TRENTON — FBI agents swooped down on 11 New Jersey public officials this morning — including two state assemblymen — in a dragnet involving alleged bribery, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. “Eleven public officials from south and north New Jersey were arrested this morning as part of a corruption investigation,” said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, in an e-mail. He promised more details later Thursday. The probe reportedly involved contracts awarded by the Pleasantville school board in Atlantic County, on the mainland just outside Atlantic City. Among the arrested were state Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. and […]
STUDY: Suicide Up 8%, Anti-Depressant Use Down 16%
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) — The suicide rate for children and young adults rose 8% in 2004, marking the largest annual increase in more than 15 years, the government said Thursday. The rise comes after a cumulative decline of more than 28% in the suicide rate from 1990 to 2003, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report comes from an analysis of annual data from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, which contains data from birth, death, marriage and divorce records in the U.S. Overall, suicide accounted for 4,599 deaths among people aged 10 […]
KEITH OLBERMANN: The President Is Lying
What he said. [Hat tip to Wook]
FINAL CURTAIN: Pavarotti Dead At 71
SO SET ‘EM UP, JOE: “Sinatra & Pavarotti” By Al Hirschfield NEW YORK TIMES: Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian singer whose ringing, pristine sound set a standard for operatic tenors of the postwar era, died early this morning at his home in Modena, in northern Italy. He was 71. “The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life,” said an e-mail statement that his manager sent to The Associated Press. MORE
BOSTON GLOBE: Fred Thompson Finked On America
The Senate Watergate Committee chief counsel, Samuel Dash, crouched to confer with Fred Thompson (left) minority counsel, and Senator Howard Baker during a July 1973 hearing. (James Atherton/ Washington Post/ File) By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | July 4, 2007 WASHINGTON — The day before Senate Watergate Committee minority counsel Fred Thompson made the inquiry that launched him into the national spotlight — asking an aide to President Nixon whether there was a White House taping system — he telephoned Nixon’s lawyer. Thompson tipped off the White House that the committee knew about the taping system and would be making […]
MUST HEAR RADIO: It Can’t Happen Here?
FRESH AIR Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage won a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for a series detailing how often President Bush used “signing statements” — controversial assertions of a chief executive’s right to bypass provisions of new laws. Now Savage has written a book describing how the Bush-Cheney administration has expanded executive power. It’s called Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy. Instead of vetoing bills, Savage reported, Bush has quietly used “signing statements” — official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill to be followed when implementing a […]
RADIOHEAD: The National Anthem
Live, with awesome audio.
DR. DOG BLIND MELON: No Rain
Little Miss Sunshine owes The Bee Girl a little cred and maybe some bank, and this song is much better than you remember. In fact, it’s quite splendid, really.
THE EARLY WORD: Onward Hessian Soldiers
[click image to activate Internet]
NPR FOR THE DRUNK: We Hear It Even When You’re Too Lit
FRESH AIR ON WHYY Michael Jackson became famous in beer circles in 1977 when his book The World Guide To Beer was published. This was later translated into more than ten languages and is still considered to be one of the most fundamental books on the subject. The modern theory of beer style is largely based on the work done by Michael Jackson in his 1977 book The World Guide To Beer in which Jackson categorised a variety of beers from around the world in local style groups suggested by local customs and names. He introduced for instance the terms […]
KILLADELPHIA: 9 More Since U Were Down The Shore
BY MENSAH M. DEAN & REGINA MEDINA As block parties and barbecues reverberated across Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend, so did something that is growing just as common in many neighborhoods: homicide. [wow, embarrassingly bad lede.] Eight people were slain from Friday through yesterday, while the death of a ninth person, whose remains were found stuffed in a duffel bag in her home, was being investigated, police said yesterday. A 20-year-old man was shot in the head yesterday morning in an alley adjacent to the M. Hall Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia. The man, whose identity was being withheld […]
QUESTION THE PARKING AUTHORITY: Darren Finizio Has A Few Questions For THE MAN
RELATED: Who The Hell Is Lew Blum? RELATED: Unofficial Philadelphia Parking Authority Wiki RELATED: Bad Music For Bad People PREVIOUSLY: “Men Who Wear Speedos” [Hat tip to KILROY]
VIET NOW: Cowboys In The Sand
They detained one man who identified himself with a name that didn’t match his government-issued ID, earning him a noisy, expletive-laden interrogation that was easily overheard in the next room. “Keep your head down! Keep your (expletive) head down!” the interrogator yelled in English as an interpreter translated. “Why are you speaking if you’re lying? You better think about what you’re saying before you talk to me, son. I’ve got a real short temper tonight!” Another Iraqi man who lived in the house also was questioned, though he wasn’t detained. What did he know about Sunni insurgents living in the […]