Emails

LOS ANGELES - Promoters of Michael Jackson's planned 2009 comeback described in emails how they feared for the megastar's stability, saying he was out of shape and consumed with self-doubt. The Los Angeles Times obtained some 250 pages of messages, most between executives at Anschutz Entertainment Group, which was financing the ill-fated "This Is It" concerts set for London. Some of the emails indicated that executives were concerned that Jackson's planned 50-show stand at AEG's 02 Arena would be an expensive bust.

TAMPA, FLA. - Former CIA director David Petraeus was shocked to learn last summer that his mistress was suspected of sending threatening emails warning another woman to stay away from him, former staff members and friends told the Associated Press on Monday. Petraeus told these associates that his relationship with the second woman, Tampa socialite and former Philadelphian Jill Kelley, was platonic, although his biographer-turned-lover, Paula Broadwell apparently, saw her as a romantic rival.

A WORD OF ADVICE to female fans of SiriusXM radio host Bob Edwards : Use Facebook to compliment his work and you may feel the wrath of his fiancee, WRTI news anchor Windsor Johnston. An Ohio businesswoman received a barrage of angry emails from Johnston Monday night, after, the woman says, she hailed Edwards on Facebook for posting that he'd be interviewing disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff yesterday. "Go Bob, You're the man," she posted. Her post has since been removed from the Facebook page of Edwards, former host of NPR's "Morning Edition.

THE FBI investigation that led to the abrupt resignation of David H. Petraeus as CIA director was triggered by a 37-year-old Tampa woman who grew up in Philadelphia. Jill Kelley, married to a surgeon and mother of three young daughters, complained several months ago that she had received harassing emails from a woman who turned out to be Paula Broadwell, Petraeus' biographer. Born Jill Khawam to a locally prominent Lebanese-American family, past articles and records show that she grew up in Northeast Philadelphia and lived in the area until her mid-20s.

VINCE FUMO can't help himself. He's addicted: to his own voice, to power, to life inside his own little world. Those emails from prison that are included in a government memo confirm it. It's the only way to explain them. Emails from April 20 to Oct. 13, that when printed fill 12,068 pages, are part of the feds' case for resentencing The Vince. He's serving 55 months. The feds want at least 15 years for his 137-count conviction for fraud, tax evasion and obstruction.

The release of scores of kinky emails written by a powerful New Jersey Democrat to a lobbyist has sparked an investigation by prosecutors in Sussex County, according to reports. Joe Cryan, an assemblyman from Union County, was a rising star in the state's Democratic Party. Until 2010, he was majority leader in the state assembly and state party chairman. The New York Post published an enormous cache of sexually salacious emails allegedly written by Cryan documenting the details of a sado-masochistic affair he had with lobbyist Karen Golding.

IF VINCE FUMO has his way, he'll walk out of prison in less than a year, buy a new house in the Florida Keys, rehabilitate his farm on the Susquehanna River and score a million-dollar yacht if he's able to be relieved of restitution payments he owes. He'll also pen a book, tentatively titled The Senator , with freelance journalist Ralph Cipriano, use lobbying in Harrisburg as a supplemental source of income and exact revenge against prosecutors and political allies who crossed him, according to a court filing from U.S. attorneys released late last week.

You don't have to be a student of military conflict to know that America's high opinion of our troops, which soared during the World Wars and the Korean conflict, plunged during the Vietnam era. Returning soldiers were held accountable for the president's decisions. Some have never recovered from feeling the contempt of their countrymen for being in the wrong war, under the wrong leader. Things couldn't be more different today. Regardless of where individuals stand in their opinion of the conflicts in the Middle East, there's a national sense that the men and women fighting there are not to be blamed for it, but honored for having signed up. To get a sense of how everyday Americans stand behind our men and women in uniform, scroll through a website like troopssupport.com . It's a directory of organizations that provide everything from free lawn care and baby showers for veterans and their families to job training and new homes for soldiers wounded in action.

Vince Fumo's attorneys blasted federal prosecutors Friday in a court filing for "Orwellian" behavior when they published excerpts from Fumo's emails last week. While acknowledging the feds had the legal right to do so - and inmates are aware their communications may be monitored - the defense accused prosecutors of "intrusive surveillance" and criticized its "eleventh-hour use" less than two weeks before Fumo's resentencing on Wednesday. Prosecutors said in court papers on Oct. 28 that a trove of emails sent by Fumo between April and October showed he was "wholly unrepentant, virulently hostile toward the prosecutors ... and itching to write a book and exact revenge" on those who opposed him. But the defense said yesterday the feds' portrayal was "skewed" and based on cherry-picking emails to support their case that Fumo was a "conniving megalomaniac anxious to return to a life of crime ... while enjoying the restfulness" of life behind bars.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon inspector general has cleared the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan of allegations that he sent inappropriate emails to a Florida woman who was also involved in the scandal that led to CIA Director David Petraeus' resignation. The inspector general determined that Gen. John Allen's emails to Jill Kelley, a married Tampa socialite with close ties to several senior military officers, did not constitute professional misconduct, a spokeswoman for the office said.

WASHINGTON - The White House released 100 pages of e-mails Wednesday that reveal differences between intelligence analysts and State Department officials over how to initially describe the September attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. The internal debate did not include political interference from the White House, according to the e-mails, which were also provided to congressional intelligence committees several months ago. Since the assault that killed four Americans, Republicans have accused President Obama and his senior advisers of mischaracterizing the attack during a close reelection campaign.

WASHINGTON - Political considerations influenced the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used five days after the deadly Sept. 11 assault in Benghazi, Libya, with State Department and other senior administration officials asking that references to terror groups and prior warnings be deleted, according to department e-mails. The latest disclosures Friday raised new questions about whether the Obama administration tried to play down any terrorist factor in the attack on a diplomatic compound just weeks before the November presidential election.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he's determined to answer any questions related to the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as the House Republican leader pushed for more information from the Obama administration. One day after a lengthy House hearing on the Sept. 11 attack, Kerry told reporters as he traveled overseas that anyone culpable of wrongdoing will be dealt with appropriately. But he's withholding judgment on testimony in Congress suggesting that senior State Department officials were pressured or demoted for objecting to the administration's initial and since-debunked explanations for the attacks.

With his Devo-esque brand of electronic music and highly physical live performances, Dan Deacon has been a Philly favorite since 2007's Spiderman of the Rings . Deacon thinks as much of this town as its fans do of him. "It's a major DIY city, with a good scene and a lot of community-based spaces that remind me of Baltimore," says Deacon, recalling his hometown. Deacon returns to Philly this weekend, not only to hype his Record Store Day exclusive, "Konono Ripoff No. 1," an homage to the legendary Congolese band Konono Nº1 ("I've been playing that music live for years and tried to record it, unfinished, until this," he says)

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress are traveling less and worrying more about meeting office salaries. Their aides are contending with long lines to get inside their offices and fewer prospects of a raise. Such are the indignities thrust upon the men and women who this month brought the country $85 billion in government spending cuts. There probably won't be much sympathy for a senator or Congress member making $174,000 a year who is in no danger of being furloughed or laid off, at least until the next election.

The release of scores of kinky emails written by a powerful New Jersey Democrat to a lobbyist has sparked an investigation by prosecutors in Sussex County, according to reports. Joe Cryan, an assemblyman from Union County, was a rising star in the state's Democratic Party. Until 2010, he was majority leader in the state assembly and state party chairman. The New York Post published an enormous cache of sexually salacious emails allegedly written by Cryan documenting the details of a sado-masochistic affair he had with lobbyist Karen Golding.

UPPERCLASSMEN at Saint Joseph's University's Haub School of Business found out precisely where they stood among their peers when a mass email sent from the dean's office March 6 accidentally included a spreadsheet of their grade-point averages. Officials said Tuesday that the extensive report card hitched a ride on a solicitation for an internship in Italy that went out to nearly 500 undergrads. University Provost Brice Wachterhauser sent out an apology to students and faculty Tuesday, calling the leak an "internal human error," and emphasizing the school's commitment to privacy.

The Secret Service is investigating a hacker's apparent theft of a trove of personal e-mails and photos belonging to the Bush family after they were posted late Thursday by the Smoking Gun website. A report by the Smoking Gun said the e-mails covered the period from 2009 to 2012, and that a total of six accounts appeared to have been compromised. Among those hacked were Dorothy Bush Koch, daughter of President George H.W. Bush and sister of President George W. Bush; as well as sportscaster Jim Nantz, a Bush family friend.