Morning Links: Chinese Dissident Awarded Nobel Peace Prize; More Jobs Lost in September; Stinkbugs in Staten Island
• The 2010 Nobel Peace prize has been awarded to Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident, political essayist, literary critic, and democracy advocate who is currently serving 11 years in jail on subversion charges. Unsurprisingly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not appreciate this news one bit, and is censoring reports of it, which means that Liu, who does not have access to a phone, probably doesn't even know about it. [NYT]
• The U.S. lost 95,000 non-farm jobs in September, though the unemployment rate remains at 9.6 percent. 76,000 jobs, mostly in education, were cut by local governments, the largest such cut in 28 years. [NPR]
• The Treasury Department will lend $1.5 billion to states to help small businesses, they announced today. New York will receive slightly more than $55 million. This follows the $30 billion Small Business Jobs Act passed early last week, which includes $12 billion in tax breaks for small companies.. [Consumerist]
• The federal government apparently sent 72,000 stimulus checks (for $250 apiece) to dead people, reports Social Security auditors. Another 17,000 went to prison inmates. The Post points out that the dead weren't able to actually use the funds to help stimulate the economy. [NYP]
• Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf, a 41-year-old father of two who has won two Emmy awards, is being held in Bergen County Jail on charges including sexual assault on a minor. [NYDN]
• The trial date for Charlie Rangel's alleged ethics violations -- including failing to disclose $600,000 in personal assets and using a rent-stabilized apartment for campaign activities -- has been set for November 15. [NYP]
• Stinkbugs are running rampant on Staten Island. [SILive]
Happy Friday!
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