Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is close to reaching a deal with
Rockville, Md.- based Discovery Productions on her Alaska-based
nature/reality show, "Alaska," according to numerous reports Tuesday.
Palin has been pitching the project for more than a month to broadcast
and cable networks on both coasts, but Monday's report that A&E was
no longer bidding for the project leaves Discovery as the last
contender standing.
According to Variety, the final price tag is more than $1 million per
episode, which would make "Alaska" the most expensive nature show ever
produced.
Palin, a Fox News Channel analyst, partnered with "Survivor" creator
Mark Burnett on the project, and she and her family will reportedly
appear on the show.
A spokesman for Discovery Communications declined to comment about the deal, but a statement is expected in the coming days.
Singer-actress Mandy Moore and environmentalist Alexandra Cousteau were on Capitol Hill Tuesday in honor of World Water Day March 22.
The two participated in a Congressional briefing on the effect of water, sanitation and hygiene on global health and development and then visited Upper Senate Park, where they took photos with students from Oyster Adams Elementary in D.C. and HB Woodlawn School in Arlington. The photo opportunity was the world's longest toilet queue, to draw attention to the lack of water and sanitation globally.
Cousteau, whose grandfather is famed explorer Jacques Cousteau, talked about how water sanitation effects everything from illnesses to climate change. Moore, who was wearing dark skinny jeans, a blazer and World Water Day t-shirt, talked about her trip to Sudan at the briefing.
After the photos at the toilet line, Moore was friendly and stayed briefly to sign autographs for the students.
President
Barack Obama used 22 commemorative pens to sign healthcare reform into law Tuesday, which is four more than he would need to write every letter of his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, with a separate pen. Obama's traditional signature does not include his middle name, however, so it's unlikely he would have written it on the bill.
As he methodically signed the landmark bill one letter at a time, the left-handed president looked up at the crowd and said, "I hadn't practiced this."
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the longest serving member of the House and a witness to scores of presidential signings, reassured him,"You're doing fine, Mr. President."
The White House reports that Obama will hand out 20 of the historic pens to the
following witnesses:
1. Reid 2. Durbin 3. Baucus 4. Harkin 5. Dodd 6. Speaker Pelosi 7. Hoyer 8. Clyburn 9. Miller 10. Waxman 11. Levin 12. Dingell 13. Rangel 14. Vice President Biden 15. Sebelius 16. Vicki Kennedy 17. Nancy-Ann DeParle 18. Phil Schiliro 19. Sister Carol Keehan, presisdent of the Caholic Health Association 20. President Obama
Introducing
President Obama at the healthcare signing event today, Vice President Joe Biden let
slip a celebratory remark he probably didn't intend to be public.
Luckily for us, a stray microphone picked it up.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seemed to agree with Biden's sentiment. He just tweeted: "And yes Mr. Vice President, you're right..."
Several Democratic lawmakers took to Twitter Tuesday right before the signing of the healthcare reform bill at the White House.
Members
of Congress who supported the bill were invited to attend the East Room
signing, as well as other dignitaries and some citizens whose personal
stories were used by Democrats in support of reform.
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) was admitted to an Atlanta hospital Monday due to a bacterial infection.
The
junior senator, 65, complained of feeling ill and dehydrated and was
treated at Northside Hospital, according to his office. He remains in
the hospital Tuesday.
"Senator Isakson is responding very
well to the treatment and is feeling much better," spokeswoman Joan
Kirchner said in a statement. "He met this morning with his Senate
chief of staff at the hospital and hopes to be back at work soon."
The healthcare reform bill might be 4,000 pages and weigh five pounds,
but that didn’t stop a number of lawmakers from lugging it around the
House floor Sunday night and asking members of the Democratic
leadership to sign their copies.
Spotted
with the massive bill in hand were Democratic Reps. Jim Himes (Conn.) (pictured here),
Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.). Signers
included Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
(Md.) and Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.).
The GOP side of the chamber, meanwhile, was an autograph-free zone.
And
while Democratic lawmakers clung tightly to their mementos on Sunday,
should they ever want to sell them, the signed copies of the bill could
be worth more than just good memories one day. But not much more.
The auction site eBay has hundreds of autographed congressional items for sale, but the prices are paltry.
Former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) signature fetches about $30,
while a copy of Gingrich’s book Contract with America signed by
Gingrich’s fellow Georgia Republican, the late Charlie Norwood, is
listed for $8.47.
Senate press secretaries are prepping for an epic battle on Tuesday
between Democrats and Republicans. But it’s not a last-minute
healthcare push. It’s a tug-of-war.
The
bipartisan Senate Press Secretaries Association (SPSA) is teaming up
with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus for a tug-of-war between
its members, with Democrats on one side and GOP staffers on the other.
And while the press secretaries take a break from spinning to do the
pulling, the serious job of refereeing the contest will be handled by
Ringling circus clowns.
The association’s
president is Steve Wymer, minority communications adviser to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He told ITK that he
encouraged competitors to chow down while watching NCAA basketball this
past week to prepare for the match-up.
“Other
than that,” he said, “they’re on their own, so if one team shows up in
cleats and face paint, and the other in work suits, we’ll know who’s
really ready to rumble.”
This won’t be the first time the
SPSA has turned to sports to symbolize the bareknuckle battles of
politics. The organization regularly visits professional sports teams
to talk to their media-relations squads and learn best practices. In
the past few years their nearly 200 members have met with flacks for
pro basketball’s New Jersey Nets and baseball’s Washington Nationals
and New York Yankees.
The tug-of-war will take place in Stanton Park on Tuesday at 6 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
Joe the Plumber is set to crash John McCain's reunion with Sarah Palin.
Samuel "Joe" Wurzelbacher, who recently said McCain "screwed my life up," is slated
to appear along with J.D. Hayworth at an anti-tax rally in Phoenix on
Friday. Meanwhile in Tucson, McCain will reunite at a rally with the
former Alaska governor.
Wurzelbacher has made it clear he has a bone to pick with the 2008 GOP presidential ticket. "McCain was trying to use me," he said in a radio interview last month. "I happened to be the face of middle Americans. It was a ploy."
Hayworth
is challenging McCain for the GOP nomination. His campaign declined to
say if an endorsement from Wurzelbacher was forthcoming.
