newsmakers

newsmakers

MSNBC suspends Scarborough

NEW YORK

MSNBC said Friday that “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough will be suspended for donating to four Republican candidates in local Florida races, two weeks after Keith Olbermann was suspended for making political contributions to Democrats.

Scarborough said he agreed with the two-day suspension, which is the same duration as Olbermann’s.

The donations, first reported by the website Politico, came between 2004 and 2008. Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, made eight donations of $500 apiece to campaigns for Florida offices.

Scarborough will be back on the air Wednesday, said MSNBC President Phil Griffin.

Palin book challenges JFK religion speech

new york

In her new book, Sarah Palin takes on everything from “American Idol” to “American Beauty,” revives talk of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and finds fault in JFK’s famous religion speech, saying he “seemed to want to run away” from his faith.

Who gets praise? Simon Cowell, for one. And the movies “Juno,” “Knocked Up” and “40-Year-Old Virgin.”

Barack Obama? Unsurprisingly, not so much. She accuses him of reflecting “a stark lack of faith in the American people,” among many other things — without tipping her hand on whether she will challenge him in 2012.

“America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag,” which has been billed as a tribute to American values, comes out Nov. 23.

Snipes ordered to surrender in tax case

ORLANDO, Fla.

A federal judge ordered actor Wesley Snipes to surrender to authorities Friday so he can begin serving a three-year prison sentence for tax-related crimes. U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges in Ocala, Fla., rejected a request from the actor’s attorneys to review Snipes’ sentence and grant a new trial. Snipes has been free on bond for more than two years while appealing.

The 48-year-old star of the “Blade” trilogy and Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” was convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file his income tax returns. He was acquitted of two more-serious felony charges.

Vindicator wire services