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Russert Mourned After Collapsing in NBC's Washington Newsroom
By Kristin Jensen and Julianna Goldman
June 14 (Bloomberg) — Tim Russert, NBC News's Washington bureau chief, who collapsed and died in his Washington newsroom yesterday, was remembered as a skilled political analyst whose gregarious nature charmed his audience and the politicians who were subjected to his relentless questioning. He was 58.
Russert became famous for his penetrating interviews on the Sunday morning talk show “Meet the Press,'' a program he hosted longer than anyone else, according to former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw. Russert was also a best-selling author whose books included a tribute to his father, “Big Russ and Me.''
Brokaw announced the death on the air, telling viewers about Russert's childhood growing up in Buffalo, New York, his love for his family and his work ethic. Brokaw said Russert was “one of the premier political analysts and journalists of his time'' and a beloved colleague.
“This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice,'' Brokaw said.
Michael Newman, Russert's doctor, said plaque ruptured an artery, causing a sudden coronary thrombosis, according to NBC.
Russert set the “gold standard'' for moving from politics to journalism, said Albert Hunt, executive editor for Washington at Bloomberg News and a close friend. Before becoming a journalist, Russert worked as an aide to former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1977 to 1982 and then worked for former New York Governor Mario Cuomo in Albany for two years.
When Russert worked for Moynihan during the New York Democrat's 1982 re-election campaign, his research showed that Republican opponent Bruce Caputo's claims of Vietnam service were false. Caputo dropped out of the race.
“It was one of the most important moments in my life,'' Russert told the Washington Post in 1989, describing his research at the New York Public Library. “It was investigative reporting at its best.''

bloomberg.com

BOSTON - The One Laptop Per Child project is about to find out whether Microsoft Corp., a rival the nonprofit group once derided, is the solution to its problems in spreading inexpensive portable computers to schoolchildren.
Microsoft and the laptop organization announced Thursday that the nonprofit’s green-and-white “XO” computers now can run Windows in addition to their homegrown interface, which is built on the open Linux operating system. That had been anticipated for months, but it amounts to a major shift.
Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the laptop project — which aims to produce $100 computers but now sells them at $188 — acknowledged that having Windows as an option could reassure education ministers who have hesitated to buy XOs with its new interface, called Sugar. Negroponte had hoped to sell several million laptops by now; instead he has gotten about 600,000 orders.
Beginning in limited runs next month, XO buyers will have the option of computers loaded with or without Windows. Versions with Windows will cost $18 to $20 more; $3 of that is for Windows, and the rest covers hardware adjustments, like an additional memory-card slot, needed to make Windows run.
Soon Negroponte hopes to sell just one kind of machine with a “dual-boot” mode, meaning users would have Windows and Linux, and choose which to run each time. Because that will take advantage of a broader hardware redesign, the dual-boot XOs will cost about $10 more than today’s versions, Negroponte said.
Hopes to reach more children
Despite the higher price — and Windows’ inability to take advantage of some key features of the XO — Negroponte said his project would benefit from Microsoft’s strengths in selling and deploying technology.
“I think our goals are dramatically enhanced with Microsoft’s decision and this partnership because we will reach many more children,” he said. “There are now many more countries prepared to look at the XO and collaborative learning and some of the things we stand for.”

msnbc.msn.com

“Guantánamo, Here We Come!!!” The sign wielded by an audience member succinctly captured the fears and opposition of activists at Wednesday’s meeting of the Public Safety and Regulatory Services committee of the Minneapolis City Council. The committee approved and recommended to the full Council, by a 3-2 vote, an ordinance stating protesters “must” present city officials with a plan for their protest at least 15 days in advance, and receive approval before holding any protests or rallies. (For full text of proposed ordinance, click on attachment below.)
Council members Paul Ostrow ( DFL – Ward 1), Don Samuels ( DFL – Ward 5), and Diane Hofstede ( DFL – Ward 3), supporters of the resolution, faced a hostile and cynical audience that filled the council chambers. Amendments to the resolution, authored by council members Ralph Remington ( DFL – Ward 10) and Ostrow, that clarified the council’s intent as trying to ensure a protest had “priority” over a particular public space, did nothing to mollify activists’ resistance.
Indeed, as the afternoon wore on, exchanges between supporters and opponents on the committee grew bitter and obstinate, culminating in lengthy procedural maneuvers between council member Ostrow and council members Cam Gordon (Green Party – Ward 2) and Gary Schiff ( DFL – Ward 9), staunch opponents of the resolution.
The nine-page ordinance now coming before the full Minneapolis City Council states that protesters are “encouraged to register the assembly with City staff assigned to coordinate such rallies,” but that protesters “planning on holding a public assembly of greater than 50 persons in a location that will prevent other pedestrians from using the sidewalks and crosswalks must provide notice of the assembly to City staff and obtain plan approval.”
“Spontaneous” protests will not require permits, and “failure to provide notice [to City officials] shall not be an offense” under city ordinances, nor will there be a fee to apply for a permit.

tcdailyplanet.net

The end of the road at least was a place where Isiah Thomas would never be singularly cast as a failure, much less one of historical proportion. He grew up in Chicago, but dribbled onto the national radar in basketball-loving Indiana, where he won a national championship in 1981 under the doctrinaire tutelage of Bob Knight.
“Feels like yesterday,” Thomas said of the rolling landscape leading to Bloomington, about 50 miles southwest of here. But that was because he had gone there Tuesday night to visit his son, a student at Indiana University, touching one of the bases on his way to being thrown out in New York.
After all the determined talk in recent weeks about soldiering on, even as his nameplate was removed from the team president’s door, Thomas had to all but admit he was coaching his last game for the Knicks on Wednesday night. Not surprisingly, it was a 132-123 defeat to the Pacers, giving him a 23-59, Larry Brown-matching season before he faces his expected executioner, Donnie Walsh.
“I’m not used to being on the bottom,” Thomas said before the morning shoot-around at Conseco Fieldhouse. “However, this is the bottom and this is how you get treated on the bottom.”
If there is a place for Thomas in the Knicks’ organization until the matter of his contract is resolved, it will be something akin to a scouting assignment to Slovenia. By now, Walsh surely understands that the New York basketball community does not want more rationalizations from Thomas, or, worse, postulations for the future.
“Obviously, that’s there every day,” Walsh said of the fans’ antipathy while remaining coy on Thomas’s fate.
For Thomas’s part, he seemed to know it was time to stop pretending he might have a meaningful role with the team he tried to hastily remake upon replacing Scott Layden in the front office in December 2003, beginning with the acquisition of a pseudo star, Stephon Marbury. It was far from his last error of commission, even if he would rather get a root canal than admit to anything specific.

nytimes.com

Campaign RSVP will generate mailings
The Daily Reflector
If you went online to RSVP Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign in anticipation of attending his rally in Greenville, expect to hear more from the campaign.
People who sign up at the www.nc.barackobama.com will be notified about other North Carolina events, campaign spokeswoman Katherine Lyons said.
Organizers of today’s Obama appearance at Minges Coliseum say they ask for attendees to RSVP so they can determine whether additional rooms will be needed to hold the expected crowd, which will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.
But those who filled out the RSVP will continue to receive information, she said.
The Web site asks people who want to attend to consider carpooling because of limited parking space. It also says to not bring bags, signs or banners for security reasons, and to limit personal items brought to the event.
The coliseum’s doors open at 4 p.m. Campaign officials have not confirmed what time they expect Obama to speak.
Pitt Democrats prepare for lunch
The John Pierce Fellowship lunch, a longtime celebration of Democratic Party politics, is scheduled for May 2.
Celebrating its 85th year, the event started as a birthday celebration for Pierce, a merchant and cotton broker from Ayden. It evolved into a celebration for Democratic powerhouses that brought senators, congressmen and governors to town before the primary elections.
This year’s event is being held at the Richard McLawhorn Farm on Norris Store Road, off N.C. 903 South in the Ayden township.
Registration and a reception begin at 10:30 a.m., the program starts at noon and lunch is served at 12:30 p.m. Lunch is $10.
Congressmen endorse Obama
One day before Sen. Barack Obama returns to North Carolina, the Democratic presidential hopeful picked up a pair of congressional endorsements in the state.
Congressmen David Price, who represents the 4th District, and Mel Watt, a 12th District representative, each announced their support for Obama today during a conference call. The lawmakers are both North Carolina superdelegates who previously endorsed Sen. John Edwards. Their decision gives Obama the support of six of North Carolina’s 17 superdelegates. Only one of the state’s superdelegates is backing Hillary Rodham Clinton. The rest are uncommitted and many have said they are unlikely to endorse a candidate until after the state’s May 6 primary.

reflector.com

MANILA (MindaNews/11 April) – A five-person team from the National Museum is going to Maitum, Sarangani next week to do a preliminary study and assessment of the newly-discovered cave in Sitio Sagel, Barangay Pinol, Maitum, Sarangani, which yielded artifacts similar to those of anthropomorphic secondary burial jars recovered in 1991 from a cave a few hundred meters away.
Wilfredo Ronquillo, chief of the Archaeological Division of the National Museum told MindaNews the team, headed by archaeologist Nida Cuevas, will conduct an “assessment and preliminary investigation” so they could “ascertain the extent of disturbance which can affect proper interpretation.”
The Metal Age anthropomorphic jars unearthed in 1991 were found to be nearly 2000 years old. The team will also study if the new site, which yielded similar artifacts, may be linked with the 1991 find.
Cuevas will be accompanied by Alexandra de Leon, museum researcher I; Jonathan Jacar, Sr., museum technician, scientific illustrator Eduardo Bersamira and Eduardo Sarmiento, museum researcher II of the Cultural Properties Division.
Except for Sarmiento, the team will stay in the area for 10 days from April 15. Sarmiento will stay for another week “to brief local government officials and the community on Cultural Heritage laws,” Ronquillo said.
Ronquillo said the team will mount a token exhibit on the new find and give a lecture on Archaeology and Cultural Awareness before returning to Manila.
Cuevas has been involved in archaeological work since 1985. She received her Diploma in Archaeology at the University of the Philippines Archaeological Studies Program and will receive her MA in Archaeology degree from UP on April 27, along with de Leon.
Dr. Eusebio Dizon, head of the archaeological team that dug and studied the Pinol Cave (also known as Ayub Cave) in the same barangay 17 years ago, is presently out of the country while Rey Santiago, a member of the team and Dizon’s co-author in the book, “Faces from Maitum: Archaeological Excavation of Ayub Cave,” could not join the team as he has to attend to urgent family matters.

mindanews.com

Motorola’s divide-to-conquer strategy, announced Wednesday by CEO Greg Brown, may give the beleaguered handset maker the opportunity to right its leaking ship.
What it doesn’t do is change the fundamentals the iconic Schaumburg, Ill., communications company faces in an increasingly globalized and competitive mobile-device market. And it leaves the door open for up-and-coming handset makers to make their move.
“Motorola today is in the same situation it was in yesterday,” said Carmi Levy, senior VP for strategic consulting at AR Communications. “It lacks a viable product map and continues to lose market share to competing vendors that are consistently bringing better products to market.”
Having not produced a hit mobile phone since the Razr, introduced in 2004, Motorola has seen its share price decline 45% in the last 12 months. Brown, who took over after Ed Zander resigned early this year, is splitting the company into two divisions: the struggling mobile phone business and its broadband and mobility solutions unit, which includes enterprise wireless networks, connected home systems, and broadband network gear, including WiMax technology. While the handset division has faltered, slipping behind Samsung to fall to No. 3 worldwide in terms of sales, the broadband and mobility unit has enjoyed strong growth in recent quarters.
Revenue from Motorola’s enterprise mobility solutions division, which sells wireless networking gear to businesses, jumped 43% to $7.7 billion in the most recent quarter, and its operating profit reached $1.2 billion.
One of the benefits of creating an independent, publicly traded handset company is that the enterprise business will no longer be tied to the flailing beast of the mobile phone unit, said Ellen Daley, a senior analyst at Forrester Research.
“The attention that the mobile devices business commands both in company attention and financials does not allow their broadband and mobility solutions units to grow fully and get the corporate attention they deserve,” Daley said in an e-mail. “And it’s a very different business than making phones that consumers buy.”

informationweek.com

By Huw Jones and Darren Ennis
brUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders urged China on Friday to show restraint in Tibet following an outbreak of violence in Lhasa during pro-independence demonstrations, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.
“We asked for restraint on the part of the Chinese authorities. We asked for human rights to be respected. There is strong condemnation, coming from all the European Council and the 27 countries,” Kouchner told reporters.
However, the EU’s Slovenian presidency said the 27-nation bloc had not yet agreed on a joint declaration, although a presidency statement — which carries less political weight than summit conclusions — might be issued in the next three days.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said consultations were under way on a statement that would “urge the Chinese government to address the concerns of Tibetans with regard to issues of human rights” and call for dialogue between Beijing and Tibetan representatives.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana ridiculed any idea that the Europeans might boycott the Beijing Olympic Games over the Tibet issue, saying he planned to be there.
Peaceful marches by Buddhist monks in recent days have given way to the biggest and angriest demonstrations in Tibet in nearly two decades, just months before the Olympics.

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1, Kyle Busch, 335. 2, Ryan Newman, 329. 3, Tony Stewart, 316. 4, Kurt Busch, 299. 5, Carl Edwards, 296. 6, Kasey Kahne, 294. 7, Kevin Harvick, 268. 8, Jimmie Johnson, 267. 9, Greg Biffle, 262. 10, Jeff Burton, 261.
11, Brian Vickers, 257. 12, Martin Truex, Jr., 253. 13, Elliott Sadler, 241. 14, Jeff Gordon, 221. 15, Matt Kenseth, 220. 16, Bobby Labonte, 218. 17, Reed Sorenson, 212. 18, David Reutimann, 203. 19, Clint Bowyer, 202. 20, Scott Riggs, 200.
1, Ryan Newman, $1,686,670. 2, Kurt Busch, $1,192,570. 3, Tony Stewart, $1,144,110. 4, Kyle Busch, $806,988. 5, Reed Sorenson, $707,023. 6, Carl Edwards, $704,020. 8, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., $656,245. 9, Jimmie Johnson, $646,442. 10, Jeff Gordon, $588,285.
11, Kasey Kahne, $567,820. 12, Elliott Sadler, $544,785. 13, Denny Hamlin, $502,607. 14, Martin Truex, Jr., $480,104. 15, Matt Kenseth, $477,970. 16, Mark Martin, $477,054. 17, Robby Gordon, $469,629. 18, Jeff Burton, $465,754. 19, Bobby Labonte, $454,892. 20, Greg Biffle, $451,013.

iht.com