BREVITAS

CRASH TALK

CNN - The Securities and Exchange Commission filed securities fraud charges against former Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo and two other former executives. The trio was charged with deliberately misleading investors by telling them the company was a quality lender of mostly prime mortgages and had prudent underwriting standards, while it actually was engaging in very risky lending practices in order to build and maintain market share. Mozilo was also charged with insider trading for selling his Countrywide stock for nearly $140 million in profits while knowing that Countrywide's business model was deteriorating. Along with Mozilo, the SEC charged former Chief Operating Officer and President David Sambol and former Chief Financial Officer Eric Sieracki with hiding the company's true practices and condition from shareholders.

WATCHING THE COUNT

Washington Post - Sequoia Voting Systems agreed to turn over sensitive information to the D.C. Council about how the District's voting machines work and tabulate results, setting the stage for one of the most comprehensive probes on the reliability of electronic voting equipment. The agreement is a response to the election night chaos in the September primaries, when Sequoia machines tabulated more ballots than there were voters, resulting in thousands of phantom votes. Electoral change advocates said the agreement, finalized in D.C. Superior Court after the city threatened a lawsuit, is one of the first times a manufacturer of electronic voting machines has been forced to endure a public vetting of how its equipment tabulates returns.

OBAMALAND

CQ Politics - Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested "a wise Latina woman" or "wise woman" judge might "reach a better conclusion" than a male judge. Those speeches. . . suggest her widely quoted 2001 speech in which she indicated a "wise Latina" judge might make a better decision was far from a single isolated instance. A draft version of a October 2003 speech Sotomayor delivered at Seton Hall University stated, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion." That is identical to her October 2001 remarks at the University of California. . . In addition, Sotomayor delivered a series of earlier speeches in which she said "a wise woman" would reach a better decision. She delivered the first of those speeches in Puerto Rico in 1994 and then before the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York in April 1999.

URBAN

Business Week - Tata, the Indian company that made worldwide headlines with its $2,000 Nano car, now plans to build 1,000 tiny apartments outside Mumbai that will sell for $7,800 to $13,400 each. The company plans to roll out low-cost projects outside other major cities. . . Luxury flats in Mumbai can cost more than ones in Manhattan. But these apartments won’t be luxurious. The Tata apartments will be built on 67 acres in Boisar, an industrial area where many lower-wage commuters already rent. . . The carpeted area of the smallest units will be 218 square feet. . . The largest units would be about 373 square feet . . .

JUSTICE & FREEDOM

KENS - Twenty-one year-old Victoria Rogers says she wishes she could change the past. The local mother has been a fugitive since January -- wanted by authorities in Killeen, Texas. "I apologized and said I didn't mean to," Rogers said. Out of fear of being picked up for her outstanding warrant, Rogers says she refuses to drive or apply for a job. If only she had returned that library book to the Killeen Public Library, this would not be an issue. "I was floored," Rogers said. "I couldn't believe a warrant for a library book."
During an ugly divorce, Rogers and her 5-month-old son left Killeen and headed south to San Antonio, leaving behind a rocky relationship and a library book. With so much else on her mind, Rogers says she forgot about the book. She says her ex-husband never told her about the notices in the mail. She says she has offered to pay for the book, but the city of Killeen says it's too late. A library worker says that once they send multiple notices and turn over a case to the city, it's out of their hands.

Torrent Freak - The Pirate Party has won a huge victory in the Swedish elections and is marching on to Brussels. After months of campaigning against well established parties, the Pirate Party has gathered enough votes to be guaranteed a seat in the European Parliament. . .

THE MIX

New Hampshire has joined five other states in approving gay marriage