So Boulder, Colo., prosecutors have finally concluded what most of us suspected the minute we saw the robotic John Mark Karr doing the perp walk in those high-waisted pants of his: this guy had nothing to do with the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.
Which isn’t to say a crime hasn’t been committed. Mr. Karr still has a week and a half of fervid "Nancy Grace" shows on CNN to answer for. One hopes he might also be billed for the champagne and prawns he consumed on that first-class flight from Thailand, but somehow I doubt that’ll happen. We may have to settle for the child porn charges he still faces in California.
For TV news, the rabid coverage of this debacle is further proof that a 24/7 parade of experts and analysts and endlessly looping videotape leaves no one the wiser. For Boulder authorities, hoping for redemption in an investigation that was bungled from the beginning, it’s just one more failure in a bizarre case that again seems unlikely ever to be solved.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Given the anger surrounding her polarizing role in the Florida recount fiasco of 2000, you’d think U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris might now want to project an image of comity.
Evidently not.
Separation of church and state is “a lie we have been told,” Harris said in an interview with a religious journal last week.
Lest her remarks be misconstrued, she added: “If you’re not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin.”
Harris is running for a Florida Senate seat now held by a Democrat. Many Republicans in that state — including Gov. Jeb Bush — don’t think she can win. With pronouncements like that, neither do I.
Posted by Dave Knadler
In a heated campaign one can easily imagine happening in Kansas, South Dakota is weighing whether to outlaw abortion at the Nov. 7 election. A month ago, the proposed ban on all abortions (except to save a mother’s life) led by 8 percentage points in an opinion poll. A newer poll shows voters disliking it as too severe. At the very least, such a ballot initiative ought to get out the vote in the state. But what a painful debate to be having. And as Sioux Falls obstetrician-gynecologist Maria Bell told the Washington Post, “To think passing a law will stop abortion is incredibly naive.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Talk of a housing bust has been going on almost as long as the housing boom, but that loud hiss you hear is the bubble finally deflating: The Washington Post notes that sales of previously owned homes plummeted in July to the lowest level in 2½ years. In the Midwest — never a favored region for home-flippers anyway — sales are down 5.9 percent.
But look on the bright side. Wichita never really benefited from the boom in other parts of the country, so any slowdown will have far less impact here than in places like Florida and California. Also, slowing home sales may convince the Fed to hold off, for now, on more interest-rate increases.
Finally, all those folks who tapped their swollen home equities to buy RVs, luxury cars and second homes? For them, the party may be over.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Stephen Singular, author of “Unholy Messenger: The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer,” thinks that Dennis Rader might have had other Wichita victims he never talked about. Check out the author’s post at the Crime Rant blog for some lurid speculation about BTK’s alleged gay past.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
“A T. Rex Named Sue” should draw crowds to Exploration Place. The traveling exhibit opens Saturday and features a cast of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skelton ever discovered, as well as interactive displays. It is the first of several successful exhibits planned at Exploration Place in coming years. It also reflects a growing confidence by museum officials that Exploration Place deserves big name exhibits and that if you host them, people will come.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
