In Other News...

The sudden death of TV journalist Tim Russert completely dominated yesterday's news cycle. The television wall to wall coverage has pretty much pushed other news onto a back burner as well it should. I cannot remember my mother being as moved by the death of a public figure since JFK's assassination. Clearly Tim Russert had made a lasting positive impression on most of our lives.

Here are some other stories which you may not have heard about from yesterday, any one of which might normally be the lead story of the day.

Downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa is under 6 feet of flood water from the recent storms which have hit the Midwest.

In Afghanistan Taliban militants staged a successful surprise attack on a prison near Kandahar freeing nearly 400 Taliban prisoners.

Iraqi President al-Maliki has suggested that the US might be asked to leave by his government
when the UN Mandate for the US to be in Iraq runs out at the end of this year.

Northern Japan has been hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

It was revealed yesterday that Senators Christopher Dodd(D)of Connecticut and Kent Conrad(D) of South Dakota received "sweetheart" mortgage deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation. Dodd is Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Conrad is Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.