Week of January 15, 2009

Cold - A new record was set this week when Chicago had its ninth consecutive

day of measurable snowfall, according to the National Weather Service. The

previous record was eight consecutive days set from Dec. 13 to 20, 1973.

Snowfall records in Chicago date back to 1884. A wind chill warning has been

issued as temperatures as tsmperartures will not reach single digits until a few

days. Records were broken everywhere - even in the South as Atlanta recorded

an 11-degree wind chill factor.

A US Airways jetliner crashed into the frigid Hudson River after a flock of birds

apparently disabled both its engines, but rescuers pulled the more than 150

passengers and crew members into boats before the plane sank.

After boats rushed to the rescue, the Federal Aviation Administration said that all

passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 were off the plane and safe.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the flight had just taken off from LaGuardia

Airport en route to Charlotte, N.C., when the crash occurred in the river near 48th

Street in New York City. The plane, an Airbus 320, took off at 3:26 p.m. and went

down minutes later, Brown said.

President Bush Farewell address

- Bush told the country that while

his policies have been unpopular,

there can be little debate about the

results: "America has gone more

than seven years without another

terrorist attack on our soil."

"As the years passed, most

Americans were able to return to

life much as it had been before

9/11," Bush said in a prime-time

address from the East Room of the

White House. "But I never did." Leaving office with the highest disapproval rating

since Richard Nixon, Bush said, "You may not agree with some of the tough

decisions I have made, but I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the

tough decisions." The nation's 43rd president remained defiant about his own

record. He claimed foreign policy successes in Iraq and Afghanistan while

crediting his administration for improving public schools, creating a new Medicare

prescription drug benefit and finding more money for veterans. With the United

States facing the worst financial crisis in generations - under his watch - Bush

said his White House took "decisive measures" to safeguard the economy.

Week of January 15, 2009

Inauguration Preview - Time Magazine places Obama Barrack on the cover - for

the 13 th time.

Tracking Abraham Lincoln's historic

path to Washington, President-elect

Barack Obama launches a four-day

inaugural celebration beginning

Saturday before thousands of

cheering onlookers from

Philadelphia to the nation's capital.

He promised to bring the country "a

new Declaration of Independence" -

free from small thinking, prejudice

and bigotry. He took note of the

enormous challenges that lie ahead

and promised to act with "fierce urgency," a phrase often used by the Rev. Martin

Luther King Jr. Vice President-elect Joe Biden joined the journey en route, from

his home in Delaware, and spoke for many when he said he was excited and

ready for Tuesday.

Cease fire in Gaza - Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza agreed Sunday to a week-

long cease-fire with Israel, after three weeks of violence

that Palestinian medics say has killed more than 1,000

people and turned Gaza's streets into battlegrounds.

The announcement came about 12 hours after Israel

declared its own unilateral cease-fire.

The airliner that was piloted to a safe emergency

landing in the Hudson River was hoisted from the ice-

laden current and placed on a barge, and its two "black

box" data recorders were sent to investigators in

Washington. Workers swarmed around the barge and

its battered cargo — moored next to a seawall just a

couple of blocks from the World Trade Center site —

on Sunday morning as federal aviation investigators

met. The US Airways plane was slowly lifted from the

frigid water at the southern tip of Manhattan late

Saturday, exposing its shredded underbelly that

dropped pieces of metal as a crane maneuvered it in

the darkness.

Week of January 15, 2009

Of the airliner ditching in the Hudson - "They did everything right," said Mike

Flores, who heads the wing of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-

CWA) union, which represents the three. "Had they made one mistake, we would

be talking about a completely different outcome than we saw on Thursday."

Including the co-pilot, all five members of the crew were invited to attend the

presidential inauguration. Pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger has garnered most

of the headlines for safely piloting a crippled jet onto the Hudson River, but

investigators and aviation workers say there is an unsung group that also

deserves praise: the three flight attendants on board. Sheila Dail, 57, Doreen

Welsh, 58, and Donna Dent, 51 — with a combined 92 years of experience on

the job — were the ones who opened emergency exits, ordered passengers to

don life jackets and directed them out of the plane. All 150 passengers escaped.

Authorities arrest a U.S. man on suspicion of threatening to kill President-elect

Barack Obama based on statements he posted on a website about UFOs and

aliens, the Justice Department said. Steven Joseph Christopher, in three

postings to www.alien-earth.org, said he planned to assassinate Obama in

Washington "as a sacrificial lamb," the department said in a statement. "It's really

nothing personal about the man. He speaks well ...

. But I know it's for the

country's own good that I do this," Christopher reportedly wrote. "It's not because

I'm racist that I will kill Barack, it's because I can no longer allow the Jewish

parasites to bully their way into making the American people submit to their evil

ways."

Countdown to new President -

As massive crowds swarmed the

National Mall on Tuesday to

witness Barack Obama's

inauguration as president, the man

at the center of the maelstrom

began the day quietly and

reverently, at a church service

across the street from the White

House. Obama and his family

attended a private service at St.

John's Episcopal Church, a

tradition for those about to become

president. The family of Vice President-elect Joe Biden also attended. The

Obamas and Joe and Jill Biden were scheduled to have coffee at the White

House with President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney and their

wives. Then they would travel the short distance to the Capitol for Obama's

history-making moment.

Week of January 15, 2009

At 12:05pm January 20 - Barack Hussein

Obama is sworn-in as the nation’s 44 th

president by Chief Justice John Roberts. He told

millions in the audience - “Our nation is at war

against a far-reaching network of violence and

hatred,” he said. “Our economy is badly

weakened, a consequence of greed and

irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our

collective failure to make hard choices and

prepare the nation for a new age. “Homes have

been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered,”

Obama said. “Our health care is too costly, our

schools fail too many, and each day brings

further evidence that the ways we use energy

strengthen our adversaries and threaten our

planet…”

On his first full day in office , President Barack Obama summoned economic

advisers and top military officials to the White House on Wednesday in quick

steps toward delivering the change he promised as a candidate. A prayer

breakfast and open house at the presidential mansion were also on the schedule

of the 44th president, taking office on a promise to fix the battered economy and

withdraw U.S. troops from the unpopular war in Iraq on a 16-month timetable.

The Senate confirmed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state Wednesday

as President Barack Obama moved to make his imprint on U.S. foreign policy,

mobilizing a fresh team of veteran advisers and reaching out to world leaders.

The Senate voted 94-2, with Republican Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana and Jim

DeMint of South Carolina opposing. Republicans and Democrats alike said her

swift confirmation was necessary so that Obama could begin tackling the major

foreign policy issues at hand, including two wars, increased violence in the

Middle East and the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Technology - Apple Inc. co-founder and Chief

Executive Steve Jobs (53) says he is taking a

medical leave of absence until the end of June—

just a week after the cancer survivor tried to

assure investors and employees his recent

weight loss was simply caused by a treatable

hormone deficiency. Jobs, said in a letter last

week that he would remain at Apple's helm

despite the hormone deficiency, and said he had

already begun the "relatively simple and

Week of January 15, 2009

straightforward" treatment for the problem. But in an e-mail to employees

Wednesday, Jobs backtracked. "During the past week I have learned that my

health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought," he wrote.

Sports - It’ll be the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers in SuperBowl

XLIII. The Cardinals' 32-25 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC

championship sends the franchise that was the perennial joke from the

penultimate game to the edge of glory. It’s the first time the Cardinals, first in

Chicago, then St. Louis - and now Arizona, have ever been in the SuperBowl.

Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl. “I like the way that sounds," said Arizona

QB Kurt Warner.The Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 for the AFC

title.

Television news - The chief programmer at CBS, the No. 1 U.S. network in

prime-time ratings, believes that its success proves broadcast television remains

a viable business model despite a tough economy and challenges posed by the

Internet. "The CBS audience was up in the first half of the season. It is certainly

not an easy time. It is a time when viewers have many options, but it can be

done," Nina Tassler, president of entertainment at CBS, said at the network's

midseason presentation for TV critics. CBS had nine of the top 20 top prime-time

shows last week, including detective series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," the

sitcom "Two and a Half Men" and the most popular new drama, "The Mentalist,"

according to Nielsen Media Research.

Last week’s season premiere of "American Idol" drew 30.1 million viewers, down

10 percent from its 2008 opener but still enough to crush competing programs.

Another Oprah Interviewee Stretches The Truth -

Oprah Winfrey breaks her silence about former guest

Herman Rosenblat, saying she's "very disappointed" in his

now discredited story about meeting his future wife in a

Nazi concentration camp. "That's what happens with lies,"

Winfrey said on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show

that aired last Friday. "They get bigger and bigger and

bigger." Rosenblat, a 79-year-old resident of North Miami

Beach, and his wife Roma have appeared twice on

Winfrey's show. Winfrey said he had planned to appear

again to "explain himself," but the man's lawyers scuttled that. Rosenblat's tale of

a little girl throwing apples over a barbed-wire fence to him every day at a sub-

camp of Buchenwald in the 1940s was endearing, Winfrey said. "And he told that

story and I was crying, everybody was crying," Winfrey said. True, the couple has

been married for 50 years and he was in a concentration camp. So was she.

Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), had planned to release

Week of January 15, 2009

Rosenblat's memoir Angel at the Fence in February. But after scholars, friends

and family members challenged him, Rosenblat acknowledged the story was

untrue and Berkley pulled the book.

Mr. And Mrs. Biden on Oprah this week - Joe Biden's wife told the audience

that he had his pick of being Barack Obama's running mate or the secretary of

state nomination that eventually went to Hillary Rodham Clinton, a slip that the

vice president-elect immediately tried to shush. After the exchange aired on

television three hours later, Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander denied Jill

Biden's account in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

More Pop news - Boy George sentenced to 15

months in jail - The former Culture Club singer

imprisoned male prostitute Audun Carlsen during a

drug-fuelled naked photoshoot at his flat in east

London. Sentencing the musician - real name George

O'Dowd - the judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court said

he was guilty of "gratuitous violence". The judge also

condemned his "premeditated", "callous", and

"degrading" actions which "traumatised" his victim.

George, 47, was convicted of detaining Norweigan

escort Carlsen against his will last month. Carlsen, 29,

told the trial jury he was hit with a metal chain as he

tried to escape from the flat.

Obama Ball The Pop Hot Spot as Beyonce provided

the vocal styling for Barack and Michelle Obama's first

dance on inauguration night, but will she perform one of her chart topping hits?

Beyonce has expressed her desire to be a part of the inauguration since Obama

was elected and she told a reporter in November: "Whatever they want -- if they

need me to volunteer, they need me to sing, I'm there, and I'm ready." She sang

the standard, “At Last.” The singer and

actress performed at the Neighborhood Ball

on ABC along with Jay-Z, Will.i.am, Mariah

Carey, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Sting, Faith Hill,

Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder and Maroon 5.

Jessica Alba, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kate

Walsh were presenters at the ball.

Jay-Z, celebrating the impending

inauguration of Barack Obama and sharing

the moment, and the stage, with Beyoncé ,

Week of January 15, 2009

Mary J. Blige, Young Jeezy and Memphis Bleek.

The sold-out Warner Theatre audience, which included Samuel L. Jackson,

Usher, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Eric Benet, Bun-B., record executive Lyor Cohen

and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, often rhymed along as Jay-Z delved deep into his

catalog, spanning Reasonable Doubt to American Gangster. Several times, he

urged the crowd to "make some noise for the 44th president" or worked Obama's

name into a song or made up a new verse about him. After the show-closing

encore, he declared: "This is a time in our life for great hope. A lot of people bled

to give us this opportunity. … We look forward to a better tomorrow, a better four

years, a better eight years." He opened his Concert on the Eve of Change with

his latest hit, Brooklyn Go Hard , with a video backdrop of the 1963 March on

Washington at the Lincoln Memorial. He and Jeezy performed a new version of

the Atlanta rapper's My President while an Obama montage rolled on the screen.

Patrick Swayze has been released from the hospital one week after checking

himself in with pneumonia. Publicist Annett Wolf would not elaborate on the

actor's condition but said he "is well enough to have been released." He is now

resting at his Los Angeles home, Wolf said. Swayze, who has battled pancreatic

cancer for the last year, checked himself into a hospital Jan. 9 for observation

after contracting pneumonia.

Bob May , who donned The Robot's suit in the hit 1960s television show “Lost In

Space,” has died. He was 69. May died of congestive heart failure, said his

daughter, Deborah May. He was a veteran actor and stuntman who had

appeared in movies, TV shows and on the vaudeville stage when he was tapped

by "Lost in Space" creator Irwin Allen to play the Robinson family's loyal metal

sidekick in the series that debuted in 1965.

Pop sensations the Jonas Brothers

went to the most famous U.S.

residence to surprise two of their

biggest fans -- Malia and Sasha

Obama, ABC News reports. The visit

came after Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7,

joined some school friends to see two

movies -- 'High School Musical 3:

Senior Year' and 'Bolt' -- and

participated in a scavenger hunt to

learn about the history of their new

home. At the end of the scavenger

hunt, they were surprised when they