sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

politico.com's top 5 stories as of 12:51 p.m. EDT:

story 38: a bigger chinatown story, this time with sheldon silver!

"Chinatown's 'Glorious Flute' Facing an Unusual Primary Challenge"

new york magazine picked it up, too!

spent a lot of time on this one, and they let it run at a big word-count, which is nice. probably my last long-form feature at the sun (i finish up my gig there on thursday). sad!

stories 31 - 37: chokeholds, old ladies, car crashes, and big rigs

lots of stuff this week. first the full stories, then the briefs:

"Man is Wanted for 12 Brooklyn Robberies" (featuring horrifying video!)

"Fire at Homeless Center Injures Two Firefighters"

"Court Date Set for Officers Charged in Bronx Beating" (can't wait to hear their side...)

"Business Owners Send Strong Message on Willets Point" (they gave me a break from the crime / emergency beat for the evening)

"Arrest Made in Robberies of Elderly" (echoes of d'angelo barksdale in the last few paragraphs)


THE BRIEFS:

"Politicians Demand More Protection for Seniors" (related to the elderly robberies...)

"Woman Who Crashed Police Van Faces 7 Charges" (crazy!)

stories 29 & 30: the intersection of disaster

"Times Square Taxi Crash Causes Injuries"

"Another Glass Pane Hits the Street in Times Square"

seriously, y'all—it was the same freaking intersection! over the course of about four hours, a cab flipped over onto a median and hit six people, then a 15-square-foot pane of glass fell out of a skyscraper! onto the same intersection at 43rd & broadway!

WATCH THE SKIES

story twenty-nine: pray for him

"Dying Woman's Unborn Baby is Saved"

the baby's in critical condition. let's pray. stay tuned for an update.

stories 24 - 28: the whirlwind

so i'm the crime / emergency reporter now, all of a sudden. it's been exhausting, but pretty fruitful. the stories aren't long, but they're intense to do—you're running against the clock and the other papers!

so, here's what i did this week:

"Fumes Shut Down Subway Station"

"Two Injured as More Glass Falls at Bryant Park"

"Shots Fired Into Judge's Home"

"Developer Bruce Ratner Is Honored at Gala" (not technically part of crime / emergency beat, but i did it in addition to all that)

"Fumes Cause Evacuation of West Side Duane Reade"

sheesh! will this city just slow the hell down??

actually, even better context

thanks to this post from user "k8t" over at metafilter.

Georgia and Russia fight over South Ossetia. The Caucasus never seem to settle down. Georgia, a "beacon of democracy" since its Rose Revolution in 2002 (which has seemed to turn into a benevolent dictatorship since), and its northern neighbor, Russia are fighting over South Ossetia. South Ossetia declared itself independent in 1991 although in Soviet times it had been part of Georgia. After an 18-month war that killed 1,000 (of a population of 60,000) between 1990 and 1992, South Ossetia is now propped up by Russia. Its citizens have Russian citizenship as well. In the past week, violence has escalated. Reports vary as to what exactly is going on, but it is certain that people have died and bombing is happening on both sides. Many argue that the timing is intentional, with August being prime holiday time in the Former Soviet Union and the Olympics beginning.

This is a very difficult situation for Georgia as S.O. isn't the only breakaway republic is is dealing with. There is also Abkhazia along the Black Sea coast. Russia has been meddling in these republics for years, and it's not likely Georgia would be inclined to grant them independence, as that would only allow Russia to move its sphere of influence even closer. Georgia's aspirations toward EC and especially NATO membership were also items with which Moscow has not been happy. Finally, the completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has meant that oil can now move from the Caspian oil fields of Azerbaijan without going through Russia. So, it is not entirely surprising that Russia has bombed the Georgian oil port of Poti and also near the pipeline. Any disruptions in this supply chain will only increase the price of oil and enrich Russia even more - another example of how increasing worldwide demand for oil subverts democracy.

I was in Georgia last weekend and everything seemed perfectly fine. It is amazing how quickly things can change.

Background reading:
An excellent Slate piece on South Ossetia from earlier in 2008
Eurasianet coverage
Radio Free Europe coverage
Civil.ge (English language Georgian website - on and offline)
Global Voices Online

things are really, really bad

like, really bad.

don't underestimate the significance of what's going on in the caucasus right now. read the NYT coverage of it after you read that link, to get the context, but basically, here's what you need to know: the kremlin just ordered an invasion of a foreign country. the last time they did that, they invaded afghanistan. and we all know how well that turned out for everyone. not a perfect analogue, of course, but still.

and bernie mac's dead. and john edwards announced his affair. at least no one blew up the olympics yet.

story twenty-three: live at the gay marriage trial

"Paterson Win on Gay Rites Looks Likely"

okay, not a trial. but i wanted to reference an album by the fall.

update, as promised

so, i'm most likely not doing a story on the hearing (i'll probably write something down when an actual decision comes down, after labor day), but the update, upon going to the gay marriage hearing, is that things look very bad for the alliance defense fund (the enemies of governor paterson's pro-gay-marriage executive order). the judge pretty much hated their lawyer and shot down everything he had to say, and kept saying "yeah yeah!" to the two litigators for the defense.

OLYMPICS SUPERSITE

HERE IT IS

second one is my story.

story twenty-two: gay marriage set for trial

"Christian Group Challenges Paterson on Gay Rites Order"

love that pun. a big issue with a complicated legal history. stay tuned for an update after i go to the hearing.

DOLLY CALLS OUT THE HATERS

wow. this report from a dolly parton concert just saved my whole week.

"Poor little Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan," Parton said at her concert
last night at L.A.'s Greek Theatre. "Ain't it awful? If those little girls slept
with as many men as they say in the tabloids, why their little butts would have
more fingerprints than the FBI!"

AND

"People are always asking me in interviews, 'What do you think of foreign
affairs?' I just say, 'I've had a few.' "And the boob jokes were aplenty. "They
say, 'What do you think about global warming?' " Parton said. "I say, 'If my
globes get too warm, I just take my sweater off.' "

AND

She performed a honky-tonked cover of the Fine Young Cannibals' "She
Drives Me Crazy"

as my pal kristina (who found the thing) put it: "all this depressing news all the time, and then dolly parton puts a great spin on it."

one quick disavowal

just so you know, i recommend that you do NOT read the latest story from me in the online edition of the sun. it's a gutted-down (like, as in, wordcount literally cut in half) version of last week's page-one feature. it's only up there to accompany the slideshow and go on the sun's olympics supersite, set to debut tuesday.

once again, sorry for the silence

my laptop's in the shop, so i'm working at a terribly slow backup computer that i keep around for situations like these. makes posting regularly hard. will get back on schedule soon.

multimedia: abe speaks!

we went to a pro-olympics parade and made a multimedia slideshow! and i'm talkin'! enjoy!