FRIDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The story of the U.S. Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River continues to be nothing short of extraordinary. Josh Marshall, who tends to look at air travel the same way I do, has an interesting item on the history.
* Be prepared to hear a lot more about Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, whose heroism saved a lot of lives on that plane.
* On a related note, emptywheel had a very good item this morning: “This Miracle Brought to You by America’s Unions.”
* A hint of progress in Gaza.
* Senate Democrats put their faith in Obama’s word late yesterday and voted to give him the $350 billion remaining for the financial industry bailout. Also, the federal government agree to supply Bank of America “with a fresh $20 billion capital injection and absorb as much as $98.2 billion in losses on toxic assets.”
* The AP found “at least 26” Bush administration burrowers, but added, “[T]here likely are even more.”
* Blagojevich’s impeachment attorney quit today. Probably not a good sign.
* Pakistan has rounded up the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Given its suspected role in the Mumbai attacks, that’s a good move.
* Florida Sen. Mel Martinez is the latest Republican senator to endorse Eric Holder’s A.G. nomination. Sorry, Arlen.
* NASA Administrator Michael Griffin’s unorthodox campaign to keep his job didn’t work.
* I neglected to mention yesterday that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Hillary Clinton’s nomination to serve as Secretary of State yesterday, 16 to 1.
* More newspaper troubles — the Minneapolis Star Tribune is filing for Chapter 11, and the Boston Globe is slashing its newsroom staff.
* For the record, Obama was not cheered in the Washington Post newsroom yesterday.
* Note to Fred Barnes: when someone refers to the next president as “Monkey Boy,” muster the courage to express some kind of disapproval.
* I can’t believe we’re paying these clowns (literally).
* And finally, “Battlestar Gallactica” comes back tonight. Variety has a great feature in the new issue on the cross-disciplinary significance of the show. As it turns out, I’m one of the contributors, so take a look.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
