American Gangster

Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the quiet driver to one of the inner city’s leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. He comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene.

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Fake News, So Why Not a Fake News Conference

Well, by now most of you have heard the story of the fake FEMA press conference. Apparently, a couple of weeks ago during the height of the California wildfires, Deputy Secretary, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, was asked questions by other FEMA employees posing as reporters. Real reporters were notified of the conference only 15 minutes before it started, and were only allowed to listen via a listen-only conference line.

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News for the Week of Nov. 2, 2007

This is the news wrapup for the week ending Friday, November 2, 2007. It includes notes on a beach house fire in Ocean Isle, N.C., the anniversary of the NYC Subway system, A story about a couple both being arrested for drunk driving, and a story about a man being shot by his hunting dog. In Ohio, a gay person is appointed to a judgeship.

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