The Daily Blog

Jan 7

T.I. Busted Receiving ‘Tiny’ Sexual Favor in Prison.

T.I., who is still imprisoned for violating probation terms from a drug arrest last year, is apparently in need of more than a release from behind bars. TMZ is reporting that the ATL rapper was busted for receiving a handjob from his wife Tiny. Apparently, during a routine visit at Arkansas State Prison, Tiny was found in violation of prison rules for her show of affection and separated from T.I. Poor guy.

She confirms that the rapper was then escorted to the “Special Housing Unit” of the jail, which is usually reserved for prisoners with code-of-conduct violations . This means, at least temporarily, T.I. will be housed in a unit that features higher security standards and less personal freedom.

Prison guidelines state that inmates are certainly allowed to kiss and embrace their visitors at the beginning and end of a visit. While chatting, they can hold hands with any recourse, but hand to other-body-part contact is little bit beyond what they have in mind. “The inmate’s hands must remain in plain view of Visiting Room staff at all times,” reads the rules.

Tiny told TMZ that she has yet to speak to T.I. since the incident went down. She thinks that they will allow her to visit again soon as long as she plays by the rules this time.

Nov 28

T.I. Covers VIBE, Says Drug Use Started After Trip to Dentist.

As T.I. lingers in prison for a probation-violating drug bust, he is still creating a big media presence in the lead-up to his next album ‘No Mercy.’ The ATL rapper is covering the December issue of VIBE and speaks frankly on his history with drug use. He says that a series of dental surgeries and subsequent use of pain killers due to his rough schedule is responsible for the hold of drugs on his life.

“I had a lot of work done to my teeth,” he explains in a frank interview. “Oral surgery, extractions, six, seven, eight root canals. Between January to February. As soon as I got out, I had a lot of stuff done. In the joint, you eat s—- that is unhealthy for you. I had fillings that fell out and stuff that had to get dealt with. Of course for the pain they gave me oxycontin and hydrocodone.”

He claims that he cut off all drug use, including marijuana and alcohol, in October 2007. He mistook the legality of painkillers as a different sort of substance than those illegal mainstays and eventually developed a certain dependency.

“I had cut off everything — weed, alcohol,” he continues. “Then I get these pills and I start taking them for the pain at first. And then I’m like, Wait_this s—- makes me feel good. And it’s legal. After the pain went away, I kept taking it. I had like five, six prescriptions. So I had, like 80 pills. Everybody else might have a drink or smoke a blunt, I took a pain pill. Times when I had 18-, 20-hour days, I’d take a pain pill. And eventually I developed — I guess — the beginning stages of dependence.”

Nov 15

HP Forks Over $16.25 Million to Settle School Bribery Case .

The FCC’s E-Rate program provides many schools around the country with money to support their computer networks. It also provides opportunities for private tech companies, who can bid for school contracts under what’s supposed to be an open and fair process. Hewlett Packard, however, recently came under fire for allegedly bribing certain school officials with lavish gifts in an attempt to rig the competition. And, although the company steadfastly denies the allegations, it has now agreed to pay $16.25 million to make the case go away.

The settlement effectively concludes an investigation originally undertaken by the FCC and the Department of Justice, who decided to take legal action after being tipped off by whistle-blowers in the school districts of Dallas and Houston. “Meals and entertainment — including trips on a yacht and tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl — were provided by the contractors to get inside information and win contracts that were supposed to be awarded through a competitive bidding process,” the FCC said on Wednesday, while announcing the settlement.

According to the agreement, HP must now pay $7,402,441 for a contract it won with Dallas schools, and $8,847,559 for its Houston contract. HP also agreed to implement a compliance program, which will help train its employees on how to engage in the bidding process without violating E-Rate’s rules.

Despite the government’s conviction that HP was “conspiring to rig the competitive bidding of E-Rate contracts,” the company refuses to admit guilt in the matter. “This Agreement is neither an admission of liability by HP, which denies the claims described above, nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well-founded,” the settlement reads. In a statement provided to Ars Technica, the company emphasized this sentiment, and reiterated the fact that the case is now over. “The activities at the center of this investigation occurred more than five years ago, the partner relationships have been terminated and the employees involved are no longer with the company,” HP said in a statement. “HP fully cooperated with the authorities and the matter is now resolved.”

Nov 8

NEW YORK (Nov. 7) — MSNBC says Keith Olbermann will be back on the air Tuesday, ending his suspension for violating NBC’s rules against making political donations after two shows.

MSNBC’s chief executive Phil Griffin said late Sunday that after several days of deliberation, he had determined that two days off the air was “an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy.”The left-leaning cable network’s most popular personality acknowledged donating $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. NBC News prohibits its employees from making political donations unless an exception is granted in advance by the network news president. In this case, Olbermann’s bosses didn’t know about them until being informed by a reporter.”We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night,” Griffin said in a statement.

Liberal groups had taken on Olbermann’s suspension as a cause. An online petition calling for his reinstatement, run by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, had exceeded 250,000 signatures Sunday, and Michael Moore had tweeted his support.

Left unanswered is the question of why Olbermann would do something he undoubtedly knew would be provocative, or whether he was trying to make a statement against NBC’s policy. He did not immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment Sunday.The incident raised questions about how long-standing rules designed to preserve the appearance of objectivity for news organizations fit at a time that cable news networks, most prominently Fox News Channel and MSNBC, have increased their popularity through prime-time programs that dispense with any notion of impartiality.

“What we’ve seen in the last five years is the rise of these personalities that eclipse the journalism that these organizations do,” said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute journalism think tank.Many mainstream news organizations take these rules dead seriously. National Public Radio subjected itself to some teasing this fall when it issued a memo forbidding its personnel from attending comic Jon Stewart’s rally in Washington last month, but NPR didn’t want reporters seen at an event that some people could interpret as political, unless the reporters were covering it.

Olbermann’s fans note that he’s made no secret of his support for Democrats on his prime-time “Countdown” show. So why should he be suspended for putting his money where his mouth is?

His prime-time MSNBC colleague, Rachel Maddow, said on her show Friday night that Olbermann should be reinstated. Her bosses were told she’d be saying that before going on the air, however.McBride said she wouldn’t be surprised if some news organizations drop these rules in the next few years, or at least carve out exceptions for certain personalities. Fox News seems to have effectively done this. Prime-time host Sean Hannity made a $5,000 donation to Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s PAC this summer; Fox says he’s a conservative talk show host, not a journalist. Part-time commentators the network has hired like Karl Rove and Sarah Palin continue their political work while drawing pay from Fox.

“It’s getting harder and harder to draw the lines in general,” McBride said. “The public doesn’t spend a lot of time differentiating between commentators and journalists.”

Yet the principle of journalistic independence is more important now than ever, said Bob Steele, director of the Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University in Indiana.

Prime-time opinion hosts are journalists as well as commentators, Steele said. They host news programs, make decisions on what stories to emphasize, what guests to bring on, and what questions are asked, he said.

“There’s a huge difference between having a belief and becoming an activist,” he said, “and when you contribute to a campaign with your money or your energy, you’re an activist.”

Donations to some Democratic candidates by a commentator who clearly supports Democrats may seem simple. But why these candidates in these states and not others? What if these candidates get involved in primaries?

In other words, it can get messy.

Griffin’s statement about Olbermann’s return said nothing about any changes to NBC’s rules.

For NBC News, there’s also the risk of having its journalists associated with activist hosts. Olbermann and Maddow are clear in their opinions on MSNBC, but veteran NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell hosts a daytime hour on the network. So do White House reporters Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie.
The question of whether MSNBC is an opinion network or news network seemed particularly hard to answer on election night. In the 2008 political season, MSNBC went back and forth between having Olbermann serve as a news anchor or commentator on nights of big political news; on election night this year, Olbermann was one of the hosts. Chris Matthews was an anchor, too, and he put some tough questions to GOP guests like Bachmann. But beyond asking tough questions, he wondered aloud whether Bachmann was under “hypnosis,” and some of MSNBC’s personalities were heard laughing at their guests’ responses.

Some journalists may also get mixed signals when they see corporate overseers active in political campaigns. Fox’s parent News Corp. donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association this summer. Steele noted there’s a long tradition of political activism among owners of news organizations in this country.

Beyond the decision on Olbermann’s future, some broader thinking on these issues appears in the offing.

“I would really struggle if I were running one of these organizations to figure out where the journalism fits in,” McBride said. “It’s obvious that journalism still has some role in these organizations, but it’s not sure where it figures in anymore.”

Oct 16

A U.S. District Judge has sentenced T.I. to serve 11 more months in prison for violating his probation, reps for the rapper confirm. T.I. and wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle were arrested in early September on suspicion of drug possession during a traffic stop. He was already on probation after serving a term behind bars for a 2008 weapons conviction. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, T.I. told the court that “I screwed up big time, and I’m sorry. I’m truly and sincerely sorry. I don’t want and I don’t need to use drugs anymore. I want them out of my life.” But U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell Jr. was not swayed, reportedly stating, “I think Mr. Harris had had about the limit of second chances.” T.I. was born Clifford Harris Jr. A rep for Atlantic Records, T.I.’s label, released the following statement: “T.I. is such an important and valued member of our Atlantic family. We offer to him and his family our continued love and support during this very difficult time.”