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My brother-in-law, Ruben, was just put on a ventilator this afternoon at Scripps Green Hospital. He’s 70, in reasonably good health, and lives in San Diego. Ruben started feeling sick right after Thanksgiving so he got a Covid test which was NEGATIVE! He kept getting sicker but figured it was just a cold. Then his wife tested positive, although she got the monoclonal antibodies right away and recovered quickly. Ruben retested and this time it was positive. However, since he’d been sick for more than 2 weeks, he didn’t qualify for the MAB. On Saturday, December 18th, she took him...

Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown ... The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural phenomenon but a man-made disaster in which we all played a part. In the second part of a week-long series looking behind the slump, Guardian City editor Julia Finch picks out the individuals who have led us into the current crisis

AUGUST 1--Oversized "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard is suing the Alabama clothing maker who once supplied him with those colorful "205" jerseys--size XXXXXXXXL--he wore on the Fox TV talent show. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court, the corpulent crooner claims that 205 Flava, Inc., the Birmingham couturier, is improperly using images of the swollen singer to move its merch via its web site. The two-ton troubadour is seeking a court injunction against the firm, which the elephantine entertainer estimates to have earned north of $2 million by exploiting his image. The sweaty Studdard, currently headlining the...

May. 23, 2003. 01:00 AM Ruben's big night on Idol plays small VINAY MENON "I feel great. Thank y'all. I love y'all." After uttering those not-so-memorable words, Ruben Studdard stared ahead, almost blankly, as rivulets of sweat dribbled down his ample forehead. Inside L.A.'s Universal Amphitheater, as hot lights illuminated his stunned face, giddy fans hollered and clapped, chanting, "Ru-ben! Ru-ben! Ru-ben!" a two-syllable hallelujah to pop culture's newest demigod. The big man with the big voice was the big winner as one of television's biggest hits capped another big season. Too bad it seemed so small. In what may...

Inside the American Idol Studio The weird vibe at the show's finale. By Michael Joseph Gross Posted Thursday, May 22, 2003, at 2:12 PM PT Fat Man and Little Boy: The bomb that is American Idol It was not like going to a rock concert. The Universal Amphitheatre was close to its capacity crowd of 6,189 for yesterday's broadcast of the American Idol season finale; and if the place was not, as sweet-and-sour host Ryan Seacrest joked, "jam-packed with Hollywood freeloaders," it also wasn't exactly packed with true fans. I tried to pick out people who looked like they had...

<p>The popular but controversial low-carbohydrate Atkins diet helped obese patients lose weight faster and with potentially more health benefits than the conventional low-fat diet, according to two studies published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.</p> <p>The researchers involved were quick to say there were several caveats and that they weren't endorsing the diet. Still, the appearance of the studies in a prestigious medical journal is certain to give a boost to the often-derided approach designed by Robert Atkins, who died last month.</p>

Live thread for comments on the American Idol finals Tuesday night, May 20, 2003!!!!

DRUDGE REPORT RIGOROUS SCHEDULE, STRESS: 'AMERICAN IDOL' FRONTRUNNER HEALTH FEARS With recording legend Luther Vandross still hospitalized after a severe stroke, concern over AMERICAN IDOL finalist Ruben Studdard's health and well-being has become a priority with recording executive Clive Davis, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. Pound-progressive Studdard is often captured on TV sweating profusely after only a few notes. "He sometimes can be terribly lethargic, he moves slow," one top insider explains. Music guru Davis, who has vowed to personally oversee the launch of Studdard [or Dixie favorite Clay Aiken], has been hit hard by the Vandross health crises, which...

The Takoma Park Folk Festival was the site of the first of many skirmishes in the race for the 20th District Senate seat. Senator Ruben was found to be in violation of the standards of legislative ethics on 8/15/02 by the Maryland General Assembly Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics. She contacted Judge Irma Raker, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, for the purpose of discussing the legilative redistricting case during the pendency of the case. Her opponent, John W. Wrightson, has made her ethics violation a central theme of his campaign. When Mrs. Ruben walked by the Republican booth...