Federal prosecutors won’t seek the death penalty for a New Jersey defense attorney accused of arranging the murder of one witness and trying to set up the murder of another.
The decision in the case against Paul Bergrin, a former federal prosecutor, was made by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Bergrin remains in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to await trial.
“Obviously, he’s relieved,” Lawrence Lustberg, one of Bergrin’s attorneys, told the Asbury Park Press of Neptune. “He still recognizes that while the death penalty is off the table, his life is on the line. If he is convicted of a number of these allegations, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Bergrin was charged with murder, conspiracy and racketeering when he was arrested in May 2009, and a superseding indictment handed up in November brought additional bribery, drug and prostitution counts.
Philadelphia Adult Entertainment: Abington High set to storm the barricades for ‘Les Miz’
February 27, 2010
The Abington production is using the school edition of the play, which shortens the length of the Broadway version by about an hour. The school edition has been used internationally to allow students to perform a musical of manageable length. Several songs lose a verse in the school version, but the plot and key musical numbers remain firmly intact.
“The main story and the big standard numbers are there, some of the longer numbers are cut short. It’s probably about an hour short of the gargantuan Broadway version of it. But most of the standard stuff is there,” Auh said.
The musical “Les Miserables,” based on the novel by Victor Hugo, is the story of paroled convict Jean Valjean, who is released after 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread and subsequently trying to escape from prison. He encounters various troubled characters as he acclimates to his environment after prison, including revolutionaries, thieves and prostitutes.
Philadelphia Strip Clubs: Former Spur Robertson arrested for sex crimes | Philadelphia Daily News | 02 …
February 27, 2010
Authorities claim the 47-year-old former Spurs star was part of a ring that kidnapped a 14-year-old girl from San Antonio, forced her to have sex with clients and to dance at a Corpus Christi, Texas strip club last year. The girl escaped her alleged captors, prompting an investigation. Seven people have been charged, including Robertson’s girlfriend.
Robertson was taken into custody yesterday in Bentonville, Ark., said Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Ino Badillo. Robertson lives in San Antonio.
The arrest comes as part of an investigation that began last April when a 14-year-old girl waved down a police cruiser in Corpus Christi and told authorities she had been abducted from San Antonio. She told police she was driven around the city and forced to have sex with various men before being forced to dance at a strip club.
Philadelphia Adult Entertainment: AP Top News at 7:37 pm EST -Thursday, February 25, 2010
February 27, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Despite calls to free or destroy the animal, SeaWorld said Thursday it will keep the killer whale that drowned its trainer, but will suspend all orca shows while it decides whether to change the way handlers work with the behemoths. Also, VIP visitors who occasionally were invited to pet the killer whales will no longer be allowed to do so.
NY Gov. Paterson won’t drop bid despite scandal
NEW YORK (AP) – Despite calls from leading Democrats to step aside, New York Gov. David Paterson says he won’t drop his election bid amid a growing scandal surrounding accusations of domestic violence against a key aide. Speaking in New York City Thursday night, Paterson said he will talk to key New York Democrats but for now he’s continuing his campaign to be elected governor. Paterson rose to governor in 2008 when former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a prostitution scandal.
See the full article from “KMPH Fox 26″
Then the hard question emerges, not from the screen, but in the viewer’s mind: Does moving this chronically underfunded collection from its suburban enclave, where there is limited visitor access, to an urban center where it will have a solid endowment and greater public access, constitute vandalism? This viewer answers no: not vandalism. Pragmatism, perhaps, but not vandalism.
Rather than tell the whole story of how the Barnes move came about – a Dickensian saga of bad financial planning, worse management, endless lawsuits, and meddling NIMBYs – Argott’s talking heads spin a unified conspiracy theory of how Philadelphia money and institutions always had it in for Barnes.
This is a debatable point. Still, Steal does mention that Dr. Albert C. Barnes had it in for Philadelphia institutions, most notably the Museum of Art, which he described as “a house of artistic and intellectual prostitution.”
Philadelphia Adult Entertainment: Presidential Futures Market Downgrades Stock of Current Governors
February 27, 2010
Normally, Republicans might be promoting their incumbents from hyperpopulous Texas and Florida. Instead, those two men are locked in tough primary fights. Rick Perry, seeking a third term in Austin, is forced to fend off a popular senator and a Tea Party favorite in his primary next week. The road is even rougher for Charlie Crist in Florida, who now trails his rival for the Senate nomination in the GOP’s August primary.
Democrats aren’t looking for a presidential candidate these days, and that’s lucky, considering their gubernatorial bench. Two of their current big-state incumbents are hobbled because they became governor via scandal. Democrat Pat Quinn of Illinois stepped in when Rod Blagojevich was impeached last year, and Democrat David Paterson took over in New York when Eliot Spitzer resigned over his use of call girls.
See the full article from “NPR (blog)”
Philadelphia Strip Clubs: PartyRockPeople.com Launch and After Party with Redfoo and Sky Blu Performing …
February 26, 2010
Cheerleaders Gentlemen’s Club is proud to present – partyrockpeople.com launch party with Redfoo & Sky Blue Performing Live. This is a FREE event for anyone on the guestlist. Or pay $10.00 & receive a 2-Hour Select Open Bar with drinks & beer from 9:00PM till 11:00PM. Please join Cheerleaders for this exclusive afterparty. For bottle service reservations please contact – bottleservice@cheerleadersweb.com. Ladies are welcomed. Dress appropriately and full menu available.
Minutes from the Wachovia Center, Hosting the Black Eyed Peas. Show Less
See the full article from “Philadelphia Center City Weekly Press”
Philadelphia Strip Clubs: Fox’s Van Jones witch hunt just won’t end
February 25, 2010
Tonight, Fox News apparently found it worthwhile to devote nearly 15 minutes of its evening programming to inform viewers that former “green jobs czar” Van Jones got a new job and was given an Image Award by the NAACP. According to a Media Matters analysis of the February 24 broadcasts of Glenn Beck, Special Report, The O’Reilly Factor, and Hannity, Fox News spent 14 minutes and 33 seconds covering Jones’ recent good fortune.
Beck — perhaps Jones’ most notorious detractor — got Fox’s coverage started this evening with 5 minutes and 27 seconds of discussion about Jones’ new job, award, and his speech earlier this month at Columbia University (which according to Beck will “let any dirtbag speak there”). Besides his oft-repeated charge that Jones is a radical communist out to lead some kind of revolution against vampires, Beck also compared Jones getting his new job to Tiger Woods “install[ing] a stripper pole” in his guest house:
BECK: It’s basically if Tiger Woods got caught in bed with an exotic dancer, and in response installed a stripper pole right there in his guest house while leaving the key at Scores.
See the full article from “Media Matters for America (blog)”
But Stephen Master, vice president of Nielsen Sports division of the television ratings company, said that after the first three tournaments of this season — the Bob Hope Classic, Farmers Insurance Open and Northern Trust Open — ratings for PGA golf are up 29 percent from 2009, when Woods missed several early tournaments while recovering from knee surgery.
“The PGA has to be very happy with that,” Master said. “To me that shows that, yes, golf is going to survive and be fine.”
When Woods comes back, he will find some support on the Tour.
“One of the first things that comes to my mind is one of my favorite stories in the Bible,” veteran golfer Ben Crane said. “It talks about a woman who has sinned and she’s been a prostitute and everyone brings her before Jesus and says shouldn’t we stone her? Shouldn’t we kill her for all these bad things that she’s ever done? And Jesus says, yes, absolutely, stone her. But you without sin be the one to cast the first stone. That’s my favorite story.
Philadelphia Strip Clubs: Adult businesses will need licenses
February 23, 2010
Adult businesses will need licenses
Borough council approved an ordinance that will require sexually oriented businesses and their employees to be licensed.
Doylestown Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve an ordinance that would require all sexually oriented businesses in the borough and their employees to be licensed by the borough.
Council President Det Ansinn said the strict ordinance makes the borough “extremely unattractive” to anyone who might want to open a strip club or adult movie theater in the borough.
Anyone who wants to open a sexually oriented business in the borough must provide personal and business information and pay a $500 licensing fee in the first year and a $200 fee to renew the license in subsequent years.
Anyone who wants to work at a sexually oriented business, including cashiers and topless dancers, must pay a $50 licensing fee each year. Individuals convicted of sex crimes will not be eligible to receive licenses.