Nashville: 100 Percent Chance of Precipitation for the Second Debate
Tonight marks the second presidential debate at Belmont University’s Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Unfortunately, moderator Tom Brokaw and the two candidates are in for rain, preceding a cold front that should pass through Nashville on Wednesday. Weather has long had a psychological effect on the human psyche. How will this affect the debate? Will the rainy skies cast shadow on either candidate, making either seem unqualified? Will McCain make use of the thunder for dramatic effect? Or perhaps, Obama will show flashes of clarity with every lightning strike.
Shorts (left)
Investors drove stocks sharply lower on Thursday as signs of the economy’s worsening health and a continued choking of credit unnerved investors ahead of a crucial vote in Washington on a financial rescue plan.
Shorts (right)
Microsoft said Thursday that it would set up research centers in Britain, France and Germany to improve its Internet search technology, describing the move as a vote of confidence in the European economy and in the company’s ability to close the gap with Google.
With High Stakes and Low Expectations, Palin Survives
Gov. Sarah Palin made it through the vice-presidential debate on Thursday without doing any obvious damage to the Republican presidential ticket. By surviving her encounter with Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and quelling some of the talk about her basic qualifications for high office, she may even have done Sen. John McCain a bit of good, freeing him to focus on the other troubles shadowing his campaign.
Bloomberg Finds Ally for Extending Term Limits
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said on Thursday that legislation to alter the city’s term limits law would be introduced on Tuesday, paving the way for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Quinn and more than 40 other elected officials to stay in office four more years.
Nebraska’s Safe Haven Law Becomes License to Abandon
The abandonments began Sept. 1, when a mother left her 14-year-old son in a police station here.
Pakistan’s Fight With Taliban Widens Into Full-Scale War
War has come to Pakistan, not just as terrorist bombings, but as full-scale battles, leaving Pakistanis angry and dismayed as the dead, wounded and displaced turn up right on their doorstep.
House GOP Leaders Wrangle Balky Caucus on Bailout
House Republican leaders struggled Thursday to persuade some of their members to reverse course and support the $700 billion economic bailout package, but both parties said that they were guardedly optimistic about winning final passage of the measure in a vote expected early Friday afternoon.
Fall Getting In Shape
New England has a few days in the year that we, people from more template climates, can properly call fall. These are those days, and they are the fair warning of the winter that comes ahead. Be quick to see the foliage as it will be a few weeks before snow comes in!
Justice Department Inquiry Ties Prosecutor Firings to Politics
An internal Justice Department investigation concluded on Monday that political pressure drove the dismissals of at least three federal prosecutors in a controversial 2006 purge, but the White House’s refusal to cooperate in the high-profile investigation produced significant “gaps” in the understanding of who was to blame.
Shorts (right)
China said Monday that it had detained 22 people suspected of operating an underground network that intentionally adulterated milk with an industrial chemical, melamine. The contamination has led to the nation’s worst food safety crisis in decades.
Concerns About Palin’s Candidacy As She Crams for Thursday Debate
A month after Gov. Sarah Palin joined Sen. John McCain’s ticket to a burst of excitement and anticipation among Republicans, she is heading into a critical debate facing challenges from conservatives about her credentials, signs that her popularity is slipping and evidence that Republicans are worried about how much help she will be for McCain in November.
With Bill Stalled, Fed and Treasury Have Other Options
For the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, it is crunch time.
Shorts (left)
The crisis gripping the nation’s banks took a dangerous turn on Thursday as investors’ confidence in even the largest and strongest institutions spiraled lower.
October Sky
On Sunday, Hurricane Kyle passed quietly off to our east by only 200 miles, bringing no more than a few showers to the Boston area during its passage. As we enter October tomorrow, weather phenomena such as hurricanes and thunderstorms in our vicinity become even a more remote possibility as the ocean cools and the solar angle rapidly decreases. October in Boston can still be very pleasant — combine fall foliage with average high temps in the mid 50s (13°C) to mid 60s (18°C) and it’s not hard to see why.
Dow Plunges 777 Points as Bailout Plan Fails to Pass
Even before the opening bell, Monday looked ugly.
Shorts (left)
Pakistani and U.S. ground troops exchanged fire along the border with Afghanistan on Thursday, according to a top U.S. military official, ratcheting up tensions as the United States increases its attacks against militants in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas.
Promising Bailout Package Ends in Partisan Discord
The day began with an agreement that Washington hoped would end the financial crisis that has gripped the nation. It dissolved into a verbal brawl in the Cabinet Room of the White House, warnings from an angry president and pleas from a Treasury secretary who knelt before the House speaker and appealed for her support.
Risks Seen for McCain in Politics of Economic Crisis
Sen. John McCain had intended to ride back into Washington on Thursday as a leader who had put aside presidential politics to help broker a solution to the financial crisis.
Shorts (right)
Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary-general, announced Thursday that the organization had received an additional $16 billion in pledges to fight a host of global ills like hunger and malaria, calling it an important signal that the world financial crisis would not impair aid efforts.