Free Republic

A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism. The FBI is investigating and President Obama, celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, was told of the incident about three hours after the plane landed, officials said. Obama has told White House officials that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel, a spokesman said. Nevertheless, officials said, they are not prepared to raise the terrorism alert level, currently at orange -- or the second-highest of five levels -- for domestic and international air travel.

LOS ANGELES — Hugh Hefner leaned back on a red loveseat, the saggy one in the study of his infamous mansion here, and interlocked his fingers behind his head. A visitor had asked — more like shouted, since he has trouble hearing — a question about mortality. At 83, does he think about it? In a word, no. Mr. Hefner, the legendarily libidinous founder of Playboy, the prophet of hedonism, does not believe that his denouement is at hand. He doesn’t act like it, either. He still works full days on his magazine, flies to Europe and Las Vegas, pops...

'Survivor' perks: making it in local news By LEE HALL Special to Electronic Media One might think that after Andrea Thompson’s flameout on CNN Headline News, news directors would shy away from hiring TV personalities in the newsroom. One would be wrong. Two news directors in big markets have gone out on a hiring limb recently, taking on former contestants from CBS’s popular “Survivor” franchise and trying to turn them into television news reporters. The early verdict: so far, so good. "She is the only person I have ever seen on one of those reality shows who didn’t come across...