Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
‘Bring a map of New Orleans.’’ That was all that Alden J. McDonald Jr., president and chief executive of Liberty Bank and Trust Company, said when I first asked to meet him. It was the summer of 2005, less than two weeks after the city’s flood-protection system failed to keep out the storm surge created…
John Howard, who served as prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, is no one’s idea of a lefty. He was one of George W. Bush’s closest allies, enthusiastically backing the Iraq intervention, and took a hard line domestically against increased immigration and union organizing (pdf). But one of Howard’s other lasting legacies is Australia’s gun…
Last night, as we took the train back from a friend’s birthday outing, a young man got on the train who instantly put me on alert. For a while, I tried to figure out what it was – his oddly clenched jaw, the sly look of his narrowed eyes (or were those just his eyes?),…
One person is dead and three more are injured after a gunman opened fire in a Prospect-Lefferts Gardens hookah lounge early this morning. According to police, the shooting occurred at Buda Lounge on Flatbush Avenue just before 3 a.m. One 27-year-old man, who was shot in the head and torso, was pronounced dead at Kings…
Per an alert sent to students by school administrators, Savannah State University in Georgia is on lockdown while campus police investigate a shooting near the student union. One man has been taken to the hospital, CBS 46 reports. “The SSU campus is on lockdown following a shooting incident this evening at or near the Student…
Greece’s top supreme court judge Vassiliki Thanou was named the head of a caretaker government to lead the country to elections, which are expected next month. Related: Greek election confusion raises fresh fears over ability to pay debts After a final effort to get political party leaders to form a coalition failed, the office of…
We love you, Alison and Adam. pic.twitter.com/hLSzQi06XE — WDBJ7 (@WDBJ7) August 26, 2015 BBC reporters Franz Strasser and Tara McKelvey encountered a big obstacle in their coverage of a double slaying of journalists at a Virginia mall. The two reporters were covering the manhunt of the suspected shooter when they were ordered to delete footage by…
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse said the city’s National Civil War Museum is “a monument to corruption” that should be shut down in the wake of a long list of criminal charges filed against the former mayor who was the moving force behind it. But the board chairman of the nonprofit that…
Tom Nash, journalist and FOIA agitator The city of Richmond, Va., recently unveiled an open data portal that gives people access to important data that had long languished in dark corners of its website. Everything from crime data to property records are easily searchable and downloadable, with all sorts of charts and datasets ready to…
Russia ordered several internet service providers to block Wikipedia throughout the country after the volunteers who run the user-generated online encyclopedia refused to delete an article — then abruptly reversed its decision less than 24 hours later. Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications watchdog, reversed its decision to order internet providers to block a page on Russian-language Wikipedia…