Bad: The doctor convicted in the overdose death of Michael Jackson was sentenced to the maximum four years behind bars today by a judge who denounced him as a reckless physician whose actions were a “disgrace to the medical profession.” Dr. Conrad Murray sat stoically with his hands crossed as Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor repeatedly chastised him for what he called a “horrific violation of trust” while caring for Jackson. The judge was relentless in his bashing of Murray, saying he lied repeatedly and had not shown remorse for his actions in the treatment of Jackson. Read the full story by The Associated Press here.
Just good friends: Herman Cain told aides today he is assessing whether the latest allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against him “create too much of a cloud” for his Republican presidential candidacy to go forward. Acknowledging the “firestorm” arising from an accusation of infidelity, Cain only committed to keeping his campaign schedule for the next several days, in a conference call with his senior staff. “If a decision is made, different than to plow ahead, you all will be the first to know,” he said, according to a transcript of the call made by the National Review, which listened to the conversation. It was the first time doubts about Cain’s continued candidacy have surfaced from the candidate himself. As recently as this morning, a campaign spokesman had stated unequivocally that Cain would not quit. Cain denied anew that he had an extramarital affair with a Georgia woman who went public a day earlier with allegations they had been intimate for 13 years. “It was just a friendship relationship,” he said on the call, according to the transcript. “That being said, obviously, this is a cause for reassessment.” Read the full story from The Associated Press here.
Off the wall: Facebook says it is settling with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it deceived consumers. The FTC had charged that the social network told people they could keep the information they share private, then allowed it to be made public. The charges go back to 2009, when Facebook changed its privacy settings to make public information that users may have deemed private. This included their list of friends, for example. The FTC says the settlement requires Facebook to get people’s approval before changing how it shares their data. In a blog post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company has made a “bunch of mistakes.” But he adds that this has often overshadowed the good work Facebook has done. He says Facebook has addressed many of the FTC’s concerns already.
