Monday, July 9

*The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates has a Jewish protagonist who grew up in upstate New York after her family escaped Nazi Europe.  Reviewer Martin Rubin describes Oates' books as filled with emotions, feelings and passion, written in language that is "forceful, eve raw."  The review is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*In an article discussing the benefits of therapy animals, the Los Angeles Times recalls psychologist Boris Levinson of Yeshiva University who found during the 1950s that withdrawn children would open up to him when his dog Jingles was in the room.

*Negotiating with the Palestinians over a two-state solution?  There was a time when no one would have thought it possible of Tzipi Livni, whose father Eitan Livni was director of operations of the Irgun in pre-Independence Israel.  She was a Likudnik who followed Ariel Sharon into Kadima and is now Israel's foreign minister, and some say possible future prime minister.  A profile by Tracy Wilkinson is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*The Arab League is coming!  The Arab League is coming! Not only that, but it's coming to Jerusalem in peace.  But first the Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Jordan will meet with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday to pave the way.   The Associated Press story by Steve Weizman is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*San Diego Union-Tribune Movie Critic David Elliott was less than thrilled with the 90-minute "Spielberg on Spielberg" program aired by Turner Classic Movies this evening, and bound, no doubt, for a repeat.  He says Steven Spielberg doesn't need the publicity, and overuses the word "infatuated" to describe parts of his career.  The review is in today's newspaper.

Tuesday, July 10

*Former Disney executive Michael Eisner who wants to buy Topps Co., has won over the board of the trading card concern.  Its members urged shareholders not to accept a buyout offer from its rival company, Upper deck.   The story by Mike Freeman is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Aaron Feldman, embattled owner of Sunroad Enterprises, has been engaged in a mediation with representatives of the City of San Diego conducted by retired Superior Court Judge Robert May.  But with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Attorney Mike Aguirre saying the top two floors of his controversial building must be removed to comply with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, period, outsiders wonder just what the mediation could be about .  The story by David Hasemyer and Jeff McDonald is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Joan Jacobs is among a group of collectors who have voted in favor of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego acquiring a few new pieces for its collection.  Society columnist Burl Stiff tells the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

* U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is crafting legislation to require most troops to withdraw from Iraq within 120 days of its final passage. The story by Noam N. Levey is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Although television actor and former U.S. senator Fred Thompson is being touted as the great Conservative hope, during his eight years in the Senate he occasionally aligned with liberals such as Sen. Russell Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin) with whom he co-sponsored campaign reform legislation.  The story by Janet Hook  is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (Democrat, New York) heard proposals while touring the Middle East that the Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza be rebuilt on the Palestinian side to better aid the flow of vital goods for Gaza's 1.5 million people.  But currently, with Hamas in control of the area, he reports that Congress has zero interest in funding such a program.  The combined New York Times News Service and Associated Press story on the Gaza situation is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers (Democrat, Michigan), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, urged President Bush to allow his aides to testify about the events leading up to the decision to commute the sentence of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.  The Associated Press story by Charles Babington is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Columnist Jackson Diehl says there is an element of wishful thinking in Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's belief that the more economic pressure put on Gaza, the more likely it is Palestinians will rise up and overthrow the Hamas government.  His column is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (Republican, Pennsylvania) suggests that if Congress takes President Bush's administration to court to gain access to internal documents that might divulge why eight U.S. attorneys were fired, the case could go on so long that Bush would finish his term without it ever being resolved. Therefore, he said, Congress should find some compromise over the issue.  The story by Richard B. Schmitt is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Vincent Tannazzo, a former security guard for comedian Joan Rivers, said he once heard murder defendant Phil Spector rant that all women "deserve a bullet in their heads," about 10 years before Lana Clarkson died of a gunshot wound at Spector's home.  The story by Copley News Service reporter Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*State Senator Darrell Steinberg (Democrat, Sacramento), considered one of the top contenders to succeed State President pro tempore Don Perata, has opposed a bill by potential rival Sen. Alex Padilla (Democrat, Pacoima) to have the state determine whether public utility companies could operate more efficiently if they were privatized.  The story by Patrick McGreevy on the utility controversy is in today's Los Angeles Tmes.

Wednesday, July 11

*Columnist Gerry Braun of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that there are two people District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis feels so close to she believes she would have to ask the Attorney General to conduct the investigations if ever serious allegations were made against them.  They are San Diego Mayor (and former Police Chief) Jerry Sanders and Sheriff Bill Kolender. Braun, with tongue firmly inside his cheek, refers to the trio as the "Axis of Virtue."

*Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he has a feeling in his gut that Al Queda would like to attack the United States sometime this summer.  But the gut feeling was not sufficient to raise the official threat level, he added.  The story by E. A. Torreiro of the Chicago Tribune is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*It's much like fantasy baseball or football, but this is a game for political junkies: fantasy Congress, in which members of the House of Representatives or Senate receive points for introducing bills, pushing them through committee, getting final passage, but lose points if they get bad publicity.  Right now, the member of Congress earning the most points for her online fantasy backers in Senator Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California).  The story by Jonathan Abrams is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Aaron Feldman, owner of Sunroad Enterprises, has agreed to tear down the top two stories of his 180-foot building by October following mediation with the City of San Diego.  The story by Jeff McDonald and David Hasemyer is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (Democrat, San Diego) lost his temper in a hearing after an official of the International Boundary and Water Commission testified his agency planned to upgrade a treatment plant in San Ysidro instead of investing in a plan to treat sewage right in Mexico by Bajagua's (a company taking its name from Baja California and agua, the Spanish word for "water") .  The story by Dana Wilkie of the Copley News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Adding to Israel's worries if he is right, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas is permitting Al Qaeda to come into Gaza—a charge Hamas denies.  The New York Times New Service brief is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Character actor Charles Lane, a familiar face with hundreds of movies to his credit, has died at age 102.  The obituary by Claudia Luther is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Controversial legislation to require neutering of most dogs and cats was headed to its first State Senate committee test. Its author, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (Democrat, Van Nuys) said the measure has aroused more comment than the "Death with Dignity" assisted suicide bill that was defeated last year.  The story by Patrick McGreevy is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*The commutation of the prison sentence of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby by President George W. Bush was disapproved of by 66 percent of the American population, a new USA Today-Gallup Poll has found.  The Associated Press story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*State workers are back on the job in Pennsylvania after Gov. Ed Rendell and the Legislature hammered out a deal that allows them to be paid.  The story is in today's Los Angeles Times.

* U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (Republican, Pennsylvania) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (Democrat, New Mexico) have worked up a bipartisan compromise on a bill that would limit the amount of emissions of gasses that trap heat in the atmosphere, thereby causing global warming.  Under the legislation industries which produce such gasses could purchase credits from others.  The story by John M. Broder of the New York Times News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Playwright John Barons testified in the Phil Spector  murder trial that shooting victim Lana Clarkson was not suicidal.  The Copley News Service story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.


*After hearing former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona testify that his speeches often were censored by the White House, Rep. Henry Waxman (Democrat, California), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said a surgeon general must be independent if he is to have credibility.  The story by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaraslovsky expressed pleasure over the hiring of William T. Fujioka to the powerful position of county executive.  The story by Susannah Rosenblatt and Jack Leonard is in today's Los Angeles Times.

Thursday, July 12
 

*The California Supreme Court has turned down an appeal by Sara Caplan seeking to be shielded from an order by a lower court judge that she testify in open court about what she knows about possible evidence tampering in the Phil Spector murder case.  If she doesn't testify, Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has said she will be jailed for contempt.  The Copley News Service story by Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Republican, Minnesota) is holding hearings on the issue of how easy it is to by radioactive materials after a sting operation by the Government Accounting Office with only a post office box was able to obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  The Associated Press story is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (Democrat, Van Nuys) has pulled from the state Senate's active file his controversial bill to require most dogs and cats in the state to be neutered.  The measure encountered strong objections in the state's upper house.  The story by Patrick McGreevy is in today's Los Angeles Times.
 

*House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers wanted White House aides to testify about the process leading up to the grant of clemency that President George W. Bush extended to I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, but White House Counsel Fred Fielding sent back a letter saying Congress has no jurisdiction over the President's power in such matters.   The Associated Press story is in a package of briefs in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is denying reports that a resumption of peace discussions between Syria and Israel may be imminent. To the contrary, she says, Syria has been playing "a dangerous game" in the Middle East. The story is in today's Ha'aretz.

*The San Diego Union-Tribune, in an editorial, shares the indignation expressed by Reps. Bob Filner (Democrat, San Diego) and Brian Bilbray (Republican, Oceanside) over the opposition by the U.S. Boundary and Water Commission to the Bajagua solution to Mexican sewerage that flows over the border.   

*Shimon Peres, soon to be inaugurated as the president of Israel, has agreed to also serve as president of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, an organization which will seek closer links between Jews in the Diaspora and in Israel.  A story by Yaakov Lapin is on today's Y-Net News Service.

*George Skelton, a politics writer for the Los Angeles Times, says in today's column that there are many similarities between politics and sports, which he used to cover when he was just starting out as a reporter. He quotes consultant Dan Schnur on the importance of teamwork in the political game.

*Lois Wyse, author and sloganeer who came up with the well-known promotional line "With a name like Smucker's it has to be good," has died at age 80.  An obituary by Claudia H. Deutsch of the New York Times News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

Friday, July 13
*California's two Democratic U.S. Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, teamed up to insert language in a Senate Appropriations Committee bill to eliminate a 22-year-old ban on subway construction beneath Los Angeles' busy Wilshire Boulevard.  Originally methane gas was considered a hazard in the area, but the senators are convinced that no longer would present a problem.  The story is in today's Los Angeles Times. 

*Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox seems a perfect title for a documentary about a man who is both a soap-maker and likes to give speeches about virtues and values. But Emanuel Bronner, a German Jew who immigrated to the United States prior to the Nazi era, is many ways seems eccentric, reviewer Kevin Crust reports in today's Los Angeles Times. 

*Attorney Sara Caplan, compelled to take the witness stand to avoid being jailed for contempt, testified in the Phil Spector murder trial that a forensic expert for the defense team, Dr. Henry Lee, picked up an item about the size of a fingernail at the scene of the shooting.  Whatever it was, it wasn't turned over to the prosecution. The Copley News service story by Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (Democrat, Tennessee) is one of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who voted in a 7-5 party line vote to bring contempt of Congress proceedings against Harriet Miers, the one time White House counsel. "What we've got here is an empty chair," he said. "I mean, that is as contemptuous as anybody can be of the government, of the process, of the country." The story by Richard B. Schmitt is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*S. Ward Cascells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, has told a subcommittee headed by U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (Democrat, San Diego) that he doesn't believe the Pentagon needs more money for mental health programs for soldiers.  However, he did suggest that medical records, like a soldier's discussion with a chaplain, me bade confidential.  The Copley News Service story by Paul Krawzak is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.  |

*First San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis ruled that Sheriff's Deputy Mark Ritchie was justified when he fatally shot Jorge Ramirez in 2005.  Now, the state  Attorney General's office has ruled that Dumanis acted properly—and did not abuse her authority—when she so ruled.  The story by Greg Moran is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Former astronaut Scott 'Doc' Horowitz, who has been in charge of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, is leaving the agency in October.  The Associated Press story is in a package of briefs in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Lebanese forces poured gunfire into the Nahr Al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon which Fatah al-Islam forces have turned into a stronghold. The group has been engaged in a campaign to take over all the semi-autonomous Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and to turn them into staging areas for war on Israel. The Washington Post brief is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*The nomination by President George W. Bush of Deputy U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien to step up to the U.S. Attorney's position is proving popular with the legal community.  Loyola Law School Prof. Laurie Levenson says O'Brien, who currently is chief of the U.S. Attorney's criminal division, has a wonderful reputation.  The story by Joe Mozingo is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Playwright Arthur Miller was working on a variety of short stories before his death.  They've been packaged in a slim book published by Viking Press. A review by Scott Eyman of the Copley News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Mohammed Sufi, a Hamas operative said to be one of the kidnappers of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, has been captured by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet, according to a Y-Net story by Hanan Greenberg.

 Saturday, July 14
 

*Hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen's exhibit of a 13-foot tiger shark suspended in formaldehyde is going on exhibit Aug. 29 at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The Bloomberg News story is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Notwithstanding legislative progress by U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (Democrats, California), reported here yesterday, the proposed subway under Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, faces a tremendous obstacle:  it would cost an estimated $5 billion.  The story by Ari Bloomekatz and Steve Hymon is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) is co-author of a bill similar to one passed by the House of Representatives to mandate a troop withdrawal from Iraq.  Republican Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and John Warner of Virginia want President Bush to submit a plan by the end of the year for troop withdrawal.  What impact the Republican measure may have on support for the Democratic measure is a question Capitol Hill reporters now are trying to assess. The story by Noam N. Levey and Julian E. Barnes is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Ed Mirvish, the discount store operator who became a major force in theatre in Toronto, Canada, has died at age 92.  An obituary by Reuters is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. We also provide a link to a 1999 feature on "Honest Ed," written for the late San Diego Jewish-Press Heritage by Donald H. Harrison, editor and publisher of San Diego Jewish World.

*U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman,  (Democrat, California) says the White House has acted inappropriately in refusing to turn over requested documents to various committees of Congress, including his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The latest instance was a refusal to turn over documents concerning the friendly fire death in Afghanistan of Pat Tillman, who volunteered for duty after 9/11 and gave up an NFL contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Associated Press story by Scott Lindlaw is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

Sunday, July 15
 

*Nikki Blonsky, daughter of a Jewish father and Italian mother, says the first time she saw the play Hairspray she thought she was seeing her own life as a short, plus-sized, teenager, on the stage.  Now she is starring with John Travolta in the movie.  The story by David Germain of the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton tout the Joint Regional Intelligence Center (or J-Ric) in Norwalk because it brings together officers and analysts of numerous agencies to work together separating bogus terrorist threats from real ones. But the program has its critics.  The story by Judith Miller is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, who made his appearance in this column yesterday, is one of the super-rich profiled by Robert Frank Crown in Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich. A review by John Gapper of the Financial Times appears in today's Los Angeles Times.

*The San Diego Union-Tribune in an editorial has called upon District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to investigate the deal whereby developers Paul Nieto and Mike Madigan purchased a piece of property that the San Diego Community College District needed for expansion, then resold it to the district. 
 

*U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) reportedly is leaning towards treatment of Mexican wastewater at a plant in San Ysdiro, California, so that the treatment conforms with American standards.  But she still wants to hear more information about the Bajagua plan backed by U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (Democrat, San Diego) for the treatment of that sewerage at its source in Mexico. The story by Mike Lee is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Milos Forman's new movie Goya's Ghosts tells the story of the Spanish Inquisition through the eyes of Spain's foremost artist.  Forman is haunted by ghosts of his own: both his Jewish father and Protestant mother died at Auschwitz.  The story by Paul Cullum is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Holocaust historian Saul Friedlander lost his parents at Auschwitz and was raised by French Catholics.  One day, while researching U.S.-Germany relations prior to World War II, he came across in Bonn a misplaced file, a friendly invitation to Adolph Hitler from Pope Pius XII to have the Berlin Opera perform at the Vatican.  Friedlander's shock made him change the course of his research.  The story by Josh Getlin appears in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Commentator Arnaud de Borchgrave writes that whether Iran's leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to "wipe Israel off the map" is a matter of dispute, but it's clear he wants to eliminate the Jewish state.  Is this a distinction with a difference?  His column is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Martin Short's album "Fame Becomes Me" includes stories of a tough childhood coupled with the voices and shticks of the comedian's many characters. But reviewer Daryll H. Miller's column in the Los Angeles Times suggests that the album has much repeat playing potential.
 

Monday, July 16

 

*Columnist Gregory Rodriguez says there has been a lot of "winking ethnic innuendo" about Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa since the details of his affair with television reporter Mirthala Salinas has become known. He says this kind of press behavior would never be tolerated if they started making similar jokes about mayors of other ethnicities, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. His column is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*National City has bay frontage, but no recreation areas, only industry. Some oppose any effort to substitute parks for work places as harmful to the economy.  But others including San Diego Port Commissioner Laurie Black say a balance between the two competing goals is necessary.  The story by Maureen Magee is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Tzipi  Buchis was a child in 1974 when terrorists associated with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine seized the school in Maalot, killing 24 people, mostly children, and wounding others, including her.  With Israel now permitting Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the DFLP, to return to the West Bank, as part of a confidence-building measure with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, she is quite bitter: "I will never forgive or forget what he did or those who want to allow him back in the country."  The Associated Press story by Karin Laub is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*When little Violet Feldman came with shorn hair to Temple Israel pre-school in Los Angeles, her classmates taunted her: "You look like a boy."  But the taunting was nipped in the bud by teachers who had undergone training at the Anti-Defamation League's World of Difference Institute.  The story by Carla Rivera is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Concert pianist Natalia Karp, whose talent so enchanted the commander of the Plaszow Work Camp that he let her live, has died a natural death at age 94.  Her obituary by Valerie J. Nelson is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television has a new cartoon character to teach Arab children to hate and kill Israelis.  Having shown Farfour the Mouse being beaten to death by an Israeli, the television show now has introduced Nahoul the Bee who wants "to take revenge on the enemies of Allah."  The story by Yaakov Lapin was carried by Israel's Y-Net News.

*Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (Democrat, Van Nuys) may not have gotten his bill to require neutering of most dogs and cats through the California Legislature, but he could claim or decry another accomplishment.  His ill-fated legislation may have begotten a Pet Owners Rights movement that could go national. The story by  Partrick McGreevy is in today's Los Angeles Times. An editorial in today's San Diego Union-Tribune said the bill's demise was deserved.

*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met at the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem today, where they ironed out details for Israel's release of 250 prisoners.  The story by Rony Sofer was carried on Israel's Y-Net News.

*A residence in Sderot was hit by a rocket fired today by a wing of Islamic Jihad from Gaza, within hours of the meeting between Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas. The story by Shmulik Hadad was carried over Israel's Y-Net News.

*Actor Steven Seagal is suing the Loeb & Loeb law firm for allegedly overcharging him for representation during a trial in which his former business partner was accused of extortion.  The firm charged $1.1 million, and after paying $500,000, Seagal was advised by outside legal auditors that he was overcharged.  The story is in today's "Public Eye" section of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Samuel Isaac Weissman, a chemist who was part of the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb, has died at 94, still harboring mixed feelings about the role he played in the development of such a powerful weapon.  The obituary by the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Knesset member Yitzhak Ziv has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who is a worker for the Pensioners Party, which he represents.  She said she came to his home to do work one day and that he encircled her with his arms from behind, pulled up her blouse, fondled her breasts, then maneuvered her to the bed. But she said she was able to elude him and run out of the house.  Ziv denies the accusation made by a woman identified in records as "R" and has hired the same attorney who represented former President Moshe Katzav.  The story by Efrat Weiss is on today's report of Israel's Y-Net News.

Tuesday, July 17

*Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick says the city government has been negligent in collecting loans it had made to developers of affordable housing.  The story by Steve Hymon is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Kenneth Duberstein, former chief of staff in the Ronald Reagan White House, says while Republicans are having trouble raising money today, it will be a lot easier if Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton for president.  "There's nothing that unites Republicans so much as the word 'Clinton,'" he said in a story by James Gerstenzang in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Comedian Al Frankin, a Democrat, in the second quarter reporting period for this year raised $300,000 more than incumbent U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Republican, Minnesota), whom he hopes to oppose in a runoff in Fall 2008 for the U.S. Senate.  Other Republican incumbents similarly are having fundraising problems because of their support for the war in Iraq, reports Jan Hook in a story in the Los Angeles Times.

*Although Hamas denounced President George W. Bush's proposal for a Middle East peace conference "which aims to serve the interests of the Zionist enemy," (the terror organization's euphemism for "Israel") a New York Times analysis by Helene Cooper suggests it was an effort to woo Arab governments which have been urging the United States to reengage in the peace process.  The story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*New York City District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has obtained grand jury indictments against 10 people who were buyers or sellers in a "fee for degree" scheme at Touro College, a Jewish sponsored college founded in 1970.  Morgenthau said particularly disturbing were degrees purchased by physician's assistants.  The wire services story is in today's Los Angeles Times.  


*Citing "creative differences," actor Mandy Patinkin is leaving the CBS drama series, "Criminal Minds."  The story is in today's "Public Eye" section of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Gerald Rafshoon, one of the organizers of the budding Unity08 third party effort, is hoping to persuade New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run for president carrying the organization's banner.  A column by Morton Kondracke is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*A Senate bill by Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York) to permit the State Department to rehire retired personnel to process a backlog of passport applications is awaiting reconciliation in a conference committee with a similar measure adopted by the House of Representatives.  The Associated Press story by Jim Abrams is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (whose father is Jewish) has won support from 54 former state attorneys general in his contention that his federal conviction on corruption charges was based not on evidence but political vendetta.  The former prosecutors called for a congressional investigation so the public could be satisfied whether Siegelman's trial was just. He is serving a seven-year prison sentence. The story by Tom Hamburger is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Punkin Irene Elizabeth Laughlin testified  shooting victim Lana Clarkson was depressed over her career and wanted to "end it." She was a defense witness for record producer Phil Spector, who is accused of shooting Clarkson in his mansion.  The Copley News Service story by Dan Laidman is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.


Wednesday, July 18

*Justin Cartwright's latest novel, The Song Before Its Sung, is based on the relationship between British philosopher Isaiah Berlin and Adam von Trott zu Solz, an aristocrat who pretended to be a Nazi to further his plot against Hitler for which he was later executed.  The names in the novel are changed.  The review by Tim Rutten is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Ralph Bernstein, a tough sports writer who covered every major Philadelphia team for the Associated Press for nearly a half century, has died at 85.  An obituary by the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed frustration that the New York State Legislature adjourned without addressing a bill to authorize the city to charge drivers in New York City  $8 per day per vehicle as a way to ease traffic congestion.  The wire services story is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California) said she was pleased that San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area received increases in Homeland Security Department anti-terror grants, but disappointed that the grants to Los Angeles were trimmed. The story by Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein is in today's Los Angeles Times.


*U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (Republican, Virginia) and Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman are among critics calling upon U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (Democrat, Minnesota) to retract his statement comparing the 9/11 attacks to the Reichstag fire. Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to Congress, suggested that as Hitler used the Reichstag fire as a pretext to suppress civil liberties in Germany, so too has the United States used 9/11 to curb freedoms in this country. A story by Jack Sherman on the controversy was in Tuesday's edition of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

*U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (Democrat, California) says the terrorist threat to the United States from al Qaeda has intensified as a result of American military involvement in Iraq. She was responding to the issuance of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE).  The story by Greg Miller and Josh Meyer is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*The San Diego Community College Board has asked District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to investigate the circumstances under which a pair of developers purchased a property they knew the Community College was interested in, then sold it at a hefty profit to the district.  However, City Attorney Michael Aguirre thinks the district should go beyond that and hire its own forensic accountant.  The story by Tanya Mannes is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

* Israel's Knesset has decided to raise from 16 to 18 the minimum age for dropping out of school.  The story by Or Kashti and Shahar Ilan is in today's Ha'aretz.

*This fall's regional conference on the Israel-Palestinian issue proposed by President Bush was welcomed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas following a meeting with Javier Solana, foreign policy chief for the European Union. The story  by Khaled Abu Toameh is in today's Jerusalem Post.

*Democrats stayed up around the clock trying to prevent a Republican filibuster against the bill by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan), chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, to force a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.  But in the end, the vote was 52-47 in favor of cutting off debate, short of the 60 votes required under Senate rules.  The story by Naom N. Levey is in today's Los Angeles Times. In joining with Republicans in speaking against the withdrawal, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut) made note of the cots set up for senators, and complained that some senators "are already asleep when it comes to Iraq."  Richard Simon's sidebar story is in the Los Angeles Times.

*Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association, is raising the alarm that Republican legislators want to cut $400 million from school allocations toward an overall goal of cutting the state budget by $2 billion.  The story by Evan Halper is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, has confirmed reports that Israel an Syria have been passing messages to each other through a variety of intermediaries, although so far with no positive result.  The Associated Press story is on Y-Net News.

*U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (Democrat, California), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says documents indicate that the White House used appearances by Anti-Drug Czar John P. Walters to boost the campaigns of Republicans in tough districts.  Walters responded that he gave speeches in Democratic districts as well.  The story by James Gerstenzang is in today's Los Angeles Times.

Today's news tipster: Bruce Kesler

Thursday, July 19
*Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke says the housing slump will cause the economy to grow less than anticipated.  The Associated Press story by Jeannine Aversa is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday the only lingering concern over the explosion of a steam pipe in midtown New York was the possibility of asbestos contamination. The Associated Press story is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioned U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker by video hookup.  U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California) reminded him he once said that electricity service was more important to the average Iraqi than all the benchmarks, winning a concession from Crocker that electrical service is worse today than it was before the onset of the Iraq War.  The story by Julian E. Barnes and Paul Richter is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Phyllis Diller, turning 90, recently cracked her back and had to cancel an appearance on the Jay Leno Show.  The story is in the "Public Eye" section of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Syria for meetings with Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Syria's President Bashar Assad, was asked if he expected another war with Israel to break out.  He answered cryptically: "We hope the summer will bring victories to the region's nations and failures to their enemies."  The story was carried by Y-Net News.

*Black-clad professional burglars have been targeting the rich and famous of Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and the Encino Hills, making off with millions of dollars worth of possessions. Said to be among the victims are former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing and writer husband William Friedkin.  The story by Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Morris 'Fritz' Friedman, a member of the Valley Village Neighborhood Council, says the San Fernando Valley community should perhaps be split into east and west portions, with one restricting the "mansionization" of older neighborhoods, and the other, where he lives, permitting such construction to occur. The neighborhood debate is taking on religious overtones because nine of the 15 Neighborhood Council members are Friedman's fellow Jews and opposed to building restrictions.  The story by Ari B. Bloomekatz is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*When Isaac Meir makes a plea for environmental sensitivity, it is not just with words. PLEA stands for Passive, Low Energy Architecture, and he specializes in creating it in Israel's desert.  The story by Stephanie Freid was carried by Israel21C.

*The Jewish community of New Orleans has shrunk from 10,000 to 7,000 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, so the community is running ads in New York City trying to attract some new immigrants who want to "make a difference."  The story by Richard Fausset is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Mariane Pearl, widow of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, has brought federal suit in Brooklyn against Habib Bank Ltd of Karachi, contending the financial institution knowingly financed the terrorists who killed her husband.  The Associated Press story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Holocaust survivor Miki Schwartz of San Diego has been shown from the recently opened cache of 50 million Nazi documents a piece of paper—possibly a death list— from which his name was struck off, clearing the way for him to be sent to a World War II rocket factory and survival.  The story by Lisa Petrillo is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*A well-known madam, Jody "Babydoll" Gibson, is a potential witness in the Phil Spector murder trial, and has been ordered by Judge Larry Paul Fidler not to discuss allegations that shooting victim Lana Clarkson may have worked for her during interviews with the media.  The Associated Press story is in a column of regional briefs in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
 

 Friday, July 20

 

*He still considers imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff a friend but he also is cooperating with a federal probe into his activities, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial of the Northern Mariana Islands says.  The Associated Press story is in the Los Angeles Times.

*Serge Bardugo, a Jew who has been named roving ambassador for Morocco, has called for his country's late King Muhammad V to be named Righteous Among the Nations for his efforts during World War II to protect Jews from the Nazis.  The story by Itamar Eichner is on Y-Net News. 

*New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to charge commuters to Manhattan $8 per day per car in an effort to reduce congestion has been revived. Although legislators had blocked it, a new agreement allows it to be studied by a commission.  The story by Melissa Mansfield of Newsday is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Opera tenor Jerry Hadley, who portrayed Don Luis de Carvajal, in San Diego Opera's World Premiere of The Conquistador—Myron Fink's story of the Mexican Inquisition —has died at age 55 of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.  The obituary by the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Yosef Chiger, a 35-year-old American, will fly to Israel to donate a kidney to a 19-year-old soldier, Ayelet Katz, whom he has never met.  The match was made through the Halachic Organ Donor Society.  The story by Yaakov Katz is in the Jerusalem Post.

*Canada's former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler told the Congressional Human Rights Caucus that discussions of Middle East refugees should not only focus on Palestinians, but also on the many Jews who were driven from Arab lands. The story by Steven Edwards of CanWest News Service was in yesterday's National Post.

*San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and UCI researcher Laura Mosqueda have co-authored an op-ed piece in today's San Diego Union-Tribune about the costs and remedies for elder abuse.

*JoAnne SawyerKnoll, head of the City of San Diego's Office of Ethics and Integrity, says that in the city's handling of Aaron Feldman's controversial Sunroad Enterprises building at Montgomery Field there was bungling by the mayor's office, but no evidence of any wrongdoing to accommodate the developer.  Evan McLaughlin has the story on the Voice of San Diego news site.  Jeff McDonald had the story for the San Diego Union-Tribune. In an editorial, the newspaper said Mayor Jerry Sanders should hold some of his employees accountable for their poor performance.

*Israel will launch a satellite in September capable of closely monitoring nuclear developments in Iran, Yaakov Katz reported in Thursday's Jerusalem Post.

*UCSD Prof. Michael Provence, in an op-ed in today's San Diego Union-Tribune, places heavy blame on last year's Second Lebanon War on U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condolleezza Rice, whom he said should have stopped Israel's attack soon after the conflict began. 

*David and Layla is a movie about a romance between a Jewish American man and a Kurdish Muslim woman that explores both religions, politics, and sexual taboos. A review by Michael Ordoña is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Bob Lerner, a volunteer at the Valley Center Museum, has put together an exhibit on a famous resident of the community in northern San Diego County: Duke Morrison.  Never heard of him? Maybe you know him by his stage name better: John Wayne.  The story by Cheryl Walker is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Linda Goldzimer Meranus, a feminist who served as the City of San Diego's first affirmative action officer, has died of cancer in Melville, N.Y., at age 65.  An obituary by Michael Kinsman is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Esther Miller, one of the plaintiffs in the sex abuse case against the Catholic Church, has become a convert to Judaism.  She says she was attracted to the religion because it goes back to the roots of Catholicism. The story by  K. Connie Kang, Francisco Vara-Orta and Rebecca Trounson is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (Democrat, California) said as his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee opened hearings on the subject, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) new of the health risks posed by formaldehyde in trailers provided to Hurricane Katrina victims, but did nothing about it.  The story by Claudia Lauer is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Legislators in Sacramento are considering earmarking revenues from a sales tax increase in Los Angeles to pay down deficits.  However, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaraslovsky said the tax was sold to county voters with promises that it would fund transportation projects.  He denounced the move as a case of "bait and switch."  The story by Evan Halper and Nancy Vogel is in today's Los Angeles Times.

 Today's news tipster: Bruce Kesler


Saturday, July 21
*In a focus story on Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, Richard Fausset of the Los Angeles Times interviewed Emory University Political Science Prof. Alan Abramowitz who suggested that Edwards' "Two America" emphasis on the poor, is intended not only to attract the votes of the poor but also of party liberals. 

*Laurie David, who produced An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary on global warming featuring former Vice President Al Gore, has filed for divorce from her husband, television producer Larry David, citing irreconcilable differences. The suit seeks joint custody of the couple's two daughters.  The story is in the Public Eye column of today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (Democrat, California) spoke at the Port of Los Angeles about a new contingency response plan to an attack on a major port such as that in Los Angeles.  According to Chertoff, instead of shutting down all ports after such an event and further crippling the economy, the closure of other ports would be calibrated to perceived threats. The story by Louis Sahagun is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Erran Baron Cohen and his band Zohar presented a blend of Middle Eastern music and electronica at the Skirball Museum.  Some attendees mistakenly believed Cohen would be funny or whimsical like his comedian brother Sasha Baron Cohen. The story by Don Heckman is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Lenny Goldberg, president of the California Tax Reform Association, said the budget bill passed by the California Assembly, but not yet by the state Senate, contains hidden tax breaks for jet plane owners, Hollywood film companies, energy companies and other businesses.  He said the breaks were snuck into the budget bill in an effort to avoid public scrutiny. The story by Evan Halper and Patrick McGreevy is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel were given heroes' welcome at the presidential compound in Ramallah of Mahmoud Abbas, who said Israel needs to release even more prisoners.  Some of those released spoke of a new era of peace between Palestinians and Israelis.  The Associated Press story by Karen Laub is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*A story by the Religion News Service noting that Jews observe Tisha B'Av on Monday, July 23, and briefly explaining the fast day is included in the religion roundup of today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (Democrat, Michigan) has a proposal in Congress that has attracted attention, most of it negative, from Wall Street.  It calls for taxing private investors who buy companies, fix them up, and then sell them at the same 35 percent rate as other people whose income exceeds $349,700, instead of at the 15 percent capital gains rate.  The story by Jonathan Peterson and Walter Hamilton is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*When architect Daniel Libeskind traveled with his family in Europe, he made certain that his teenage daughter, Rachel, wouldn't be cut off from her friends.  He invited Alessandra Gotbaum to join them for Passover.  Having a teen member of the family bring along a friend on a family trip may be a growing trend. The New York Times News Service story by Ralph Gardner Jr. is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*The office of Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is dismissing reports that Syria and Iran have signed a treaty in which Iran has assured Syria of ongoing military aid on the condition that it does not enter into peace negotiations with Israel.  The story is on Y-Net News.

*Unable to persuade President George W. Bush to change course in Iraq, Democrats in Congress are turning the heat up on their Republican colleagues by forcing votes on the unpopular war so Republican officeholders will have to explain themselves back home.  Comments U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York): "The president doesn't take advice."  The story by Noam N. Levey is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*A letter from U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (Democrat, Los Angeles) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) still remains unanswered about whether trailers with formaldehyde that made people sick in New Orleans are being tested before being put out for sale on the used trailer market. The story by Claudia Lauer is in today's Los Angeles Times.


Sunday, July 22

 

Monday, July 23

*Edwin Chemerinsky, a Duke University law professor, says while bloggers in the United States have constitutionally protected free speech, they are liable to libel law.  A story by Jonathan Abrams in the Los Angeles Times explores the growing impact blogs are having on local affairs.

*Miri Eisen, spokesperson for Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, reiterated on the day that Quartet envoy Tony Blair arrived in Israel that her government believes Blair should confine himself to helping Palestinians build their institutions.  The Reuters story was carried on CNN.

*Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat, Nevada) expressed skepticism about a proposal by Sen. Russell Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin) to have the Senate censure U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.  He said Republicans would never permit such a resolution to come to a vote, and that the Senate doesn't have time for such things.  The story by Richard A. Serrano is in today's Los Angeles Times. Feingold is the subject of a new biography by Sanford D. Horwitt, which reviewer Scott Martelle in the Los Angeles Times criticizes as a superficial examination of the maverick political figure.

*U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) believes that it may be time to reinstitute the "Fairness Doctrine" for broadcasters, requiring them to balance political opinion with opposing views.  But Senator Norman Coleman (Republican, Minnesota) counters it is a bad idea from a bygone era.  The story by Jim Puzzanghera is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Columnist Logan Jenkins reports in the San Diego Union-Tribune that while using Google to research Sunroad Enterprises and its owner Aaron Feldman he learned that for better results one should use the "news" tab.

*U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (Democrat, California) and other members of Congress would be forbidden from paying their spouses from campaign pay rolls under a bill authored by U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (Democrat, California) and approved by the House on a voice vote.  The measure now goes to the Senate. The International Herald Tribune carried the Associated Press story today.

*Overshadowed by political violence between Israelis and Palestinians, mob violence in Israel is a growing problem that sometimes reaches into the highest levels of government. The Associated Press story was carried by Fox News.

*Egyptian police killed a Sudanese woman and four other refugees who attempted to sneak from the Sinai Desert into Israel.  The Associated Press story is in the world briefs column in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*An Arizona judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by former Congressman Gary Condit against a weekly newspaper that reported he lied to investigators about his relationship to slain intern Chandra Levy.  A brief story from wire service reports is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Groucho Marx and Marilyn Monroe, although dead, still have rights to protect their images from being commercially exploited.  Law suits have been establishing such postmortem rights and now there is a bill in the California Legislature to solidify such rights.  The story by Patrick McGreevy is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Dan Rosenfeld of Urban Partners thinks 250-square foot apartments downtown is a good idea, but others think the proposal going before the Los Angeles City Council will have negative impacts.  Sharon Bernstein has the story in the Los Angeles Times.

Tuesday, July 24

 

*Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff, and former White House counsel Harriet Miers will be subjects of votes by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday  on whether they should be cited for contempt for refusing to testify before the committee, and instead invoking the doctrine of "executive privilege."  The story from combined news services is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Ronen and Elisheva Goldman, recent immigrants to Israel, have been volunteering in bomb-shocked Sderot.  In an article written for Y-Net news, Ronen tells of painting a bomb shelter. 

*Carrots from the Hevel Maon cooperative in the western Negev are becoming familiar to produce shoppers in the supermarkets of Moscow and St. Petersburg.  The IEICI story was published today on Y-Net News.

*A Qassam rocket landed Monday on a house in Kibbutz Karniya near Ashkelon slightly wounding a baby with shrapnel and putting two adults in shock.  The attack, launched by an arm of Hamas from Gaza, is reported by Shmulik Hadad in a story on today's Y-Net News.

*The Phil Spector murder trial continued with a defense witness saying the blood spatter pattern at the record producer's home was consistent with shooting victim Lana Clarkson having killed herself rather than having been shot. The story by Dan Laidman of the Copley News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer apologized for the action of aides who allegedly leaked information to the news media concerning flights the Republican leader of the State Senate, Joseph Bruno.  New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a report criticizing the tactics of the aides but said he found that neither Bruno nor Spitzer had broken any laws.  The Associated Press story by Michel Gormley is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

Wednesday, July 25

*When it comes to annoying guests with unwelcomed questions, Wolf Blitzer of Cable News Network  can be described as either non-partisan or as an equal opportunity offender.  Dick Cheney got mad at him for asking about his daughter's lesbianism.  Now Michael Moore is upset with him. A column by David Bauder of the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Dr. Bruce Chernof, the Los Angeles County health official who is awaiting a federal inspection of the trouble King-Harbor Medical Center, now has a new problem. A psychiatric patient injured herself with a scalpel-like device that she somehow brought into the hospital.  The story by Susannah Rosenblatt is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick has taken herself out of the running for the 5th District City Council seat that Jack Weiss will vacate at the end of his term. Weiss plans to run for city attorney.  The story is in the Los Angeles Times.

*Psychologist Albert Ellis, who taught that patients can overcome self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, has died at 92.  An Associated Press obituary is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Senators Russell Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin) and Arlen Specter (Republican, Pennsylvania) sharply questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Feingold questioned whether the U.S. Attorney General shouldn't be held to a higher standard than what has been so far, and Specter suggested a special prosecutor should be appointed in the growing controversy over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys.  The Associated Press story by Lara Jakes Jordan is in today' San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, California) has endorsed the presidential bid of her Senate colleague, Hillary Clinton of New York.  Meanwhile, Senator Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California) has remained neutral.  The story by Scott Martelle is in the Los Angeles Times.

*Two planes from France—one from Paris, the other from Marseilles—today carried 600 new immigrants to Israel.  Yael Branovsky has the story on Y-Net news.

*Turkey's Ambassador to Israel, Namik Tan, said cooperation between Israel and Turkey, both in the diplomatic and military arenas, will remain strong, and that the Islamic underpinnings of his country's new presidential administration should be no reason for concern.  The story by Yaakov Lapin is on Y-Net News.

*Paul Henrie Levy pleaded guilty in federal court in San Diego to charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with his role as co-manager of now defunct Global Money Management, and will e sentenced October 15. Two other defendants in the case also are awaiting sentencing.  The story by Penni Crabtree is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*His ancestry is part Lebanese, part London-Jewish, he had Nobel Prize winner Patrick White as a mentor, and his literary arena is Australia.  Now a book of David Malouf's short fiction works is impressing reviewers in America.  Art Winslow tells his favorable reaction to the work in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had a working dinner with Quartet Envoy Tony Blair last night.  Blair met earlier in the day with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. An Associated Press brief is in today's San Diego Unon-Tribune.  Omert has offered to negotiate an agreement in principle with the Palestinians towards establishment of a Palestinian state on most of the territory within the West Bank and Gaza.  The story by Aluf Benn is on today's Ha'aretz.

*A group calling itself the Animal Liberation Brigade left an incendiary device June 24 near the car of Dr. Arthur Rosenbaum, who heads UCLA's Department of pediatric ophthalmology. The device did not go off but it evidently was intended as a warning against continued research on monkeys to test procedures for correcting cross-eyed conditions.  Branding the incident "domestic terrorism,' federal and local officials are offering a $110,000 reward for information leading to the parties responsible.  The story by Larry Gordon is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Comedian Sarah Silverman is lending her support to a YouTube campaign against global warming which also has attracted Ben Afffleck, Matt Damon, Jennifer Garner, and Joshua Jackson.  The story is in the Public Eye section of today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Jurors in the Phil Spector murder trial are likely to visit his mansion where actress Lana Clarkson was fatally shot.  The Copley News Service story by Dan Laidman is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Playwright George Tabori,  who settled in Germany after the war notwithstanding the death of family members in the Auschwitz concentration camp and whose plays dealt with Jewish-German relations, has died at age 93.  An Associated Press obituary is in the Los Angeles Times.

Thursday, July 26

*Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers, respectively chief of staff and former legal counsel of the White House, have been recommended for citation for contempt of Congress by the House Judiciary Committee on a 22-17 Democratic-Republican vote. The two staff members have refused to testify at the congressional probe of the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, citing executive privilege.  The Associated Press story by Laurie Kellman is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*California's two Democratic U.S. Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, tried unsuccessfully to persuade their colleagues to consider the AgJobs bill independently of the mired bill on immigration, saying that unless Mexican workers could be hired immediately harvests would go to waste.  But Republicans said because the workers might end up staying in the country, the bill could not receive separate consideration. The story by Nicole Gaouette is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Brazilian pianist Arnaldo Cohen overcame a faulty amplification system at the Hollywood Bowl to deliver Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" with what Los Angeles Times reviewer Chris Pasles described as "brilliant, guitar-like flourishes."   

*U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Democrat, Illinois), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, predicts the Democratic controlled Congress will be able to enact legislation on health care, minimum wage, homeland security and congressional ethics. The Washington Post story by Jonathan Weisman is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (Democrat, California), chairman of the House Veteran Affairs Committee, said recommendations of a bipartisan presidential commission on caring for wounded military personnel were fine as far as they went, but did not offer concrete solutions to a backlog of 600,000 disability claims.  The story by James Gerstenzang is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Daniel Koshland Jr., molecular biologist and philanthropic heir to the Levi-Strauss fortune has died of a massive stroke at age 87.  His obituary by Thomas H. Maugh II is in today's Los Angeles Times. 

*U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut) said a bill reported out by a House-Senate conference committee on anti-terrorism measures "will make it more difficult for terrorists to enter and operate in the United States."  The story by Richard Simon is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*There is division in the Arab League whether the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan who visited Israel yesterday were representing just their countries or the Arab League as well.  They said they came in behalf of the Arab League, but a League official in Cairo said they were not an official delegation of the organization.  They met with Israel's President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

*Television producer Adam Sorkin plans to open a new play in Los Angeles, The Farnsworth Invention, dealing with the invention of television.  Jimmi Simpson will play inventor Philo Farnsworth, and Hank Azaria will portray RCA Chairman David Sarnoff.  The story is in today's Public Eye section of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Dr. Werner Spitz, a forensic pathologist from the Detroit area, testified in the Phil Spector murder trial that shooting victim Lana Clarkson most likely committed suicide. The Copley News Service story by Matt Krasnowski is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Under pressure from Mia Farrow, Stephen Spielberg has written the Chinese government urging it to do more to oppose the genocide in Darfur, which some accuse the Chinese of helping to underwrite.  Spielberg has been serving as an artistic advisor to China for the 2008 Olympics.,  The story by Russell Goldman is on ABC News

Friday, July 27

*Meretz party chairman Yossi Beilin says that the Palestinian Authority not only has removed the Arabic term for "armed resistance" from its proposed platform, it embraces peace with Israel as an ideology rather than a last resort.  The story was placed on line today by JPost. 

*San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has confirmed that her office is investigating whether laws were broken when real estate partners Mike Madigan and Paul Nieto obtained a parcel of land wanted by the San Diego Community College District, then sold it for a half million dollar profit.  But the DA said her office would not comment further on the investigation. The story by Tanya Mannes is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune. In another story, Dumanis announced that her office has received a California state grant of $105,000 for equipment to analyze evidence in identity theft cases.

*Young Jewish political activists like Jonah Burke are part of the leadership to awaken the world's conscience about the slaughters in Darfur.  David Dagan of the Jerusalem Post reported from Pennsylvania.

*Rappers Sagol 59 and SAZ respectively are Israeli Jew Chen Rotem and Israeli Arab Samekh Zakout.  They recently appeared together at a Hip Hop Sulha (an Arabic word meaning conciliation).  David Wainer had the story for Israel21C.

*Movie producer/ director Steven Spielberg, in a direct hookup from Hawaii, greeted fans at Comic-Con in San Diego, telling the happy crowd he and Harrison Ford are back at it, making Indiana Jones IV.  Lee Grant has the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

Saturday, July 28

*Rabbi James L. Brooks, who has been executive producer of The Simpsons from the onset of the cartoon series, remembers television's Tracey Ullman Show better than perhaps most people do.  He was the producer of that too, and came up with the idea of short animated "bumpers" to run before and after the show.  The bumpers developed into the series that has now spawned a movie.  The  story by Geoff Boucher is in the Los Angeles Times.

*Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been reforming his agency's allocation system for anti-terror grants.  Although residents of San Francisco and Los Angeles are unhappy with reductions, overall California has received a greater allocation with increases going to San Diego, Orange County and other parts of the San Francisco Bay area.  An op-ed piece by Veronique du Rugy is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Martin Cominsky, Houston region director of the Anti-Defamation League, describes Quanell X as someone who "has sought to exaggerate differences rather than build on commonalities."  But the flashy militant, who gets a large share of media time whenever there is racial controversy, has a keen following in the African American community.  The profile of Quanell X by Miguel Bustillo is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Israel and its friends in the U.S. Congress are said to be nervous about a deal the White House is finalizing with Saudi Arabia for the sale of $20 billion worth of advanced military equipment over the next decade.  To make it more palatable, Israel would receive $30 billion worth of high tech weaponry under the developing proposal.  The New York Times News Service story by David S. Cloud is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says the anti-terrorism bill approved by the Senate on Thursday and by the House on Friday will "make our nation stronger."  Among provisions is a requirement to phase-in inspections of all luggage aboard airplanes and all cargo on ships.  The Associated Press story is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Massachusetts Superior Justice Allan Van  Gestel has dismissed a suit by Michael Redstone accusing his uncle, Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sumner Redstone of having obtained his controlling interest in a predecessor company by fraud through stock transactions in 1972 and 1984. The judge ruled that a three-year statute of limitations applied in the case.  The story by Michael A. Hiltzik is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*The cautionary tale of former Assemblyman Keith Richman (Republican, Los Angeles) who was a moderate ally of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is cited by political strategists to explain why Republican legislators do not rally around the governor.  When Richman found himself in a tough primary for state treasurer, Schwarzenegger did not intervene in his behalf and Richman was defeated.  The story by Jordan Rau and Evan Halper is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke has been residing in a posh Brentwood mansion rather than the Mar Vista apartment that she lists as her official residence, the Los Angeles Times reports.  The problem?  The law requires supervisors to live within the districts they represents and her mansion is in the district represented by Zev Yaraslovsky.  The story is by Jack Leonard and Matt Lait. 

Sunday, July 29

*Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown may never have the close relationship with President George W. Bush that Tony Blair had, but he is definitely pro-American and has some close American advisors, among them Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.  The Associated Press story by David Stringer is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

Monday, July 30
 

*The driving force behind Bratz: The Movie is an Israeli veteran of the toy industry, Avi Arad, who once worked for that arch rival doll, Barbie.  The story by Geoff Boucher is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Israel is preparing to remove some of the estimated 500 check points in the West Bank in a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to a Reuters story carried by Ha'aretz. 

*A memorial to the Jewish partisans who fought against the Nazis in Europe will be constructed at Mount Herzl.  Amiram Barkat has the story for Ha'aretz. 

*Cancer has claimed the life of Rabbi Carole Meyers, 50, who was the first female rabbi in the Los Angeles area.  The obituary by Claire Noland is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has given his blessing to a proposed sale of high tech arms to Saudi Arabia, saying he understands why the U.S. wants to build up the country as a counter-force to Iran in the region.  The Bush Administration also plans to provide Israel with an even greater defense capability.  The story by Steve Weizman of the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Fathers and daughters have been known not to speak to each other in many a family, but when they are contesting for control of a publicly traded company, a feud can be particularly messy.  So meet Sumner Redstone and his daughter Sherry Redstone of Viacom.  The story by Claudia Eller is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*David Shaw, 90, a screenwriter known for the movie If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium, has died in Beverly Hills.  An obituary by Valerie J. Nelson is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss is in an awkward position.  He'd like to raise money for a subway, which might require a tax increase.  He'd also like to run for city attorney, which may mean not proposing any hikes in taxes.  A column by Steve Hymon is in today's Los Angeles Times.
 

Tuesday, July 31
*Woody Allen, commenting on the death of Ingmar Bergman, said yesterday the Swede was "the finest film director of my lifetime."  The story by movie critic David Elliott is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Paulina Geibel-Kravz, a Russian immigrant with an innovative approach to teaching English, is one of many women in the north of Israel being assisted by the New Israel Fund.  Beneficiaries of the program are both Jewish and Arab women. The story by Lydia Aisenberg was carried by the J-Post. 

*Los Angeles Planning Director Gail Goldberg says computer modeling for Los Angeles' traffic problems relies too heavily on cities with far more developed rapid transit systems and less urban sprawl. As a result, requirements placed on developers to mitigate traffic impacts may not be sufficient to deal with them, she said.  The story by Sharon Bernstein is in today's Los Angeles Times.


*A bankruptcy court has awarded to the family of Ron Goldman the rights to O.J. Simpson's fact-or-fiction If I Did It, finding that family had a superior claim to the family of Nicole Brown Simpson, the other slaying victim in the famous O.J. case.  The story by Curt Anderson of the Associated Press is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (Democrat, California) was author of a resolution calling on the government of Japan to formally apologize to the women that were forced to be sex slaves serving Japanese troops during World War II.  The resolution was adopted yesterday.  The Associated Press story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Dr. Kevin Schreiber, a New York pediatrician who just made aliyah with his family, also brought along a 250-year-old Torah scroll, originally from Krakow.  The story about the Nefesh B'Nefesh program was carried by Y-Net News.

*U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (Democrat, California), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says dramatic differences between a draft report on world health by former Surgeon General Richard Carmona and one suggested by the White House raises concern about the politicization of various federal offices by the Bush administration.  The story by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar is in today's Los Angeles Times.




(Return to top)