AS SANFORD'S SUN IS SETTING, WIFE'S RISES
As the political standing of Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina continues to crumble, the career of his wife, Jenny, seems to be taking off.
She is writing a memoir, "Staying True," to be released in April by Ballantine Books, about grappling with her husband's marital infidelity. She has applied to trademark her own name to sell clothing, coffee mugs and other items, though she is independently wealthy. She will appear next month on an ABC Barbara Walters special as one of the "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009."
She has set up a website complete with news releases and photographs. And she has endorsed a candidate to succeed her husband, state Rep. Nikki Haley, a Republican and the only woman in the race.
"She is stepping from the background into the foreground," said Jack Bass, a professor of humanities and social sciences at the College of Charleston. "She has moved from promoting him as a loyal spouse to using those same talents on behalf of herself."
In South Carolina, some politicians and experts believe she may run for office. They are quick to note that she has served as campaign manager during her husband's races, shares his conservative fiscal values and acted as de facto chief of staff briefly during his first term.
"Yes, if I had to bet, I think she will run," said Robert Oldendick, director of the Institute for Public Service and Policy Research at the University of South Carolina. "Just look at what she's doing externally."
Sanford declined to be interviewed for this report, and her friends downplayed the idea of a run for office.
Meanwhile, the South Carolina Legislature last week began impeachment proceedings against the governor, who became an object of ridicule after his confession in June to an extramarital affair with a divorced Argentinean woman whom he called his "soul mate."
TIPSTERS EMBRACING TEXT-A-TIP SYSTEM
Police across the country are getting help from text-a-tip programs that allow people to send anonymous messages from their cell phones. The system has enabled investigators to get information from witnesses too afraid to come forward because of an anti-snitching culture.
In Boston, the first city to heavily promote texting for crime tips, police have received more than 1,000 tips since the program began two years ago. Police credit text tips for providing them with key leads in at least four high-profile killings, including: the accidental shooting of Liquarry Jefferson by his cousin; an arson fire that killed two children; the shooting of a Boston teenager on her 18th birthday; and the fatal stabbing of a man during a bar fight.
In Douglas County, Colo., authorities foiled a Columbine-style attack after an anonymous text led them to weapons in a student's home.
ACCEPTING HE CAN'T CHANGE QUOTE ORIGIN
The Yale librarian who cast doubt last year on the origins of the Serenity Prayer, adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and reprinted on countless knickknacks, says new evidence has persuaded him to retain the famed Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, right, as the author in the next edition of "The Yale Book of Quotations."
The provenance of the prayer, which begins, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change," became a subject of controversy last year with the publication of an article by librarian Fred Shapiro, who is also the editor of the book of quotations. Shapiro had found archival materials that led him to express doubt that Niebuhr was the author.
But another researcher has discovered evidence that attributes the prayer to Niebuhr. The researcher, Stephen Goranson, works in the circulation department at the Duke University library, has a doctorate from Duke in the history of religion and, as a sideline, searches for the origins of words and sayings and publishes his findings in etymology journals. This month, he found a Christian student newsletter written in 1937 that cites Niebuhr as the prayer's author.
Shapiro was swayed, and will credit Niebuhr with the Serenity Prayer in his next edition of "The Yale Book of Quotations."
Niebuhr, who lived from 1892 to 1971, was a prophetic, politically attuned preacher who influenced generations of theologians and political thinkers.
MAN WAS NEARLY MOOSE'S SCAPEGOAT
Swedish police say they've cleared a man who was arrested and held 10 days for allegedly murdering his wife, after deciding that the culprit was most likely a moose.
Police spokesman Ulf Karlsson says that "the improbable has become probable" in the puzzling death last year of 63-year-old Agneta Westlund. She was found dead after an evening stroll in the forest.
Karlsson declined to give details of the case Saturday, saying that a news conference would be held Tuesday.
The tabloid Expressen said hairs and saliva from a moose -- aka a European elk -- were found on the victim's clothes.
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