Russell Frank
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Forensic Expert Challenges Key Evidence as Hearing Begins in Subu Vedam’s Pursuit for a New Trial
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About 100 people received a crash course in forensic anthropology in Centre County Court in Bellefonte on Thursday. It was the first installment of a two-day hearing to determine whether key evidence was suppressed when Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam was convicted of murdering Thomas Kinser in 1980. Vedam, now 63 and serving a life sentence in…
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Will Subu Vedam Prevail?
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Updated 12:28 p.m. Feb. 5 with new hearing times. It all comes down to the size of a bullet and a bullet hole, measured in fractions of an inch. Subramanyam Vedam, imprisoned 42 years on a murder rap, will be back in court on Thursday, hoping a ballistics expert will convince a judge to grant…
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Trump 2.0: Smile Though Your Heart Is Breaking
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Some of my friends don’t like it when I say Donald Trump is ridiculous. A pie in the face is ridiculous, they say. Trump is dangerous. I agree he’s dangerous. Just look at that blizzard of Day One executive orders. But it’s better for my mental health if, like an editorial cartoonist or a late-night…
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There’s Nothing Funny About a Censored Cartoon
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One of the joys of teaching journalism is that I can count on the news itself to provide made-to-order lesson plans. Take what happened at the Washington Post last week. Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, presented a draft of a drawing to her editor that depicted four men and a certain cartoon mouse in…
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Happy Chrismukkah!
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It’s a harmonic convergence: Christmas today/Hanukkah tonight. I have excellent credentials as your columnist-du-jour: I’m Jewish but I’ve twice married women who grew up with visions of sugar plums, not latkes, dancing in their heads at this time of year. As a result of these exogamous unions, I have had a Christmas tree in my…
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Psst, Wanna Rent My House Next Weekend?
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If I were smart about money – which I’m not – I’d quickly get me one of those short-term rental permits from the Borough of State College, rent out my house for the Dec. 21-22 weekend and dash off to New York City for a dose of holiday cheer. Some of you, I’m sure, are…
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Spencer Bivens: A Thankful Giant Is Back in Town
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Last week was awards week in Major League Baseball. Spencer Bivens didn’t win any of them. His team, the San Francisco Giants, didn’t make the playoffs. Free agent outfielder Juan Soto is expected to sign a contract worth more than $600 million this winter. Bivens won’t command anywhere near that kind of money. A disappointing…
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Election Post-Mortem – and I Do Mean Mortem
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The morning after the Great Debacle, I lay down in my backyard and gazed at the sky. Inside, on my laptop, was the ephemeral – politics, presidents, punditry. Out here was the eternal — round clouds drifting eastward, glimpses of blue in the gaps between them. A dark flock flew by, unaware that Donald Trump…
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Ain’t No Cure for the Pre-Election Jitters
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I’m known as a calm guy. Where others overreact to difficulties, I under-react. Where they spin worst-case scenarios, I believe — correctly, usually; naively, at times — that nothing really terrible is going to happen. Like Anne Frank (no relation), I believe that most people are good and that therefore, the good will prevail. Or…
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College Life in Ukraine: School Bags and Sandbags
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I addressed a colleague’s journalism class last week — a routine (and enjoyable) aspect of academic life. Two things about this guest shot were anything but routine. One was the time. The other was the place. Class began at 6:30 a.m. — here in the Eastern United States. Where the students were, it was seven…