Week of August 1, 2007

The Interstate 35W bridge - an eight-lane

bridge in Minneapolis collapses during

afternoon rush hour, plunging dozens of cars

into the Mississippi River. At least nine are

dead.

Federal officials plan a new crackdown n

illegal immigrants that would force

businesses to fire them or face stiff penalties.

Sen. Barack Obama says that the United

States should reserve the right to invade the

territory of its Pakistani allies and withdraw

U.S financial aid if it believed Pakistani

President Musharraf was failing to do enough

to stop terrorists.

Bear Stearns says that co-President and co-

Chief Operating Officer Warren Spector had

resigned after the melt-down of two hedge funds that invested in risky mortgage-

backed securities.

President Bush visits the bridge collapse site in Minnesota.

Looks like Rupert Murdoch’s bid to buy Dow Jones is accepted. Murdoch swayed

enough members of the Bancroft family, which has 64% of the voting power, to

cede ownership of a company they have controlled since 1928. He’ll get it for $5

billion.

Medical -

Drug for resistant AIDS patients. The FDA approves the first-ever pill that works

by defending human immune cells instead of attacking the deadly virus. The drug

will be sold in the U.S. under the trade name Selzentry. It prevents the AIDS

virus from entering immune cells by clogging up a cell receptor known as CCR5.

Technology -

A federal judge throws-out a $1.5 billion patent verdict against Microsoft. Alcatel

had sued computer makers, alleging that Windows Media Player, which comes

pre-installed on many computers, ran afoul of patents related to the MP3 format

for music files. Microsoft intervened on behalf of the computer companies and

fought back. It all has to do with the use of the MP3 technology - and Microsoft

and others thought their payments to Germany’s Fraunhofer institute, which has

Week of August 1, 2007

been issuing licenses form MP3 technology for years, entitled them to use

methods for encoding files and playing them back.

Google street-level maps keep growing and growing. It’s done the old fashioned

way - Google has hired a bevy people with cars and trucks - with cameras

mounted atop - as they race up streets, highways and byways to record a street

view. The result - close-up views of homes, shops and public places. Google’s

Street-View program is part of Google’s effort to organize al the world’s

information - including visual data about our planet.

Sports -

Barry Bonds hits home run #755 - tying Hank Aaron’s reign as baseball’s

undisputed home run king. Of course, Bonds was probably using steroids.

Yankees Alex Rodriquez (A-Rod) hits his 500 th career home run!

Music news -

Jennifer Lopez and hubby Marc

Anthony will go on a concert tour

together starting next month. It’s a

14-date tour. They both costar in the

movie “El Cantante.”

Passing - Lee Hazelwood -

producer and singer - best known

for his duets with Nancy Sinatra on

records during the late 1960’s.

Collaboration - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss announce the upcoming release

of “Raising Sand.”

Gwen Stefani will not wear revealing outfits

during her Aug. 21 concert in Malaysia, after

Muslim students protested her outfits and

steamy performances.

Television news - Saturday Night Live this

week - Shia LeBeouf hosts with music guest

Avril Lavigne .

Passing - Will Tuttle - pioneering makeup

artist. He was 95.

Week of August 1, 2007

Star Jones now admits she did have gastric bypass surgery. She said there were

a number of reasons for keeping it quiet, including a fear of “what people might

think of me.”

Top TV this week -

America’s Got Talent (Tue.) - 9.83 million viewers

Singing Bee (Tue.) - 9.49

CSI - 9.34

So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.)

-9.14

Hell’s Kitchen - 9.89

Don’ Forge the Lyrics - 8.83 (Thu.)

Two and a Half Men - 8.379

60 Minutes - 8.69

Are You smarter Than a

5 th Grader?

– 8.57

Shark (Thu.) - 8.19

CSI NY - 8.04

CSI: Miami - 7.98

NCIS - 7.92

Just for Laughs - 7.87

At the movies -

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Simpsons Movie

Underdog

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Hairspray

No reservations

Transformers

Hot Rod

Bratz

Hot Hits -

SHUT UP AND DRIVE- Rihanna

PARALYZER- Finger Eleven

LOVESTONED- Justin Timberlake

DON'T WANNA BE IN LOVE- Good

Charlotte

THE WAY I ARE- Timbaland

WHEN YOU'RE GONE- Avril

Lavigne