Results tagged “president”

President Myles Brand of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's died today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was the first university president--in 2002, he left the top post at Indiana University--to take the job as NCAA's chief executive, most notably becoming a "champion of academic reform, fiscal responsibility and student-athlete well-being," according to the association. "The keystone of his work was the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate program," explained Bloomberg News, "which measured the success of each athletic team in keeping athletes on track to graduate. Teams slipping behind faced penalties, including the loss of athletic scholarships." Brand was 67.

There's been a national controversy bubbling around President Obama's planned speech to school-age students tomorrow, and specifically the initial course materials provided to accompany the talk, which features the country's leader talking about the importance of education and staying in school. Today the White House released the speech so that everyone can preview its content.

President Obama (he's in SoCal today and tomorrow) is a known hoops fan. Taking five minutes out of his busy schedule, he offers his Presidential take on how college basketball's annual horserace may start and finish. Sorry Bruins and Trojans, he's not too kind on the Pac-10.

Air Force One will be landing at Long Beach Airport around 3 p.m. this afternoon, which has the city letting residents know of a few things for today and tomorrow. Security measures will be strictly enforced, especially in regards to traffic. Additionally, no parking will be allowed on Lakewood Boulevard or Spring Street.

On Wednesday, Barack Obama will make his Southern California debut as President of the United States. After arriving at Long Beach Airport in the afternoon, he'll hold a 4 p.m. town hall meeting in Costa Mesa followed by a tour of the Edison International Vehicle Electrics Plant in Pomona on Thursday.

     

Outside Mozza at Melrose and Highland, there are two fresh posters comparing Obama's inauguration as the 44th President to Sidney Poitier's portrayal of Dr. John Wade Prentice in the movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. In the classic movie, Prentice's Caucasian fiance introduces him to her family--who is expecting him to be white--for the first time at dinner. Could this be artist Robbie Conal's work or someone else? Posters are graffiti and graffiti is illegal, but it's nice when street art brings dialogue, or at the very least, an interesting perspective.

A 78-year-old sailor's court martial from 1950 for two unauthorized absences and missing a ship's movement was pardoned by President Bush yesterday. The pardon should should clear his record, but just in case the near octogenarian wants to, he won't be able to rejoin the military, a naval lieutenant commander told the Daily Breeze. Robert Truman Reece, who lives in a Redondo Beach condo overlooking the ocean, is one of the 20 people that Bush pardoned on Tuesday. He's granted 191 pardons since entering office in 2000.

Vice President-Elect Joe Biden has a new puppy.

The Office of the President-Elect previewed Barack Obama's weekly address on Thanksgiving Day. He speaks about the holiday, but also the economy: "This Thanksgiving, we are reminded that the renewal of our economy won't come from policies and plans alone -- it will take the hard work, innovation, service, and strength of the American people."

Pumpkin, the turkey pardoned by President Bush on Wednesday in Washington DC, was honored as the grand marshal at Disneyland's Thanksgiving Day Parade today in Anaheim. He, along with Pecan--the backup turkey--will now be part of the park's holiday display of live reindeer. After that, the two will retire to Disneyland's Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland.

Historically, the first 100 days of a presidency can indicate what a newly elected leader is able to accomplish during his term. GOOD magazine has created a well-designed chart titled "The First 100 Days" illustrating the major milestones of the last 12 U.S. Presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt all the way to George W. Bush. Keep in mind, the illustration is simply a sampling of some important decisions that were made - not a comprehensive breakdown of every significant order that was passed while these presidents were in office.

One thing that stuck out from Obama's Election-night speech Tuesday was his promise to his two young daughters that they could get the puppy they've wanted for so long when they moved to the White House. Yesterday, Obama gave his first post-Election press conference, and was asked what kind of dog the Obama family had in mind. He explained that they were hoping to get a dog from a shelter, but that one of his daughter's allergy to dander meant they'd need to get a dog who was hypo-allergenic.

LA City Councilman Richard Alarcon and representatives from over 20 organizations announced that they will be calling on new the President-elect and Congress to update the Federal Poverty Guidelines. They'll be making their way to Washington DC to lobby for the cause. From Alarcon's office:

Chris Lehane, Democratic strategist, and Republican Jim Brulte, former California legislator, sat side by side on stage at the California Endowment last week, exchanging light-hearted jabs and witty banter. The two seemed cordial enough during the event for which they were both panelists, entitled, "The Change We Need: Can Either Presidential Candidate Reform Health Care?"

The Los Angeles Times went against its recent tradition of not taking sides in presidential elections and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, calling him "the competent, confident leader who represents the aspirations of the United States."

The blog FiveThirtyEight (as in the number of electoral votes) has been going state by state doing electoral projections. Today was California: "Coastally Urban and Maverickily Liberal, California is one of only four majority-minority states (TX, HI, NM) in the nation. It’s a guaranteed 55 electoral votes for Barack Obama, as it has been for every Democrat since 1992. It has the smallest percentage of rural voters in America. Ironically, it's a state both candidates have visited far out of proportion to the closeness of the race, because both sides need wealthy donors who populate the state. Over ten percent of the Five hundred Thirty Eight electoral votes in play in a presidential election are represented by California." The analysis goes on to each of the candidates individually.

       

At the corner of Melrose and Highland last night, a group gathered to protest President George Bush's bailout of Wall Street plan. The group may have been small, but represented many. Senator Dianne Feinstein has received so many e-mails, letters and calls (39,180 they say) that they've had to double staffing. Congressman Brad Sherman's office says phone calls are running 300 to 2 against bailout. And of course, more local protests are planned. Photos by LAist Photographer Tom Andrews from last night's protest are below...

"I'm going to talk about the un-biblical stands that Barack Obama takes. Nobody who follows the Bible can vote for him. We may not be politically correct, but we are going to be biblically correct. We are going to vote for those who follow the Bible." That's Rev. Wiley S. Drake of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park in the LA Times speaking about the "pulpit initiative," which has churches in California and 21 other states illegally delivering political sermons or giving endorsements to presidential candidates.

Richard Riordan, who was Los Angeles' Republican Mayor from 1993–2001, has endorsed Barack Obama over John McCain in the presidential race. “When I was mayor I had dealings with McCain where I didn’t respect him,” he said to CBS per California Faultline. “I think [Obama is] a much more open person. He’s young, he has more energy, more electricity.” Obama was in Beverly Hills last night for a fundraiser.

It's official(ish). Delaware Senator Joe Biden is Senator Barack Obama's vice presidential pick, according to a CNN text message alert.

   

If you noticed that a street or two were shut down near the Bonaventure Hotel this afternoon, that's because the President of Taiwan was arriving for his overnight stay. President Ma Ying-jeou is in Los Angeles tonight before he heads to South America. On his way back, he will stay in San Francisco. While he has no public appointments in the U.S., he may hold private meetings to improve ties between the U.S. and China.

Presidential candidate John McCain is saying it is now unlikely they will host any town halls with Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama. All this could mean California being left out of the mix. Earlier this month, McCain proposed the two of them hold ten town-hall style debates, but Obama said five would be suffice. "That package of five engagements would have been the most of any Presidential campaign in the modern era," wrote the Democrat's campaign manager.

The LA Times and Bloomberg just released a poll at 2 p.m. on the presidential race. Obama now holds a 12 point lead over McCain. Perhaps the most interesting part of the poll is that among white voters, Obama and McCain are dead even at 39% each. Also, the Gallup Daily shows a much tighter margin with "Obama winning on key issues." Today, Obama is in Los Angeles at the Music Center fundraising with Hollywood.

Now that Hillary Clinton has dropped out of the race, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has moved on to helping Obama, something he announced immediately after Clinton made the decision earlier this month.

Bill Clinton canceled his UCLA Commencement Speech scheduled for this Friday due to the "never-ending" labor disputes between University of California officials and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (it's not the first time for a celebrity to drop their speech for the same issue).

Presidential candidate Barack Obama took a relaxing Sunday bicycle ride with his family to a friend's house and then on a beachside ride. It's sexy that he's sporting a helmet, too (even if some say it was an unflattering choice).

Last week a fun meme went through the Twitterverse... "When Obama wins..."

Now here's something par for the course: President Bush blames congress for the high price of gas.

Normally, the Academy Awards making the news this early in the Oscar-year calendar doesn't make sense. That is, until the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced yesterday in a press release the key dates for next year's show on Sunday, February 22nd. And after listing those dates (below if you care), the last sentence of the release mentioned why there was a slight change.

If you plan on participating in either the Republican or Democratic primary on February 5th (in two weeks) you MUST register to vote by midnight tonight.