Malt liquor mural ads draw fire in Philadelphia

Graffiti-style malt liquor ads are drawing fire from parents and anti-blight advocates in a city known for its colorful murals.

The ads for Colt 45 malt liquor show comic book-style characters clutching bottles and cans of booze. "Works every time," reads the slogan.

"I really wouldn't want my daughter looking at it," Jill Maguire said as she pushed a neighbor's baby in a stroller near one of the ads. "She might think it's cool."

Jane Golden, the director of the city's Mural Arts Program, said: "I just think it's distasteful. I just think it's the last thing we need."

A spokesman for Mayor Michael …

City of our discontent -- and plenty of reasons why

Chicago is angry. So says no less an authority than Men's Healthmagazine, which even goes so far as to rank our city in its currentissue as one of the angriest in America.

Of course, Men's Health is not really much of an authority whenyou get beyond ab workouts -- and its Metrograde report card featureis little more than a cheap publicity stunt upgraded to pseudo-science.

Yet you don't need the sophisticated social science methodology ofthe National Opinion Research Center to tell you that there justmight be some truth in the magazine's decision to give our city a "D-" for anger, rating us 90th worst in the nation out of 100 citiesranked.

Between …

Letters

Prophetic peace witness needed

I fear that the Mennonite Church risks the demise of our unique denominational relevance for the wider church and our relevance for the modern world by neglecting broad theological discussions within and among our congregations.

While several excellent scholars work at many Mennonite institutions and throughout academia, I am becoming increasingly convinced that it is time for the entire church to reexamine our shared core values so that we, as a church, can remain an effective witness in the world.

Recently much attention has been focused upon peripheral issues such as same-sex marriage while what appears to be the Mennonite Church's …

AP NewsBreak: CBS, Turner may make Olympics bid

CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. executives have discussed joining forces to bid on rights to televise the Olympics in 2014 and 2016, turning that competition into an even greater clash of media titans.

TV empires headed by incumbent NBC, Fox and ABC-ESPN have all said they expect to bid for the the U.S. rights. The International Olympics Committee has said it is ready to postpone the negotiations until after the 2016 host city is named next October.

If CBS works with Time Warner, competition could be televised on CBS plus popular cable networks TBS and TNT. Time Warner also owns CNN, CNN Headline News, Turner Movie Classics and the Cartoon Network.

…

Serena Williams wins, Roddick loses at French Open

Serena Williams looked ill, and not only because she had lost five games in a row at the French Open.

Battling a cold, Williams received a visit during a changeover from a trainer, who checked her temperature and gave her pills. Then came a third-set surge, and Williams beat 18-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.

There was no prescription to help Andy Roddick, who lost to Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Roddick threw rackets and argued with the umpire, but the fits of temper failed to produce a turnaround against an opponent ranked 114th.

Four-time champion Rafael Nadal won in straight sets but …

Benjamin tells forum how he used McGraw's 'looking for ugly' speech: Justice also claims his opponents spread talk that his last name was 'not Christian sounding'

DAILY MAIL STAFF

State Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin credits a hard-to-forget speech made by his Democrat opponent for his election win in2004.

Incumbent Warren McGraw was his own worst enemy in that race,Benjamin said.

"I think his biggest mistake, and it's certainly the one, I thinkfrom talking to people around the state, that lost him the election,was a speech that he gave on Labor Day at Racine," Benjamin told anaudience gathered at the National Press Club in Washington to discussmudslinging in judicial elections.

One of the sponsors of the event, the Annenberg Public PolicyCenter, released a transcript of Benjamin's comments …

Australia doubling aid for refugees in Tunisia

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Australia's foreign minister says his country is doubling financial assistance for refugees flooding into Tunisia from Libya.

Kevin Rudd told The Associated Press in an interview in Tunisia Thursday that Australia had already committed over $6 million to U.N. agencies, and "later today I will have virtually doubled that assistance."

During the visit — the …