Top Items:
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
L'Adulte — Can Sarkozy reform France? — Conservative Nikolas Sarkozy's comfortable victory over Socialist Ségolène Royal in France's presidential race may that indicate Europe's slowest-growing major economy is finally ready for some change.
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Angela Charlton / Associated Press:
Nicolas Sarkozy wins French presidency
Nicolas Sarkozy wins French presidency
Discussion:
The Glittering Eye, Outside The Beltway, Little Green Footballs, Bloomberg and AMERICAblog
Associated Press:
Backpack blast near Vegas casino kills 1 — LAS VEGAS (AP) — A backpack exploded in a parking garage attached to a Las Vegas hotel early Monday, killing a man who had picked it up and injuring another person, authorities said. — The man had removed the backpack from atop his car …
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Michelle Malkin:
Breaking: Explosion at the Luxor Hotel — Scroll for updates... A backpack explosion at 4am PST this morning. One dead: … 11am Eastern update: Still sketchy details. Las Vegas readers, keep us posted. — 11:29am Eastern update. Reader David e-mails: "KLAS-TV says the victim was an employee of the hotel."
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Sister Toldjah, Confederate Yankee, The Corner, The Mahablog and On Deadline
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Exploding Backpack In Las Vegas — State and federal authorities have swarmed over the Luxor Hotel after an explosion in its parking ramp this morning. A man carried a backpack into the second level of the parking garage and it exploded, killing the man carrying it and injuring another:
Hugh Hewitt / Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog:
Newspaper Suicide: The Star Tribune Kills Lileks' Column — Let's see. Your circulation is crashing. The value of your paper has plummeted. Everyone in the industry recognizes that the the future is online, and most realize that the byline has become the brand and that writers …
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Nancy / nancynall.com:
A bleat. — I wasn't going to write anything about James Lileks', er, sudden change of assignment. I mean, talk about your inside baseball. But reading about the right-wing blog star / Minneapolis Star Tribune "humor" columnist's predicament — abruptly told the paper had other plans for his FTE …
Discussion:
Riehl World View, A Second Hand Conjecture, Media, alicublog, Minnesota Monitor and The Daily Whim
Paul Schmelzer / Minnesota Monitor:
Strib Shakeup: Amid Columnist Queries, Rumors of Buyouts and a 'Backfence' Departure
Strib Shakeup: Amid Columnist Queries, Rumors of Buyouts and a 'Backfence' Departure
Discussion:
SCSUScholars
KCBS - KCBS All News 740 AM:
Iraq War Hampers Kansas Cleanup — GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) — The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state's governor. — Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment …
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Amanda / Think Progress:
Sebelius: Iraq War Is Slowing National Guard's Tornado Response — Over the weekend, tornadoes touched down in six southwest Kansas counties, devastating the small town of Greensburg. At least eight people died and a Greensburg administrator "estimated that 95 percent of the town of 1500 was destroyed by Friday's tornado."
Tim Shorrock / Salon:
George Tenet cashes in on Iraq — If you go by the book jacket of his new memoir, "At the Center of the Storm," George Tenet is enjoying the life of a retired government servant teaching at Georgetown University, where he was appointed to the faculty in 2004.
Desmond Butler / Associated Press:
Queen Elizabeth welcomed at White House — WASHINGTON - In a slip of the tongue, President Bush brought roars of laughter to a White House welcoming ceremony Monday for Queen Elizabeth II. — The president stumbled on a line in his speech, saying that the queen had dined with 10 U.S. presidents …
Discussion:
Shakesville
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Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Today's Must Read — I'm not sure if this qualifies as ironic or just sadly fitting. — As we've attempted to document here, the Civil Rights Division has been the focus of the most dramatic effort at politicization in the Justice Department. Career lawyers, harassed and discouraged …
Alec MacGillis / Washington Post:
On Poverty, Edwards Faces Old Hurdles — Critics Say He Brings Few Fresh Ideas to Signature Issue — ALLENDALE, S.C. — His rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination were busy April 26 preparing for their first televised debate, but John Edwards was 45 miles south …
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
California Gains Clout With Earlier Primary — When Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, finished a speech on foreign policy recently in Northern California, he was surrounded by reporters who wanted to ask about another topic: global warming and how it was contributing to the state's water shortage.
Sam Dillon / New York Times:
Whistle-Blower on Student Aid Is Vindicated — WASHINGTON — When Jon Oberg, a Department of Education researcher, warned in 2003 that student lending companies were improperly collecting hundreds of millions in federal subsidies and suggested how to correct the problem, his supervisor told him to work on something else.
Damon Darlin / New York Times:
Journalists Intend to Sue Hewlett-Packard Over Surveillance — In an unusual step for the news media, three journalists whose private phone records were scrutinized by investigators working for Hewlett-Packard intend to sue the company for invasion of privacy.
John Schwartz / New York Times:
Critic Says Levee Repairs Show Signs of Flaws — Some of the most celebrated levee repairs by the Army Corps of Engineers after Hurricane Katrina are already showing signs of serious flaws, a leading critic of the corps says. — The critic, Robert G. Bea, a professor of engineering …