Week of March 15, 2009

America's recession "probably" will end this year if the government succeeds in

bolstering the banking system, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said

in a rare television interview. In carefully hedged remarks in a taped interview

with CBS' "60 Minutes," Bernanke seemed to express a bit more optimism that

this could be done.

Federal prosecutors have notified a New York court that they also want the

assets of Bernard Madoff’s wife. In a court filing, the government said it will seek

the $7 million Manhattan penthouse as well as another $62 million that Ruth

Madoff had sought to keep.

President Obama declared that insurance giant American International Group is

in financial straits because of "recklessness and greed" and said he intends to

stop it from paying out millions in executive bonuses. “How do they justify this

outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat," the president

said.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

says she will begin chemotherapy later this

month, following her surgery in February for

pancreatic cancer. The 76-year-old Ginsburg

says she does not expect to miss any court

sessions because of the treatment, which she is

calling precautionary.

Acting swiftly, the Democratic-led House

approved a bill Thursday to slap punishing

taxes on big employee bonuses at firms bailed

out by taxpayers.

The bill would impose a 90 percent tax on

bonuses given to employees with family

incomes above $250,000 at American

International Group and other companies that

have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.

President Barack Obama is defending his appearance on Jay Leno’s late-night

talk show. He said his Thursday appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay

Leno” is not keeping him from pressing matters. Some critics have questioned

whether the television stint distracts from his work to fix the economy.

Obama said he can do more than one thing at a time and is working on a host of

issues, including climate change and health care reform.

Week of March 15, 2009

Two U.S. Navy vessels — a nuclear-powered submarine and an amphibious

ship — collided before dawn in the mouth of the Persian Gulf, one of the world's

most important sea passages for oil supplies.

There was no damage to the sub's nuclear propulsion system and no disruption

to shipping in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's

oil passes, said Navy spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen, with the Bahrain-based

5th Fleet.

In Los Angeles - President Barack Obama guaranteed Americans on Thursday

that the nation's economy will recover, though he asked them for patience. “We

will come out on the other side stronger and a more prosperous nation," he

said, acknowledging the nation's economic crisis. "That I can guarantee you. I

can't tell you how long it will take, what obstacles we'll face along the way, but I

promise you this: There will be brighter days ahead."

President Barack Obama has

apologized to the chairman of

the Special Olympics for his

late-night talk show quip

equating his bowling skills to

those of athletes with

disabilities. Appearing on NBC’s

“Tonight” show, the president

told host Jay Leno he'd been

practicing at the White House's

bowling alley but wasn't happy with his score of 129. Then he remarked: "It was

like the Special Olympics or something."

With states eager to spend, President Barack Obama announced guidelines

Friday aimed at preventing waste and fraud and limiting the influence lobbyists

will have in carrying out the $787 billion economic stimulus program.

"This plan cannot and will not be an excuse for waste and abuse," Obama

declared. The rules, he said, "will help ensure that we are proving ourselves

worthy of the great trust the American people have placed in us." Obama also

told state legislators gathered at the White House

that decisions about how money will be spent will be

based on the merits of creating the most jobs and

helping reverse the recession.

Passing - Actor Ron Silver , who won a Tony Award

as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood producer in David

Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" and did a political about-

face from loyal Democrat to Republican activist after

the Sept. 11 attacks, died Sunday at the age of 62.

Week of March 15, 2009

Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg

will host the MTV Movie awards show, scheduled

to be held at Los Angeles' Gibson Amphitheater.

The show is set to air on Sunday, May 31. Andy

and Justin Timberlake starred in the "SNL" digital

short and viral sensation "D--- in a Box" that won

a Creative Arts Emmy in 2006.

Actress Natasha Richardson , the wife of actor

Liam Neeson, has been critically injured in a

skiing accident in Canada. Richardson, 45, had

suffered a "traumatic

head injury" at the ski

resort of Mont

Tremblant, about 75

miles from Montreal.

Richardson is the daughter of actress Vanessa

Redgrave. A few days later, the actress died of her

injuries.

Singer Amy Winehouse turned a court appearance into

a spring fashion show Tuesday as she pleaded

innocent to assaulting a fan at a party last year.

Kayne West was arrested at Los Angeles International

Airport days after performing at the MTV Video Music Awards in September. The

celebrity gossip site TMZ shot video that showed West breaking the flash of a

photographer's camera inside a terminal, and his manager breaking the camera

itself and accosting TMZ's videographer.

The brother of "Dark Knight " director Christopher Nolan, Matthew Francis Nolan,

has been arrested in connection with an alleged 2005 murder in Central America,

according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. Nolan, 40, had been under

investigation by Chicago Police in an alleged $700,000 bank-fraud scheme,

when FBI agents arrested him last month in connection with the alleged 2005

killing of Florida businessman Robert C. Cohen in Costa Rica.

The State Department used fingerprints to determine that the victim of Saturday's

crash was William "Jeff" Komlo, according to Jim Vito, Chester County's acting

chief detective. Vito said he was initially skeptical, concerned because of Komlo's

history that he might have faked his own death. The former NFL quarterback who

failed to show for sentencing on drunken driving charges nearly four years ago