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News & Notes

Bloomberg breaks own spending record

By wire services
Published December 6, 2005

New York City's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent more than $77-million to get re-elected, breaking the $74-million record he set in 2001 during his first try at politics, according to campaign finance reports released Monday. The spending amounts to more than $103 per vote. Bloomberg was elected in a landslide Nov. 8 over Democrat Fernando Ferrer, who had trouble raising money and spent just more than $9-million during the race. The candidates will file a final report early next year, so the numbers are expected to grow slightly. No mayor has ever spent so much to get re-elected, and few candidates have come close to that kind of spending for any office other than president.

Wikipedia changing submission rules

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute, is tightening submission rules after a prominent journalist complained that an article falsely implicated him in the assassinations of Robert and John F. Kennedy. Wikipedia will now require users to register before they can create articles, Jimmy Wales, founder of the St. Petersburg-based Web site, said Monday. People who modify existing articles will still be able to do so without registering.

THE UNUSUAL

Smart move for Dummer Academy

Jokes about Governor Dummer Academy, the nation's oldest independent boarding school, are about to become history. The Newbury, Mass., school's board of trustees voted Saturday to shed "Dummer" and change the name to the Governor's Academy. Governor Dummer Academy will remain the elite institution's legal name, but it will begin doing business under the new name July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

UPDATE

Benzene spill

The head of a Chinese chemical company blamed for a toxic spill that poisoned a major river and strained relations with Russia has been removed from his post, the company said Monday. A report on a Web site run by China National Petroleum Corp. said Monday that Yu Li, general manager of the subsidiary Jilin Petrochemical Co., was among managers who "had responsibility" for the Nov. 13 benzene plant explosion and spill and would lose his position. The accident killed five people and dumped 100 tons of benzene and other chemicals into the Songhua River. The government blamed the accident on human error. Yu was the second major figure to lose his job over the disaster. The director of China's environmental protection agency resigned Friday. The manager of the benzene facility at the Jilin plant and a boss of a safety workshop also were removed from their posts, according to the CNPC Web site.

[Last modified December 6, 2005, 02:15:34]