12 figures
daily dos
tue 1/6/2009

(image by sskennel via flickr)
- New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson held a press conference to announce he will step down as Barack Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary: "While this decision was a difficult one, I think it was the right thing to do." Richardson is currently under investigation for awarding a lucrative contract to one of his largest campaign donors.
- President-elect Barack Obama is discussing $300 billion in tax cuts as a part of a $675 to $775 billion economic relief package. Some analysts view the move as an effort to preempt Republican opposition.
- At least 33 people in are dead and over 100 people are missing in Guatemala after a mile-wide landslide hit the Central American country. San Cristobal Verapaz Mayor Leopoldo Ical: "The landslide is so big, we don't have much hope of recovering many more bodies."
- Check out The Boston Globe's sobering photo gallery of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
- Puerto Rico's new governor, Luis Fortuno, is facing a recession, a one billion-dollar deficit and a surging murder rate.
- Is Lupe Fiasco rocking a fake British accent so he can front a rock band named Japanese Cartoon? According to the band's MySpace blog, "Lupe does finance the band but is NOT I REPEAT NOT THE SINGER IN JAPANESE CARTOON."
- Latinas are more likely to avoid doctors and use risky methods to induce abortions, including mixing prescription drugs and throwing themselves down stairs, according to two studies in a New York Times report.
- Cuban President Raul Castro says he's ready to hold direct talks with Barack Obama: "But we are in no rush, we are not desperate."
