Connecticut

LOS ANGELES — Police said former teen star Mackenzie Phillips has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance after she allegedly was found carrying drugs at Los Angeles International Airport. Airport police Sgt. Jim Holcomb said Phillips, the co-star of the late 1970s sitcom “One Day At a Time,” was arrested Wednesday. Holcomb said that the 48-year-old Phillips was heading to New York when she failed to pass a security screening and a secondary search turned up a small amount of cocaine and heroin in her possession. Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips, founder of The Mamas and the Papas pop group. She has struggled with drug addiction in the past and was fired from “One Day At a Time” for drug-related causes. (Read the full post about ‘‘One Day’ Star Suspected Of Drug Possession’…)

WASHINGTON — General Motors Corp. is recalling 944,000 vehicles because of a problem with the windshield wiper fluid system that could lead to a fire. The recall involves more than 850,000 sport utility vehicles, trucks and passenger cars in the U.S. and nearly 100,000 vehicles in Canada, Mexico and the Middle East. It involves the 2008 Buick Enclave, 2006-2008 Buick Lucerne, 2006-2008 Cadillac DTS, versions of the 2007-2008 Cadillac Escalade, 2007-2008 Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado, Tahoe and Suburban, 2007-2008 GMC Acadia, Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL, 2006-2008 Hummer H2 and 2007-2008 Saturn Outlook. The recall involves vehicles with a heated washer fluid system. (Read the full post about ‘944,000 GM Vehicles Recalled’…)

DENVER — Fresh off his historic nominating convention, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is embarking on what likely will be the most important 67 days of his campaign for the White House. Republican Sen. John McCain looked to upstage his rival with the announcement of his vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Friday. Video | Slideshow | Highlights Obama leaves the convention city of Denver as the first black man to be nominated for president by a major political party. The 47-year-old Illinois senator won over the party faithful — even some die-hard backers of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — but the broader electorate awaits.His first stop: battleground states. (Read the full post about ‘Obama Tries To Maintain DNC Momentum’…)

MUNCIE, Ind. — An Indiana man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting he forced his 7-year-old daughter to stab the family cat to death. During his sentencing Friday, Daniel Collins said he was “extremely sorry” for his actions. The judge in the case told him it wasn’t “civilized conduct.” In exchange for a guilty plea on animal cruelty and two counts of neglect, prosecutors dropped three other felony charges against the 39-year-old. Collins’ daughter and his 11-year-old son said Collins ordered them to stab the cat in March because he wanted them to “learn to kill.” Police said the boy tried to hide the cat, but Collins found the animal and strangled it while his children watched. (Read the full post about ‘Dad Gets Prison Term For Killing Family Cat’…)

Ron Paul is putting on a rally in St. Paul (huh) on Tuesday, and sent out an email to supporters about it this morning. He has a lot of things he wants to warn the American people about–including Joe Lieberman (emphasis mine):

The situation our country faces is as dangerous as ever. A certain Democratic senator, recently passed over for the Republican vice-presidential nod, is likely to be our next secretary of state. Both major parties remain committed to militarism and reckless spending - and inflationism to fund it all.
[…]
The Rally for the Republic is the first step in alerting our countrymen to these dangers, and holding out the message of freedom as the only remedy.

(Read the full post about ‘Ron Paul Warns Supporters About Lieberman’…)

NBC seems to have confirmed that Romney and Pawlenty are out as potential VPs, while ABC confirms that Palin is in Alaska and Joe Lieberman is in Ohio. Could it be?

There is something to be said for timing.

I went to go speak before the women’s caucus and what a fantastic surprise I got. Michelle Obama.

She spoke after me and let me tell you, what a force she is. Through out her life she has fought for her community and found ways to solve seemingly unsolvable problems. She has raised two beautiful daughters and been a partner to Barack. And I cannot not mention the amazing speech on Monday where she shared with us the road she and Barack have traveled.

Today was great as well. Especially, when she hit on an issue that so many of us have worked to draw attention to for years – pay equity.

(Read the full post about ‘Democratic Convention Update: The DNC Women’s Cacus’…)

Mira Hartford has a great post up about political signs being left everywhere in the wake of the primaries a few weeks ago.

There’s also pictures of some of the campaign signs. I love that Abe Giles’ sign said both “Endorsed Democrat” and “We support Barack Obama.” That Ed Vargas poster is pretty great, too.

Hartford has a lot of great blogs covering it. Mira Hartford is one. Real Hartford, Undercurrents and IonHartford are some others. Urban Compass was an outstanding blog covering Hartford and Springfield which is now on hiatus–hopefully it’ll come back.

Westbrook voters decided to stay out of a regional health system, despite the possibility of advantages to the town.

In a townwide referendum today, residents voted 326-230 not to join the Connecticut River Area Health District.
[…]
Proponents of joining the district said it would help Westbrook meet public health and safety needs that are beyond the grasp of a small-town department, and would help save money.

However, those who voted against the idea said that the town would lose control over health decisions, and that there was a possibility that costs would increase, instead.

It’s a primary argument against regional pooling of services, that towns would have less control, especially over costs.

(Read the full post about ‘Westbrook Voters Reject Regional Plan’…)

SYDNEY, Australia — The skeletons in Snoop Dogg’s closet are about to be rattled.

The Australian government says it’s going to do a thorough character assessment before deciding whether to issue Snoop a visa for a concert tour later this year.

The assessment will include an investigation into his criminal history.

Snoop Dogg, whose given name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, applied for a visa in June and the department carried out a preliminary assessment.

But Australian officials said that they’re going to do a full assessment of his character.

Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube plan an Australian tour in October. (Read the full post about ‘Australian Government To Probe Snoop Dogg’…)