A festering office grudge—between a brash salesman and a meticulous artisan who finally snapped—sits at the dark bottom of yesterday's fatal shooting outside the Empire State Building. Says the NYT: “You chalk it up to two guys being around each other too much,” one longtime co-worker said of their hostile relationship.

Those nine other people who were wounded? They were shot by the two police officers who confronted Jeffrey Johnson—and made a difficult decision to open fire on a crowded street in Midtown Manhattan.

iVerdict: A jury decided Samsung really is guilty of ripping off Apple's patented designs, and a judge ordered the Korean mobile-device maker, the world's largest by volume, to pay its rival $1 billion. Definitely next up? An appeal. Probably not next up? Fixing our patent system.

The Communist/Black Liberationist Kenyan Islamist illegally squatting in Our Hallowed White House dares to assert that the Western God's chosen businessman avatar, the very handsome and wealthy Willard Romney, harbors "extreme" views on social and economic policies and has engaged in "factually dishonest" arguments in his bid to lead America off a cliff.

Willard Romney has had painfully trying, humanizing problems to overcome in his life. Just like you!

The boy whose sex-abuse allegations three years ago led to Jerry Sandusky's guilty verdict and the shaming of Penn State University has filed a lawsuit against the school, asking a judge to rule that it, too, should share in the legal blame.

Tropical Storm Isaac
kissed the island of Hispaniola before running along toward Cuba and, very likely, Florida—where hurricane warnings are still in effect.

"He is magical, he’s marvelous, he’s like a Superman." The words of a former German model (and bunga bunga party planner) who says she was knocked up by 75-year-old Silvio Berlusconi, the disgraced Italian prime minister.

Steve Duin of the Oregonian spent some time with the Port of Portland's big boss, Bill Wyatt, and learned all about the port's generous nature. Except, that is, when West Hayden Island is involved.

NO REASON. I JUST LIKE THIS SONG AND WANTED TO LISTEN TO IT.