US – Monday, February 8
National
At least five die in power plant blast
At least five people were killed and 12 injured yesterday when a massive explosion rocked a large gas-fired power plant being built in Middletown, Conn., the town’s mayor said.
 
International
Feeling young? Your cells may actually be old
Scientists have found specific genetic variants which may explain why some people age earlier than others and say their findings have important implications for understanding cancer and age-related diseases.
 
The Word
Pre-game parties of the rich and famous
Ah, Super Bowl weekend — where there are cameras, parties and free gift rooms, there are sure to be celebrities. Here’s a smattering of who was seen out and about in Miami over the weekend.
 
My Entertainment
Under the covers with novelist Nicholas Sparks
With 15 best-selling novels and six film adaptations under his belt, Nicholas Sparks is one of the most successful writers working today — and he does sit down to work every day. The man behind “Dear John,” which beat “Avatar” for the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office, talks about making movies and making people cry.
 
Business
‘Free’ ad leads to fraud suit
NEW YORK. A Wisconsin college student is suing credit firm Experian — the brains behind the ubiquitous FreeCreditReport.com jingles — for fraudulent advertising after she inadvertently signed up for a monthly $14.95 monitoring service.
 
My Pets
After Katrina, struggle to find some loved ones
Malvin Cavalier lost plenty when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. But when the 86-year-old finally made it back to a FEMA trailer, it was without his dog, Bandit. And he wasn’t alone — in the process of evacuating the city, many owners were separated, sometimes forcibly, from their pets, which were then placed in shelters across the country.

 
Updated 22:53, September the 25th, 2008
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Foreman: Selling off the rest of the Wall St. rubble

Let’s say you walk into an office building filled with busy people doing all those things that people in offices do, and suddenly a guy appears with a big fat wallet.

   “Listen,” he says in a money-filled drawl, “I’ve got $10 million for you if you can just make sure nothing bad happens here in the next 30 minutes.”

You start walking the floors, and 29 minutes later you smell smoke. What do you do?  If you are a caring human being, you pull the fire alarm and say goodbye to your almost fortune.

Or, if you bear no direct blood ties to Mother Teresa, you say nothing, collect the money and tell the fire crews, “Hey, it wasn’t burning when I was in charge!”

That’s why Congress spent much of this week arguing for limits on CEO pay as part of the bailout package. For decades now, Wall Street has been moving deeper into a realm where rewards are based on fast bucks and blind eyes toward future problems.

 In the 1970s, the average CEO made only 35 times as much as the average worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Back then, the big boss still had to keep the place running, the income flowing, the widgets selling for 15 or 20 years before he could safely afford three houses, six cars, and a year-round vacation schedule. Today, that same CEO makes about 275 times as much as his employee. At a paltry $25 million a year, he can work two weeks and retire with as much money as the average American family will make in 20 years.

That trend promotes, by the reckoning of many analysts, a really weird way of looking at business. Long-term survival of a company? Who cares? Being a good corporate citizen interested in the stability of your workers’ lives or careers, their neighborhoods, or your country? Are you kidding?  

If we were talking about just the dealings of private businesses, perhaps we could all shrug and go back to hemorrhaging our own money at the gas pumps. But what we are talking about now is us, the American taxpayers, picking up the tab for the bad decisions these highly paid professionals have made. A $700-billion tab.

The funny thing is, everyone on Wall Street could smell the smoke years ago. So even the slowest politician knows, voters are not going to be very happy if part of the payout goes to the guys and gals who did not pull the fire alarm.

CNNPolitics.com | Catch Tom Foreman on CNN every Saturday at 6 p.m. on This Week in Politics for a look back at the presidential campaign trail.