The nation’s chaotic financial situation continued on Monday, as the Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 500 points over the course of the day. Investors undoubtedly reacted to a variety of unsettling factors, among them the continued planned disintegration of one prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers; the selling of another large securities firm, Merrill Lynch, to Bank of America; and the State of New York’s offer of assistance to international insurance organization American International Group.
Novelist David Foster Wallace was found dead of an apparent suicide attempt in his California home on Friday, Claremont police reported. The author of the postmodern classics Infinite Jest and the Broom of the System was known for his freewheeling, hyper-intellectual style, which veered manically from the depths of neurotic self-absorption to the heights of virtuosic artistry. Michiko Kakutani, book reviewer for The New York Times, said of him in her review of Infinite Jest: “He can do sad, funny, silly, heartbreaking and absurd with equal ease; he can even do them all at once.”
Democratic candidate for President Barack Obama raised a record $66 million during the month of August, far surpassing the record of $55 million he set back in February. According to advisors, the upsurge reflects the efforts of a huge number of new donors—over 500,000, by one count—in combination with a large number of donations from former Hillary Clinton supporters. The latest funds bring their total amount available to $94 million, $6 million less than the total available to McCain.
A “toxic soup” of mud, asbestos, human waste, and gasoline has left many homes on Galveston Island uninhabitable, Texas authorities said on Monday. The sludge represents one of the remnants of Hurricane Ike, which tore through the island over the weekend and caused an estimated $10 billion in damage. Officials are encouraging residents who stayed on the island to evacuate.
Alaska lawmakers voted Friday to subpoena Todd Palin, the wife of Alaskan governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, as part of an investigation into his wife’s dismissal of Alaskan Public Safety Commisioner Walter Monegan. Monegan, whom Palin dismissed in June on grounds that his department needed new leadership, claims that he was let go because of his reluctance to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper and former brother-in-law of Gov. Palin. The legislator in charge of the inquiry, Stephen E. Branchflower, justified the subpoena by stating that Mr. Palin was a “central figure” in the case.
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