The 25 year-old victim was hanging around Times Square, who "would approach the tourists, ask them their names, write their names on the CDs and then demand payment of $10." (Tourists: "Fuck are you fucking kidding me? Fuck away from me with that" is the proper response in this situation). Cops chased the guy, and whoa, he whipped out a god damn Mac-10 and started shooting, and then got shot to death.

Emer Rooney, 33, a visitor from Ireland on the last day of a trip to New York, walked with a friend from a nearby hotel to take pictures of the scene...She cited the shooting, in fact, as one of the more exciting moments of her trip, including recovering lost luggage at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and getting tickets to the musical "Wicked."

So all things considered here, most people in New York City still favor robbing tourists. Give em the memory of a lifetime!

Update: The AP is reporting that the woman is Barbro Holmberg, Elin Nordegren's mother who recently flew from Sweden to Florida to support her daughter. The AP says the hospital has said Holmgren is in stable condition after being transported there after a 911 call from Woods' home. A Swedish tipster tell us that Holmberg's spokesperson (she's a politician) just made the following statement:

She was brought to the hospital after complaining about stomach pains. She is, considering the circumstances, feeling relatively well and she will remain at the hospital for observation and additional tests. We are counting on having her back on the job Monday as planned.

NBC, via Orlando news station WESH, say the woman, who was logged only as an adult female, went to nearby Health Central Hospital. A black Cadillac Escalade — similar to the one Woods was driving when he crashed into a tree and fire hydrant at 2.25am on November 27 — pulled up at the hospital shortly after she arrived. Here's a brief video, from WESH:

This comes on the back of news today that Woods was treated for some kind of overdose after his accident, and that his wife Elin has bought a house in her native Sweden. Looks like the Guardian was wrong and the Woods saga continues.

Thanks to all the tipsters who sent this in.

UPDATE: Via ABC News:

Witnesses told WFTV that the Escalade was driven by an attractive blonde who bore similarities to Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, and the car's license plate was one number off from the plate on the car Woods was driving the night of the crash.

Tiger Woods showed up 45 minutes later, according to the New York Post. The woman, who remains unidentified, has now been released from hospital.

Via the AP report:

The official tells The Associated Press that it's unclear whether the 23-year-old daughter of pop star Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley had attempted suicide. The official says a friend of Joel's frantically called 911 from Joel's downtown Manhattan apartment around noon on Saturday and said the singer had taken several pills. The official didn't know how many or what kind of pills were taken. The official wasn't authorized to publicly disclose the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Obviously, this brings to mind DJ AM's overdose, and for that matter, Heath Ledger's overdose on pills last year. Both were spiraling into exhaustion and depression; Joel had two performances scheduled for the next week and most recently, her mom was in the tabloids for a rough divorce (second item) with scuzzy architect Peter Cook, which her Dad, Billy Joel, came to Brinkley's defense for. The family's got problems. Alexa's career's been going well, not incredible, but pretty decent: the average amount of press for whatever the kid of a celebrity who embarks on a music career would get, and there's really no indication of the kind of dark shit that would lead to drug abuse or chronic depression in her music, or, for that matter—hold the above issues of her parents—any news about her. Signs, though: they're elusive, if they exist. Update: Uh, nevermind. Per the George Rush-penned New York Daily News report:

Alexa Ray is the only daughter of Joel and Brinkley, whose nine-year marriage ended in divorce in 1994. A source said Alexa has been an emotional wreck since breaking up with her boyfriend, ex-bandmate Jimmy Riot, years ago. "She has battled depression," the source said. "She had a rough breakup with a boyfriend, a musician in her band, several years ago. It was her first love." A family friend said Brinkley's ugly split with ex-husband Peter Cook and Joel's marriage with a woman "almost her own age" took a heavy toll on Alexa Ray.

Heartbreak's awful. Ugh.

Again, Joel's publicist noted that she's in stable condition, and that they're "assessing her needs." We can laugh all we want about the kids of celebrities, but really, who knows how easy (or hard) they have it? It's not a third-world problem, but it's not one most of us can speak from experience on, either. Here's hoping she gets better.

The Salahis won't say. They just keep repeating that documents and emails that they will release at some point completely exonerate them. Here's how it went down on Today. First the Salahis came on briefly to drop their bombshell:

Then Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, laid the smackdown. "This wasn't a misunderstanding. You do not show up at the White House on a misunderstanding."

Gibbs implored Lauer to ask the Salahis directly whether they were invited. He did. And also asked about allegations that they crashed a previous event, for the Black Caucus. Here's the full interview in which the wounded Salahis describe their victimization.

In light of accusations that Michaele allegedly even crashed the Washington Redskins cheerleading team, this may ring a little hollow.

The august news organization known as TMZ reports that the facial lacerations Tiger was found with were reportedly caused by his wife, Elin Nordegren, after she got wind of rumors that Tiger

(A) "....had to pull his putter out of another hole."
(B) "....was getting his balls washed on another course."
(C) "....got busted hitting a new back nine."
(D) "....took a few too many strokes back there."
(E) "....had hired a new caddy to organize his clubs, and that caddy was possibly a hot club promoter, and by 'caddy' we mean 'mistress.' and by 'organize' we mean 'have sex with,' and by 'clubs' we mean 'penis.'"

Take your pick.

Basically, they got into an argument, she went all crazypants, beat the shit out of him, he got in his car, she smashed his window, he tried to get away, he backed into a tree and a fire hydrant.

We're told he said his wife had confronted him about reports that he was seeing another woman. The argument got heated and, according to our source, she scratched his face up. We're told it was then Woods beat a hasty retreat for his SUV — but according to our source, Woods says his wife followed behind with a golf club. As Tiger drove away, she struck the vehicle several times with the club.

Another interesting development: there was no blood on the wheel, and Nordegren's been changing her tune for cops, both evidence towards the "scorned wife" theory. Oh, and also, he might've been fucked up on pain pills for his knee. Not, for the record, his Wheaties. Which he clearly didn't have that night. Or if you ask his dick: has been having more than ever!

Maybe, maybe not. According to the woman who he's probably given more than a few mulligans to, not so much. Rachel Uchitel, the woman who Tige's lady thinks is schtupping her mans, says the National Enquirer story Woods and his wife probably fought over is bullshit. BlackBook got her on the horn:

I totally deny the Enquirer story. They did contact me about it, but they didn't use any of my quotes or any of the information I gave them. They make it sound like I said those things, but it's all other people saying I said things

Meanwhile, Tiger-style's apparently going to talk to cops today, which will give us a more clear picture on whatever happened, but since Woods lives in one of these insular Florida neighborhoods that protects the livelihood of celebrities first and foremost, and the local news organizations are probably used to kowtowing to said authorities, we're going to have to depend on the reporting of Harvey Levin and Co. to keep us sufficiently updated on this one. But, basically, the story that's developed is something like this: Tiger's lady went psychotic once rumors of Tiger cheating surfaced, Tiger, trashed on pain pills, tried to escape evil lady's clutches, crashed into fire hydrant and tree. Awesome.

Any pop culture incident involving celebrities, infidelity, drugs, domestic wife-on-man violence, and car crashes? Come on, it's like celebrities going shopping for you. Personally, I have my own theory as to who's behind all of this madness. This menace must be stopped at once:

[Top Image, where Tiger is pictured reacting to a threat of "fuck(ing) your shit up, soldier" via Getty Images.]

This is despite rumors of an argument and some alleged bad behavior on the part of Woods. Which might explain why he was racing out of his drive at 2.25am in the first place.

Woods, 33, pulled out of his driveway in the Isleworth community about 2:25 a.m. when he struck a fire hydrant, and then drove into a tree at his neighbor's property, FHP reported.

Woods was transported to Health Central Hospital in Ocoee in serious condition, FHP said. No other information about his condition has been released...

FHP said the airbags in Woods' Cadillac Escalade did not deploy, which means the vehicle was traveling under 33 mph.

What does "serious condition" mean, anyway? From The Straight Dope:

Being upgraded to "serious" means there is a lower likelihood of death within 24 hours, but the patient still requires close observation. So, you're definitely thought to be better off in "serious" condition than in "critical" condition, but you're not ready to go run a marathon, or for that matter shuffle to the bathroom.

Yikes. Get well soon, Tiger.

UPDATE: WESH Orlando is reporting Woods has "facial lacerations"; CNN reports that "The crash is under investigation, and charges are pending, though it was not clear who could face charges. The accident did not appear to have been alcohol-related."

While on bail he'd be electronically tagged, and have to stay in his Swiss chalet. It would also not affect any extradition proceedings. But it will probably make Polanski supporters, who argue that he not should be punished for drugging and anally raping a child because he's won an Oscar since and had a tough life.

A couple of petitions against his arrest featured Martin Scorsese, Salman Rushdie, Milan Kundera, Mike Nichols, Diane von Furstenburg, Monica Bellucci, Tilda Swinton, Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein, who told CNN that his company was "calling every filmmaker we can to help fix this terrible situation." The novelist Robert Harris even wrote an op-ed about it in the Times.

Those people will be pitted once more against, well, mostly everyone else. Especially people who don't agree with the rape of children.

Emma Thompson, meanwhile, is somewhere in the middle.

BW's new editor will be Josh Tyrangiel, the editor of Time.com. He replaces Steven Adler, who left BW last month after Bloomberg took over. One might reasonably speculate that Tyrangiel was a familiar name to Norm Pearlstine, the former Time editor who now runs Bloomberg's content. Funny Tyrangiel Wikipedia line: "In journalistic circles, Tyrangiel is postulated to be the successor to Richard Stengel, the current editor of TIME." Has inaccuracy been found on Wikipedia? From BW's own report:

In some media circles, Tyrangiel was considered a leading candidate to succeed Time managing editor Richard Stengel. According to sources, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes was so impressed with Tyrangiel that he tried to recruit him to be come the editor of CNN.com, the online arm of the 24-hour cable news channel, but Time Inc.'s current editor-in-chief John Huey intervened and convinced Tyrangiel to stay at Time with the promise that he might one day succeed Stengel.

Separately, we hear (unconfirmed) rumors that the long-expected post-sale BW layoffs have now started. One tipster tells us: "No word yet on how deep, but seems like a lot... Sounds like edit and ad sales are tomorrow, all other business functions are today." UPDATE: "3 people in marketing and 2 in finance" have been let go, our tipster says.

And as for the effect of Tyrangiel's departure on Time, which is itself in the midst of cutbacks: A tipster tells us that the savings there from Tyrangiel's departing salary means fewer people will get laid off. Which is good news, because the tipster says that "the deadline for volunteers at TIME is tomorrow in new york. after that they'll move swiftly to lay people off in new york, london and hong kong."

We've contacted Bloomberg and we'll update when we learn more. Please forward all internal memos and tips on this here.

UPDATE: This is the memo that went out at BW yesterday—some believe the "meetings" it references will include layoff notifications.

November 16, 2009

To: BusinessWeek Employees

From: Norman Pearlstine and Chris Walters
Bloomberg/BusinessWeek Integration Report #3

We are pleased to provide a progress report as we enter the last two weeks of the integration process.

Since our previous update on November 5, we have met or spoken with hundreds of you at departmental roundtable discussions. Thank you for your candor, insight and thoughtfulness on ways to make BusinessWeek even better. We took away many new ideas and better clarity on each department's priorities, concerns and accomplishments. In turn, we hope you took away a sense of our respect and excitement for the future of BusinessWeek.

At the same time, a selection process has been underway in many areas. This week, BusinessWeek staff members (except in Europe and countries where local requirements govern the process) will be invited to a meeting (in person or by telephone) to learn next steps. During the first half of the week, meetings will be held with Marketing, Communications & Events; Circulation and Production; Finance; Technology, and Digital. The remainder of the week will be spent with Sales and Sales Development, and Editorial. You'll be notified of the time and place separately.

One-hour information sessions will be scheduled on Thursday and Friday for U.S.-based employees receiving offers from Bloomberg to learn about benefits, policies and programs. Additional new hire orientation and terminal training will be provided after December 1. Employees outside of the U.S. will also receive similar information in the near future.

If you are moving to a Bloomberg office on December 4, you will receive information on logistics, your new address and general telephone number, and moving boxes. BusinessWeek marketing will provide electronic "change of address" cards to notify clients of your new location. Your "businessweek.com" email address will remain in effect.

Along with McGraw-Hill, we are striving to make the process as smooth and respectful as possible. We are very mindful that this transition will be emotional for everyone, and ask for your continued patience and consideration.

Sincerely,

Norman Pearlstine
Chief Content Officer

Chris Walters
Integration Leader

[Tyrangiel pic via]

UPDATE: An armed gunman fired multiple shots into a drug testing facility at a strip mall, local television is reporting. A man and a woman were killed. The gunman is not at large, but it's unclear if he's in custody or among the dead.

MSNBC says an armed suspect fired shots into the mall. Local authorities say the suspect is "not at large."

According to KGW-TV in Portland, the shooting took place in the past two hours at a mall in Tualatin, a suburb roughly 15 miles from downtown Portland:

PORTLAND, Ore. — A shooting has been reported and confirmed at a Tualatin business mall.

Few details were available. According to Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, there may be as many as 10 victims.

The shooting was reported at 7575 SW Mohawk at the Martinazzi intersection.

Nearby streets had been closed. Businesses located in the mall were evacuated.

Police first confirmed that a shooting had occurred sometime after 11 a.m.

I don't know. The lone Republican "Yea" vote for the bill was Joseph Cao of Louisiana, you know he's gonna get trashcanned after school on Monday. Great, the Democrats made a huge-ass compromise for the Republican moral majority, I wonder what the Freakonomics guys will have to say about it, but you can bet your ass pro-choice activists are pissed. Meanwhile, the TVs gonna be filled with lots of talking heads tomorrow, many of whom will tell you how utterly fucked this country is, like this guy. People will be mad and people will be sad, and people will be happy and people will be elated, and people get their pockets lined.

And maybe, just maybe, one day, some parent with a kid who's got a bad fever in the middle of the night won't have to worry about taking him in to get checked out because they can't afford it or they'll get treated like shit, they'll just do it. And it'll be fine.

Eh. Big dreams. Was that even covered in the package? I don't know. Yay. Health Care, I guess.

Update: Alleged shooter Jason Rodriguez has been arrested. One person is confirmed dead, five confirmed shot, and one man was hospitalized with chest pains. Rodriguez was located at his mother's house.

The shooter is described as wearing a "blue shirt and jeans." He reportedly walked into the office of an architectural firm on the 8th floor and opened fire. And according to an unconfirmed local news report, there were bodies found on the 8th and 10th floor of the building. (This has also been reported as bodies the 4th and 12th floors—authorities have only confirmed "six victims" transported to hospitals and list the number of victims at "under ten" still.)

It has been reported that Rodriguez is a former employee of the firm he attacked.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, there were, earlier, people still barricaded in at least one office, unclear on whether or not it's safe to leave. At this point, the search for the shooter seems to have expanded to surrounding buildings and even other parts of the city.

Cops identified the shooter earlier as Jason Rodriguez. He is driving a silver Nissan SUV, and they are asking the public for help locating him. He might in a "perimeter-area building" but the authorities either don't know where he is or don't want anyone to know that they know where he is. The report of "17 victims" is apparently inaccurate: the cops still say the number of victims is "below ten."

There is a Tweeting Haitian rapper on the scene. Seriously.

The target of Rodriguez's wrath was, according to police, Renyolds, Smith & Hills, an engineering firm with offices in the building.

Rodriguez was fired last year after a year of work, and he reportedly took it hard. He has no criminal record, but he is deeply in debt and recently filed for bankruptcy. "They left me to rot,'' he told TV reporters after he was arrested.

Reporters shouted out questions as he was being led away by police. They asked if he was referring to his former employer.

"No. No. I'm angry,'' he responded.

The evidence this is him is circumstantial: the timing - around 2003 - fits with reports that after the death of his parents in 1998 and 2001 he became disaffected with the military and tried to leave. He even went so far as to hire a lawyer. And Nidal Hasan is not as common a name as you might think, as per Facebook and Google.

The evidence against: the petition is Canadian, and there is no record of him having lived in Canada at any time.

Fly my pretties; if you think this is crap, or indeed can help prove it, then comment or email.

The task force was not officially affiliated with the White House. It was a project of the Homeland Security Policy Institute, an independent thinktank housed at George Washington University, aimed at drafting policy recommendations for the incoming Obama administration.

According to the task force's May 2009 report [pdf], a "Nidal Hasan" from the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine was a task force event participant. Other participants included Senate and House staffers, Department of Homeland Security officials, Defense Department officials, and reporters for Politico, the Washington Post, and the London Times.

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: Daniel Kaniewski, the institute's deputy director, confirms that Hasan attended task force meetings as an audience member, and stresses that he was not a member of the task force. "All of our events are open to the public," Kaniewski says, "and when someone RSVPs we put their name in the [report] so everyone knows who was in the room." He says institute staffers recall Hasan attending at least one task force event, and that he RSVP'd for several. "We do recall him speaking at one of our events as an audience member," he says, "but none of us recall what he actually said. Generally, our events are attended by people in the homeland security community, and Hasan had a very legitimate reason to be there. He was a fellow at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences."

McClatchy reports that Maj. Malik Nidal Hasan attended "training in disaster and preventive psychiatry at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.," and his Virginia medical board license lists his name as "Nidal Malik Hasan," reversing the first two names of the identity reported so far and spelling "Nidal" differently than earlier reports did. (The New York Times is now reporting that his name is, in fact, Nidal Malik Hasan). So it seems likely that the "Nidal Hasan" affiliated with Uniformed Services University (USU) listed as a task force participant, the "Nidal Malik Hasan" listed by Virginia's state medical board as practicing psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and by reported by McLatchy as having studied at USU, and the "Malik Nadal Hasan" who practiced psychiatry at Walter Reed identified in various media reports as the shooter are all the same person. Or were the same person.

Hasan's name is also listed in a July 2008 USU newsletter [pdf] as having graduated the Master of Public Health Program in June of last year.
And here's what appears to be a medical paper, or submission to a medical database, written by him.

UPDATE (by Ryan): Law enforcement officials became aware of Hasan at least six months ago after "internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats," according to AP.

ASSME found an online post from a "Nidal Hassan," pictured below, reconciling suicide bombings with Islamic teachings against other types of suicide. It's not at all clear yet whether this post came from the shooter Nidal Hassan or a different Nadal Hassan; even federal agents are "still trying to confirm that he was the author" of whatever posts they're looking at, according to AP.

We're getting some clarity: At a press conference minutes ago, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone told reporters that a soldier entered the post's soldier readiness facility, where servicemembers preparing to deploy go for last-minute medical check-ups and the like, at approximately 1:30 p.m. and opened fire with two handguns, killing twelve and wounding 31. The assailant was killed. According to eyewitness accounts, Lt. Gen. Cone said, two other soldiers were also involved in the shooting. Both men have been located and detained as suspects.

"The situation is ongoing, although I think we have positive news that we're very close to a resolution," he said.

UPDATE: Fox News is reporting that Hasan was an "Army mental health professional," as is the Associated Press: "A defense official speaking on condition of anonymity says Hasan was a mental health professional—an Army psychologist or psychiatrist. It was not known whether he was treating people at the base."

And Texas Rep. John Carter, who represents the district in which Ft. Hood is located, also told the network that he's been told by sources at Ft. Hood that the two suspects have been released, but that authorities are looking for yet another suspected conspirator who's still at large.

UPDATE: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison just said on Fox, citing officers she's been speaking to, that the shooter "was going to deploy to Iraq, and I think there was some measure of being concerned or upset about that." She said "it's not totally clear" that the two other suspects "were a part of this plot."

UPDATE: ABC News has identified the shooter as Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. If it's true that he had two other soldiers assisting him, we can't help but think of a recent rash of killings in Afghanistan involving Taliban fighters infiltrating Afghan police units and killing U.S. and British soldiers. On the other hand, the FBI is saying there's "no terrorism nexus."

UPDATE: Here's Obama's statement on the shootings: "It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."

UPDATE: "The individuals involved were all U.S. soldiers," according to an Army spokesman giving a news conference right now. The primary shooter was armed with two handguns.

UPDATE: CNN is now reporting that twelve victims have been killed, and that one of the shooters has died as well. Unclear whether the gunman is included in that figure of twelve fatalities. Barack Obama is expected to publicly address the shootings shortly.

Twenty people were wounded, though that number is likely to increase. It's unclear whether the victims were soldiers or not. Fox News has confirmed that one suspect is still at large, and is speculating based on unconfirmed reports that a third is on the loose as well. Which would seem to indicate a coordinated operation.

UPDATE: KWTX-TV in Waco is reporting that the death toll may have risen from seven to nine. CNN also says that "as many as nine" have been killed.

UPDATE: The Killeen Daily Herald is reporting, on Twitter as well as in a reporter interview on Fox, that the suspect in custody is a 40-year-old male. Fox News, citing FBI sources, says "authorities believe there is no terrorism nexus" in the attack. "It's not being discussed."

UPDATE: Here's Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) on MSNBC, saying that one shooter attacked a processing center where soldiers were being prepared to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, and that 30 people were wounded.

UPDATE: A local news station is reporting that one of the shooters, an Army major, has been wounded but is still at large.

From KCEN-TV in Waco, Texas:

Police surrounded the 42006 building, said to be used for traumatic brain injuries, on Fort Hood and fired shots at a male suspect in an Army uniform with a Major rank. The suspect was injured, but has now run in to another building.

Reports say the shooter had a high-powered rifle and was aiming to kill.

Fox is reporting that the shooters attacked three separate locations on the post at the same time. According to the Austin-American Statesman, the shooting started at 1:30 p.m.—one gunman was at a "personnel and medical processing center" and another shooter was at a theater. The way this is shaping up, it certainly looks like a deliberate, coordinated attack. Though we can certainly imagine a lot of confusion in the aftermath of an event like this as to who was a shooter and who was just a soldier shooting back. And if one shooter got away after the initial incident and started firing from another location, it could have led to the misapprehension that there were three attackers when there were in fact two. There was a graduation ceremony of some sort taking place on the post, according to Fox, which drew a lot of civilians there today.

The Ft. Hood web site currently bears the message "LOCKDOWN: Ft. Hood is closed...." The site's down, but here's a screengrab:

A Ft. Hood soldier was killed in Afghanistan last month by an improvised bomb. And Killeen was the site of a massacre at Luby's cafeteria in 1991, when a gunman drove his truck into a restaurant and fatally shot 23 people before committing suicide.

From: NYU President John Sexton
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:19 PM
Subject: The Death of an NYU Student

It is with great sorrow that I must tell you of the death of a student — a
junior in the College of Arts and Science — early this morning in Bobst
Library. While the cause of death is still being determined, indications are
that he took his own life.

Suicide among people of college age is a national problem, a leading cause of
death among the young; each year, campuses across the country must cope with
these tragedies and their aftermath — the pain, the heartbreak, the upset it
causes to those who are vulnerable, and all the terrible, persistent questions.

I have taught young people for some five decades, drawn by their energy and
their promise and by the unique bond that forms between student and
professor. The impulse for self-harm — particularly among young men and women
with so much talent and so much to live for — is incomprehensible to me.

And so I would like to speak to the NYU student community as I would speak
with a student of mine sitting and talking with me in my own office.
No matter how difficult things might seem at any particular moment, your life
is filled with promise, you belong in and are part of a community that
cherishes your presence, you are loved, and there are many people at hand
ready and willing to help you — your professors, the staff in the residence
halls, the Wellness Exchange, your family, and your friends. I am certain of
this: there are many resources to help you, and harming oneself is absolutely
the wrong choice.

We are a close knit community, a large community of small communities; we
should remind ourselves that there will always be people among us who will
need our help, and we should never hesitate to reach out and offer a hand or
an attentive ear, or to direct friends and peers to the many excellent
professionals we have at the Wellness Exchange (212-443-9999, or 999 from any
campus phone) to help students work through problems.

If you feel upset by this news or anything else in your life, do not hesitate
to call the Wellness Exchange. If you have a friend or a student or a
colleague who seems vulnerable, call on his or her behalf.

I know I speak for the entire NYU community when I say that this student's
family and loved ones are in our thoughts and our hearts and our prayers. The
family has asked that they be accorded the greatest possible degree of privacy
and sensitivity in this difficult hour, and I would hope that we all shall
strive to comply.

To each one of us — student, faculty, administrators, or staff: take care of
yourself, take care of one another.

Colleagues,

I had planned to invite you to the newsroom and break this news in person today, but I've been hit by something that seems to be the flu. Though I strongly believe in delivering bad news in person, I don't want to add insult to injury by spreading infection.

Let me cut to the chase: We have been told to reduce the newsroom by 100 positions between now and the end of the year.

We hope to accomplish this by offering voluntary buyouts. On Thursday, the Company will be sending buyout offers to everyone in the newsroom. Getting a buyout package does NOT mean we want you to leave. It is simply easier to send the envelopes to everyone. If you think a buyout may be right for you, you have up to 45 days to decide whether you will accept it or not.

As before, if we do not reach 100 positions through buyouts, we will be forced to go to layoffs. I hope that won't happen, but it might.

Our colleagues in editorial and op-ed, and on the business side, also face another round of budget cuts.

In recent years, we've managed to avoid the disabling cutbacks that have hit other newsrooms. The Company has chosen to protect the journalism by cutting production and other business-side costs, and the newsroom itself has managed its resources frugally. These latest cuts will still leave us with the largest, strongest and most ambitious editorial staff of any newsroom in the country, if not the world.

I won't pretend that these staff cuts will not add to the burdens of journalists whose responsibilities have grown faster than their compensation. But we've been looking hard at ways to minimize the impact — in part, by re-engineering some of our copy flow. I won't promise this will be easy or painless, but I believe we can weather these cuts without seriously compromising our commitment to coverage of the region, the country and the world. We will remain the single best news organization on earth.

I doubt that anyone is shocked by the fact of this, but it is happening sooner than anyone anticipated. When we took our 5 percent pay cuts, it was in the hope that this would fend off the need for more staff cuts this year. But I accept that if it's going to happen, it should be done quickly. We will get through this and move on.

In my absence, Bill Schmidt and John and Jill have volunteered to take your questions this afternoon. Feel free to bring additional questions to me as soon as I'm back, or check with Bill Schmidt or John or Jill privately, or save them for the next Throw Stuff at Bill session, which is in a couple of weeks.

We often — and rightly — voice our gratitude that we work for a company and a family that prize quality journalism above all. I hope you know that the company and the family, and I, feel an equal debt of gratitude to all of you whose sacrifice and loyalty have kept us strong.

Like you, I yearn for the day when we can do our jobs without looking over our shoulders for economic thunderstorms.

Bill

Felony charges will be brought up against the Heene family, it seems. Warrants will be brought up against them. They don't know when the Heene's are going to be arrested. They're going to be going through Heene's computer and seeking out co-conspirators. "On the bizarre meter, this rates a 10," noted Alderden. They didn't search for drugs. They didn't do a thorough search of the house, and should've looked at the attic. They didn't.

They don't think they're overreacting. "Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, attempting to influence a public official" are among the charges, which add up to a Class 4 Felony. The only federal agency that's been brought into this is the FAA. It's "seriously doubted" that the children will be facing any serious charges. The ACLU might represent the Heene family in the case. Child protection has been notified. They've pulled a case number and will be conducting an investigation.

The sheriff's office believes this had been planned for two weeks. The idea was as we'd suspected-to launch this thing, create controversy by making people think the kid was "onboard," all with the intent of getting The Grand American Prize: a reality television show. Heene has no education after high school, and he's not a scientist. They are still being presented with the story that he was in the attic. On a first time felony offense, Richard Heene is seemingly unlikely to go to jail.

As for our tipster, Robert Thomas, they are aware of him, their efforts to locate him have been have been unsuccessful, and they have also been unsuccessful in their attempts to contact him.

From the NY Times:

6:07 p.m. The 6-year boy, Falcon Heene, was just found alive, according to reporter Dan Frosch, who is at the boy's house in Fort Collins, Colo. A Larimer County Sheriff's deputy said that he was found in a box in the family's garage.

Earlier: Based on photographs from KUSA, it appears something fell off the balloon thought to be carrying 6-year-old Falcon Heene. It may be the box that law enforcement think Falcon was in when the balloon took flight.

A sherriff's deputy told KUSA he saw something fall of the balloon while it was in flight. Falcon is thought to have been playing in that box before the balloon took off.

Police believe the boy, Falcon Heene, was inside the box, which the family called a battery compartment, when the aircraft lifted off around 11 a.m.

Police say there are pegs on the bottom of the aircraft that indicate that a box was attached at some point.

Police have been searching the area looking for the box. Neither it nor the boy have been found yet.