culture

From the LA Times: Leaders of Equality California, one of the state’s largest gay rights groups, announced today it will wait until 2012 to push for an amendment to the California Constitution to permit same-sex marriage. Many gay rights groups have favored returning the issue to voters as soon as 2010. Leaders at Equality California,…

From ESPN: SAN DIEGO — Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips was convicted of assault and other felony charges Tuesday in San Diego. A Superior Court jury took less than a day to find Phillips guilty of seven counts, including assault with great bodily injury; false imprisonment; making a criminal threat; and auto theft. He…

Now that the recession is most likely over, it’s time to start looking at which companies, institutions, and individuals thrived during this grim period. In the harsh downturn that began in December 2007, success was redefined—flat became the new up, and muddling through became a triumph. In a recession that hit all rungs of the…

Slate’s Sandy Stonesifer gets a do-gooding dilemma: Dear Sandy, I’m not a preachy Christian, but I do think it’s important to follow the tenets set forth in the Bible. Right up there at the top is tithing. My husband feels that you tithe once you get out of debt and only if you have something…

Facebook just purchased the rights to nearly everything you do on the Internet. And it cost them only $47.5 million. Facebook’s purchase of FriendFeed, an obscure social media platform, is potentially momentous. To understand why, we must understand FriendFeed, a startup that is ubiquitous among techies and unknown to everybody else. It’s a sleek application…

From NewsOne: A swastika was found Tuesday painted on a sign outside Rep. David Scott’s district office, an act the Georgia Democrat said reflects an increasingly hateful and racist debate over health care and should serve as a reminder for people to tone down their rhetoric. Scott’s staff arrived at his Smyrna, Ga., office Tuesday…

The Buzz hasseen more civility at a “champagne and school girls” frat party.

From the Washington Post: ABUJA, Nigeria — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday urged oil-rich Nigeria to embrace broad political reform and ease tensions that have led to sectarian violence and disrupted energy production in the Niger Delta. In the Nigerian capital of Abuja on the fifth stop in a seven-nation tour…

Sorry, nobody’s cutting down your $20,000+ school loan, but under the new income-based repayment program, you can substantially reduce your monthly payments. A single borrower earning $30,000 a year with $40,000 in federal education loans would pay $171.94 per month in an income-based plan versus $319.50 under an income-contingent repayment plan, according to Finaid.org’s loan…

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The owners of Uptown magazine, including former Vibe Group Publisher Leonard Burnett Jr., are said to be near a deal to acquire the Vibe brand from CapitalSource, the major debt holder at Vibe when Wicks Group announced its shutdown in June. Wicks Group paid about $35 million, with financing from CapitalSource,…