NEWS
By Christian Miller and Doug Smith | April 17, 2009
Civilian workers who suffered devastating injuries while supporting the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan have come home to a grinding battle for basic medical care, artificial limbs, psychological counseling and other services. The insurance companies responsible for their treatment under taxpayer-funded policies have routinely denied the most serious medical claims. Those same insurers - primarily American International Group - recorded hundreds of millions of dollars in profits on this business.
NEWS
By Michael Sragow | December 5, 2008
Death Wish done as an ultra-violent superhero saga for the arty graphic-novel set. That's the low concept behind Punisher: War Zone, starring Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, a U.S. commando who turns himself into a vigilante killing machine after his wife and two kids become collateral damage to a gangland execution in a public park. The Castles, of course, were having a picnic - which raises the question, what causes fans of grisly hipster comic books to ooh and aah over story pegs that would make their stomachs turn in a Spielberg movie?
NEWS
By Sam Sessa | May 6, 2008
The big boys of comic books like Batman and The Hulk all have movies on the way this summer. But a slew of films based on lesser-known superheroes (ever heard of Ant-Man?) are also in the works. The runaway success of Iron Man, which grossed $200 million worldwide its opening weekend and has already spawned plans for a sequel, proved that an able cast and solid storytelling can turn a second-tier superhero into box-office gold. "A good story, good filmmaking and a talented cast can make all the difference in the world," said Tom Ortenberg, president of theatrical films for Lionsgate Films.
NEWS
By SACRAMENTO (CALIF.) BEE | January 28, 2008
It's very different from World War II or Vietnam, when people would go months without hearing anything. I am so grateful we can talk to them. But it's true that at times you can get too much information. You hear things, and you feel their anxiety, and it makes you worry even more." - TERESA SOTO of Granite Bay, Calif., whose sons Joshua and Benjamin are serving in Iraq, on the benefits and drawbacks of easier communication between the home front and the war zone through satellite phones and the Internet
NEWS
By New York Times News Service | October 17, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is pressing for the nearly 10,000 armed security contractors now working for the U.S. government in Iraq to fall under a single authority, most likely the American military, in an effort to bring Blackwater USA under tighter control, senior Bush administration officials and Pentagon advisers say. That idea is facing resistance from the State Department, which relies heavily for protection in Iraq on about...
NEWS
September 22, 2007
Louis J. Averella, a World War II merchant mariner who later was port agent and spokesman for the National Maritime Union, died in his sleep Tuesday at his home in Lady Lake, Fla. The former East Baltimore resident was 86. Mr. Averella, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in Baltimore and raised on Exeter Street. He attended city public schools. During World War II, he sailed on Liberty ships, and his decorations included the Atlantic War Zone Bar, Pacific War Zone Bar and Victory Medal.
NEWS
By Article by Abigail Tucker | August 5, 2007
Balad Air Base, Iraq -- The boy was dying much faster now. His blood pressure had skyrocketed, and his pulse was in the 180s. Standing at the foot of his bed, Dr. Heather Cereste could see his heart shudder in his skinny chest. His father seemed to sense what was coming. It was past midnight, Heather would later recall, and he was still at the bedside of his 6-year-old, who had been shot in the head while playing outside his Baghdad home. The father had been waiting this way for several days, dressed in the same black robe, stroking the boy's shaved head or resting his own head on the child's legs.
NEWS
July 22, 2007
I read Police Chief Willliam McMahon's "open" letter to the public (The Sun, July 15) about better driving. Very nice, but I really wasn't impressed. I'll tell you why. I lived in Montgomery County for 15 years. Only had 1 point on my license since 1983. After 2001 (and 9/11), I couldn't get a job anywhere in the D.C. area because I didn't have a security clearance. So I went back home to New Jersey. In June of 2004, I was hit by a drunken motorcyclist. He slammed into my car doing about 65 mph. He died about a week later.
NEWS
By TROY MCCULLOUGH | June 11, 2006
The grim, near-future world outlined in Shooting War, a compelling new serialized online graphic novel, is not hard to imagine - a world where terrorist bombings on American soil are routine, sectarian chaos in Iraq has spread far beyond its borders, an Islamic insurgency has evolved to be as media-savvy as it is ruthless, and a blogger finds himself thrust onto the world stage by a salivating global news corporation after bearing witness to the latest...
NEWS
By TARA SONENSHINE | April 7, 2006
WASHINGTON -- It is both sobering and saddening after the recent release of Jill Carroll, the Christian Science Monitor freelance reporter held hostage in Iraq for 82 days, to hear the haunting war stories of other correspondents traveling to and from Baghdad. At a forum Tuesday at Georgetown University, recipients of the 2006 Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting (named for Teddy Weintal, who spent 25 years covering foreign affairs for Newsweek magazine) spoke of the harrowing experiences of covering the war in Iraq.