Newser Story Index from August, 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.

Gimpy Venus Needs Big Comeback to Advance
Associated Press | Aug 31, 09 10:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - Quite close to losing in the US Open's first round for the first time, Williams came all the way back from a set and a break down to beat 47th-ranked Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 tonight. The No. 3-seeded Williams, twice the champion at Flushing Meadows, had her balky left knee bandaged by a trainer after the third game. The American...

LA's 'Very Angry Fire' Hits 105K Acres
Los Angeles Times | Aug 31, 09 9:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - The so-called Station wildfire in Los Angeles County has now burned 105,000 acres, authorities say tonight, and has claimed 74 structures. “The fire is headed just about anywhere it wants to,” one official told the Times as gusty afternoon winds fanned the blaze, which is threatening the historic Mount Wilson Observatory and a group of...

Turkey, Armenia Move Toward Diplomatic Ties
Associated Press | Aug 31, 09 9:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - Armenia and Turkey, bitter foes for a century, took a step toward reconciliation today by announcing they would launch final talks aimed at establishing diplomatic ties. But they won't discuss the deepest source of their enmity: the World War I-era massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule. The sides say they expect talks to take six weeks and to end...

Family: Lockerbie Bomber 'Too Sick' to Give Interviews
Channel 4 | Aug 31, 09 8:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, convicted in the 1988 airplane bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, and recently released to his native Libya on grounds he was terminally ill, is in hospital and “too sick” to answer questions, his son and doctors tell Britain’s Channel 4 News. Megrahi was wearing an oxygen mask and attached to an intravenous...

Brown: I Do Remember Beating Rihanna
People | Aug 31, 09 8:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - A video clip making the gossip rounds, in which Chris Brown says he doesn’t remember beating then-girlfriend Rihanna, is “not representative of what I said” to CNN’s Larry King, the singer tells People today in a statement. “Of course I remember what happened,” Brown adds. “Several times during the interview,...

Space Station Gets Colbert Treadmill
Associated Press | Aug 31, 09 8:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Astronauts hitched a giant chest of drawers to the International Space Station today containing a new freezer, sleeping compartment, and treadmill named for TV personality Stephen Colbert. The Italian-built chest—nicknamed Leonardo, as in da Vinci—was moved from space shuttle Discovery via a hefty robot arm and hoisted onto the space station.

Cops Find Bone Fragment Next Door to Garrido
Contra Costa Times | Aug 31, 09 7:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Authorities found a bone fragment on the property next door to where Phillip Garrido held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive for 18 years, the Contra Costa Times reports—though police aren’t yet sure if the bone is human or animal. A spokesman says investigators and dogs are still combing the Antioch, Calif., properties; he added that Garrido’s...

Jimena, Nearly Category 5, Targets Baja
Los Angeles Times | Aug 31, 09 7:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hurricane Jimena, nearly strong enough to be classified as the most serious category of storm, could hit the resort-heavy southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula by tomorrow evening, the Los Angeles Times reports. Jimena’s winds are at 155mph, at the top end of Category 4. An international economics conference set for tomorrow and Wednesday...

Euro Bulb Ban Begins, But Many Take Dim View of CFLs
New York Times | Aug 31, 09 6:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Though proponents plug the financial savings and good climate karma of compact fluorescent light bulbs, not everyone thinks the European ban on most incandescent bulbs that kicks in tomorrow is such a bright idea, the New York Times reports. Consumers across the continent are hoarding old-school bulbs, worried over the aesthetic difference of CFL-lit...

ESPN's Andrews Tells Oprah About Nude Video 'Nightmare'
Associated Press | Aug 31, 09 6:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - ESPN reporter Erin Andrews tells Oprah Winfrey that having secretly videotaped nude footage of her distributed on the Internet was a "nightmare." In an interview taped last week and scheduled to air Sept. 11 on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Andrews also tells Winfrey she "opened up the computer (and) could feel my heart pounding."

Obama and Brooks: Best Buds
New Republic | Aug 31, 09 5:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nominal conservative David Brooks is one of President Obama’s unlikeliest allies, writes Gabriel Sherman for the New Republic . The New York Times columnist was on board early, publishing an op-ed titled “Run, Barack, Run” in 2006. Lately, Brooks has written more favorably of Obama than Paul Krugman has. Sherman explores the “bromance”...

LA Wildfire Strands Evacuation Holdouts
KTLA-TV | Aug 31, 09 5:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - The so-called Station Fire is closing in on Los Angeles residents who refused to evacuate with their neighbors over the weekend and are now trapped and in danger, KTLA reports. Five people are stranded in a canyon, according to the AP. "Those people were told to get out two days ago, and now we are putting our people in danger to get them...

Prepare to Bundle Up: Farmers' Almanac
Associated Press | Aug 31, 09 5:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - Get the most out of your shorts and flip-flops now, because the area between the Appalachians and the Rockies is in for a brutal winter, the Farmers' Almanac warns. "The middle part of the country's really going to be cold—very, very cold, very, very frigid, with a lot of snow," the venerable publication's managing editor tells the...

'Monstrous Liar' Cheney Manipulates the Media
Huffington Post | Aug 31, 09 4:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Since leaving government, Dick Cheney has realized that TV and newspapers will report anything he says, writes Dan Froomkin for the Huffington Post, even though "he is a monstrous liar”—remember Saddam's WMDs? "After years of speaking in whispers, operating by proxy, and leaving as few fingerprints as possible," Cheney can't...

'Craigslist Murder' a New Internet Phenomenon
Vanity Fair | Aug 31, 09 4:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff’s alleged crimes and capture were so tied to the Internet that a “new kind of murder” has been born, writes Maureen Orth in Vanity Fair . Not only did Markoff allegedly find victim Julissa Brisman on Craigslist, but before the meeting that Boston police say led to her death, they communicated...

2010 Winter Olympics Feel a Chill in One Host Town
Seattle Times | Aug 31, 09 3:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - Whistler Village, Canada, celebrated when it learned it would host many events as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics in nearby Vancouver. But the honeymoon is pretty much over, the Seattle Times reports. Clogged roads, endless construction, and soon-to-be-closed schools have residents ruing the decision. And their ire doesn’t even address a terrifying...

US Stocks Track Chinese Selloff; Dow Down 48
Wall Street Journal | Aug 31, 09 3:22 PM CDT
(Newser) - A staggering 6.7% selloff in the Shanghai Composite spooked US stocks, which stayed low throughout today's session, the Wall Street Journal reports. Analysts note that it’s the second time in 3 weeks US markets have fallen in response to a drop in China—a reverse of the usual relationship. The Dow lost 47.92 points to settle at 9,496.28....

50% Approval Rating Just Another Number: Silver
FiveThirtyEight | Aug 31, 09 3:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - Much has been made of President Obama’s 50% job-approval rating, but that number in and of itself is “not particularly newsworthy,” writes Nate Silver for FiveThirtyEight.com. Obama could probably win in 2012 even with approval below 50%: George W. Bush was re-elected with the approval of less than half of the electorate, as did Harry...

Marvel Fans on Disney Deal: 'SOOOO NOT HAPPY!'
NPR | Aug 31, 09 2:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Comics fans are just a little miffed by Marvel’s $4 billion acquisition by Disney: “SOOOO NOT HAPPY! Spider-man should not be co-mingling with Goofy,” reads one blog post. The problem, Linda Holmes writes for NPR, is “one of perception: Put simply, Marvel has a cool factor and Disney doesn't.” Marvel devotees don’t...

Media Airbrush Did Kennedy No Favors: Hitchens
Slate | Aug 31, 09 2:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Kennedy “legacy” is not pretty, precisely because it requires so much media “airbrushing” to stay intact. “One of the many dreadful aspects,” Christopher Hitchens writes for Slate, “is the now-unbreakable grip of celebrity politics, image-doctoring, stage management, and ‘torch passing’ rhetoric...

Jaycee's Kids Seemed Normal: Neighbor
CNN | Aug 31, 09 2:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - The two daughters Jaycee Lee Dugard had in captivity seemed like normal kids, a neighbor of kidnapper Phillip Garrido told CNN. Angel, 11, and Starlet, 15, were “polite” and “well-mannered,” neighbor Cheyvonne Molino said, who noted they liked Hannah Montana. Media reports “made it seem like these little girls were living...

US Still Lacks Translators in Vital Languages
Washington Times | Aug 31, 09 2:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nearly eight years have passed since 9/11, but national security agencies remain disturbingly low on translators for crucial dialects, the Washington Times reports. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives email and text-message each other freely in languages the CIA largely ignored before 2001. "I can't explain it," says...

Clijsters Roars Back With Win
New York Times | Aug 31, 09 1:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - Kim Clijsters, the 2005 US Open champ who’s been absent from the game since having a child two years ago, made a triumphant return to the tournament today, the New York Times reports. The unseeded Belgian easily dispatched Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-1, 6-1 in the first game at Arthur Ashe. “Little more nervous than usual,” Clijsters says...

Calif. Wildfire Doubles Size to 85K Acres
NBC Los Angeles | Aug 31, 09 1:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - A southern California wildfire almost doubled in size overnight, reaching a whopping 85,760 acres, NBC Los Angeles reports, calling the speed of the fire’s spread “staggering.” A blanket of soot covers parts of the city as locals are warned to stay indoors, and heavy winds are expected later today, potentially worsening the situation....

Cops Take Another Look at Rolling Stone Jones' Death
Daily Mail (UK) | Aug 31, 09 1:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - It’s been 40 years since Brian Jones’ body was discovered in a swimming pool—but police are reviewing the death of the Rolling Stones' co-founder in the wake of “new evidence” that he was murdered, the Daily Mail reports. An investigative journalist provided police some 600 pages of documents on the musician’s...

Colleges Open Their Doors—to Swine Flu
Bloomberg | Aug 31, 09 1:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - Colleges all over the country are welcoming back students—and dealing with an uninvited visitor: swine flu, Bloomberg reports. From the South to the Plains states, schools are reporting hundreds of cases—at Mississippi State University, more than 250 people have flu-like symptoms. “Envision 200 young people being stuffed into the...

Obama to Moderate Abbas-Netanyahu Meeting: Peres
Fox News | Aug 31, 09 1:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama will play moderator to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a meeting at the UN before the end of next month, Israeli President Shimon Peres tells Fox News. “I think they will meet by the end of September,” he says. "President Obama will chair it, and I think that at least...

Obama Love Affair Over for Liberal Pundits
Washington Post | Aug 31, 09 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - During the campaign, lefty pundits offered Barack Obama some of “the most favorable coverage that any White House contender has drawn in a generation.” Now, those same commentators’ support for the president is looking “wobbly,” writes Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post . “I find myself saying, 'Where's that well-oiled...

Aspirin Harmful for Healthy People: Study
Daily Telegraph (UK) | Aug 31, 09 12:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Healthy people shouldn’t be taking aspirin, according to a new study. The drug doesn’t actually reduce the risk of heart attack, as many of the “worried well” have long believed, British scientists told a medical conference, but it does nearly double the risk they’ll be hospitalized with internal bleeding. Those who’ve...

Jilted by JFK, Monroe Spiraled to Her Death: Book
Daily Mail (UK) | Aug 31, 09 12:22 PM CDT
(Newser) - In a new tell-all, J. Randy Taraborrelli paints a picture of Marilyn Monroe’s drug-fueled final months, her fixation with John F. Kennedy, and the shock friends like Frank Sinatra felt at her downward spiral, the Daily Mail reports. Four months before her death, the screenwriter for her last film found her in a drug-induced coma, “almost...

'Tea Party Express' to Bring Protest to DC
NPR | Aug 31, 09 12:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - A California-based political action committee is sponsoring a cross-country bus trip designed to unite right-wing malcontents of all stripes, NPR reports. Dubbed the “Tea Party Express,” the bus will culminate its journey with a “taxpayer march” on Washington, DC on Sept. 12. “It’s about time for somebody to run...

Arrested Development Film Held Up Yet Again
New York Daily News | Aug 31, 09 11:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - The good news: Will Arnett is teaming back up with Arrested Development writer Mitch Hurwitz on a new TV show. The bad news: That show is one of the reasons the Arrested film is still held up, he tells the New York Daily News . But the “movie is definitely going to happen,” he says. His rep, apparently on a different page, claims “they...

Screenwriter Serena Williams Should Tell Her Own Tale
New York Times | Aug 31, 09 11:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Serena Williams toiled this summer on a screenplay, which she compares to Desperate Housewives meets Sex and the City and Family Guy . But perhaps the best subject she could take on would be her and her sister’s own lives, writes Karen Crouse in the New York Times . It would certainly get viewers: “Even now, the single highest ratings...

Joan Rivers: Move In, Gadhafi!
New York Post | Aug 31, 09 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Joan Rivers was heartbroken to learn that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi decided not to rent her $25 million New York apartment, she tells the Post . “The Libyan ambassador called and offered over $200,000 a week so he could use it for entertaining. I thought it was great. I said I would give half the rent to Lockerbie,” she says.

Penny Slots Bring In Big Bucks
USA Today | Aug 31, 09 11:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - Casinos are making big bank off the tiniest—and oft-most derided—denomination, USA Today reports. Gambling outfits have added penny slots at an amazing rate—in the last 2 years, Nevada has removed 12,000 more costly machines to make room for 7,000 penny slots—and the move has paid off. In Missouri, for example, penny bets...

Superman Sex Suit Heats Up
New York Post | Aug 31, 09 11:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two co-producers of Superman: Man of Steel are embroiled in a sexual harassment lawsuit, and now Jon Peters has been ordered to stay 100 yards away from Brian Quintana, the New York Post reports. The problems began last year when Quintana sued Peters for physical and sexual harassment and continued at an Aug. 12 deposition, where Peters is accused...

Democrats Could Lose Big in House in 2010
Politico | Aug 31, 09 11:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - Top political analysts are predicting a dismal 2010 election for House Democrats, who could lose more than 20 seats, Politico reports. Acclaimed handicapper Nate Silver gives the GOP a 25% to 33% chance of winning the 40 seats they’d need to take over the House. Democratic newcomers face “a much tougher environment than in 2006 and 2008,”...

Chris Brown: I Don't Remember Assault
CNN | Aug 31, 09 11:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Chris Brown spoke out for the first time since his assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna, but “spoke” is a relative term. “Wow” was the word he used most often to describe to CNN's Larry King the shock he still feels about the incident. “No, I don't” remember doing it, he says. “It's like, it's crazy to me. I'm...

States Pass on Stimulus Money for Unemployed
USA Today | Aug 31, 09 11:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - More than $3.1 billion in stimulus money earmarked for the unemployed is idling in federal coffers, USA Today reports, because 23 states haven’t expanded their unemployment benefits in order to qualify. Another 350,000 workers could receive benefits if they did, according to one worker advocacy group. But some Republicans complain that expanding...

Megan Fox Talks Phobias, Boys, Monogamy
Just Jared | Aug 31, 09 10:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Megan Fox graces the cover of October's Cosmopolitan , which means it's time for a fresh round of quotes about diarrhea and threesomes. Just Jared presents a sampling: The ideal date: “A sexy sandwich with Andy Samberg and Jonah Hill.” The scariest thing: “Every time I go on stage—instant diarrhea.” ...

Nancy Garrido Held Jaycee Captive for 4 Months
Daily Telegraph (UK) | Aug 31, 09 10:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Police are looking more closely at Nancy Garrido’s role in the Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping, the Telegraph reports. She appears to have played a key part in the abduction, and she helped her husband, Phillip Garrido, throughout Dugard’s imprisonment. At one point, when Phillip was sent to prison for 4 months for a parole violation, Nancy...

The C-Word Ain't What It Used to Be
Newsweek | Aug 31, 09 10:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Rest assured, Dear Reader: As a respectable organization, Newser won’t publish what Kathleen Deveny in Newsweek calls “the rudest, crudest, most taboo term in the English language.” To be blunt, on this issue we must punt, because, on a family website, that dog just won’t hunt—even though Deveny insists the C-word is...

Ridge Takes Back Threat Level Claim in His Book
USA Today | Aug 31, 09 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge says the Bush administration “never pressured” him to raise the US terror threat level, backing down on a claim made in his book, USA Today reports. In the book, Ridge writes that John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld pushed him to elevate it before the 2004 election, despite “absolutely...

University Ski Slope Aims to 'Bring People to Christ'
Lynchburg News Advance | Aug 31, 09 9:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - Virginia’s Liberty University presented its new synthetic ski slope—the first in North America—this weekend with extreme performances from pro skiers and snowboarders. The chancellor of the Christian university, Jerry Falwell, showed off his own moves after paying tribute to his dad, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, who wanted the ski...

Sesame Street , View Among Daytime Emmy Winners
E! Online | Aug 31, 09 9:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - The ladies of The View unseated Ellen Degeneres as Best Talk Show Host at yesterday's Daytime Emmy Awards, though they weren't at the ceremony, E! reports. Other big winners included Rachael Ray for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show and Tyra Banks for Outstanding Informative Talk Show, while The Bold and the Beautiful broke a 22-year drought...

Fraud Accusations Double in Afghan Election
New York Times | Aug 31, 09 9:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - When a Kabul school teacher arrived at 6am at an election station he was supposed to run, he found the ballot boxes already full. When he protested, the local tribal chieftain’s men took him away. His is just one of 550 serious fraud accusations that Afghan election officials are looking into—a number that has suddenly jumped from 270,...

Jon Gosselin Parties in Vegas
E! Online | Aug 31, 09 9:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - Collecting phone numbers, drinking Veuve Clicquot in his cabana, starting a Twitter feed: It was all in a day's work for Jon Gosselin, who hosted a Las Vegas pool party at the MGM Grand on Saturday, People reports. “It looks like we'll have a good time,” the reality dad said upon arriving to the party, attended by 2,000 people—including...

Harley-Davidsons Roar Into India
Washington Post | Aug 31, 09 9:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Twenty-five Harley-Davidsons roared into the center of New Delhi yesterday, loudly proclaiming that the US brand is ready to take on India, the Washington Post reports. The motorcycle’s long-awaited arrival consummates the 2007 mangoes-for-motorcycles trade pact between the US and India, in which the US agreed to allow Indian mangoes to be...

Industry Ponies Up for Climate Change Fight
Washington Post | Aug 31, 09 9:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - When the oil and coal lobbies came to Athens, Ohio, they held rallies full of screaming supporters, sponsored free lunches and free concerts, and gave away T-shirts praising coal power. When the environmentalists came to Athens, they held a sedate panel discussion and handed out stickers. Environmentalists seem ill-equipped for the battle over cap-and-trade...

Details of DJ AM's Final Day Emerge
People | Aug 31, 09 8:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Details of DJ AM’s final hours are beginning to come together, and police sources tell People he sent out his last text message at 1am the day he died. Two friends received the message, about his gig in Las Vegas that night—and 16 hours later, a friend called 911 after Goldstein failed to answer his phone or leave for his scheduled flight.