News Tidbits

NJ City Considers Adult Curfew After Crime Spate

Curfews might not be just for kids anymore in one city in northern New Jersey. Officials in Paterson are considering one for people of all ages in a bid to curb violence after a spate of deadly shootings (hat tip: Drudge Report). Several experts say they believe it would be the nation's first curfew of its type to include adults. The state ACLU says it would open Paterson to legal action. The curfew would last for two months and would bar people from loitering outside from midnight to 7 a.m. Violators would face up to a $2,000 fine and 90 days in jail. Officials are still working to make sure the plan can withstand legal challenges.

President Obama Finances Offshore Drilling In Brazil

While opposing it in America (hat tip: Black & Right). The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro.

USPS Goes Postal On Obama After Post Office Crack

President Barack Obama's not-so-subtle dig at the U.S. Postal Service — "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. ... It's the Post Office that's always having problems" — has sent his cheerful relations with America's postal unions to the dead letter office (hat tip: Black & Right). The remark was first made during an August 11 town hall on healthcare in Portsmouth, N.H., as the president tried in vain to defend the inclusion of a "public option" alternative in his health care reform package. It was again repeated in a town hall meeting last week out West. Ted Keating, the president of the powerful and politically well-connected National Association of Postal Supervisors, was one of those who took offense, taking the president to task in a letter for using the post office as a 'scapegoat' and for failing to account for the overtime, management, and work-hour reductions the USPS has made over the last year.