Huffington

California Republican candidate Michael Huffington, whose tough stand against illegal immigration is a cornerstone of his Senate campaign, employed a woman at his Santa Barbara home for about five years who was in the United States illegally, his campaign acknowledged yesterday.The woman's job ended last year, shortly after Mr. Huffington was sworn into office as a freshman congressman and several months before he announced his bid to challenge Sen. Dianne Feinstein, sources told the Los Angeles Times.

Whatever the ultimate impact of AOL's $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post on the new-media landscape, it's already clear that the merger will push more journalists more deeply into the tragically expanding low-wage sector of our increasingly brutal economy. That's a development that will hurt not only the people who gather and edit the news but also readers and viewers. To understand why, it's helpful to step back from the wide-eyed coverage focused on foundering AOL's last-ditch effort to stave off the oblivion of irrelevance, or Arianna Huffington's astonishing commercial achievement in taking her Web news portal from startup to commercial success in less than six years.

Peacefully on May 27, 2009, CLARA A. HUFFINGTON of Churchville, MD. Beloved wife of Dr. Norris J. Huffington, Jr. Devoted mother of Pamela Aucker and husband Brian, John Huffington, Bill Huffington, Laura Wink and husband Lee. Loving sister of the late Thomas Ellis Arther. Also survived by three grandchildren, Erin Hutchinson and husband Chet, Nathan Aucker and fiancee, Ashley Allen, Rachael Aucker and great-grandchildren Harkins and Cedar Hutchinson. Services will be held at Churchville Presbyterian Church, Churchville, MD, on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 10 A.M. Interment will be in the adjoining church cemetery.

Peacefully on May 27, 2009, CLARA A. HUFFINGTON of Churchville, MD. Beloved wife of Dr. Norris J. Huffington, Jr. Devoted mother of Pamela Aucker and husband Brian, John Huffington, Bill Huffington, Laura Wink and husband Lee. Loving sister of the late Thomas Ellis Arther. Also survived by three grandchildren, Erin Hutchinson and husband Chet, Nathan Aucker and fiancee, Ashley Allen, Rachael Aucker and great-grandchildren Harkins and Cedar Hutchinson. Services will be held at Churchville Presbyterian Church, Churchville, MD, on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 10 A.M. Interment will be in the adjoining church cemetery.

A Joppatowne man blames a "spineless" court system for causing the Harford State's Attorney to decide not to seek the death penalty againfor the man who murdered his daughter 11 years ago.State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly said last week that he won't try for a third time to get John N. Huffington of Bel Air sentenced to death for the 1981 murders of Diana Becker and her boyfriend, John M. Hudson."

A federal appeals court has upheld the murder convictions of John Norman Huffington, who brutally killed two Harford County residents in drug-related attacks during the 1981 Memorial Day weekend.The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ruled Tuesday that Huffington, who is serving two life sentences for the murders of Edgewood residents Joseph Hudson and Diane Becker, had received an adequate defense at his second trial in 1984.Court documents said that Huffington and Deno Kanaras bought cocaine from Hudson on May 25, 1981.

ROY M. HUFFINGTON , 90 Oilman, philanthropist Roy M. Huffington, an oilman and philanthropist who served as an ambassador to Austria, died Friday while traveling out of the country, according to funeral home George H. Lewis and Sons in Houston. Mr. Huffington founded the Huffington Foundation, which donated millions of dollars to Houston charities, and also served as the chairman of the New York-based Asia Society for more than seven years in the 1980s. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and upon his return, became a field geologist for Humble Oil Co. Mr. Huffington later established his own gas and oil firm, Huffco.

A political novice comes to town, preaching change and rampant wealth by tax cut. He carries a thick billfold earned in Arcadia - the private sector - and peels off millions for ugly ads attacking the character and culture of his competition. The people like it - a maverick with a message.For a while, anyway.The script fits Steve Forbes, whose self-financed run for the Republican presidential nomination is raising hopes and hackles. While he is seen as a private-sector savior by some, the press and his opponents ridicule him as cartoonish - "Richie Rich" on a lark.

California's primary elections point to a very expensive Senate race in the fall. Democrats nominated Sen. Diane Feinstein, who was elected to fill out a term two years ago. Republicans nominated Rep. Mike Huffington, who won his House seat two years ago, too. They are a couple of big spenders.Mr. Huffington spent $5.4 million to win his House seat -- most of that his own money. He has vowed to spend whatever it takes out of his own pocket to win the Senate seat. That could be a lot. There were two Senate races in California in 1992 -- and the four principal candidates spent $33 million total.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Back in 1966, when movie actor Ronald Reagan was seeking his first term as governor of California, he told a story about what he believed would happen if there were no public welfare and your neighbor's house burned down.Within hours, he said cheerily in an interview aboard his campaign plane, fellow neighbors would take the victim family in, feed, clothe and house it, and start rebuilding the house. Therefore, when we were all our brothers' keepers on a volunteer basis, who needed public welfare?

ROY M. HUFFINGTON , 90 Oilman, philanthropist Roy M. Huffington, an oilman and philanthropist who served as an ambassador to Austria, died Friday while traveling out of the country, according to funeral home George H. Lewis and Sons in Houston. Mr. Huffington founded the Huffington Foundation, which donated millions of dollars to Houston charities, and also served as the chairman of the New York-based Asia Society for more than seven years in the 1980s. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and upon his return, became a field geologist for Humble Oil Co. Mr. Huffington later established his own gas and oil firm, Huffco.

WASHINGTON -- Here's an inviting and cautionary note from an old-media geezer to the new-school bloggers, Webheads and YouTubers: Welcome. You're a valuable addition to the presidential landscape. Just don't get too full of yourselves. I am moved to inject this little dose of realism into all of the hoopla that has followed the unmasking of the man who created and placed the hilarious "Big Sister" ad that lampoons Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on YouTube. Drawing more than 2 million hits in its first days, the spoof re-edits Apple's classic "Big Brother" Super Bowl TV ad to portray the New York Democrat as an Orwellian talking-head image on a huge screen that is shattered by a feisty young woman with an iPod in her ears.

In more than 30 years as a writer, social commentator and political gadfly, Arianna Huffington has set her steely, hazel-eyed gaze on everyone from Pablo Picasso to Dick Cheney. Few have emerged unscathed. "Chutzpah doesn't even begin to describe the vice president of the United States suggesting that the outcome of the Connecticut primary might embolden `al Qaeda types,'" she wrote recently on her Web site, HuffingtonPost.com, about Sen. Joseph Lieberman's loss to an anti-war challenger.

Here are a few factoids gleaned from all the celebrity "blogging" going on during Day One of the Huffington Post, writer/politician/media maven Arianna Huffington's new online enterprise: A quote from the mystic (some might say sappy) Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran was scrawled on Hunter S. Thompson's kitchen wall, according to actor John Cusack, who attended a memorial service for the recently deceased gonzo journalist. American Idol has an unlikely fan -- the dyspeptic TV personality Larry David, according to his wife, Laurie.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - There were five gubernatorial candidates in that free-wheeling debate here the other night in California's recall election, but the one who was most on trial was the most famous of them - movie actor Arnold "The Terminator" Schwarzenegger, running as a Republican. He didn't terminate anyone. As an entertainer, he more than held his own, with snappy retorts and a physical presence that was to be expected from a polished performer of the silver screen. But as a player on the political stage, his boilerplate answers gave voters little with which to assess his talents for running the nation's largest state.

The five leading candidates for governor of California met last night for what is likely to be their only joint debate, one that was marked by angry exchanges and sharp disagreements on new taxes, how to solve the state's budget nightmare and even whether California's economy is in crisis. Some of the most contentious moments of the forum at California State University, Sacramento involved author Arianna Huffington and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said that last night's forum would serve as his only debate.

LOS ANGELES -- There is always a lot of talk in politics about buying elections. But here in California, voters are involved this year in what amounts to a laboratory test of the proposition that money alone can win a seat in the U.S. Senate.The principal figure in this experiment is Rep. Michael Huffington, a 46-year-old freshman Republican congressman who is challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who appeared politically invulnerable just three or four months ago.Mr. Huffington is a lifelong Texan who moved himself and his personal fortune into Santa Barbara in 1991 and promptly used $5.2 million of his own money -- an all-time record for any congressional candidate in any campaign -- to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 1992.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The other morning, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein stood outside a home only now being rebuilt after the devastation of the bay area's 1991 firestorms. A neighborhood resident, Margey Gibson Haskell, shook her hand and told her: "If this is a special interest, I'm awfully glad to be one."The woman's remark came in response to Mrs. Feinstein's recounting to a small group of firestorm victims how she had pushed through legislation in 1993 that enabled them to overcome bureaucratic roadblocks.

LOS ANGELES - Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Mr. Universe who became a millionaire superstar in Hollywood action movies, announced yesterday that he would run for governor of California, setting the stage for a tumultuous two-month campaign to unseat Democratic incumbent Gray Davis. The Republican actor, best known for playing a killer robot in three Terminator movies, opened his campaign with a raw display of the extraordinary national media platform at his disposal, announcing his candidacy on NBC's Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

A federal appeals court has upheld the murder convictions of John Norman Huffington, who brutally killed two Harford County residents in drug-related attacks during the 1981 Memorial Day weekend.The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ruled Tuesday that Huffington, who is serving two life sentences for the murders of Edgewood residents Joseph Hudson and Diane Becker, had received an adequate defense at his second trial in 1984.Court documents said that Huffington and Deno Kanaras bought cocaine from Hudson on May 25, 1981.