Today’s Links: October 18, 2012

OPINION

LACHLAN MARKAY: “Another DOE-Backed Solar Company Goes Bankrupt”
“A solar company that got a multi-million-dollar grant from the Department of Energy earlier this year announced Wednesday that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, making it the second taxpayer-backed green energy company to file for bankruptcy this week.”

PETER SUDERMAN: “Obama Campaign Can’t Make Obama’s Deficit Math Add Up Either”
“Obama’s big debt reduction plan, which he claims would reduce national debt by $4 trillion, is also highly problematic. It’s packed with gimmicks, and what debt reduction it might achieve would mostly come from tax hikes. And pressed to defend the plan, Obama’s campaign has serious trouble.”

ERIC JAFFE: “Is It Harmful to Release Gang Maps?”
“Chicago isn’t the only city being what we might call a bit territorial about its gang knowledge. The Toledo Blade recently sued the city police department for refusing to release a ‘gang boundaries map’ that circulates internally. Earlier this year a King County detective questioned the accuracy of an interactive map of Seattle gangs produced by the blog Northwest Gangs.”

NEWS

TECH MARKETS – Troubled media sharing startup Color Labs said to be acquired by Apple
“Color Labs, the photo-and-video-sharing social network that received much criticism over its pre-launch $41 million funding round, is about to be acquired by Apple. We’ve heard through trusted sources that the startup was nabbed for a price that is in the ‘high double digits’, as in millions, and that the deal is ‘done’, though papers have yet to be signed.”

GODWIN’S LAW – 80-Year-Old Woman Arrested for Taking Down Posters of Obama with Hitler Mustache
“An 80-year-old woman who remembers when the United States helped defeat the Nazis faces charges for tearing down posters of President Barack Obama with a Hitler mustache. Nancy Lack said she was livid when she saw the posters, put up by supporters of perennial fringe presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, outside of her post office in Hebron, Conn., NBC Connecticut reported.”

CIGARETTES – Preckwinkle wants $1-a-pack cigarette tax hike
“The tax on pack of smokes would rise by a buck in Cook County next year, which would leave Chicago with the second-highest per-pack tax in the nation, under County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s new budget proposal.”