| Rell, Staff Grilled On Arts Letters
Legislative Democrats on Thursday threw pointed questions at Gov. M. Jodi Rell, asking if her Capitol staff worked to solicit campaign cash from arts and tourism leaders whose groups depend on state funds to operate.
Last August, during state working hours, a top Rell aide obtained official address lists of arts and tourism groups' directors from the state's Commission on Culture and then forwarded them to Rell's chief of staff. Within weeks, people on the list received "Dear Friend" letters from Rell's campaign committee, in which Rell touted her recently announced $10 million "Cultural Treasures" arts initiative and asked for contributions up to $2,500. Some said Rell was tying her official action to a request for campaign money.
.
PSL blocked from dishing out broadcast rights
The Johannesburg High Court has granted the SABC an interim court interdict preventing the Premier Soccer League (PSL) from entering into any negotiations on broadcast rights for next year's PSL games.
The PSL also cannot issue an invitation to tender to any third party.
The interdict is in effect pending the outcome of arbitration proceedings between the SABC and the PSL.
The court has also ordered that the SABC and the PSL are interdicted from continuing negotiations in relation to the broadcast rights.
It further ruled that the SABC must in writing by 5pm on April 11 consent to ETV participating in the arbitration process. The arbitration hearings must be completed by May 25.
All parties are ordered to pay their own costs.
In matters of life or death, judge has tackled several
DADE CITY - Walter Morris stood before a judge on Feb. 15, 2001, with eight voices calling for his execution. He had been convicted of the 1997 murder of 2-year-old Dustin Gee in which prosecutors said the 6-foot-1, 260-pound Morris wore steel-toe work boots when he beat and stomped the toddler for throwing a tantrum during a wrestling broadcast. By an 8-4 vote, jurors said he should die for his crime. The judge opted to spare Morris' life. Senior Circuit Judge Robert Beach, in sending him to prison for life, called the killing inexcusable, but not planned. Today, Beach will preside over the first-degree murder trial of Alfredie Steele Jr., accused in the 2003 shooting death of a Pasco sheriff's deputy. He too faces a possible death sentence.
Camelback upgrades planned
Several members of the neighborhood and of the development community are on a mission to improve the streetscape and develop a theme for East Camelback Road.
They agreed to form the Camelback Core Streetscape Committee and are meeting regularly to come up with a plan to make those improvements.
"This group doesn't want a report done that is going to sit on the shelf," said Phoenix Councilman Greg Stanton, who is part of the committee. "They want to see tangible results." .
|
