Daily News Feed 3.03.09/Vocab: ameliorate

Steele vs. Limbaugh: Battle for GOP Future?
In the four-plus weeks since he was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele has attempted a blunter and hipper — some may say a hip-hop — vernacular to breathe vigor into the demoralized GOP. The party’s first African-American chairman told The Washington Times of his plan to lay out an “off the hook” public relations blitz targeting young Latinos and African-Americans in “hip-hop settings.” He appeared on radio to denounce President Obama’s budget as containing a lot of “bling bling” and used a podcast to pronounce himself ready to hold a “rap off” with late night comedian Stephen Colbert. (Continue Reading…)

First All African American Female Flight Crew
Four African American women made history this month when they took an ASA flight from Atlanta to Nashville. They weren’t passengers. They were the nation’s first all black all female flight crew. Meet airline captain Rachelle Jones, first officer Stephanie Grant, and flight attendants Diana Galloway and Robin Rogers. When they worked that ASA flight from Atlanta to Nashville they never expected to make history. In fact, it was a matter of chance. “The first officer became ill and was replaced with Stephanie,” said Galloway. “When I got to the cockpit and I saw Rachelle — we just met a few weeks prior,” Grant said. “And I was just ecstatic when I saw her in there.” “We did not realize the historic ramifications of it,” Rogers said. “We were just like, okay this is gonna be fun.” (Continue Reading…)

Rihanna, Chris Brown Jet from Miami to Await Fate in L.A.
Rihanna and Chris Brown have bid adios to Miami Beach. After spending the past few days holed up in the city, the controversially reunited duo was spotted together at Miami International Airport late Sunday night. The couple, doing their best to cover up their faces, were joined by several friends at the airport, and Brown arrived in the L.A. area this morning. Rihanna is believed to have accompanied him, with sources telling E! News the twosome has checked in to a Beverly Hills hotel. Brown is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles on Thursday for their Grammys eve confrontation, but the district attorney says that date may be postponed if detectives don’t turn over the case soon enough. As of this morning, prosecutors tell E! News they have yet to see the evidence. (Continue Reading…)

One Rescued at Sea; Search for N.F.L. Players Continues
Coast Guard officials said four men, including two N.F.L. players, put on their life vests after their boat overturned in the Gulf of Mexico. Nick Schuyler, one of four men missing at sea who was found clinging to the group’s capsized boat on Monday, told interviewers that the boat capsized as the four were pulling up the anchor Saturday evening, according to The Associated Press. Coast Guard officials are still searching for the other three men: the N.F.L. players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and the former South Florida football player Will Bleakley. Schuyler, 24, was rescued from the 21-foot boat, which was anchored when it capsized about 35 miles from Clearwater, Fla. He told the rescuers that the four men clung to the boat together after it flipped but the other three slipped away at one point and he did not see what happened to them, Coast Guard Capt. Timothy M. Close told The Associated Press. (Continue Reading…)

ameliorate \uh-MEEL-yuh-rayt\, transitive verb: