C2 Afternoon News

HotAir: Scozzafava quits after Siena poll; Update: Hoffman campaign asking for endorsement?

Nine U.S. banks seized in largest one-day haul

U.S. authorities seized nine failed banks on Friday, the most in a single day since the financial crisis began and the latest stark sign that substantial parts of the nation's banking industry are being crippled by bad loans.

The move brought the total number of failed banks in 2009 to 115 -- their highest annual level since 1992 -- with analysts expecting more to come. Among the lenders seized Friday was Los Angeles-based California National Bank, in what was the fourth-largest U.S. bank failure this year.

Advertising firm suing Alan Grayson

Both sides agree that when Grayson hired North Woods to help promote his campaign last year, he promised them a $20,000 payment – commonly referred to as a win bonus – if he emerged victorious in Florida’s eighth congressional district.

Grayson won the campaign and was elected to his first term in Congress – but never paid North Woods the $20,000 win bonus, both sides acknowledge. More than a year later, North Woods has filed suit against Grayson to collect the bonus, and another $50,000 for breach of contract, since Grayson’s campaign hired another advertising firm late in the campaign, allegedly violating an exclusivity clause in the North Woods contract.

NYT's Zeleny Again Involved in Obama Story Scrub

After Times organ grinder -- er, reporter -- Jeff Zeleny got a hold of the story, most of the harshness went away, as did Baker's original story. All of a sudden, at the same URL, there was no reference to tarnished presidential prestige. A dismissive assertion that the embarrassment "would fade in a news cycle or two" appeared. There was also a mention of Obama's 25-minute meeting with Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal that was not in the original. The reference to falling poll numbers also disappeared.

Well, the Times has just pulled a similar stunt in its coverage of President Obama's Wednesday night/Thursday morning visit to Dover Air Force Base. Once again, Jeff Zeleny is involved.

Obama names 110 White House visitors (H/T: Running Bare - who points out that 'Malik Shabazz' appears on the list; must be a different Malik Shabazz, not this guy; Jake Tapper says there are 59 people by that name on whitepages.com, so...)

The list released at 4:30 p.m. Friday includes just about 110 names with 481 visits. Those names were among those requested by members of the public so far, for visits during the period from Inauguration Day through July. (That's why we know of visits by the wrong Bill Ayers, the wrong Angela Davis, etc., but we don't know of visits by countless unnamed lobbyists.) Members of the public who used the White House online form to check names did not receive a personal reply indicating whether or not the request was received, or whether the name appeared on the list, so the system provides no feedback. Does the absence of Bill Clinton's name on the list mean that he has not been to the White House, or that the request wasn't received by the White House online system?

A request for the complete records of all visitors from the first months of the administration, filed by msnbc.com, was rejected by the White House, and an appeal is pending. The news organization requested the names of all visitors to the Obama White House beginning with Inauguration Day. Msnbc.com has filed an administrative appeal with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.