WASHINGTON —
Democratic sources statement Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine will take across as party chairman.
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Former newspaper rivals cooperate as jobs are cut
NEW YORK —
Just a dozen years ago, newspapers on either side of Arlington, Texas, fought fiercely for every reader in the fast-growing city, expenditure millions of dollars to expand their staffs and cover the smallest meetings and sporting events.
So it came as a surprise that The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram started sharing photos and concert reviews in November.
But these are unprecedented general condition of affairs.
As readers and advertisers migrate to the Internet and the stumbling economy cuts deeply into revenues, news organizations are redefining what it income to compete. In recent months, papers surrounding the nation have tried to lessen their staff cuts by dint of. forging partnerships with former rivals.
“In the old days, all of us were involved in the same stories,” said Tony Pederson, a former Houston Chronicle executive editor and now journalism presiding officer at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “When there was a big news event in Texas or nationwide, everybody was in that place. Now, that’s not the case.”
The sharing has intensified as newspapers stepped up job reductions and slashed travel budgets, and such arrangements are more palatable than closing news bureaus or dropping some coverage areas altogether.
All three major daily newspapers in South Florida formed a loose firm, while five papers in Maine and eight in Ohio are sharing which they gather and produce. Fox and NBC television stations plan to share video, and The Washington Post and The Sun in Baltimore announced a collaboration on Maryland coverage in late December.
In doing to such a degree, readers could lose another choice expressed, and journalists their competitive take in a carriage.
“It efficiency be every ideal situation in a perfect world to obtain four or five diurnal newspapers each covering the same public hearings, and then comparing the coverage and probably learning something different in each story,” said Mark Woodward, executive editor of the Bangor Daily News, which began cooperating with other Maine newspapers in September.
But cooperation is a necessary come to an understanding “to conserve your resources and still be a servant your men,” Woodward reported.
Many of the deals involve coverage of routine events such like news conferences, and papers sometimes disclose ahead of time which they chart to defence. Papers give full credit for items used, and no money changes hands. In some cases, papers restrict online use and informally agree not to run certain items from the other.
The Dallas and Fort Worth papers started cooperating in October by distributing each other’sitting papers to redeem on passing over costs. The detente on the business side paved the tendency of action as antidote to the two to begin sharing photos and such features as concert reviews. Talks continue on expanding the exchange.
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Colleagues: Michael Bennet able to step right in
DENVER
That’s what colleagues are saying about the Yale-educated lawyer, a shrewd study who won’t need long to navigate Congress, even though Bennet has never held public office.
Bennet was named Saturday by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter as his choice to occupy completely the remaining two years of the Senate term of Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar, who is awaiting confirmation as interior secretary during the term of President-elect Obama.
People who bear worked with Bennet, a Democrat, who at 44 will become the Senate’s youngest member pending Salazar’s confirmation to the Cabinet, declared he’sitting up for the challenge.
His varied r
“I slip on’privately remember he’ll have any trouble adjusting to the world of political science,” said Alan Gottlieb, annotator of Education News Colorado, a Web site run by the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition.
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Clinton donor benefited from legislation backed by Sen. Clinton
WASHINGTON
Sen. Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert Congel, to practice tax-exempt bonds to help monetary theory the construction of the Destiny USA feast and shopping complex, an expanse of the Carousel Center in Syracuse, N.Y.
She also helped secure an earmark in a high-road bill that suit off $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.
The bill with the tax-free bonds provision became law in October 2004, weeks before the donation was made, and the public road bill with the earmark became law in August 2005, about nine months after the donation was made.
Congel and Philippe Reines, a spokesman since Sen. Clinton, said there was no connection between his donation and her legislative work on his project’s behalf.
She supported the expansion of Carousel mall “purely as part of her unwavering commitment to improving upstate New York’sitting struggling economy, and nihilism more,” Reines reported.
Bill Clinton set up his foundation as he was leaving the White House and as his wife was transforming herself from chief lady to U.S. senator from New York.
The William J. Clinton Foundation finances Bill Clinton’sitting presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., and programs that work on AIDS, poverty, climate change and other causes worldwide.
Ethics flash point
Donations to causes and charities favored by lawmakers have been an ethics flash point in Congress in fresh months, particularly the dispute over Rep. Charles Rangel’s fundraising for a center at the City College of New York from businesses by interests before the House Ways and Means Committee, which he leads. In 2007, Congress enacted a formula requiring companies and their lobbyists to divulge donations to charities associated through lawmakers.
But there is no law requiring framer presidents or their spouses to disclose cash they collect for their foundations.
Bill Clinton’sitting foundation last month revealed the identity of its donors as part of an agreement with President-elect Obama, who selected Hillary Clinton as his nominee for secretary of state.
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Father arrested in killing of toddler
NEW ORLEANS
Danny Platt confessed, told police where to find the body and will be booked with the first-degree murder of Ja’ Shawn Powell, Riley said at a news conference.
“He had said he would kill either his wife or his brat prior to he paid child support,” which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said.
Riley said he did not discern the footing of child support and would not describe how the male child was killed, adding that the coroner would do thus after the autopsy was complete.
The coroner’s speaker did not without delay return a call.
“The mother is in a safe place,” Riley said.
Although he had dispensation rights, Platt, 22, of New Orleans, had never visited the boy until he pointed him up Friday, Riley said.
Police put public a notice Saturday asking people to look for the stripling and saying his father had told them three men with dreadlocks and AK-47 rifles had piled out of an SUV and kidnapped Ja’ Shawn shortly before the dead of night Friday.
“His story never really added up,” Riley said.
“He was a suspect from the surpassingly beginning.”
Riley said Platt eventually confessed and told officers where to supply with food the body.
Platt had merely a couple of “remarkably minor” previous arrests, he said.
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Al-Maliki in Iran to talk about U.S.-Iraq deal
BAGHDAD
The visit is al-Maliki’s fourth since he was elected and comes just days later than the U.S. handed over military sway of the Green Zone to Iraq and began a drawdown that calls for the subtraction of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the expiration of 2011.
Iran initially adverse the pact, accusing America of seeking to maintain its dominance over Iraq. American officials, for their part, have objected to Iran’s influence over next-door neighbor Iraq, including its ability to sway radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.
Iran’session influence in Iraq has grown significantly since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, what one. toppled the Sunni-dominated government of President Saddam Hussein, a longtime foe of Shiite-run Iran.
Al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, met Saturday with Iranian Vice President Parviz Dawoodi.
Today, al-Maliki is expected to discuss economic, transportation and electricity issues by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Parliament member Abdul Hadi Husseini, a member of al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party, said the prime minister’sitting visit was, in part, to “make Iran more comfortable and to take out some fear that Iraq could have existence used as a base (in the future by Western soldiers forces).”
Iraq’session minister of education, Khudair Khuzai, also a member of al-Maliki’s some one, said al-Maliki had an additional goal: to help improve relations between the U.S. and Iran. Iraq’session ministers of trade, conveyance and electricity traveled to Iran with al-Maliki. Husseini reported Iraq was seeking to buy power from Iran and revive supply lines betwixt the two countries into southern Iraq.
Also without interruption Saturday, U.S. military officials said they shot and wounded an Iraqi TV journalist who, they said, was acting suspiciously and failed to respond to warnings in a neighborhood of Baghdad upon the body Thursday. Beladi television identified the woman as Hadeel Emad, who was taken to a hospital, where her left kidney was removed.
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Series of powerful quakes kills 4 in Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia A succession of powerful earthquakes at dawn Sunday killed at smallest four people and injured dozens more in remote eastern Indonesia, cutting power lines and destroying buildings.
One of the quakes - a 7.3-magnitude quaking - was felt similar to very much away as Australia and sent weak tsunamis into Japan’s southeastern coast, but there were no reports of damage there and in no degree tsunami in Indonesia’s impoverished Papua area.
The first 7.6-magnitude vibrate struck at 4:43 a.m. local time (1943 GMT) on land about 85 miles (135 kilometers) from Manokwari, Papua, at a depth of 22 miles (35 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It was followed by dint of. dozens of aftershocks.
At least four people died in Papua, and the airport runway nearest the epicenter was insane, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters. Commercial flights to the area were canceled.
“I’ve instructed emergency steps be taken to help our brothers and to renew prerogative and other vital utilities,” he said without commenting on how widespread the damage might be.
Among the dead was a 10-year-old girl whose head was crushed, said local hospital director Hengky Tewu.
“We have our ambulances picking up two in greater numbers,” he said. Another 19 patients at the hospital were treated for shaken bones, cuts, crushed fingers and other injuries.
Papua police leading Maj. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said he received reports that a hotel and rice warehouse had been “destroyed,” but he did not know granting that anyone had died. A search for possible victims was while suffering way.
Several stories of the Mutiara Hotel in the main incorporated town Manokwari collapsed, said Ina, a nurse at a navy hospital treating 20 shake patients. Like many Indonesians she goes by a single name.
Electricity was cut off and canaille in the coastal city of 167,000 fled their homes in the dark fearing a tsunami, aforesaid Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official. The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency issued a tsunami alert, but it was revoked within an hour after it was determined the epicenter of the main quake was on land.
Japan’session Meteorological Agency said tsunamis of 4 inches (10 centimeters) to 16 inches (40 centimeters) in height splashed come to grief in towns along the coast. It also warned that bigger tsunamis were possible later.
Dave Jepsen, a seismologist at the government earthquake monitoring agency Geoscience Australia, said the quake was felt in the northern city of Darwin, 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) southwest of the tremble. There was in no degree damage, he said.
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Israeli troops move into Gaza; Ground war begins
JERUSALEM
The Israeli military said in a statement that the objective of the ground campaign was “to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas,” the militant Islamic group that controls the area, “while taking control of some of the rocket launching sites” that Hamas uses to fire at southerly Israel.
The ground campaign brought new risks and the prospect of significantly higher casualties on both sides in a conflict that, just before the ground war started, had already taken the lives of at least 460 Palestinians and four Israelis.
While a ground campaign in densely populated Gaza is likely to increase the civilian death toll there, the Israeli army in addition faces new threats. Hamas has had 18 months since Israel withdrew from the territory to smuggle in more lethal arms against tanks and soldiers. Its other thing sophisticated armory has been on bring into view over the after all the rest weeks, as it has launched scores of longer-range rockets from Gaza into Israeli cities.
Palestinian hospitals reported three civilians killed by twelve o’clock at night and the Hamas-run Al Aksa television reported that five Israeli soldiers had been killed.
An Israeli military spokesman said he had no information relating to casualties and suggested that the Hamas reports may possess been concocted to lower Israeli morale.
Israeli officials said they want to strike the flag a painful knock in equalization of Hamas, improve Israeli deterrence and significantly change the security situation in southern Israel, where residents have been plagued by means of rocket fire out of Gaza for years.
The ground operation began after a week of intensive attacks by Israeli air and naval forces forward Hamas safeguard installations, weapons supplies and symbols of dominion.
Israel unilaterally withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip and evacuated all the Jewish settlements there in 2005, but that it has since carried out numerous incursions of different scales. A 48-hour raid in March 2008 killed nearly 100 Palestinians. Israeli officials said at the time that the aim was to indicate Hamas the cost of its continuing rocket fire.
Officials have stated repeatedly that the drift is not to fully reoccupy Gaza. But it was clear that the military was leaving the door open for a long-term operation; a prolocutor said Saturday that the ground push “will continue in continuance the basis of ongoing situational assessments.”
And it remained an open question whether Israel would try to eliminate the Hamas government.
On Saturday night, the Israeli pristine minister’s office reported that a call-up of thousands of army coyness troops, approved earlier, had begun.
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We all go out of our habitude to find a cheap gas station and clip coupons to shave pennies off grocer’s shop bills. But when it comes to big stuff probable furniture and flat-screen TVs, most of us pay whatever the price tag says, according to ShopSmart, the shopping magazine published by Consumer Reports.
“Odds are that shoppers can save a lot more, maybe hundreds or thousands of dollars more,” says Lisa Lee Freeman, ShopSmart’s annotator. “The trick is experienced how to ask for a better compensation.”
In a survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, the gigantic majority of people who haggled over appendages, electronics, appliances and even doctor bills said they had snagged at least human being reduction in the past three years. But in the same survey, 40 percent of respondents admitted that they rarely, granting that ever, even try to talk down a price.
But many retailers expect shoppers to try to put into circulation, owing at least in part to the Internet, where it’s easy to research prices. And through the system slowing, sellers should be even more eager to give shoppers a break in the months ahead.
To rack up some great discounts, ShopSmart suggests these tips:
Appliances. If the price isn’t fair the first time, walk away and try again another time. Also try asking for a whirl discount.
Furniture. Always ask ready upcoming sales before plunking down any cash. And time it right. The best opportunities are around Presidents Day and the Fourth of July, when stores produce room for new merchandise. Those who can’t delay for that sofa should shop at the end of the month, when store owners are balancing their books.
Clothing. It repeatedly pays to make friends with salespeople, from the time of it might be in posse to wrangle a deduction the night before a sale. Look for imperfections. It’s easier to haggle if buttons are wanting.
Hotel rooms. Take advantage when the timing is fair. For example, checking into a chic inn at 4 p.pot-pourri. on a Wednesday when it needs warm bodies. Also try asking the forepart desk for a estimation break.
Salons and spas. Try asking for discounted services under which circumstances preparing to farewell. Also ask instead of discounts in opposition to referring customers and go during the wearisome imbue.
Cars. Research car prices online and use that information to negotiate by way of e-mail. Ignore the sticker price. Find out what the dealer paid and treat with from there. Figure this out by getting the “dealer invoice price” and subtracting dealer incentives or rebates.
Contractors, doctors and other work providers. Offer to pay on the site to get a discount. Contractors often box off 10 percent for cash.
TVs, computers and other electronics. Use a flaw that’s not really bothersome, like in the same proportion that a missing box, to fall a better price. Don’t shop without newspaper ads and printouts of the product information and prices offered online. Some stores may be disposed to beat an online price.
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Bad time for a stronger dollar
Would the U.S. regulation be more familiar off if the mighty dollar weren’t in this way tempestuous?
The dollar has strengthened against most other major currencies for the sake of much of the second half of the year. As the global economic outlook soured, investors flocked to the safest possessions around: U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds. Because Treasury investments are denominated in dollars, this trend pushed up demand for greenbacks — and more demand translates into a stronger dollar.
But the stronger dollar has come at a bad time. It made U.S. goods more dear overseas as the economies of many major U.S. trading partners are mired in recession. That has weakened the demand for U.S. merchandise, what one. has caused exports — a rare bright stain in the U.S. economy earlier this year — to descent hard.
The drop in exports could lead to more job losses, at a time when employment is even now declining at the fastest pace in decades.
The strong dollar does make imports cheaper, including one of the country’s favorite imports: oil. Some economists think declining imports will outpace what we’re losing in exports, narrowing the trade deficit. But in October — the latest month for which data are available — exports fell at a greater rate than imports, and dollar strength was any reason why. The trade rift widened to near record levels.
There are positives from a stronger dollar. The risks of self-conceit decrease, and that’sitting normally a good thing. Right now although, inflation is less amount of a worry than weak growth.
Still, there’s a bright side: Low expectations for inflation have made it easier for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to help spur the U.S. economy — a move that usually carries serious inflation risks.
What should we look for in the near future for the dollar? Some analysts and traders suggest the stage is set for a return to weakness against other major currencies, especially suppose that other industrialized nations are less aggressive in keen authority rates.
Others, however, venture the U.S. could have existence ahead of the curve in keen rates and employing other recession-fighting initiatives. If global economies continue to sour, it could show up in stronger demand for the dollar, that could grow strong it.
The Associated Press
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