USA
A statistical analysis of the political make up of talk radio in the US was released Thursday by the Center for American Progress and Free Press. The analysis found that while progressive talk shows have been encroaching upon the market, conservatives dominate talk radio. Findings indicate that, per weekday, 10 times more conservative talk is broadcast than progressive.
Blackstone Group LP, the private-equity firm that controls Universal Studios Orlando, spent Thursday finalizing terms to bring the business public in what will likely be one of the biggest initial public offerings in US history. The firm's shares are expected to sell for $29 to $31 each before they begin trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Members of a liberal group jeered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) on Wednesday when she reaffirmed her commitment to end the war in Iraq by calling it a "tragedy" and a "grotesque mistake." The protestors repeatedly interrupted her speech with accusations that she and other Democrats have not done enough to end the war.
A near-replica of the historical slave ship, La Amistad, which fell to a slave rebellion in 1839, departed on Thursday from New Haven, Conn., in order to retrace a 19th-century slave trade route for 16 months. The ship, whose crew will be partially made up of 10 American and British college students, will stop at nearly 20 Atlantic ports that played a role in the slave trade, including stops in Nova Scotia, Britain, Portugal, and Sierra Leone.
Arizona lawmakers submitted a bill to Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) on Wednesday that would penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. If it is approved, employers in violation risk losing their state and local business licenses. Critics fear that the enacted bill would damage the state's business climate and punish businesses with a "rogue" human resources director.
In an answer to President Bush's Wednesday veto of a bill that would haveallowed federal funding on embryonic stem-cell research, Congressional supporters worked to add onto an appropriations bill permission to use taxpayer dollars for new lines of embryonic stem cells. The bill's backers "intend to continue to bring this up until we have a pro-stem cell president and a pro-stem cell Congress," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D) of Colorado.
