Newser Story Index from October, 2009

Welcome to the Newser Story Index. Here you find stories written by Newser writers and editors, assembled with supporting photos and videos from the files of the news story.

Reversed HR Call for A-Rod Lifts Yankees
Associated Press | Oct 31, 09 11:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - The first instant replay call in World Series history did more than turn a double into a home run. It changed the whole game for Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees. Rodriguez's disputed shot started a big comeback and those powerful Yankees bats finally broke loose, backing Andy Pettitte in a rain-delayed 8-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies....

Clinton's Mideast Push Hits Brick Wall
New York Times | Oct 31, 09 11:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hillary Clinton's day of diplomacy in the Mideast yielded little progress. She met separately with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu but did not secure a deal to restart peace talks. The main sticking point: Abbas rebuffed an offer from Netanyahu—and relayed by Clinton—to slow but not stop new settlements....

Seacrest 'Fine' After Stalker Arrest
People | Oct 31, 09 4:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Ryan Seacrest twitters that he's "fine" and "happy" now that his stalker is in police custody. LA police arrested 25-year-old Chidi Uzomah yesterday after he entered the E! offices looking for Seacrest and armed with a knife. Security guards recognized Uzomah because he was arrested last month after attacking a Seacrest bodyguard....

Bachmann Urges Uprising Against Health Reform
The Hill | Oct 31, 09 3:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Michele Bachmann wants Americans "by the carload" to come to Washington next week so she can lead them through the halls of Congress to oppose health care reform. "This is our liberty and tyranny moment," she told Sean Hannity on Fox yesterday. "This is about patriotism and manning up." The Minnesota congresswoman plans...

Cops Find 6 Bodies at Rapist's House
Cleveland Plain Dealer | Oct 31, 09 3:27 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cleveland police have arrested a convicted rapist and discovered the remains of six bodies in and around his house. They're asking relatives of missing persons to bring them anything with DNA evidence to help identify the victims, reports the Plain Dealer . Anthony Sowell, 50, has lived at the house since 2005, when he was released from prison after...

The Most Common Phobias
LiveScience | Oct 31, 09 3:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - In honor of Halloween, LiveScience reveals the most common phobias. If you still need a costume, you'll scare the most people by playing on their evolutionarily sensible fear of creatures with venomous fangs. The top terrors: Snakes Spiders and other "creepy crawlies" Places that are difficult to escape, such as elevators Other...

Hoffman Race Takes Twist: Here's What It Means
FiveThirtyEight | Oct 31, 09 2:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - Republican Dede Scozzafava's surprise decision to suspend her congressional race in New York leaves Conservative Doug Hoffman to battle Democrat Dan Owens. Here's what the political blogosphere is saying: Nate Silver , FiveThirtyEight: "Gun to my head? Sure, I'd take Hoffman at this point." But it's not that cut and dried: Most conservative...

Cheney: Wilson Mission Was CIA 'Amateur Hour'
Politico | Oct 31, 09 2:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Dick Cheney's memory may have been a little iffy about the Valerie Plame leak, but Politico reports that the former veep left no room for doubt about his opinion of her husband's trip to Niger to investigate an Iraqi purchase of plutonium. "It was amateur hour out at the CIA," Cheney told a federal prosecutor in a 2004 interview released...

Karzai Challenger Plans to Call for Boycott
Associated Press | Oct 31, 09 1:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah plans to boycott next week's runoff against Hamid Karzai and instead call for postponement of the vote until the spring, his campaign manager said today. "As of now," Abdullah plans to call for a boycott during a press conference tomorrow, he said. Abdullah also plans to call for an interim...

UK Colonel's Death Raises Fury at Home
Guardian (UK) | Oct 31, 09 1:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Britain's newspapers are up in arms today over the revelation that a commander got killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan just weeks after warning his superiors they weren't doing enough to prevent such deaths. Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe complained in an email that troops didn't have enough helicopters and had to take dangerous road trips as a result....

A-Rod Sees Himself as Centaur
Us Weekly | Oct 31, 09 11:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - If ever-tolerant Philly fans show up to tonight's World Series game bearing images of centaurs, this might explain it: One of A-Rod's ex-girlfriends tells US Weekly that he's got "not one but two painted portraits of himself as a centaur." And, yes, they're hanging over his bed. Apparently new galpal Kate Hudson doesn't mind. "They...

Fourth Typhoon Hits Philippines; 7 Dead
Associated Press | Oct 31, 09 11:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - Another typhoon battered the Philippine capital and surrounding provinces today, leaving seven people dead and at least five missing. Typhoon Mirinae is the fourth storm to lash the northern Philippines in a month and brought new hardship to areas struggling from the previous disasters. Nearly 95,000 people were still living in temporary shelters when...

GOP Foe of Conservative Hoffman Quits Race
Politico | Oct 31, 09 11:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - Big political news from upstate New York: Republican Dede Scozzafava has suspended her campaign for Congress ahead of Tuesday's election. She endorsed no one, but the move "is a boost" to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, writes Josh Kraushaar at Politico . Hoffman is a political novice who surged into the national spotlight after...

Jon May Ditch Hailey in Synagogue Apology
Huffington Post | Oct 31, 09 10:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Jon Gosselin swears he's been getting religion, and now he plans a public apology for his tabloid behavior. He will have an "intimate dialogue" (tickets are on sale now) with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach at a New York City synagogue tomorrow night. Boteach, who calls himself "America's Rabbi" and famously counseled Michael Jackson, hints...

Green Joyride Sours for Paris' Rental Bikes
New York Times | Oct 31, 09 9:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - A public bicycle-rental program launched in Paris in 2007 amid green good feeling has found reality to be a rough ride. Locals and tourists alike get unlimited access to Vélib’s fleet for about $1.50 a day, but some 80% of the $3,500 bikes have been stolen or damaged. “It’s a reflection of the violence of our society and it’s...

Boulder Cops Nix Naked Halloween Streak
Wall Street Journal | Oct 31, 09 8:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Killjoy cops in Boulder, Colo., plan to shut down the town's annual naked Halloween run tonight, dispatching 40 police officers to the four-block course, backed up, believe it or not, by SWAT teams. Tolerated for nearly a decade, the run aroused police ire last year when the ranks of streakers, who wear nothing but sneakers and pumpkins on their heads,...

Troop Injuries Hit New High in Afghanistan
Washington Post | Oct 31, 09 7:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Injuries to US troops in Afghanistan have risen alarmingly in the last 3 months, as a Taliban offensive deploys deadlier roadside bombs aimed at American and other foreign forces. The rate of injury has surpassed that in Iraq during the heaviest fighting of the surge 2 years ago, the Washington Post reports. "It shows you how we are the targets...

Feds Close 9 More Banks
Associated Press | Oct 31, 09 7:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - Regulators have shut California National Bank of Los Angeles and eight smaller related banks as the weak economy continues to produce a stream of loan defaults. The banks closed yesterday by the FDIC were in California, Illinois, Texas and Arizona. They were divisions of privately held FBOP Corp., a bank holding company based in Oak Park., Ill.

Stop Lefty Thugs Bullying Gay Marriage Opponents
Washington Post | Oct 31, 09 6:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - A movement in Washington state to force the disclosure of the names of those who supported a referendum on same-sex marriage has George Will up in arms over “thuggish liberalism” and its chilling effect on political participation. Signing one’s name in support of such a measure is akin to voting—and the only reason to make the...

Writing's on the Wall for the Chalkboard
ABC | Oct 31, 09 6:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - If today’s kids don’t know what a record is, tomorrow’s won’t likely know what a chalkboard is, at least in the classroom. Whiteboards, without the lung- and computer-choking dust (to say nothing of their immunity to scratching nails) are taking over, with one supplier of both telling ABC News that whiteboards now make up 99%...

Madoff Wishes SEC Had Caught Him Years Ago
Wall Street Journal | Oct 31, 09 6:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Bernie Madoff slagged the SEC in a jailhouse interview released late yesterday, dismissing a compliance examiner looking into his firm in 2006 as a "blowhard" who "talked tough, but didn't look at anything." He said uncovering his Ponzi scheme would have been a cinch if the guy had done his job and asked for records of trades, the...

Celebs, Execs, Lobbyists on White House Visitor Logs
Associated Press | Oct 31, 09 5:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - George Clooney, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and prominent lobbyists, corporate executives and Democratic fundraisers were among the first to score visits with President Obama, Michelle, or top aides at the White House, newly released records show. The White House late yesterday afternoon posted a list of roughly 480 records in response to questions about...

I Sold Panties on Craigslist
Nerve | Oct 31, 09 5:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - An "impoverished journalist" not quite desperate enough to sell her body on Craigslist decided to try the next best thing—selling used panties. "Unlike sex for money, selling used underwear didn't feel inherently sleazy or immoral," Meghan Pleticha writes for Nerve . She drew the line at posing in them, but not at meeting...

Condos Under SF Bridge? Blogosphere Loves It
Curbed San Francisco | Oct 31, 09 5:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - With the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge due to go out of commission when its replacement is completed (current ETA: 2013), a campaign is amping up in the blogosphere to keep it around as a pimped-out version of New York’s popular High Line. The Bay Line—or, as one blogger dubs it, the Bay Bridge to Nowhere—would...

Olympic Flame Arrives in Canada
Vancouver Sun | Oct 30, 09 11:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Olympic flame touched down in Canada today, with a relay kicking off in Victoria, British Columbia, which will take it across the continent before returning it to Vancouver—less than 70 miles away—for the start of the Winter Games on Feb. 12. Its first day didn't exactly go according to plan—it arrived late from Greece, then it...

Feds Release Last of Kids Tamiflu Stockpile
New York Times | Oct 30, 09 10:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - With the swine flu outbreak taking an enormous, and sometimes fatal, toll on American kids, the Centers for Disease Control today released the last of its stockpiles of the children’s version of flu drug Tamiflu. Some 114 youngsters have been reported killed by the virus, and the actual number could be triple that—and winter flu season...

Coast Guard Still Searching for Crash Survivors
San Diego Union-Tribune | Oct 30, 09 9:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - The search continues tonight for survivors from last night’s midair collision of a Coast Guard plane and a Marine helicopter off the Southern California coast, but hopes grow ever slimmer of finding any of the nine crew members alive. Officials have yet to re-examine air traffic recordings for any clues on how the aircraft collided.

Karzai Foe Set to Pull Out of Afghan Runoff
Associated Press | Oct 30, 09 8:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah have broken down, and Abdullah is likely to pull out of next week's presidential runoff, a person with knowledge of the talks said today. An announcement could come as early as Saturday but more likely Sunday, the person said.

Women's Star Lieberman Wants to Play Obama
Los Angeles Times | Oct 30, 09 6:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - Taking exception to all-male White House basketball games, Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman today challenged President Obama to some one-on-one. “To score some real points with the public, stop arguing and just play ball—with the best,” Lieberman, 51 and coming off a stint last year in the WNBA writes. “Shoot some hoops with yours...

SF Mayor Drops Out of Calif. Governor's Race
San Francisco Chronicle | Oct 30, 09 6:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Citing his responsibilities as San Francisco mayor and as a new father, Democrat Gavin Newsom withdrew today from the race to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as California governor. Despite the heavyweight endorsement of Bill Clinton, Newsom has had trouble raising money; his departure leaves state attorney general, and former governor, Jerry Brown virtually...

Cheney on Plame Leak: I Can't Recall
Washington Post | Oct 30, 09 6:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - After years of effort by the Bush and Obama administrations to keep documents related to the CIA leak case secret, redacted portions of the special prosecutor’s 2004 interview with Dick Cheney released today show plenty of nothing. The then-VP apparently suffered acute memory loss: Cheney told Patrick Fitzgerald he couldn't recall when he learned...

Nissan Leaf Wins Name Game
Bloomberg | Oct 30, 09 5:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nissan already had its work cut out in designing a hybrid—whatever it made had to measure up to Toyota’s hugely successful Prius. Then it needed a name, which came at the end of a process blending business, culture, and the law. Possibilities must be cleared in hundreds of countries, not only for copyright restrictions but for potential...

Somali Pirates Demand $7M Ransom for UK Couple
BBC | Oct 30, 09 5:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - The British couple abducted from their yacht at gunpoint are being held for $7 million ransom, a rep for the Somali pirates who kidnapped them said today. Paul and Rachel Chandler went missing a week ago in the Indian Ocean. "NATO operations had a lot of negative impact here," the unidentified man said in a call to the BBC . "When you...

I'll Sue Palins Over Custody: Levi
Guardian (UK) | Oct 30, 09 4:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Levi Johnston says he's “definitely” going to court over custody issues concerning Tripp, his son with Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol. "I'm up to the point where I can't see my kid again. I'm done. I'm sure we'll end up in court,” Johnston tells the Guardian , explaining that the Palins have been inconsistent in allowing him...

Chaz Bono Very Happy After Sex Change
Entertainment Tonight | Oct 30, 09 4:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - Chaz—formerly Chastity—Bono is enjoying the payoff of years of effort: He’s finally a man. Born the daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono, Chaz says his female-to-male sex change was the “end of a long process going back almost a decade. I got clean and sober in 2004 and I couldn't have done this before that.” Then there’s...

Scorsese's Favorite Horror Flicks
Daily Beast | Oct 30, 09 4:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Martin Scorsese wants to give you a Halloween treat: The legendary director, writing for the Daily Beast, lists his top 11 fright-fests. The Haunting: “You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror!” The Isle of the Dead: "There’s a moment in this picture that never fails to scare me. let’s just...

Twitter Overflows With Malware
Wired | Oct 30, 09 3:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - Twitter is the perfect malware delivery system, enabling cybercriminals to lure users with a quick tweet on a hot topic and a shortened URL that hides a shady website’s identity. One in 500 URLs posted on Twitter links to live malware, says Kaspersky international, which make a program that searches through tweets. A quarter of Twitter messages...

Dow Falls 250, Biggest Loss Since April
Wall Street Journal | Oct 30, 09 3:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Stocks tumbled today as flat consumer spending in September deflated investor optimism over yesterday's positive GDP news, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow lost 249.85 points to close at 9,712.73. The Nasdaq fell 52.44, closing at 2,045.11. The S&P 500 fell 329.93 to settle at 1,036.18.

Senate Finally Confirms Surgeon General
AL.com | Oct 30, 09 2:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Senate unanimously confirmed Regina Benjamin as US surgeon general yesterday after Republicans ended a procedural delay that had dragged on for several weeks. Mitch McConnell and seven other GOP senators said they stalled because of an administration “gag order” that prevented insurers from giving their opinions on the effects of pending...

Garrido's 1976 Victim Attends Jaycee Hearing
San Francisco Chronicle | Oct 30, 09 2:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - A woman kidnapped and raped by Phillip Garrido unexpectedly visited the Bay Area to watch a court hearing for Garrido, who stands accused of the kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard. Garrido abducted and assaulted Katie Calloway Hall in 1976, but was released on parole in 1988. Hall says she wants to be a “watchdog” in the Dugard case...

Men in Black 3 Gets Green Light
Hollywood Reporter | Oct 30, 09 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Men in Black are back … at least, Sony hopes they will be. The studio is moving forward with a third installment in the franchise and has tapped Tropic Thunder writer Etan Cohen for the script. Barry Sonnenfeld is willing to return to the director’s chair, sources tell the Hollywood Reporter, but the men themselves, Will Smith...

White House Takes Crack at Car Website
Business Insider | Oct 30, 09 2:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - The administration has picked another fight with a media outlet, but not one that employs Glenn Beck. The White House blog took aim at Edmunds.com, which had posted a scathing assessment of the “Cash for Clunkers” program. The snarky post argues that Edmunds must have been “covering car sales on Mars” if it didn’t see...

Turning Green Shines, Mostly
Rotten Tomatoes | Oct 30, 09 1:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - Project Greenlight runner-up Turning Green —about a teen in Ireland who tries to make a buck selling porn—leaves most critics pleased. It mixes a “generally jolly, frisky tone” with “more threatening moods,” including “an astounding left turn” from Alessandro Nivola, writes Robert Koehler in ...

Most of Manhattan Is Single
New York Post | Oct 30, 09 1:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Depending on your point of view, New York is either a very lonely city or a great place to get laid. The number of singles in the Big Apple, already at a historic high, keeps rising, according to new Census data. In Manhattan, a whopping 50.3% of people live alone. Studios and one-bedrooms "are far and way the most popular apartments we rent,"...

Obama Lifts HIV+ Travel Ban
CBS News | Oct 30, 09 1:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - HIV-positive individuals will no longer be banned from visiting or immigrating to the US, President Obama announced today. The president discussed the revocation of the ban, which has stood since 1987, at today's signing of an extension of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS bill. That bill provides funding for HIV/AIDS testing and treatment for low-income individuals....

Rumors Raise Concerns About Mandela's Health
Guardian (UK) | Oct 30, 09 1:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nelson Mandela is increasingly out of the public eye, raising questions about his health. The first black president of South Africa “recently decided to cut back his engagements even further and spend more time with his family,” the head of his foundation tells the Guardian ....

NASA Mission Monitors Polar Ice
NPR | Oct 30, 09 1:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - NASA has begun a mission much closer to home than usual. The agency is flying a DC-8 over Antarctica to track melting glaciers and any subsequent rise in sea levels. Operation Ice Bridge is designed to buttress the work of a fading satellite, ICESat, which is just about spent after 7 years of service. Its replacement won't be in orbit until 2015 at...

100 Defining Moments of the '00s
Daily Telegraph (UK) | Oct 30, 09 12:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - From the tragic (World Trade Center attacks, Hurricane Katrina) to the seemingly trivial (Stephen Fry's first Tweet), the Telegraph lists the top 100 defining cultural moments of the decade so far: April 2000 : Metallica sues music-sharing service Napster. October 2001 : The iPod is released. February 2003 : Sacha Baron Cohen hits...

We'll Ride Nuke to Mars: Russia
Christian Science Monitor | Oct 30, 09 12:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Russians are planning to ride a $600 million nuclear-powered spaceship to Mars, and they say they may begin construction by 2012. “It’s a very serious project, and we need to find the money,” president Dmitry Medvedev says. Small nuclear reactors and batteries have long powered satellites, but their adaptation to any spacecraft,...

Clinton Talk Annoys Pakistani Women
Christian Science Monitor | Oct 30, 09 12:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hillary Clinton was relaxed in her town hall-style address to professional Pakistani women today in Islamabad, discussing “habits of the heart,” like tolerance and compromise, and touting the female doctors sent on US aid missions to Pakistan. It was nice, she said with a chuckle, to not talk about security for once. But the women wanted...