New Variety owner Jay Penske slashes one-quarter staff

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Jay Penske, the new owner of Variety, laid off nearly a quarter of the company’s staff on Thursday.Between 20 and 25 employees from the struggling Hollywood trade’s circulation, database and conference departments were laid off. The editorial staff was not affected. Variety had about 120 employees before Thursday’s cuts. “Without...

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Personal Health: Quitting Smoking for Good

Few smokers would claim that it’s easy to quit. The addiction to nicotine is strong and repeatedly reinforced by circumstances that prompt smokers to light up.Yet the millions who have successfully quit are proof that a smoke-free life is achievable, even by those who have been regular, even heavy, smokers for decades.Today, 19 percent of American adults smoke, down from more than 42 percent half...

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Sources: Liguori planned as next Tribune CEO

When Tribune Co. emerges from bankruptcy, the new owners plan to name television executive Peter Liguori as the company's chief...

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How Obama’s Tech Team Helped Win the Election

The Obama campaign‘s technologists were tense and tired. It was game day and everything was going wrong.Josh Thayer, the lead engineer of Narwhal, had just been informed that they’d lost another one of the services powering their software. That was bad: Narwhal was the code name for the data platform that underpinned the campaign and let it track voters...

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Police shoot, kill man wielding knife, hammer: official

Police shot and killed a man when he confronted officers in the South Chicago neighborhood,...

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French mayor ends hunger strike after crisis aid

PARIS (Reuters) – A French mayor who went on hunger strike a week ago to demand emergency aid for his town ended his protest on Thursday and packed up the tent he had been sleeping in outside parliament after the government met his demands.“I regret that things came to that but it was necessary,” Stephane Gatignon, mayor of Sevran, a poor town on the outskirts...

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I Was Misinformed: The Time She Tried Viagra

I have noticed, in the bragging-rights department, that “he doesn’t need Viagra” has become the female equivalent of the male “and, I swear, she’s a real blonde.” Personally, I do not care a bit. To me, anything that keeps you happy and in the game is a good thing. But then, I am proud to say, I was among the early, and from what I gather, rare female users. It happened when the drug...

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Eurozone slides back into recession

The Eurozone is back in a recession, its first in three years, as gross domestic product for the debt-plagued 17-nation bloc...

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Services set for fallen firefighter

Visitation and funeral services have been set for Walter Patmon Jr., a Chicago firefighter who died on duty Sunday night of...

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NBC names new “Today” show chiefs

(Reuters) – Comcast‘s NBC has appointed two executives to take charge of the “Today” show, a day after the television network announced that longtime producer Jim Bell would be leaving to take a larger role in the sports division.Don Nash, a broadcast producer who has worked on NBC’s morning show for 23 years, will become the executive producer, reporting...

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