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Jews
in the
News
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Like you, we're pleased when members of our community are
praiseworthy, and are disappointed when they are blameworthy.
Whether
it's good news or bad news, we'll try to keep track of what's being said in
general media about our fellow Jews.
Our news spotters are Dan Brin in Los Angeles, Donald H. Harrison in San Diego,
and you. Wherever you are, if you see a story of interest, please send a
summary and link to us at sdheritage@cox.net.
To
see a source story click on the link within the respective paragraph.
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Friday, June 1
*Congressman Howard Berman (Democrat, California) can expect many
visitors from labor unions to call at his offices. As a member of the
House Judiciary Committee he is the focus of efforts by competing labor
unions to deal with the compromise immigration bill. Some like the
Service Employees Union International see immigrants as potential new
members, whereas others like those in the AFL-CIO regard them as potential
competitors for jobs. A
story by
Molly Hennessy-Fiske
is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Legendary editor Abraham Cahan and the newspaper he built, Jewish
Daily Forward, are the subjects of an immigrant-experience exhibit at
the Museum of the City of New York. Ariella Budick of Newsday
has the
story in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) failed to win
support in the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee for legislation to
prohibit funding for interrogations in which prisoners are subjected to
physical pressure or pain, unless the President determines the detainee
possesses information about a specific and imminent threat. The New
York Times News Service
story by Scott Shane is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Sunroad Enterprises, owned by Aaron
Feldman, is in a second land-use controversy with the Federal Aviation
Administration, this one over a proposed high rise project on the east side
of Harbor Island near Lindbergh Field. The company also is battling
the FAA over a building at Montgomery Field. The
story by Maureen Magee and David Hasemyer is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Author Mark Harris who was perhaps best known for such baseball
books as Bang The Drum Slowly, has died at 84. An
obituary by Dennis McLellan is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Aaron Kornblum, an attorney for Microsoft, says Robert Alan
Soloway, the alleged spam king arrested for defrauding people through the
use of false emails, owes Microsoft $7.8 million but the company has been
unable to find his bank accounts. The Washington Post
story is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Janet Levine, defending former Los Angeles AirPort Commissioner
Leland Wong against felony conflict-of-interest charges, expresses
confidence that after the prosecution takes its "desperation shots" at the
defendant, he will be acquitted. Ted Rohrlich reports the
story in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton, presiding over the trial of
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, says he has received over 150 letters from
people recommending strictness or leniency in sentencing the former chief of
staff to Vice President Dick Cheney on multiple counts of obstructing
justice. The
story by The Washington Post is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Unison, Great Britain's union of public employees, has voted to place
on the agenda of its upcoming convention a boycott resolution against Israel
similar to one previously voted on by the University and College Union.
The New York Times News Service
story is in a column of world briefs in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Did you know that there are
more calories in some fast food salads with dressing than in a sirloin
steak? State Sen. Carole Midgden (D-San Francisco) believes you have
the right to know and pushed legislation through the state Senate to require
restaurants to list nutrition information. The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Child psychologist Marian Radke-Yarrow has died at age 89. Her
1952 book,
They Learn What They Live: Prejudice in Young
Children,
was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Brown vs. Board of
Education decision requiring the desegregation of schools. An
obituary by Dennis Hevesi of the New York Times News Service is in
today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Comedians will gather June 28 in Los Angeles for a salute to Mort
Sahl on his 80th birthday. The
story is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*The defense in the
murder trial of record producer Phil Spector wants a jury to see a
diary kept by victim Lana Clarkson in which she discusses talking to dead
people. The
story by Matt Krasnowski of the Copley News Service is in today's San
Diego Union-Tribune.
Saturday, June 2
*Philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad have contributed $26 million to
build an art museum at Michigan State University, his alma mater. The
Associated Press
story is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Dr. Bruce Chernof, director of Los Angeles County Health Services,
branded as "inexcusable" the manner in which Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43,
succumbed to a perforated bowel. She writhed in pain at King-Harbor Hospital
as personnel and other patients looked on indifferently. The
story by Charles Ornstein is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*At a news conference, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders denounced Sunroad
Enterprises owned by Aaron Feldman as an "irresponsible"
company "willing to thumb their nose" at the law. His anger was
prompted by disclosures that even as Sunroad is in the midst of a
controversy with the city and the FAA over a building near Montgomery Field,
the company has plans for another controversial building near Lindbergh
Field. The
story by Maureen Magee and David Hasemyer
is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune. The newspaper also ran an
editorial on the subject.
*U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (Democrat,
San Diego), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, told a forum at
the University of California San Diego that VA facilities around the country
cannot physically keep up with the number of veterans from the Iraq and
Afghanistan Wars who still need treatment. More than 200,000 of them have
filed claims. The story by Steve Liewer is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel will hold hearings in October to
determine whether the state's method of executing prisoners—lethal
injection—constitutes unconstitutional "cruel and unusual punishment." The
story by Henry Weinstein is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Patrick McGilligan, in writing the biography Oscar Micheaux: The Great
and the Only, weighed the impact of the Leo Frank lynching in Georgia
on the African-American film-maker. Frank, a Jew, had been accused by a
black janitor of raping a factory girl—an accusation later proven false.
Micheaux obsessed on the case, resulting in some works that border on
anti-Semitism. The
review by David Ehrenstein is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Labor arbitrator Sam Kagel, perhaps best known for his work on the
1982 National Football League strike, has died at age 98. His
obituary is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*An April 1 fire that burned down Bais Yehudi synagogue in Monsey, N.Y., was
caused by a 15-year-old boy playing with matches, and not by anyone angry at the
Neturei Karta congregation because of its pronounced anti-Zionist views,
police have reported. The Associated Press
story is included in a briefs column in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Risa Levitt Kohn, curator
of the upcoming Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the San Diego Natural History
Museum, provides background on the scrolls in an
interview with Kelly Bennett printed today on the Voice of San Diego
website.
*The Legislature will debate a bill by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine
(Democrat, Van Nuys) next week to permit terminally ill patients to be provided
means to self-administer drugs that could end their lives. The "right to
die issue" is back in the news with the release from prison of Dr. Jack
Kevorkian, whose moniker became "Doctor Death" because of all the suicides at
which he assisted. The
story by P.J. Huffstutter is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Robert Rosenthal, managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle,
has resigned his position as the newspaper, like others in California, has been
forced to trim its staff because of rising costs and competition. The
story by James Rainey is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*When NBC Entertainment was under the control of the late Brandon
Tartikoff, the slogan was "first be best, then be first." With Ben
Silverman coming in, it may be "plug our sponsors, before they unplug us."
The
story by Scott Collins is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Irving Zeiger, a man with a passion for the Los Angeles Dodgers and
liberal politics, died at age 89. His
obituary by Valerie J. Nelson is in today's Los Angeles Times
Sunday, June 3
*Meron Benvenisti, former
deputy mayor of Jerusalem, was cited in an
article by Judith Kipper of the Council on Foreign Relations, as being
the first to document the course of settlements in lands won by Israel in
the Six Day War. A companion
article by Zahi Khouri, from the Palestinian perspective, is included in
the San Diego Union-Tribune's Insight section today. There is
also a
remembrance by Jerusalem Post writer Abraham Rabinovich of
the battle for Jerusalem in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
Ken Ellingwood and Richard Boudreaux of the Los Angeles Times have an
article describing the 1967 War from the standpoint of paratrooper
Moshe Amirav.
*Some students like Reut Cohen, who is active in pro-Israel causes,
had no idea when they enrolled at UC-Irvine that it was a flashpoint for
debate, and occasional violence, among students over politics in the Middle
East. A backgrounder
story by Dan Laidman of Copley News Service about the turbulence at UCI
is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Senators Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California), Charles
Schumer (Democrat, New York) and Arlen Specter (Republican,
Pennsylvania) were among the team of 12 bipartisan senators who held the
Immigration Compromise together last week. Senator Bernie Sanders
(Independent, Vermont) was one of the people with whom they negotiated
to maintain the delicate compromise. A behind-the-scenes
story by Nicole Gaouette is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has dealt a blow to the
credibility of forensic scientist Henry C. Lee by ruling he would accept
testimony in the Phil Spector murder trial contending that Lee
removed an acrylic nail from the crime scene where Lana Clarkson was found
shot to death. The
story by Peter Y. Hong is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W.
Bush, says he doesn't regard new initiatives on Darfur, global warming and
AIDS as indicating any change in the president's politics, but simply a
response to the current world environment. The
story by Maura Reynolds is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel, weighing arguments on
California's capital punishment procedures, says he would like to inspect
the state's new execution chamber before deciding the constitutional
question about whether lethal injection constitutes a form of "cruel and
unusual punishment." The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Thoughts on "Homework" by poet Allen Ginsberg are among the
selections in Alice Peck's
book, Next to Godliness: Finding the Sacred in Housekeeping. A
review by Ron Charles is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*The Sushi Economy by Sasha Issenberg examines the economic
implications of the worldwide demand for the favorite Japanese food. A
review by Bill Addison is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner attributes his
humanitarian outlook, in part, to
the murder of his Russian Jewish grandparents at Auschwitz. A
commentary by Ian Buruma is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Expectations are running high at HBO for a new, surf-family series by
David Milch called "John From Cincinnati." Lynn Smith has the
story in today's Los Angeles Times.
*When Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas meet this week, they will have an offer from Hamas
for a one-year cease-fire between its forces and Israel's to discuss among
other topics. An Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Hanan
Porath was in the Israeli paratrooper unit that captured the Kotel
during the 1967 Six
Day War. He and others recall the events—and the aftermath—40 years
after that stunning war. The Associated Press
story by Steven Gutkin and Karin Laub is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Rafi Ron, former head of security for Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion
International Airport, said the plot thwarted against JFK
International Airport in New York probably wouldn't have worked, as it
depended on exploding aviation fuel which is very difficult to ignite.
The
story by Megan Garvey is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Eli Roth is a movie maker who specializes in hard core gore—some
people call his films
"gorno" flicks." The latest is Hostel: Part II. The
story by Geoff Boucher is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Jono Schaffer is the real-life union organizer named "Sam
Shapiro" and portrayed by Adrian Brody in the movie Bread and Roses.
Some of the movie exploits were made up, but others as interesting or maybe
even more, were not included. The
story by Molly Selvin is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Chris Reed says in his
column in today's San Diego Union-Tribune that baseball
commissioner Bud Selig ought to resign for failing to address in
timely fashion the growing issue of steroid use by baseball players.
Monday, June 4
*Gabe Cohen doubled with the bases loaded to put the UCLA Bruins
ahead 5-4 over Long Beach State in Pac 10 action on Sunday night. The
Bruins went on to win 7-4 and advanced to the super regional. The
story by Peter Moon is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Sasha Baron Cohen of Borat fame was a winner at the MTV Movie
Awards on Sunday. The Public Eye
column of the San Diego Union-Tribune has the story.
*U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, both
California Democrats, have emerged as strong advocates for the Immigration
Bill's provisions to provide pathways to citizenship for agricultural
workers. The Copley News Service
story by Jerry Kammer is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) is preparing an
amendment that would require the president to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq
within 120 days after its passage. Democratic pressure on Republicans
on this issue is likely to be unremitting. Naom N. Levey has the
story in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Adam Levine and Maroon 5 have some mega-hits, yet they chose a
concert venue that could seat only 450 for their concert. What's behind it?
The
story by Mikael Wood is in today' Los Angeles Times.
*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel planned to
continue to have its security services take action in Palestinian
territories. Meanwhile, Hamas said it has stopped firing rockets at
civilian targets and instead is firing mortars at military targets like
border crossings. The New York Times News Service
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*David Rosenzweig, a Los Angeles Times reporter who
covered the Vietnam War, Symbionese Liberation Army and the Hillside
Strangler case, has died at 67. The
obituary by the Associated Press is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Phil Thalheimer, a Republican
who has been active in the campaign to preserve the cross atop Mount Soledad
as a war memorial, is expected to run in the upcoming race for the 1st
District San Diego City Council seat. On the other hand, Julie
Dubick, now serving as a policy advisor to Mayor Jerry Sanders, says she
will not be a candidate. The
story by Evan McLaughlin is in today's Voice of San Diego.
Tuesday, June 5
*The late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was quoted in a San
Diego Union-Tribune
editorial today about how a state should be a "laboratory for democracy"
in the newspaper's argument in behalf of permitting California to pursue its
own experimental health care policies.
*U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) and U.S. Rep.
Bob Filner (Democrat, san Diego) have persuaded the Federal Aviation
Administration to delay switching over the responsibility for aviation in
the Palm Springs area to a San Diego facility. The lawmakers expressed
concerns that the San Diego facility, which handles both military and
civilian flights, is already understaffed. The
story by Steve Schmidt is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (Democrat, San Diego) says he will post a
"congressional reference" to permit Mexican citizen Francisco Rivera to sue
the United States court over a used car which he says was purchased from the
U.S. Customs Service but which still had a marijuana cache in it, resulting
in his arrest in Ensenada. The
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for a
unanimous court, said civil rights lawyers who win a preliminary ruling, but
later lose the case on the merits, cannot be considered the 'prevailing
side' and thus are not entitled to fees paid by the defendant. The question
arose in a case involving civil rights lawyers helping an anti-war group use
their nude bodies to create a peace symbol on the beach. The
story by David G. Savage is in today's Los Angeles Times.
Another
story by Savage dealt with a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court in a
death penalty case with Ginsburg and Justice Stephen Breyer voting in
the minority.
*The California Highway Patrol has recommended that reckless driving charges
be brought against state Sen. Carole Migden (Democrat, San
Francisco). The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Producer David Milch says the new HBO series "John from
Cincinnati" about a dysfunctional surfing family will do what many previous
shows about surfing haven't—be authentic. The
story by Brad Melekian is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Seth Rogen, a 26-year-old comic from Canada, seems poised to
become a well-known star, as a result of his lead role in the movie
Knocked Up, which opens at theatres on Friday. The
story by Terry Lawson of MCT News Service is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said a federal indictment returned in
Alexandria, Virginia, against Congressman William J. Jefferson (Democrat,
Louisiana) accuses him of using his congressional office to enrich himself
and his family through various business deals, including some in Nigeria.
The
story by Richard B. Schmitt and Ann Simmons is in today's Los Angeles
Times.
*Sarah Silverman as host of the MTV Movie Awards was so tasteless
that she almost made people feel sorry for Paris Hilton. Geoff
Boucher's
column is in the Los Angeles Times.
*The jury in the murder trial of record producer Phil Spector heard
excerpts read from the diary of shooting victim Lana Clarkson that defense
attorneys said were indications that she was suicidal. The
story by Matt Krasnowski of Copley News Service is in today's San
Diego Union-Tribune.
Wednesday, June 6
*Federal
Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted in a speech that there is no
hurry to lower interest rates, and not long afterwards the stock market
declined. The
story by
Jeremy W. Peters of the New York Times is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*For Carl Bernstein, writing a book about Hillary Clinton was reminiscent
of the time he covered the Watergate crisis—so much resistance did he get from
powerful people. The
story by
Josh Getlin is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Political consultant Laurie Black, who once worked as an aide to
former Congresswoman Lynn Schenk, was appointed by the San Diego City
Council to serve on the San Diego Port Commission—a position that Schenk also
had held before her election to the House of Representatives. The story
by Maureen Magee is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Laurie and Larry David—she a writer about the environment and he the
creator of television's "Seinfeld Show"—have announced their separation, saying
that as friends they will raise their two children. The story by Robert W.
Welkos is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*State Sen. Christine Kehoe has an
op-ed piece
in today's San Diego Union-Tribune praising fellow San Diego Demcorat
U.S. Rep. Susan Davis for her bill to remove a special provision from the
law to permit a toll road company to build through Camp Pendleton.
*U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin) on a 67-26 vote had the
Senate add to the Immigration Bill an amendment that would establish two
commissions, one to examine the U.S. response to Jews attempting to flee from
the Holocaust, and the other to exa mine the treatment of Italian-Americans
during World War II. The
story by Nicole
Gaouette and Maura Reynolds is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) is garnering
support from law enforcement groups for a bill that would commit $1 billion
nationwide for the fight against gang crime. The
story by Naom N.
Levey is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*A mass grave believed to be that of Holocaust victims has been
discovered by workers laying a pipeline near Gvozdavka-1, Ukraine. The combined
wire service
story is in
today's Los Angeles Times.
* Alastair Macdonald of Reuters has a
story in the
San Diego Union-Tribune marking the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War,
telling about two women born back then: Israeli Esti Ilan and Palestinian
Hannan Abu Lateef.
*Unnamed Israeli settlers, whose communities on the West Bank
resemble "Crusader fortresses" and who themselves "swagger" like cowboys, were
the subject of a
commentary in
today's San Diego Union-Tribune by Boston Globe writer H.D.S.
Greenway. Palestinians, on the other hand, are portrayed sympathetically.
*Jack Klugman, who immortalized the role of Oscar Madison in "The Odd
Couple" television series, is starring in The Value of Names at the
Falcon Theatre in Los Angeles. The story by F. Kathleen Foley is in today's
Los Angeles Times.
*The state Assembly adopted on a party line 42-34 vote a measure by
Assemblyman Mark Leno (Democrat, San Francisco) to permit same-sex
couples to marry. The Associated Press
story is in
today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment following his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame case. The story by Richard B. Schmitt is in today's Los Angeles Times. A story combining reports from the New York Times and The Washington Post appeared in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. A profile of the judge who sentenced him by Washington Post writer Carol D. Leonnig is also in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Florida real estate developer Daniel
J. Aronoff is in the middle of a controversy over why a congressman from
Alaska—Republican Don Young—earmarked money for a freeway interchange at
Coconut Road near Fort Myers, Florida, where Aronoff owns some 4,000 acres. The congressman who
actually represents the area, Connie Mack, said he did not seek the funds. The New York Times News Service
story by David D. Kirkpatrick is in today's
San Diego Union-Tribune.
*High school student Madison Flashenburg says her participation in
the March of the Living in Poland "changed my future." She and four other
teens shared their experiences at Temple B'nai Israel in Clearwater,
Florida. The
story by Tiffani Sherman is in today's St. Petersburg Times.
*New York Met Shawn Green is on the list of National League
baseball's ten top hitters, but just barely. His .314 average ranked
him tenth. The
chart is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (Democrat, California) told colleagues on the
House Homeland Security Committee they should avoid the "blame game" in
investigating how Andrew Speaker, a carrier of a dangerous form of
tuberculosis, was waved across the border from Canada, notwithstanding an
alert to federal agents about the potential dangers his condition posed.
She said preventing such an incident from reoccurring was more important.
The
story by Johanna
Neuman and Joel Havemann is in
today's Los Angeles Times.
*A measure by California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (Democrat, Van
Nuys) to require the neutering of most dogs and cats was approved by a 41-38
vote and sent to the state Senate. Television's Bob Barker after
completing his last "Price is Right" show telephoned some lawmakers to drum
up support. The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*The conviction and sentencing of I. Lewis "Scoter" Libby on
charges of perjury and obstruction of justice have created a hot potato
issue in the Republican presidential primary: should the President pardon
Libby, who formerly was chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney?
The
story by Peter Wallsten is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Prime
Minister Mahmoud Abbas have postponed their scheduled meeting in Jerusalem.
The New York Times News Service
brief is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Jonathan N. Rosen and
Noam B. Fischman, attorneys for Italia Federeci, president of the
Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, said their client plans
to plead guilty to charges of not paying federal income taxes and of lying
to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee when it was investigating the
activities of now jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The
story by Richard A. Serrano is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants New York Yankee Jason
Giambi to meet with former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who is now
investigating the use of steroids by baseball players. However the
players' union wants Giambi not to meet with Mitchell, at least not yet.
The
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*His Ducks having won professional hockey's Stanley Club, Michael
Schulman, the franchise's chief executive officer, says he would like to
build hockey rinks in such Southern California cities as Chino, Irvine,
Riverside and Upland. The
story by Helene Elliott is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter
(Republican, Pennsylvania),
concerned that a narrowly-approved amendment to end the guest worker program
in the U.S. after five years could break up the fragile bipartisan alliance
backing the Immigration bill, says he will try to craft an alternative to
the amendment language. The Associated Press
story
by Charles Babington is in today's
San Diego Union-Tribune.
*A Los Angeles Times investigation of whether actor Steven
Seagal had ties to organized crime was followed by reporter Anita
M. Busch finding a dead fish and a rose on her punctured windshield, with a
note that read 'Stop!' Thereafter, the FBI wiretapped a private
investigator's office, leading to a racketeering case that was brought in
federal court against Anthony Pelicano. Now Pelicano's attorneys are
challenging the search warrant that led to the search of the investigator's
office. The
story by Chuck Phillips is in today's Los Angeles Times.
Friday, June 8
*Sandy Berger, former national security advisor to President Bill
Clinton, voluntarily accepted disbarment from the practice of law in lieu of
being investigated on a misdemeanor charge of having removed without
authorization national security documents from the National Archives.
The Washington Post
story is included in a package of briefs in the San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California) is among
the sponsors of legislation that would urge Iraq be split into three
autonomous areas—one Sunni, one Shi'ite and one Kurdish. Two
senators who are running for the presidential nominations of their
respective parties—Democrat Joseph Biden and Republican Sam Brownback—also
favor the plan. The
story by Naom N. Levey is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*With U.S.
President George W. Bush in Europe for the G8 Conference, Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff was left in charge of shepherding the
Immigration Bill through the Senate. But the issue was shelved—at
least temporarily—when forces favoring the compromise were unable to muster
sufficient votes to prevent a filibuster by opponents. The
story by Jonathan Weisman of The Washington Post is in today's
San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer of Qualcomm, said a
decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission "is not in the public
interest" to ban the import of cell phones using Qualcomm chips in response
to a court decision that Qualcomm infringed upon rival Broadcom's patent.
The
story by Kathryn Balint is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) and other members of
the Senate Armed Services Committee which he chairs have expressed concerns
about authority over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq being transferred by
the White House from National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley to a new
appointee, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute. The
story by Peter Spiegel is in
today's Los Angeles Times.
*Journalist Larry Register has resigned as editorial leader of Al-Hurra
television, the U.S-funded, Arab-language television service, after it drew
criticism for running an anti-Israel speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah. The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Israel is one of the countries to which the United States is exporting
jobs, particularly in the computer industry. Ironically, some America-On-Line
operators are actually Israeli. The San Diego-based company, Sky Mobilemedia,
has software engineers at work in Croatia, India, and Israel. The
story by David Washburn is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Israel Defense Forces shot dead one Palestinian terrorist who
tried to crash through the border in a truck marked "TV." Three or four
other gunmen escaped after a two-hour battle in which no Israelis were harmed.
The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Pope Benedict XVI and U.S. President George W. Bush discussed the Israel-Palestine
issue during their meeting in Rome, but spokespersons for the two leaders did
not reveal the substance of their discussion. Bush presented to the pontiff a
walking stick engraved by a homeless man in Texas with the words of the Ten
Commandments. A combined wire service
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*With Paris Hilton being permitted to leave jail, only to be required to
return again, Sheriff Lee Baca's handling of celebrities is coming under
question. In another instance of what critics call celebrity favoritism,
Baca withheld from the media news of Mel Gibson's rant against the Jews
during his now notorious arrest for drunken driving. The Associated Press
story by Michael Blood is in today' San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Chess champion and Russian dissident Garry Kasparov and other
protestors were permitted to demonstrate without interference in St. Petersburg,
Russia, where President Vladimir Putin was attempting to woo western investors.
Kasparov contends Putin has been turning Russia back into a police state.
The Associated Press story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says in a
column in today's San Diego Union-Tribune that American military
failure in Iraq would "immediately weaken societies with significant Muslim
populations."
*One of the biggest and most emotional fights in the California Legislature
is over a bill by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (Democrat, Sherman Oaks) to
require most dogs and cats to be neutered. He says it will reduce the
number of unwanted animals that must be euthanized at shelters. But opponents
say it could reduce pet populations, even of needed service dogs. The
Copley News Service
story by Michael Gardner is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Washington Post columnist David Broder argues that U.S. District Court
Judge Reggie Walton got it right when he sentenced I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby
to jail time. To have let the former chief of staff to Vice President
Dick Cheney off would have sent the message that there is a double standard in
justice: one for little people and another for big shots. The
column is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Grace Paley, activist, feminist, short story writer, mother and
grandmother, makes a point of declaring that she is also Jewish. A
profile by Susan Salter Reynolds is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*The new presidential campaign season, which may find candidates wrapping up
their party's nominations early in early primaries then waiting many months
before the general election contest, has strategists wondering whether this is a
good or bad development. Democrat Simon Rosenberg, president of the NDN
advocacy group, thinks it is good. The
commentary by Ronald Brownstein is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Henry Samueli, the Broadcom founder who purchased the Ducks from
Disney, celebrated his hockey team winning the Stanley Cup. "Even
Disney couldn't have choreographed such a magical season," he said at the
celebration. The
story
by Tony Barboza and David Haldane is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Film producer Jerry Weintraub got to put his feet and hands into the
sidewalk cement near Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. He was
accompanied to the publicity event by Oceans Thirteen cast members George
Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. The
story is in the Public Eye column of today's San Diego Union-Tribune...Meanwhile,
Sheigh Crabtree has a
story in the Los Angeles Times telling how Weintraub is grooming Emma
Roberts, the niece of Julia Roberts, for stardom as teen detective Nancy Drew.
Tuesday, June 12
*The DVD of The Two of Us by Claude
Berri is being released. The story concerns the bonding of a Jewish boy
masquerading as a Catholic during World War II, and his bonding with an
older, grandfatherly man, who is an anti-Semite unaware of the boy's true
identity. A brief summary is included in a roundup
story by Susan King in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says New York City
needs to be better prepared for a hurricane. The combined wire service
story is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein
(Democrat, California) says the Senate is likely to approve legislation
this year mandating higher miles-per-gallon ratios in new cars. The
story by Richard Simon is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has announced his backing for a law suit
to force developer Aaron Feldman to limit the height of the Sunroad
Enterprises building at Montgomery Field to 160 feet. The
story by Jeff McDonald is one of the briefs included in a roundup in
today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Creative
differences may drive architect Frank Gehry from the second and third
phases of the massive mixed-use, high-rise project on Grand Avenue of Los
Angeles. Architectural critic Christopher Hawthorne has the
story in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York) and Arlen
Specter (Republican, Pennsylvania) led the unsuccessful effort to bring
a vote of no confidence to the floor of the U.S. Senate, but they were
stymied because they could not round up 60 votes to prevent a filibuster.
However, they did obtain more than a majority of the Senate. The story
by Richard B. Schmitt is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive officer of the Blackstone
Group, pulled down a fairly decent wage in 2006: $400 million, which is more
than $1 million per day. The Associated Press
story by Joe Bel Bruno is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*A forensic scientist in the trial of record producer Phil Spector
said the fact that there was no blood spatter in front of Lana
Clarkson's body may mean someone was standing between her and the wall when
she was shot. The
story by Matt Krasnowski of the Copley News Service is in today's San
Diego Union-Tribune. An
overview of the case is provided by Associated Press writer Lynn Elber
elsewhere in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
*High school students in Sderot, an Israeli city adjacent
to the Gaza Strip, were moved inland to take their examinations as sporadic
rocket fire from Gaza continued. Meanwhile within Gaza and the West
Bank Hamas and Fatah factions continued their warfare in which 17 persons
were killed An Associated Press
story by Sarah el Deeb is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. A
companion
story by the Associated Press tells of a rocket grenade being fired at
the home of Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh
without causing him injury.
*A Universal Studio executive questioned Matthew Weiner by email
whether he was an African-American, prompting him to respond that
although the issue should not bear on his employment, he was a Jew from New
York. The matter came up in a federal suit against Universal contending that
Frank Davis was fired as an assistant director because he was
African-American. The
story by Lorenza Muńoz is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss contends the group trying
to recall him are wealthy homeowners who wanted to control a multi-million
dollar mitigation fund for a Century City development project, instead of
sharing that control with the City of Los Angeles. The
story by Steve Hymon is in today's Los Angeles Times.
Wednesday, June 13
*Los Angeles School Board President Marlene
Canter postponed a vote on whether to close Discovery Preparatory
Charter School in the Pacoima area after hearing conflicting testimony from
parents who said the school is sending many of its students on to college,
district officials who said its tests scores are low, and attorneys who said
there may be problems with the school's application. The
story by Howard Blume is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Before President George W. Bush went to Capitol Hill to meet with
Republican senators on the Immigration Bill, Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez were meeting
with the senators seeking ways to affect a compromise. Some insiders say
that is very close. The
story by Nicole Gaouette and Maura Reynolds is in today's Los Angeles
Times.
*Congressional leaders say they want legislation passed before the July 4
weekend to require automobile manufacturers to improve gasoline mileage to
35 miles per gallon by the year 2020—an effort that U.S. Sen. Dianne
Feinstein (Democrat, California) is helping to lead. The
Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (Democrat, California), the keynote speaker
at the dedication of the memorial in Washington DC to the victims of
Communism, predicted that as it once fought the communists, the NATO
alliance will band together to oppose what he called "Ahmadinejad-ism"
and "distorted Islamic fascism." The
story by Johanna Neuman is in today's Los Angeles Times. Comments
by Lantos criticizing recent leaders of Germany and France proved to be more
controversial, drawing a protest from Germany. The Associated Press
story by Harry Dunphy was published on Breitbard.com.
*Poway resident Jeff Figler is a world-class collector of almost
everything, including movie producer Jack Warner's personal copy of
the movie Casablanca. The
story by Nick Canepa is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Reps. Bob Filner (Democrat, California) and Rush Holt
(Democrat, New Jersey) said a congressional bill to require a paper ballot
where electronic voting machines are used has been going through a process
of amendment. Their
*About 550 Muslim refugees from the Sudan have over the years made their way
to Israel, where after initial imprisonment as residents of an enemy state
they are permitted to work under close supervision until they can be
resettled in a third country. Associated Press writer Ben Hubbard
tells the
story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune of 24-year-old Ibrahim
who now lives and works at Kibbutz Yad Hannah
*The fighting in Gaza intensified, with Hamas forces seizing a security post
in the northern Gaza strip and repelling a Fatah attack on a television
station. Israel closely monitored the events on its border.
The Associated Press
story by Sara El Deeb is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Forensic scientist Steve Renteria said there was DNA evidence that
murder defendant Phil Spector and victim Lana Clarkson had some
sexual contact prior to her being shot to death. The Copley News Service
story by Matt Krasnowski and Dan Laidman is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (Democrat, California) believes a phone
call made by Department of Transportation staff member Heideh Shahmoradi
seeking congressional opposition to California's tougher emission standards
may have violated a prohibition against employees of the federal government
lobbying members of Congress. The
story by Richard Simon is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez, taking the administration's case for immigration reform
directly to the people, have co-authored an
Op-Ed piece in today's San Diego Union-Tribune that talks about
tamper-proof identifications, meaningful economic sanctions against
employers of undocumented workers, and fines paid by those workers to help
pay for the enforcement system.
*Instead of a single Palestinian state on Israel's borders, the
victories of Hamas in Gaza raise the possibility of two separately
administered areas: one led by Fatah on the West Bank, the other controlled
by Hamas on the southern seacoast. An Associated Press
story by Sara el Deeb is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Former Congressman Lionel Van Deerlin (Democrat, California) says that
the fuss over celebrity treatment accorded to Paris Hilton will also work
against a presidential pardon for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the
former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. His
column is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. In the same
newspaper, another
commentary by columnist Marianne Means notes that presumed Republican
presidential candidate and Law and Order television actor Fred
Thompson supports a pardon for Libby.
*Businessman
Ray Jinnah who raised funds for Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer of
California and Hillary Clinton of New York has been brought before the
federal court on the charge of illegally reimbursing employees for $60,000
contributions they made to the two senators in 2004.
The
story by Robin
Fields and Chuck Neubauer
is in today's Los
Angeles Times.
*Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and School Board President
Marlene Canter disagree over whether the school district is making necessary
reforms quickly enough. Their comments came during a meeting at which
Superintendent David L. Brewer delivered a "state of the schools" speech.
The
story by
Joel Rubin and Howard
Blume is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Former Disney chairman Michael Eisner wants to buy the Topps trading
card company, but Upper Deck has offered more money to purchase its rival.
A court has ruled Topps should be permitted the opportunity to provide more
information to Topps shareholders. The
story by Jennifer Davies is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Actor Henry Felder is winning attention in George Gershwin
Alone, a one-person show in which he recounts such episodes as writing
"Porgy and Bess" and suffering the verbal attacks on Jews made by Henry
Ford. But Chris Pasles complains in a
review in today's Los Angeles Times that the script doesn't probe
deep enough.
*San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders now is backing a suit against Aaron
Feldman's Sunroad Enterprises brought by City Attorney Mike Aguirre, but
a
story by Evan McLaughlin and Will Carless in today's Voice of San
Diego details other avenues that Sanders explored, with assistance from
San Diego Regional Airport Authority Chairman Alan Bersin, to
enable the high-rise building near Montgomery Field to be built to a height
of 180 feet. Meanwhile, a charge by San Diego City Attorney Michael
Aguirre that Sanders' actions in the Sunroad controversy are "corrupt" has
prompted a
letter and
editorial exchange between Aguirre and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
*The
two Democratic senators from California, Dianne Feinstein and
Barbara Boxer, are both millionaires, but Feinstein's fortune dwarfs
that of her colleague.
Chuck Neubauer, Walter F. Roche Jr. and Dan Moran had the
story in the Los Angeles Times, which focused on Hillary Clinton.
*Historian Saul Friedlander will be awarded the top prize at the
Frankfurt (Germany) Book Fair in recognition of his work on the Holocaust.
The Associated Press
story is in today's
Los Angeles Times.
*Murray & Elaine Galinson were pictured in the
coverage by Burl Stiff of the San Diego Union-Tribune of the
recent celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Jewish Community
Foundation at the Museum of Man in Balboa Park.
*U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen
Breyer were on the minority side of a 5-4 decision in which the court
said deadlines for appeals must be met, even if the judge, not the
appellant, was responsible for the tardiness. The
story by David G. Savage is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton decided that I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, should
have to serve prison time while the perjury and obstruction of justice case
is on appeal. Unless President George W. Bush pardons Libby, that
sentence will begin within the next several weeks. The New York Times
News Service
story by Neil A. Lewis is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York) says the
undervaluation of the Chinese yuan "could lead to a meltdown of world
financial systems." The story by
Molly Hennessy-Fiske is in today's
Los Angeles Times.
*Baseball commissioner Bud Selig's representatives are
negotiating with the Players Union over Selig ordering New York Yankees
designated hitter Jason Giambi to testify to the commission headed by former
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell on the use of steroids in organized
sports. The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Ephraim
Sneh, Israel's Deputy Defense Minister, said the takeover of Gaza "by
gangs of Islamic terrorists" has "grave implications." "We will not
remain indifferent." The quote is included in a
story on the Gaza situation by Scott Wilson of The Washington Post
that appears in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*The judge in the Phil Specter murder trial, Superior Court Judge
Larry Paul Fidler, has told a former defense attorney for Specter,
Sara Caplan, to either testify about what she knows about possible
evidence tampering, or be jailed for contempt. The Copley News Service
story by Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*San Diego City Attorney
Mike Aguirre says Mayor Jerry Sanders had a personal meeting with Sunroad
Enterprises owner Aaron Feldman before the city government modified a
stop-work order on the controversial building near Montgomery Field to permit it
to be "winterized." The
story by Jeff McDonald is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Jay Cristol has ruled that Fred Goldman,
father of the slain Ron Goldman, is entitled to any proceeds that may
be held in the account of Lorraine Brooks Associates of Miami, Florida, from O.J.
Simpson's book If I Did It. The
story is in today's Public Eye section of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
*A Mighty Heart is about the life and death of journalist Daniel
Pearl, who declared "I am a Jew" before his execution by Islamists.
But all the buzz was about whether an attorney for Angelina Jolie was justified
or not in trying to restrict journalists' questions to her about the movie,
rather than personal issues. The
story is in the Public Eye column of today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*A high school named for American Federation of Labor founder Samuel
Gompers will graduate its last class on Tuesday, with students in lower
grades transferring to Lincoln High School. The
story by Helen Gao is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Gidi Grinstein, an analyst with the Reut Institute, an Israeli think tank,
suggests that having a Fatah-led government in the West Bank and a Hamas-led
government in Gaza may result in two separate tracks toward Palestinian
independence, with Israel taking a softer and more cooperative line in the West
Bank. His comments are included in a roundup
story by Joel Greenberg of The Chicago Tribune on the Gaza situation
that appears in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*
Rudolf Arnheim, a leading cultural critic in pre-Nazi Germany who became an important academic theorist in the United States concerning the interplay between art and perception, has died at age 102. His obituary by Adam Bernstein of The Washington Post is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.*Wesley
Baer, a13-year-old with a ready hug, an affectionate smile and Down's
Syndrome, brought a congregation to tears by becoming a bar mitzvah. The
story by Alan Zarembo is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Shimon Ballas,
*Zdena Berger
authored the Holocaust memoir Tell Me Another Morning nearly 50 years ago, but it has been reissued by a non-profit press in Paris, prompting reviews of what it was like to grow up a teenager in a camp like Theresienstadt. The review by Kai Maristed is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire, announced he is
leaving the Republican party to become an independent, fueling speculation
that he will finance a third-party bid to become president of the United
States. The
story by Frank Lombardi of the New York Daily News is in today's
San Diego Union-Tribune.
*
*The expected independent candidacy for president by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was cheered by the San Diego Union-Tribune as a good way to get the political parties to do some serious soul-searching. The editorial made it clear, however, that the newspaper was not endorsing Bloomberg. Meanwhile an Associated Press story in the Los Angeles Times says Bloomberg tends to reject positions of orthodoxy from both parties and instead take pragmatic positions. Another story in the Los Angeles Times by Michael Finnegan and Mark Z. Barabak notes Bloomberg's denial that he is running for president, but says there nevertheless is plenty of speculation to the contrary.
*San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, nettled by charges from City Attorney Mike
Aguirre that he is "corrupt," was joined at a news conference by District
Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Sheriff Bill Kolender and Police
Chief William Lansdowne where he called upon the office of California
Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate his actions in the controversy
over the Sunroad Enterprises building near Montgomery Field. Owned by
Aaron Feldman, whose Sunroad associates and employees contributed
$3,600 to the mayor's campaign, the building is 20-feet higher than what is
deemed safe by the FAA. At the same news conference, Sanders issued a
"stop work" order and demanded that the top two floors be removed. The
story was covered by both
The San Diego Union-Tribune and
Voice of San Diego. An
editorial in the San Diego Union-Tribune predicted Brown's
investigation will show Aguirre's charges to be without foundation.
*The San Mateo District Attorney's office plans to file misdemeanor
vehicular manslaughter charges against journalism student Kevin Jones who
was driving the car in which Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author
David Halberstram was killed in an April 23 accident in Menlo Park. The
Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*San
Diego Jewish World publisher Don Harrison's efforts to keep
Jewish San Diego informed are featured in a report on the economic struggles
of the Jewish press in "J," the San Francisco bay area newspaper formerly
known as the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. Here
is
a link.
* Television's Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel will be one
of the celebrities who will get a "star" on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in
2008. The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
* Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been invited by Egypt's
President Hosni Mubarek to participate with him, Jordan's King Abdullah II
and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a regional summit at Sharm
el Sheikh. Pointedly not invited: anyone from Hamas, the terrorist
group which controls Gaza. The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*The murder of Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl, depicted in the new movie A Mighty Heart, has
brought focus to the issue of journalists murdered in the line of duty.
A
story by Norma Meyer of the Copley News Service is in today's San
Diego Union-Tribune.
*Criminologist Lynne Herold said the blood spray pattern on the jacket
of murder defendant Phil Spector indicates he was about 3 feet from
Lana Clarkson, with his arms raised, when she was shot. The Copley
News Service
story by Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*How's this for a cultural event? Placido Domingo will star in a
Puccini opera, Gianni Schicchi, at the Los Angeles Opera next year,
directed by—get ready for this—Woody Allen. The Associated
Press
story is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Diane Bell reports in today's
column in The San Diego Union-Tribune that David Cohn,
owner of the Cohn restaurant group, is auctioning off the contents of the
old Reuben E. Lee Restaurant which was built on a barge on the tip of Harbor
Island in San Diego. The restaurant structure itself is owned by
Sunroad Enterprises, owned by Aaron Feldman, which has proposed
building a high rise there. (Because of the controversy surrounding the
company's high rise building near Montgomery Field that proposal is being
scrutinized very closely by the Port District and the Regional Airport
Authority.) And speaking of Feldman, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders held a
news conference near the Montgomery Field site tear down the top 20 feet of
the 180-foot building. The
story by David Hasemyer is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Founded in 1852 as one of the nation's first coeducational institutions
of higher learning, Antioch College has announced it will close its doors in
July 2008. Among some well known alumni from the Jewish community are
Sunday, June 24
*Roy Beck runs a grassroots organization called NumbersUSA which opposes the
Immigration Bill compromise, and is good at mobilizing its estimated 419,000
members to call or picket members of Congress depending on the occasion.
Now Beck is focusing on the "Flippin Fifteen," 15 U.S. senators who voted
against the compromise but are considering voting for it with amendments.
One of them is U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California). The
story by
Nicole Gaouette
is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*An independent candidacy by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City
would be a positive development in the presidential race, according to
Washington Post columnist David Broder. His column is in today's
San Diego Union-Tribune.
*An Israel Defense Force unit arrested the founder of Hamas' military
wing in the West Bank, Saleh Aruri, as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
issued orders for all Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to re-register,
in what is seen as a harbinger of a crackdown on Hamas-affiliated charities.
The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Austria's
President Heinz Fischer spoke at the funeral of Kurt Waldheim, the former
United Nations secretary general who became president of Austria
notwithstanding evidence that he served with Nazi forces that executed
Jews. Few foreign diplomats attended the ceremony for a man whom
the United States had banned from visiting because of his Nazi past. The
Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*The case against and conviction of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby,
former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, is "absurd" and
probably will be reversed on appeal. That is the
opinion of guest columnist Christopher Hitchens, whose analysis is in
today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Robert Satloff,
executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
believes Israel should completely disengage from Gaza, turning over outside
responsibility for the strip to Egypt. His
commentary is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. A related
commentary by James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute,
says the situation leading to development of armed gangs and thugs in Gaza
was the fault of Israel and the United States. In the newspaper's
letters-to-the-editor section, there were pro-Israel letters from Linda
Cooper, Sanford Lakoff and Philip Borkat and an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas
letter from Marshall Foreman.
Monday, June 25
*U.S.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California) is supporting an idea
recommended by two of her colleagues who are running for President in their
respective parties, Sen. Joseph Biden (Democrat, Delaware) and Senator Sam
Brownback (Republican, Kansas) to divide Iraq into three regions: Sunni,
Shiite, and Kurd with Baghdad as a federal capital. However, Sen.
Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) said such decisions should be up to the
Iraqis themselves, not to the United States.
*Gossip
columnist and millionaire socialite Claudia Cohen has died of cancer
at age 56. Margalit Fox of the New York Times News Service wrote the
obituary appearing in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California), appearing on Fox News
Sunday, suggested that if Vice President Dick Cheney doesn't consider his
office part of the executive branch for purposes of maintaining archives,
perhaps Congress shouldn't fund his office's operations. The
Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Five members of the United Nations peace keeping force that has
patrolled the border between Israel and Lebanon in the wake of the
Second Lebanon war were killed by what apparently was a car bomb. No group
immediately took responsibility. The New York Times News Service
story by Nada Bakri is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Evan Almighty, a comedy loosely based on the biblical tale of Noah,
was number one at the Box Office, but it didn't perform as strongly as the
movie to which it is a sequel, Bruce Almighty. The Associated Press
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert okayed conveyance of impounded tax
receipts to the Palestinian Authority government of President Mahmoud Abbas.
At the same time, he dampened expectations of any "final status" breakthroughs
for the summit in Sharm el Sheik among himself, Abbas, King Abdullah II of
Jordan and host President Hosni Mubarek of Egypt. The Associated Press
story by Amy Teibel is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Proposed legislation by Sen. Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York)
would permit retired State Department personnel to go back to work to clear up
passport backlogs without forfeiting their retirement benefits. The
story is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss is receiving complaints from
residents of the Hollywood Hills about hotel heiress Paris Hilton's expected
release from jail and return to a home in their neighborhood. The crush of
media is difficult to bear, they report. The
story by Andrew Blankstein and Hector Becerra is in today's Los Angeles
Times.
*Sheri L.
Bernstein, a San Diego native who now is project director for the Noah's
Ark exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, tells columnist
Diane Bell in today's San Diego Union-Tribune that the permanent
exhibit is whimsical and "makes people of all ages smile." Here is a
link to Bell's
column.
*A Los Angeles Times editorial is complimentary of Justices
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer and the other Supreme
Court members who voted in dissent on a 5-4 decision that said taxpayers may
sue the government for violating the First Amendment if the infringement was
by Congress, but not by the executive branch. The
editorial suggested that stood logic on its head.
*Former Disney chief Michael Eisner's effort to acquire the Topps
*Diego Rotman and Lea Mauas hope solid matter can imitate
art. They have made a drawing of the wall separating Israel and the
Palestine Authority on old fax paper that fades over time. They hope the
wall will too. Their art, on display at the Israeli Center for
Digital Art in Holon, Israel, is included in a
feature by Tracy Wilkinson that appears in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit says on a tape that his health
is deteriorating in Hamas captivity. Released on the anniversary of his
abduction, the tape was seen by some as an effort by Hamas to upstage the Sharm
el Sheikh summit on Monday that brought together Israel's Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, with Palestine Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt's
President Hosni Mubarek and Jordan's King Abdullah II. The
story utilizing various wire services was in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is fighting a recommendation of a 30-year
prison sentence on conviction on a number of bribery and obsruction of justice
charges he says were engineered by White House political advisor Karl Rove and
the Justice Department. Siegelman is himself Catholic, but his wife
Lori Siegelman and children are both Jewish. The
story by Tom Hamburger and David G. Savage is in today's Los Angeles
Times.
*Critics who believe he is too pro-development circulated recall petitions
against Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss, according to one
story in the Los Angeles Times. Another
story by Richard Winton suggests Weiss is wooing Hollywood Hills residents
by arranging for the city to post no-parking signs around the home of Paris
Hilton, and to thereby discourage photographers from stalking the neighborhood.
*"We're back in the game," an exultant Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff commented after the U.S. Senate voted 64-35 on a
procedural motion to permit the previously stalled Immigration Compromise
Bill to resume its journey through the Congress. The
story by Susan Milligan of the Boston Globe is in today's San
Diego Union-Tribune.
*Aaron
Feldman, owner of Sunroad Enterprises, has agreed to tear down the top
two stories of the 180-foot high Centrum building near Montgomery Field,
presumably putting to an end the controversy that Sunroad attorney Dennis
Cravello said has become "a lightning rod for divisiveness." Evan McLaughlin
has the
story in today's Voice of San Diego. The team of
David Hasemyer, Jeff McDonald and Matthew T. Hall
also covered the
story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. That newspaper also had
an
editorial on the issue.
*A United Nations report indicates that Syria is smuggling weapons to
Lebanon to rearm Hezbollah, which fought Israel's forces last year.
The New York Times News Service
brief is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni likes the idea of Tony
Blair being appointed Mideast Envoy by the Quartet, explaining he is "a very
well-appreciated figure in Israel."
Fahmi
al-Zaarer of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement also was
positive in his comments. The Associated Press
story by Laurie Copans is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Ben Silverman, the new entertainment chief, bought rights to a
Colombian television show while he was at Reveille and turned that show into
Ugly Betty, has purchased rights to another show from the Latin
American country. This one's title translates as "Without Breasts There's No
Paradise," a story about a girl who so badly wants to have larger breasts
she becomes a prostitute to pay for the operation. The
story by Meg James is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Pathologist Vincent DiMaio of San Antonio, an expert witness for the
defense, testified in the Phil Spector murder trial that shooting
victim Lana Clarkson shot herself. The Copley News Service
story by Dan Laidman and Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Marian Turski, president of the Association of the Jewish
Historical Institute in Poland, was joined by Poland's President
Lech Kaczynski
and
other dignitaries for a groundbreaking ceremony for a Museum of the History
of Polish Jews, located in what was once the Warsaw Ghetto. The
Associated Press
story by Vanessa Gera is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Attention was riveted to Columba Avena at the Los Angeles County Board
of Supervisors. It was her sister who died at King Harbor High School after
writhing in pain, ignored, in the admitting area. Avena told the
supervisors the community needed a hospital, but one which takes better care
of people. County Supervisor Zev Yaraslovsky responded that he
circumstances of Edith Rodriguez' death has motivated everyone. The
story by Jack Leonard and Charles Ornstein is in today's Los Angeles
Times.
Thursday, June 28
*Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are expected to hold a key interest rate at 5.25 percent, according to an Associated Press story by Jeannine Aversa in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Pathologist Vincent Di Maio testified in
the Phil Spector murder trial that Lana Clarkson, who starred in the
movie Barbarian Queen, was depressed over her descent into obscurity,
prompting her to commit suicide. The Associated Press
story by Linda Deutsch is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat, Oregon) is on the fence on the
Immigration Bill, saying "This is going to give new meaning to the notion of
close call." His quote, along with those of other senators, is in a
Washington Post
story by William Branigin and Jonathan Weisman in
today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*Palestinian Prime Minister Salem Fayyad's decree that Muslim imams top preaching violence in the mosques was mostly observed Friday, although one Hamas affiliated clergyman, Maher Kharas, defied it in Nablus. He railed against Israel, Palestinian moderates and the United States. An Associated Press story by Ali Daragmeh is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. In a related Associated Press story, Farfour, the Mickey Mouse-knock off character used by Hamas to teach children to hate Israel, was taken off the air following a final episode in which the fictional character was murdered by an Israeli.
*U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (Democrat, California) has released 71 pages of Department of Transportation emails and memos as germane to his House Oversight and Government Operations Committee's inquiry into whether the agency had attempted to influence Congress to oppose adoption by California of tougher-than-national standards for air pollution. The story by Erica Werner of the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.