MARTINSBURG - The popular online social networking site Facebook helped lead to an alleged burglar's arrest after he stopped check his account on the victim's computer, but forgot to log out before leaving the home with two diamond rings.
Jonathan G. Parker, 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pa., was arraigned Tuesday one count of felony daytime burglary....
Martinsburg is in West Virginia.
(H/T The New Yorker)
Think it's keen to be green? Not if you're California's Pacific Gas & Electric, according to a recent report.
Utility provider PG&E, in documents filed with the state, is seeking a five percent rate increase for its most energy-efficient customers.
link: Calif. power company seeks higher rates for energy efficient customers | Raw Story
Top 10 Non-Emergency 911 Calls
link: No Wedding Bells, Just Police Sirens - Top 10 Non-Emergency 911 Calls - TIME
-Noted by Paul Knue
WASHINGTON – The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 — and is likely to go higher.
Nearly 16 million people can't find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended....
link: Jobless rate tops 10 pct. for first time since '83 - Yahoo! News
Credit card companies are rushing to increase interest rates to historic highs of more than 30 percent, cut credit limits, and add new fees, even for customers who pay their bills on time.
Lenders are making the moves in advance of tougher federal regulations for credit cards scheduled to take effect on Feb. 22....
link: Credit card firms hurry to raise rates - The Boston Globe
But, as Tom Lehrer liked to sing, we had all the good songs.
[Audio]
"Back when I got into journalism, the idea that a fistfight in a newsroom would turn into a news story was unthinkable," Allen said when reached Monday evening. "The guys in the sports department at the New York Daily News, they had so many, you wouldn’t even look up."
link: Washington Post Style Fistfight Henry Allen, Manuel Roig-Franzia, Monica Hesse
Seems that there's still a bit of passion left in the newsroom -- even if it comes from a cranky old fart. Be sure to go to the Washington City Paper link.
-Paul Knue
I didn’t believe this story was true at first — thought it had to be a spoof. But it turns out to be true. The great banks of the world have gone on a p.r. counteroffensive in Europe, and are sending spokescrooks in shiny suits into churches to persuade the masses that Christ would have approved of the latest round of obscene bonuses.
link: Matt Taibbi - Taibblog – Goldman One-Ups Gordon Gekko, Says Jesus Embraced Greed - True/Slant
In fact, nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say....
Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, says the study design and survey data are solid. But he says the findings are neither surprising nor troubling.
"That's effectively like saying that at some point in a 20-year period, a parent would be unemployed for a month or so," Rector says.
link: Half of all kids on food stamps at some point :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Personal Finance
Ohio votes for casinos. Nothing says excitement like casinos in Ohio.
link: Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Election November 2009
A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.
Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.
link: BBC NEWS | South Asia | Bear kills militants in Kashmir
Election organisers on Monday declared Hamid Karzai Afghan president for a second term, cancelling a one-man presidential run-off following a diplomatic push led by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
link: The Raw Story | Karzai declared Afghan vote winner
What was all the fuss about?
Matthew Mitnitsky, owner of Nonni's Italian Eatery in Concord (NH), said Sunday that a 222.5-pound meatball was authenticated as the world's largest after being weighed by state weights and measures officials.
link: NH restaurant sets meatball record - Yahoo! News
...McCain, the number one recipient of telecom campaign cash in Congress, introduced a bill that would effectively kill Net Neutrality. The name of his bill? The Internet Freedom Act! Paging George Orwell! War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, and Freedom is... an Internet controlled by AT&T and Verizon. We can't let that happen. Support Net Neutrality. Let's start by giving it a better name.
link: Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup
According to Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the Democrats' health reform legislation is basically a sham.
Appearing on MSNBC's The Ed Show on Friday night, the House's most unabashed progressive condemned Democratic leadership for removing his amendment that would allow states to create their own single-payer systems. Then he called the entire legislative package "a bailout for insurance companies."
link: Kucinich: Health reform legislation ‘a bailout for insurance companies’ | Raw Story
Business Week - According to the latest data reported to Business Week, 16% of job-seeking students from the top 30 MBA programs did not get even one offer by the time schools collected their final fall employment data three months after graduation. Last year that was true of just 5% of students. And despite the meteoric rise of salaries over the past several years, starting pay was down this year for the top 30, dipping from roughly $98,000 in 2008 to $96,500....
link: UNDERNEWS: MBAS DISCOVERING WHAT THEY DIDN'T LEARN IN BUSINESS SCHOOL
