 percent in favor of legalization and 52 percent against. And a third poll, conducted by Zogby on behalf of the marijuana-rights advocacy group NORML, has 44 percent of Americans […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
HAIL, HAIL ROCK N’ ROLL: M. Ward, Trocadero, Friday [Photo: TIFFANY YOON] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The first time M. Ward performed at the Trocadero, back in 2004, he was low man on the totem pole of an inspired three-headed bill that included Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. Three acclaimed solo albums of languid torch-folk later, an opening slot at the Tower with Norah Jones, not to mention a turn through town with She & Him (Ward’s endearing duet act with Zooey Deschanel), he’s selling out the Troc all by his lonesome. Such […]
Oscar Acceptance Speech We Wish We Had Seen
NSFW in the best possible way. [Hat tip to J. Loviglio]
THIS JUST IN: Inquirer/Daily News Go Bankrupt
INQUIRER: Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, filed for bankruptcy protection today in a bid to restructure its $390 million in debt load. The company, bought by a group of Philadelphia-area investors for $562 million in 2006, said the voluntary Chapter 11 filing would not interrupt its daily operations. “This restructuring is focused solely on our debt, not our operations,” chief executive officer Brian P. Tierney, who led the group that provided about $150 million of the purchase price three years ago, said in a news release. “Our operations are sound and profitable,” […]