The Washington Post Company

Payroll Tax Cut Extended; Kobe Bryant Divorce; Rare 'Generator Suicide' to Blame for Fatal Elevator Accident?

​Senate leaders agreed to extend the payroll tax cut, the Washington Post reports, "averting a New Year's tax increase for millions of workers." "Under the separate Senate agreement on the payroll tax, the rate paid by 160 million workers would remain at 4.2 percent through February, rather th ... More >>

Sales of Locally Grown Produce to Increase; Food Shortages Prompt Suicide

​Analysts have reported that U.S. sales of locally grown produce have reached $4.8 billion -- and they expect that number to hit $7 billion in 2011. [Washington Post].Recent changes to New York's anti-hunger program hurt some long-established charities, while helping newer non-profits. [ ... More >>

Starbucks Sees Liquidity in Juice Market; Papasito Grill Burned by Noise Complaints

​Starbucks, no longer satisfied with being everywhere, has decided to be everywhere even more. The Seattle-based chain bought Evolution, a high-end juice company, Thursday. Execs plan on opening health and wellness-themed stores.[Washington Post]Papasito Grill and Agave Bar's Upper West Side locat ... More >>

Chipotle Founder Named 'Innovator of the Year'; Consumers 'Ripped Off' When Buying Fish

​Just in case you were wondering, "Montezuma's Revenge" has not been a problem for athletes at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. [Washington Post] Kosher food is becoming more conventional in Berlin, post World War II. [Reuters] Restaurants are getting ready to raise prices as ... More >>

Satellite Probably Crashed Into Southeast Asia, Scientists Shrug

​ROSAT, the decommissioned German satellite that fell to Earth yesterday, broke up upon entering the atmosphere and probably scattered debris over Southeast Asia. We say, "probably," because no one really knows where the dang thing is. The Washington Post reports ROSAT entered the atmosphere b ... More >>

Troops Out of Iraq; Woman Killed While Protecting Children; Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Dies

​Yesterday, President Obama announced that the U.S. will be withdrawing all of its forces from Iraq by the end of the year. The Washington Post reports there are about 39,000 troops in Iraq today, and all will come home except a small contingent of Marines who are assigned to protect the embas ... More >>

German Riesling Dries Out; George Washington Peddles Whiskey

​German Rieslings are straying from sweet and heading toward dry, which some find disconcerting. [NY Times] Bottles of whiskey from distilleries closed during the 1980s' recession can be a solid investment. [Decanter] Bargains can be had with "second wines" from Bordeaux, like Château Marga ... More >>

Legality of Anwar al-Awlaki Killing; Rain Delay for Yankees; Dow Jones Slumps

via Washington Post​Justice Department officials have released a statement establishing the legality of the drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki, an al Qaeda leader who was born in New Mexico, was killed in Yemen yesterday in an authorized drone strike. Some questioned the legal ... More >>

Padma Paid to Get Off Stage; Olive Garden and Red Lobster to Cut Salt, Calories

​Padma Lakshmi, who hosted The Moth's storytelling event at Cooper Union Tuesday night, was reportedly paid to get off the stage due to a "grating" performance. [NY Post] The Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and others are hopping on Michelle Obama's healthy-eating bandwagon and pledging to reduce ... More >>

Muslims in World's Tallest Building Asked to Break Ramadan Fast Later

via Marshall Strabala​From our Religious Observances in Skyscrapers department comes an interesting story from the United Arab Emirates. The Washington Post reports that Dubai's top Muslim cleric told residents living above the 80th floor of the 2,717 foot Burj Khalifa to "wait three extra min ... More >>

Kraft Hiding Veggies in the Mac 'N' Cheese; Albert Trummer Rejects Pyro Plea Deal

​Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is one of the packaged food brands trying to hide veggies in the mix. [Washington Post] Americans, who once thought of Italian food as the cuisine of "garlic eaters," are now more aware of the different regional nuances of Italian fare. [Washington Post] Walmart has ... More >>

Pulque a Big Hit With Mexican Hipsters; Congress Makes Cuts to Food Safety Program

​Young Mexico City hipsters are reviving an old Aztec drink called pulque, made by fermenting the heart of the blue maguey plant. [Washington Post] Produce can be certified organic by the USDA even if it's sprayed with pesticides, as long as the chemicals are derived from nature. [NPR] Small ... More >>

David Chang Weighs In On El Bulli; Smucker's Acquires Cuban Favorite Cafe Bustelo

​ Barry Estabrook exposes modern tomato fields as "ground zero for modern-day slavery." [Gilt Taste] David Chang, Dan Barber and other famous chefs weigh in on the legacy of Ferran Adria and his soon-to-be-closed restaurant El Bulli. [NY Times]

Is Snoop-Endorsed Blast By Colt 45 the New Four Loko?; Why Wódka Is Winning

​Love beer so much you want to lather with it? Brooklyn Brewery has teamed up with a Williamsburg soapsmith to make artisanal beer soap. [Brooklyn Paper] The Cuba Libre is more than just a "rum and Coke." Add bitters, a splash of gin, and Key lime juice or Meyer lemon juice to kick yours up a ... More >>

Man Named 'Cokayne' Arrested for Drugs

Kevin Lee Cokayne, via The Washington Post​Fairfax County police raided the home of Kevin Lee Cokayne after becoming suspicious of drug activity, the Washington Post reports. When an undercover detective asked to search Cokayne's rented basement apartment, the 24-year-old reportedly said, "I d ... More >>

Wallet-Friendly Cocktails; Best Beer Cities

​Vandaag in the East Village and Huckleberry Bar in Williamsburg are among cocktail bars serving $10 drinks, as opposed to the now ubiquitous $12-$14 drink. [NY Post] New York makes a list of seven best beer cities in the country, alongside Chicago, Denver, Philly, Portland, St. Louis, and Sa ... More >>

Arizona Passes Bill Making It Illegal to Protest Near a Funeral

Christina Taylor Green​Following up on today's earlier post about the Westboro Baptist Church's intended picketing of the funeral service for Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old killed in the shooting in Tucson on Saturday, we've learned that Arizona legislators have approved emergency legi ... More >>

Unorthodox Nog; Great Hot Toddies

​Julie Reiner of Lani Kai, Johnny Swet of Jimmy, the new rooftop bar atop the James Hotel, and Katie Stipe of Vandaag are among the city's bartenders creating lighter alternatives to traditionally heavy egg nog. [NY Times] The latest trend among the Madonnas and Tom Fords of the world is to h ... More >>

Who Is Howard Kurtz and Why Shouldn't You Care?

​Regardless of the likely event you're like the majority of the universe and don't follow the navel-gazing meta-narrative that is media reporting, you may have come accross the fact the one of the nation's most known media columnists -- Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post -- is leaving his job ... More >>

Why I Oppose the Downtown Mosque

How I questioned an imam's motives and broke Tom Robbins's heart

Cheetos Have No Friend in the Senate

Nikolas Muray, FlickrPoliticians against crap for a change.​Yesterday, the Senate unanimously passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which will commit $4.5 billion to federal child nutrition programs, including school lunch, over the next decade, The Washington Post reports.

The Village Voice Finally Makes Journolist!

​Over the weekend, we here at The Village Voice were presented with quite the dubious distinction!

Who Smeared Dave Weigel?

​Yesterday afternoon, The Washington Post's conservative blogger, Dave Weigel, resigned. This was following the leak of some emails detailing his personal political views to a DC hack-gossip named Betsy Rothstein and bowtied blowhard Tucker Carlson's website, The Daily Caller. The emails were ... More >>

In California, the Happy Meal Goes the Way of the Dodo Bird; Donatella Arpaia Dons Chef's Whites

​Santa Clara County, south of San Francisco, has decided to ban Happy Meal and other promotional toys that often accompany kids' meals at fast-food chains. [NY Times] The recipe-testing battle between Food52.com and Cook's Illustrated continues, and the results will be posted on Slate. [ABC N ... More >>

Fake Heirlooms Rile Tomato Purists; Burger King Does... Brunch?

​In Durham, N.C., the rich outlying soils that once grew tobacco now sprout peas, strawberries, fennel, artichokes, and lettuce. Chefs are also using local milk, cheese, eggs, pigs, chickens, quail, lambs, and rabbits. [NY Times] Tomato purists cry heresy as plant breeders offer hybrid versio ... More >>

Top Chef May Travel to the Nation's Capital, Maybe With Kate Winslet in Tow

​The past 24 hours have brought a flurry of Top Chef news: The Washington Post has heard from "some sources" close to the show that its seventh season (whose filming was pushed back until April to accommodate Padma's pregnancy) will be filmed in Washington, D.C. If the show does make it to our ... More >>

Chertoff uses former job to promote undisclosed client

​Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been making the media rounds since the Christmas terror attempt promoting wider use of full-body scanning in airports to keep us safe in the skies. According to the Washington Post, he's also been promoting a client. Unfortunately, he ha ... More >>

Booze News: Two-Buck Chuck Gets Served; Fruit Flies Help Fight Alcoholism

​What does your beer say about you? According to recent research, people who prefer domestic beers over craft beers or imports are generally middle of the road in their politics. People who don't drink beer at all tend to be conservative. [AdAge] Look out, Two-Buck Chuck. The 7-Eleven conveni ... More >>

CLOSET CASE

Robin Givhan, Isaac Mizrahi, and Ashley Olsen discuss your future wardrobe

More Tomato Madness

muffet/flickr​While many of us still have blight on the brain, others are turning to other tomato matters. For one, are heirloom tomatoes necessarily better than hybrids? A Washington Post writer says no: "Call me persnickety, but someone needs to take a stand here: 'Heirloom' is not synonymo ... More >>

President Obama Loves A Good Burger; For the First Lady, Mexican Food Rules

Douglas Emlen, an entomologist at the University of Montana, has sparked some debate over his comments in an NPR broadcast about the dung beetle. During the segment, Emlen said that he avoids ground coffee because it's full of ground up cockroaches. [NPR] Robyn O'Brien, known as the Erin Brockovich ... More >>

James Beard Loves New York; All-Natural Chicken Not Always So

James Beard Foundation Awards winners included Jean Georges for outstanding restaurant, Drew Nieporent for outstanding restaurateur, Dan Barber for outstanding chef, Momofuku Ko for best new restaurant, Daniel for best service, and Totonno's pizzeria was named one of America's Classics. [NY Times] ... More >>

We're saved! Yankees bail out New York City!

Another rich putz gets bailout money

Lemon aid: Please bail out Edsel!

It's not a wonderful life

Putting it diplomatically: No on Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State

Daily Flog: Saudia Arabia bails out homeowners while we still haven't

Daily Flog: It's so bad that capitalists plan to help proles

Daily Flog: Wall Street down the drain; White House plumber summoned

Daily Flog: Carnage knowledge -- CSI teams descend on Wall Street

Daily Flog: White House on its knees, the rest of us on our backs, Wall Street zipping up

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