While Senator Obama ordered the Democratic National Committee last week to stop taking donations from lobbyists, the co-chairman and lead fund-raiser for the host committee for the Denver convention, Steven Farber, is a lawyer and federally registered lobbyist with Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck LLP, a firm with offices in Denver, Washington, and elsewhere.
“Not only that, they’re a donor,” an advocate of tighter regulation of political funding, Stephen Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute, said, pointing to the firm’s logo among several dozen “partners” on the host committee Web site.
“Barack Obama’s failure to meet his own standards concerning the special interests running his party and campaign demonstrates the weak leadership defining his candidacy,” a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Daniel Diaz, said.
A spokesman for Mr. Obama, Thomas Vietor, said allies of Mr. McCain had no credibility on the issue because the senator from Arizona has counted dozens of lobbyists among the ranks of his senior campaign staff and fund-raisers even though he railed against what he called the “iron triangle of money, lobbyists, and legislation.”
Mr. Vietor said Mr. Obama has been candid that the donation ban he announced is not a cure-all. “It’s not a perfect solution or even a perfect symbol for the problem of lobbyist influence, but it’s a sign of his commitment and it’s certainly a strong contrast with Senator McCain’s campaign, which is paid for and run by Washington lobbyists.”
The Obama campaign also turned the tables on Mr. McCain and his aides for attacking a member of Mr. Obama’s vice presidential vetting team who once headed Fannie Mae, James Johnson, over his ties to a struggling subprime lending firm. Mr. Vietor noted that the Washington lawyer handling Mr. McCain’s vice presidential search, Arthur Culvahouse of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, is a former lobbyist and longtime Washington insider.

nysun.com

When Esperanza Spalding was still a senior at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, the jazz singer and bassist had a startling moment of self-recognition. Traveling on a bus into the city, she glanced up at the college – briefly visible from the highway – and saw a multistory poster of herself on the wall of The Berklee Performance Center. “I had no idea!,” she exclaims.
The billboard, an early indicator of stardom in 2005, is appropriate for a larger-than-life personality who, at age 20, became the youngest faculty member in the college’s history. Now, Ms. Spalding is having a different kind of banner year. She’s about to appear on David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel as her second album of Latin jazz knocks on the door of mainstream success.
Remarkably, it’s not a “crossover record.” A couple of the songs are in Portuguese, for starters. As her voice sambas over vibrant South American rhythms and her Elastigirl fingers climb up and down the double-bass’s skyscraper neck, you’d swear the girl was from Ipanema, not Portland, Ore. Even people who think they don’t like jazz may respond to the melodies on “Esperanza.”
“[Musicians] are taking more risks, adding more colors and sounds to the music, ultimately to the benefit of the listener,” she says in a phone interview.
Spalding has worked with saxophonist Joe Lovano and bassist Stanley Clarke. She’s even been the opening act for comedian Bill Cosby, who offered to find her a record deal. She beat him to it.
“I recognized right away that she had a lot to say and was also unlike any musician I had ever run across before,” raves legendary jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, in an e-mail. “Her unique quality is something that goes beyond her pretty amazing musical skills; She has that rare ‘x’ factor of being able to transmit a certain personal kind of vision and energy that is all her own.”

csmonitor.com

They are two families from different backgrounds, living in different corners of the country. But this morning the McCanns and the Entwistles will be reliving the horrors of May 3 - the day that their children disappeared.
For Gerry and Kate McCann, the 12 months since Madeleine vanished have been the most bewildering and public of emotional rollercoasters - a year of relentless, unprecedented police and media scrutiny.
For David and Paula Entwistle, what followed the disappearance in 2003 of their son, Daniel, then aged 7, was a markedly different experience.
There was the neighbourly support, the national appeals, the trawl of paedophile databases and the hurtful, malicious gossip. But by July that year the official searches had stopped, and by August the police announced that, although the case was not closed, officers were no longer assigned to it as a sole responsibility.
Daniel vanished from outside his home in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. He had gone out to get a baby’s bottle for his younger brother and some sweets from the shop across the road. Then he headed round the corner on his bike. He was never seen again.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the weeks after Daniel’s disappearance, his father told The Times of the devastating impact on his family over the past five years.
It has been a time of desperation, isolation, acceptance and reconciliation - all underpinned by the harrowing uncertainty that, though they now feel it is likely that Daniel drowned, they can never be sure.
Mr Entwistle, 46, said that he relives the final time that he saw his son at the family home in Copperfield Avenue every day. His story, unlike that of the McCanns and their fateful evening in Praia da Luz, faded from public consciousness almost at once.
The rail maintenance worker had gone shopping with his wife, Paula, for clothes to take on a family holiday to Tenerife. When they returned, Mrs Entwistle went to bed feeling unwell.

timesonline.co.uk

Hello, Upper East Siders (and everyone else who reads this blog). To help you work through your GG addiction (remember Step 1: Admit you have a problem), we’ve invited devoted viewers Lindsey Unterberger and Kelsey Rahn, whom you may remember from their spirited Starbucks-cup debate, to share their iChats about each episode on this here blog.
Lindsey Unterberger, TONY Kids Web editor: hi
can we talk about gossip girl now?
Kelsey Rahn, online designer: DID YOU SEE CHUCK’S YELLOW PANTS!?
Unterberger: Yes! and what was UP with the orange trench coat?
is that the new thing? scarf is out, trench is in?
Rahn: everyone was so bright! bright tights! bright coats!
and what is the secret?!?!?! seriously what is it that could be so bad???
Rahn: they killed someone! omg do you think they killed someone?
i don’t think they killed someone
do you think Serena was preggers?
but they made it sound like Serena and Georgie walked in on something, right??
and speaking of G, i hate her
Rahn: omg i didnt even think of that. but i really hope it doesn’t take an "I Know What You Did Last Summer" turn for the worst
Rahn: hate her. yes yes agree.
Unterberger: Michelle Trachtenberg annoys me
Rahn: but im loving the drama she is stirring up.
Unterberger: yes! but if her and dan hookup, i might die
Rahn: oh yeah that was totally awesome at the end. did not see that coming!!!
Unterberger: and what’s the deal with Georgie? does she not have to go to school?
and who DRUGS someone? seriously, who DOES that?
Rahn: the question is, who drugs their supposed best friend??
Rahn: and is Chuck in on the secret? is anyone in on it?
Unterberger: no, i don’t think he knows either
Rahn: okay um… also JENNY

timeout.com

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Police Beat is compiled from reports released to the media by area law enforcement agencies. Anyone arrested is presumed innocent until proved guilty in court.
Two hurt in Andrew Road crash
Two people were taken to the hospital after their car left Andrew Road, half a mile east of Illinois 29, near Sherman and slid down an embankment about 10 p.m. Thursday.
The car flipped onto the driver’s side, coming to rest in a ditch, said Sangamon County sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Mazrim.
Deputies did not know the names of the female driver or her male passenger, but noted the man was conscious and alert when they arrived. The semi-consciousness female was extricated from the vehicle by Sherman and Illinois Air Guard firefighters after being trapped inside for nearly 45 minutes. The extent of their injuries was unknown.
An Athens resident, Patricia Schnapp, 41, said the car had been following her vehicle from Peoria Road, and it was veering across traffic lanes.
Man grazed by bullet
A man told police a bullet grazed his foot when someone fired shots into his house in the 1300 block of East Edwards Street about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday.
Police found bullet holes in the interior walls of the house, and one round went through a TV screen. The victim, who is 20, told police he was in the living room and heard shots fired. One of them grazed his foot, causing an abrasion, but he did not require medical attention.
Police found shell casings inside.
Neighbors reported hearing four shots fired, possibly by men in dark clothing who fired from a nearby vacant lot.
Teen girl battered, robbed
A Springfield man allegedly battered and robbed a 16-year-old girl.
Barrien B. Miller, 25, of the 2100 block of Bradley Court was arrested at his home Wednesday.
The incident happened early Wednesday at an apartment in the 300 block of South Durkin Drive. The girl told police she was home alone because her mother works the night shift. About 1:30 a.m., Miller, whom she knows as “B.C.,” showed up asking to be let in. He and the girl talked for a while, but when the conversation turned sexual, she became uncomfortable and ran out of the apartment.

sj-r.com

The bird swooped down with its talons, scratching her head. T he girl has been treated and released from the hospital with minor injuries.
Apparently the tour came a little too close to the hawk’s nest. B oston’s animal rescue league moved the nest with the egg inside after the attack.
A tornado may have ripped through parts of Arkansas last night, and some of the storm recorded by a dash camera in a police cruiser.
Watch today’s Netcast to see the video. You’ll be able to see all kinds of debris flying across the screen. It happened overnight in Saline County, near Little Rock.
Early reports say as many as 50-mobile homes may have caught fire in one mobile home park. So far n o fatalities have been reported.
If you want to see more video that has people talking check out our Netcast page. You’ll find links to past Netcast articles as well as our video archive.
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Air Force Staff Sgt. Travis Griffin knew the dangers of serving in Iraq, but the 28-year-old volunteered anyway as part of a yearlong deployment to help train Iraqi police officers.

abc2news.com

NEW YORK | In a stunningly swift fall from grace, Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned Wednesday amid a call-girl scandal that left him facing the prospect of criminal charges and perhaps disbarment.
He made his announcement without securing a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, though one law enforcement official said the former governor was believed to be negotiating one. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Spitzer will be succeeded on Monday by Lt. Gov. David Paterson, a fellow Democrat who becomes New York’s first black governor and the nation’s first legally blind chief executive.
Announcing his resignation, Spitzer said: “I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people’s work.”
Among the possible charges that law enforcement authorities said could be brought against the former governor: soliciting and paying for sex; violating the Mann Act, the 1910 federal law that makes it a crime to take someone across state lines for immoral purposes; violating bans on interstate travel with intent to commit a crime; and illegally arranging cash transactions to conceal their purpose.
Conviction on some of the charges could carry a prison term of more than five years.
In a statement issued after Spitzer quit, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia, the chief federal prosecutor in New York, said: “There is no agreement between this office and Gov. Eliot Spitzer relating to his resignation or any other matter.”

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OK, let’s get one thing cleared up before we start the recap of the show…
YES, Joanne did bungle and let the pre-taping cat out of the bag last week. She said “Sunday” (the day she and the ladies actually taped their performances), then quickly attempted to cover it with “I mean, Wednesday” (referring to the day the show was broadcast.)
YES, as confirmed by my behind-the-scenes AI contact, the performance shows at this point in the competition ARE pre-taped. Currently, the boys are singing for their supper on Saturday, the girls on Sunday. Do I think some transparency of this fact would have been appreciated by the general populus before Joanne’s tongue trippage?
Of course. But then, I’m a big fan of the truthiness.
I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising, given the current number of contestants and the extreme amount of work to be done between shows: Picking songs, rehearsals, Vommercials, hair, make-up, photo shoots, interview packages, schooling for the young ‘uns, you name it. Oh yeah, they try to sleep a little too.
Does it take a little of the excitement away from Tuesday and Wednesday nights right now? I think so. And according to all the emails I have received from AI fans asking if the pre-taping rumor is true, they do too.

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NEW YORK (CNN) — It’s been a year since the parents of a severely disabled child made public their decision to submit their daughter to a hysterectomy, breast surgery and drugs to keep the girl forever small. Today, the couple tell CNN, they believe they made the right decision — one that could have a profound impact on the care of disabled children worldwide.
"The ‘Ashley treatment’ has been successful in every expected way," Ashley’s parents told CNN exclusively in a lengthy e-mail interview. "It has potential to help many others like it helped our precious daughter."
While unwavering in their belief in the treatment, Ashley’s parents continue to insist on anonymity. In the year since Ashley’s parents went public, not only did the hospital that sterilized Ashley admit it broke Washington state law, but also the doctor who treated Ashley committed suicide.
As scrutiny of the case deepens, so too does the chasm in the medical community: Is it mutilation, with doctors "playing God" — or, is stunting growth a liberating option for caregivers and the disabled children who will need constant care for the rest of their lives?
Ashley is now 10 years old and, at 4 feet 5 inches tall, has achieved her full height and weight, 63 pounds. The treatment permanently closed her growth plates and took more than a foot off her anticipated height.

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