Dave Lester Laut died he was 52

David "Dave" Lester Laut died he was 52. Laut was an American shot putter. He was born in Findlay, Ohio.

(December 21, 1956 – August 27, 2009)

He won the bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He also won the gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games and the bronze at the 1981 IAAF World Cup.

His personal best throw was 22.02 metres, achieved in August 1982 in Koblenz.

Laut was murdered at his home in Oxnard, California on August 27, 2009 by an armed prowler. He was shot three times and died immediately. He had been the Athletic Director for Hueneme High School in the Oxnard Union High School District.

Adam Michael Goldstein (DJ AM) has died he was 36 years old

Adam Michael Goldstein has died he was 36. DJ ASM was an American club disc jockey better known as DJ AM. Goldstein was a former member of the rock band Crazy Town, and scratched on albums for Papa Roach, Madonna, and Will Smith, among others. He collaborated with Travis Barker of Blink-182 at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, and appeared in several television series.

(March 30, 1973 – August 28, 2009)

On September 19, 2008, Goldstein was seriously injured when a Learjet he was traveling in crashed on takeoff. Singer Mandy Moore, with whom he was close, flew to be by his side at the Georgia hospital where he was staying.^[1] He had been battling post-traumatic stress after the crash, and suffering from 'survivor guilt'.^[2]

Goldstein was found dead at his New York City apartment at around 5:20 p.m. on Friday, August 28, 2009.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Jewish family,^[3][4][5] His father verbally abused him, as Goldstein said, it was "unbelievably cruel." Later he found out his father was secretly gay and addicted to drugs.^[6] Eventually his father was sent to jail for committing bank fraud and died of AIDS.^[7] He began taking drugs, so his mother placed him in a treatment center that specialized in “tough love.” Unbeknownst to his mother, the place was an abusive house of horrors that would eventually be shut down. "The counselors beat us. They spit in our faces. They starved us. They never let us see or talk to our parents," Goldstein later pictured the situation.^[8]

When Goldstein was 20 years old, he started deejaying, which he'd been obsessed with ever since he saw Herbie Hancock do the song “Rockit” at the Grammy Awards. He started going to AA meetings again and distanced himself from friends who were still using drugs. "By then, I was booking jobs at every major club and had started to gain a following," he told Glamour magazine. ^[9]

Goldstein was a member of the rock band Crazy Town, known for their hit "Butterfly". He has also scratched on albums for Papa Roach, Madonna, Will Smith, and Shifty and played concerts with Jay-Z. He has played private events for celebrities like Jim Carrey, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Ben Stiller, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and Kate Hudson.^[10] He had had a one-year contract with Las Vegas' Pure Nightclub inside Caesar's Palace to play at the venue every Friday and opening a nightclub at Caesars Atlantic City called Dusk.^[11]

He had recently collaborated with Travis Barker of Blink-182 and +44 in several performances, including the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that DJ AM would make his first appearance with Travis Barker since the two survived the plane crash. The duo performed at New Year's Nation's Los Angeles 2008 New Year's Eve Party at The Wiltern. Their performance was streamed live on the Internet via New Year's Nation's official site, and was broadcast at other New Year's Nation parties across the U.S.^[12][13] Before the gig Barker told press, "I'm ready to get back onstage with AM and continue to rock the house. I'm very excited to bring in the New Year in my hometown of L.A."^[14]

His reality television appearances include Punk'd, where his former fiancée, Nicole Richie, was the subject of a practical joke, and the third season of The Simple Life. Goldstein appears as himself in the "What About Bob?" episode of Entourage's third season; he gets the last pair of an exclusive line of shoes, right before Vince (Adrian Grenier) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) arrive. He had recently finished filming a reality show for MTV, called Gone Too Far, in which he and concerned families staged interventions for drug abusers.^[15]

He was also a co-owner of the popular club LAX. In 2009, DJ AM became Rain Nightclub's regular Friday night DJ.^[16]

On September 19, 2008, after having performed at a college event with frequent collaborator Travis Barker, Goldstein was seriously injured when a Learjet he was traveling in crashed on takeoff in West Columbia, South Carolina. The crash killed both crew members and two other passengers, and critically injured Goldstein and Barker.^[17] They were both transported to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, and were both listed in critical condition.^[18] According to reports, Goldstein suffered burns on his hands and part of his head. His ex-girlfriend, singer Mandy Moore, with whom he was still close, flew to be by his side at the Georgia hospital where he was staying.^[19][20] Goldstein was released from the hospital on September 26, 2008, a spokeswoman told AP.^[21]

In December 2008, Goldstein filed a civil lawsuit against the plane's charter company, Learjet and Goodyear tires; the suit claims negligence on the part of the pilots and a manufacturing defect on the part of the plane. Goldstein was asking for damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement and loss of earnings.^[22] Goldstein was the last passenger to file a civil suit; the estates of deceased passengers Chris Baker and Charles Still have already filed suits, as has crash survivor Travis Barker, although Barker and Still's suits did not name the deceased pilots as defendants.^[23]

"I have a great deal of faith that everything happens for a reason. I put myself in God's hands," Goldstein told People magazine in October 2008.^[24]

Goldstein was addicted to crack cocaine and "at 24 I felt like my life was over," he told Glamour magazine in January 2008. At the time he hadn't taken drugs or had a drink for nine and a half years. "At any given moment, I'm five seconds away from walking up to someone, grabbing their drink out of their hand and downing it. And if I do that, within a week, tops, I’ll be smoking crack," he added.^[25]

He began dating actress Nicole Richie in 2004 and announced their engagement a year later in February 2005.^[26] However, the couple broke up in late 2006.^[27] "The one thing that stands out about Adam is that I can be myself," Richie said after the breakup.^[28] After his breakup with Richie, Goldstein dated singer-actress Mandy Moore.^[29][30] He was good friends with Steve Aoki, Cory Kennedy, Samantha Ronson, John Mayer, Paris Hilton, Travis Barker and DJ Eric Cubeechee.^[31]

DJ AM was an avid "sneakerhead" (posting on sneaker enthusiast message board Niketalk.com), he collected athletic shoes, primarily Nikes. His collection of over 600 shoes includes a pair of Nike Air Force 1 shoes that were created specifically for him, with his DJ AM logo appearing on the shoe itself. In a new commercial, he starred alongside Mike Epps and Kobe Bryant sporting the Nike Air Yeezy, the signature shoe for Kanye West.^[32]

Adam Goldstein was found dead at his New York City apartment at 210 Lafayette Street at around 5:20 p.m. on Friday, August 28, 2009. He was 36 years old. Friends called the police, who along with paramedics broke into the apartment and found Goldstein's body. Sources say the cause of death may have been accidental drug overdose.^[33][34] Statements by a New York law enforcement official to the Associated Press indicate that drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment, but no signs of foul play.^[35] A rep for Goldstein released a statement: "Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein was found deceased this afternoon in his New York City apartment. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear. Out of respect for his family and loved ones, please respect their privacy at this time."

A week before his death, Goldstein and longtime girlfriend Hayley Wood had broken up. On August 21, Life & Style magazine reported that Goldstein's friends took him out for dinner earlier that week in Los Angeles "because he was depressed." His friends told TMZ.com that he continued to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).^[36] "He struggled with pain after the crash," a close friend of Goldstein told E! News Friday. "But it seemed like he was functioning fine and never missed work."^[37]

Ted Kennedy died he was 77

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate and haunted bearer of the Camelot torch after two of his brothers fell to assassins' bullets, has died at his home in Hyannis Port after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.

For nearly a half-century in the Senate, Kennedy was a steadfast champion of the working class and the poor, a powerful voice on health care, civil rights, and war and peace. To the American public, though, he was best known as the last surviving son of America's most glamorous political family, the eulogist of a clan shattered again and again by tragedy.

His family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.

"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all."

Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962, when his brother John was president, and served longer than all but two senators in history. Over the decades, he put his imprint on every major piece of social legislation to clear the Congress.

His own hopes of reaching the White House were damaged - perhaps doomed - in 1969 by the scandal that came to be known as Chappaquiddick, an auto accident that left a young woman dead.

Kennedy - known to family, friends and foes simply as Ted - ended his quest for the presidency in 1980 with a stirring valedictory that echoed across the decades: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."

Kennedy learned he had a malignant tumor called a glioma after suffering a seizure on May 17, 2008, at his home in Hyannis Port. The prognosis was grim: Median survival for the worst form of gliomas is 12 to 15 months, although the time depends on the type of glioma.

His death late Tuesday comes just weeks after that of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver on Aug. 11.

In recent weeks, Kennedy had spent most of his time at his Hyannis Port home with his family, appearing frail during his brief public appearances. He was too ill to attend the funeral of his sister. Nor could he make the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony when President Obama awarded him the country's highest civilian honor.

The famed orator made only a handful of public statements since he was first stricken, including a surprise speech in August to the Democratic National Convention, a December address at his alma mater, Harvard University and brief remarks at the White House health care conference in March.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Kennedy's son Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., said his father had defied the predictions of doctors by surviving more than a year with his fight against brain cancer.

The younger Kennedy said that gave family members a surprise blessing, as they were able to spend more time with the senator and to tell him how much he had meant to their lives.

The younger Kennedy said his father's legacy was built largely in the Senate.


"He has authored more pieces of major legislation than any other United States senator," Patrick Kennedy said in the interview. "He is the penultimate senator. I don't need to exaggerate when I talk about my father. That's the amazing thing. He breaks all the records himself."

William Williams died he was 93,

William J. Williams, a driving force in Cincinnati sports and a former owner of the Reds, died he was 93.

Williams is also remembered as one of the Queen City's leading businessmen and charitable forces for decades, but he's best known as the man who steered the Reds' Big Red Machine to its 1970s glory.

"Mr. Williams made many contributions to the success of this proud franchise, and his family continues to play an important role in its stewardship," said Reds president and chief executive officer Bob Castellini. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time."

Williams became a principal owner of the Reds when a group including him purchased the club in 1966, launching Williams on a 16-year stretch as the team's vice president.

Shortly after beginning his role with the Reds, Williams influenced the 1967 hiring of Bob Howsam as general manager, which helped ignite the Big Red Machine.

The Reds were baseball's dominant team in the 1970s, a decade during which they won six West Division titles, four National League pennants and World Series championships in 1975 and '76.

Williams became the Reds' managing general partner in 1980, then general partner from 1982-84. The club was sold to Marge Schott in 1985.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig released a statement upon learning of Williams' death.

"Major League Baseball is deeply saddened by the loss of William J. Williams Sr., who served as a part-owner, vice president and general partner during his tenure with the Reds from 1966-84. Bill helped lead the franchise known as the Big Red Machine, which had a profound impact on baseball history.

"A proud member of the Cincinnati community, Bill's sound judgment and quiet, determined leadership have left a considerable legacy not only with the ballclub and with Major League Baseball but throughout the city he loved. Bill was a baseball activist who was very influential on league and baseball policy throughout his tenure in the game. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest sympathies to his family, including his sons, Reds chairman Joe Williams and vice chairman Tom Williams, and his many friends."

Williams' family remains deeply involved with the Reds' day-to-day operations. In addition to sons W. Joseph Williams Jr. and Thomas L. Williams, grandson Dick Williams is the team's vice president of baseball operations.

"He wasn't flashy; he wasn't egotistical," Thomas Williams told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "He never let ego affect his judgment."

In 1968, Williams Sr. became a founding owner of the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals, an ownership he retained until his death.

Millionaire Murder Suspect Ryan Jenkins Found Dead he was 32

Ryan Jenkins, committed suicide he was32. Jenkins was a Canadian reality television contestant.

The manhunt for murder suspect Ryan Jenkins is officially over. Canadian police found the former reality star dead in a hotel room this afternoon, E! News has confirmed.

Authorities have not yet released an official cause of death, but police say the 32-year-old died of an apparent suicide. He reportedly hanged himself.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police found his body in a motel room in Hope, British Columbia, a town 84 miles east of Vancouver.

The death ends an international manhunt for the Megan Wants a Millionaire finalist, who fled to his native Canada on foot last week.

"The sadness of all this is that Mr. Jenkins will not be standing before an Orange County jury for his crime," Buena Park Police Lt. Steve Holliday said in a press conference last night.

Jenkins was charged in the gruesome murder of his ex-wife, former swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore, after her body was found stuffed in a suitcase inside of a trash bin on Aug. 15. Fiore, 28, was missing her teeth and fingers.

Jenkins, who met and married Fiore within the span of just a few weeks this spring, quickly moved from "person of interest" to person charged with murder.

It's a tag his death may not relieve.

"I do believe he participated in the murder," Holliday said. "Because there's additional information we're following up on, I can't expand any further than that."

Holliday added that Jenkins' vehicle is a "key piece of evidence in this investigation," but declined to confirm reports that Fiore was killed in the car.

"We're lucky to have that car. And we would love to have seen Ryan Jenkins stand before an Orange County jury."

Larry Knechtel died he was 69

Larry Knechtel (born Lawrence William Knechtel, died he was 69. Knechtel was a keyboard player and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician with Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds, Smile), The Mamas & the Papas, The Doors, Elvis Presley ('68 NBC-TV Special),and as a member of the 1970s band, Bread.

(August 4, 1940, Bell, California, died August 20, 2009)

Knechtel's musical education began with piano lessons. In 1957, he joined the Los Angeles based rock and roll band Kip Tyler and the Flips. His career took a giant leap forward in August 1959, when he joined legendary Rock and Roll instrumentalist Duane Eddy as a member of his band, The Rebels. After four years on the road as a Rebel, and continuing to work with Eddy in the recording studio, Knechtel became part of the Hollywood session musician scene, working with Phil Spector as a pianist to help create the famous Wall of Sound effect. His most famous piano work is his 1970 Grammy Award winning contribution to "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Like many session musicians, Knechtel was proficient in other instruments, notably the harmonica and also the electric bass guitar (which can be heard on "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds) and on tracks by The Doors who did not have their own bass guitarist. In 1971, he joined Bread, where his many contributions include the memorable guitar solo on the hit single "The Guitar Man".

In recent years, Knechtel lived in semi-retirement in Yakima, Washington, until his death. He had, however, worked with record producer Rick Rubin, contributing with the keyboards to albums by Neil Diamond and the Dixie Chicks, and touring with the Dixie Chicks in support of their Grammy Award winning album Taking the Long Way. In 2007 he was inducted into The Musician's Hall of Fame with his fellow members of The Wrecking Crew.

Knechtel died on August 20, 2009, in Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, Washington, at the age of 69 of an apparent heart attack.^[1]

John E Carter Died he was 75

Lead tenor John E. Carter died he was 75. Carter had the good fortune to perform with two important R&B groups: the Flamingos

and the Dells.

And because of that achievement, he, along with such luminaries as John Lennon, is one of the few artists who have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.

Carter, 75 — best known for the Dells' hit "Oh, What A Night" — died of lung cancer Thursday, at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, according to his family.

Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Carter first found fame with the Flamingos, a doo-wop group he formed at age 18 in 1952 with three other members of the choir at the black-Jewish Church of God and Saints in Christ on East 41st Street in Bronzeville.

Though the group eventually had nine national chart hits with Chicago-based Chance, Parrot and Checker Records, many of the Flamingos' early recordings failed to chart.

But with their "elegant, intricate and flawless vocal arrangements," the Flamingos ultimately came to be "widely regarded as one of the best vocal groups in music," and a key influence on Motown groups including the Supremes and the Jackson Five, according to the group's entry in the Hall of Fame.

The group's first big R&B hit, 1956's "I'll Be Home," was a ballad in which a serviceman promises to return to his girl. It reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 10 overall. Soon after, Carter was drafted. But when he

Looking for a new gig, in 1960 he joined the Dells, a group formed several years earlier by friends from Thornton Township High School in Harvey.

The Dells' breakthrough came a year later, when the band was hired to perform as a backup band for Dinah Washington, who it toured with for two years.

The band's biggest hit, "Oh, What A Night," was inspired by a party thrown for the band and was originally recorded in 1956, before Carter joined. Rereleased in 1969 with Carter singing backup vocals, it reached the top of the R&B charts and the top 10 on the Billboard singles chart, selling more than 1 million copies.

Other Dells hits included "Stay in My Corner," which was one of the first R&B songs to run over six minutes, and "Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation," which reached number 3 on the R&B chart in 1973.

Unlike many R&B bands of the era, which changed their lineups repeatedly, Carter and the original Dells continued recording through the 1980s and 1990s, and released "Reminiscing," in 2000, nearly 50 years after they formed.

They were the inspiration for the 1999 movie "The Five Heartbeats" and they continued to perform until last summer, when Carter's cancer was diagnosed, according to his daughter, Jewel Carter.

Carter was the only surviving founder member of the Flamingos when the group was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2001, and he became one of only five musicians to be inducted with two different groups when the Dells were inducted in 2004.

A devoted fisherman and keen cook, "he preferred singing to talking, and he loved making people laugh," she added.

Marvin Junior, a Dells bandmate, said: "He was a happy-go-lucky guy — he was a part of all of our lives for so long."

Don Hewitt Dies At 86

Don S. Hewitt died he was 86 (born Donald Hewitt,) Hewitt was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes, the CBS news magazine in 1968, currently the longest-running prime time broadcast on American television.^[1] He died at home in Bridgehampton, New York.(December 14, 1922 - August 19, 2009)

He attended New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York, and wrote for the school newspaper. Hewitt attended New York University and started his journalism career in 1942 as head copyboy for the New York Herald Tribune.

He started at CBS News in 1948 and served as producer-director of the network's evening news broadcast for 14 years. He was also the first director of the landmark documentary news program See It Now, coproduced by host Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly. In 1960 Hewitt was the director of the Presidential debates between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Hewitt later became executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. He then began the 8-time Emmy winning show 60 Minutes Hewitt was a familiar face in the infamous tobacco industry scandal involving Brown and Williamson and 60 Minutes. He was portrayed in the film The Insider by actor Philip Baker Hall.

Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer in 2004 at 81. He is an eight-time Emmy Award winner. Hewitt is the author of Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television, in which he chronicles his life as a newsman. He is also the author of the book Minute by Minute, a look at the history of 60 Minutes. On April 3, 2008, Hewitt was honored with Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism.

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2009.^[2]

Hewitt died on August 19, 2009. ^[3]

Bob Novak died he was 78

Robert David Sanders "Bob" Novak died he was 78. Novak was a syndicated columnist, journalist and conservative political commentator and for 45 years the author of what was during his lifetime the longest-running current syndicated column in U.S. political history.^[1] Over his career, Novak became well-known as a columnist (writing Inside Report since 1963) and as a television personality (appearing on many shows for CNN, most notably on three former programs, The Capital Gang, Crossfire, and Evans, Novak, Hunt, & Shields). On August 4, 2008, Novak announced that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and that his prognosis was "dire", and that he was retiring.^[2] However, on August 27, 2008, he resumed writing opinion columns distributed by Creators Syndicate.^[3]

(February 26, 1931 – August 18, 2009)

Novak was born in Joliet, Illinois, the son of Jane Sanders and Maurice Novak, a chemical engineer.^[4] His paternal grandparents immigrated from the Ukraine, and his mother's family was from Lithuania.^[4] Novak's journalism career began when he was in high school as a student-writer for the Joliet Herald-News, his hometown newspaper. After high school, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I) from 1948–1952. While attending University of Illinois, he became a brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He continued gaining journalism experience as a sports writer for the Daily Illini (DI), the student newspaper at University of Illinois. However, his disappointment at not being named Sports Editor his senior year (he lost the job to Tony Garcia) caused him to quit the DI and go to work for the local community newspaper, The Champaign-Urbana Courier, where he was also a sportswriter. After four years at University of Illinois, Novak was one course short of graduating, and when he left the university to become a full-time journalist, he did so without a degree (Some forty years later, the University of Illinois saw fit to award Novak sufficient credits from his career in journalism to qualify him for a degree, and he became an Illinois graduate).

During the Korean War, Novak served in the U.S. Army, and reached the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he joined the Associated Press (AP) and became a political correspondent in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1957, Novak was transferred to Washington, D.C. where he reported on Congress; he left the AP to join the D.C. bureau of The Wall Street Journal in 1958, covering the Senate, and in 1961 becoming their chief congressional correspondent.

In 1963, he teamed up with Rowland Evans to create the Evans-Novak Political Report, a six-times a week newspaper column. Novak continued the column after Evans' death in 2001, though the traditional Evans-Novak name continued. In the early 21st century, Regnery Publishing bought the newsletter from Novak, but left editorial control and hiring decisions in Novak's hands. In 2006, Timothy P. Carney of Regnery became Novak's partner in the column. On February 4, 2009, Novak announced he was ending publication of the newsletter.^[5]

Novak's column was syndicated by the Chicago Sun-Times. His columns often contained original reporting in addition to analysis and opinion. Novak is one of many reporters mentioned in Timothy Crouse's seminal non-fiction book about reporters covering the 1972 U.S. presidential campaign, The Boys on the Bus.

Novak was a Radford Visiting Professor of Journalism at Baylor University in 1987.

Novak's column had been distributed to newspapers nationally by Creators Syndicate since 1989. He is the 2001 winner of the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award for lifetime achievement in journalism.^[6]

Novak's wife Geraldine was a secretary for President Lyndon Johnson. Their daughter, Zelda, worked for Ronald Reagan's Presidential campaign and for Vice President Dan Quayle. They have a son Alex, who works as an editor at Regnery Publishing.^[7]

Robert Novak was not related to social commentator Michael Novak.^[8]

Novak was a registered Democrat despite his conservative political views. He held more centrist views in his early career, and he supported the Democratic presidential candidacies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, of whom he was a friend.^[9]

Novak tended toward low-tax, small-government libertarian views, but his disagreements with mainstream Republicans and neoconservatives—specifically his opposition to the Iraq War^[10]—have earned him the label of being a "paleoconservative". In July 2007 Novak expressed support for Ron Paul's bid for the presidency.^[11]

Raised Jewish, Novak was introduced to Catholicism when his friend, Jeffrey Bell, Republican political consultant and former Reagan aide, gave him some books on the Catholic faith.^[12] Novak converted to Roman Catholicism in 1998,^[13] after meeting Peter Vaghi, whom he had known before Vaghi switched from politics to the priesthood.

During the FBI investigation into Orlando Letelier's assassination, the contents of the briefcase he had with him were copied and leaked to Novak and his partner Rowland Evans as well as Jack Anderson of the New York Times by the FBI before being returned to Letelier's widow.^[14] According to Novak and Evans, the documents showed that Letelier was in constant contact with the leadership of the Unidad Popular exiled in East Berlin and supported by the East German Government.^[15] The FBI suspected that these leaders had been recruited by the Stasi.^[16] According to Novak, Evans and Anderson documents in the briefcase showed that Letelier had maintained contact with Salvador Allende’s daughter, Beatriz Allende wife of Cuban DGI station chief Luis Fernandez Ona. ^[15][17]

According to the Novak and Evans, Letelier was able to receive funding of $5,000 a month from the Cuban government and under the supervision of Beatriz Allende, he used his contacts within the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and western human rights groups to organize a campaign within the United Nations as well as the US Congress to isolate the new Chilean government.^[18] Novak and Evans claimed this was part of an organized campaign to put pressure on Pinochet’s government closely coordinated by the Cuban and Soviet governments, using individuals like Letelier to implement these efforts. Letelier's briefcase also allegedly contained his address book which contained the names of dozens of known and suspected Eastern Bloc intelligence agents. All correspondence between Letelier and individuals in Cuba was supposedly handled via Julian Rizo, who used his diplomatic status to hide his activities.^[16][19]

Fellow IPS member and friend Saul Landau described Evans and Novak as part of an “organized right wing attack”. In 1980, Letelier's widow, Isabel, wrote in the New York Times that the money sent to her late husband from Cuba was from western sources, and that Cuba had simply acted as an intermediary.^[20]

In 2003, he identified Valerie Plame as a CIA "operative" in his column^[21], as well as the organizational name of the company she used as cover, Brewster Jennings & Associates, the other operatives who worked for Brewster Jennings, and the informants who met with them. Although it is illegal for anyone, government official or otherwise, to distribute classified information (under US Code, Title 18, Section 793, Paragraph e)^[22], Novak was never charged with this crime^[why?]. Novak reported the information was provided to him by two "senior administration officials." These were eventually revealed to be Richard Armitage, who e-mailed him using the pseudonym "Flannel", with Novak assuming Karl Rove's comments as confirmation.^[23] During 2005, there were questions in the press regarding the apparent absence of focus on Novak by the special prosecutor Fitzgerald and the grand jury, specifically questions suggesting he may have already testified about his sources despite insisting publicly that he would not do so. For his perceived lack of journalistic integrity, Robert Novak was awarded the epithet of Douchebag of Liberty by political satirist Jon Stewart.^[24]

On July 12, 2006, Novak published a column at Human Events stating:

“

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has informed my attorneys that, after two and one-half years, his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning matters directly relating to me has been concluded. That frees me to reveal my role in the federal inquiry that, at the request of Fitzgerald, I have kept secret. I have cooperated in the investigation while trying to protect journalistic privileges under the First Amendment and shield sources who have not revealed themselves. I have been subpoenaed by and testified to a federal grand jury. Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue.[25]

”

When Richard Armitage admitted to being a source, Novak wrote an op-ed column describing Armitage's self-disclosure as "deceptive."^[26]

In 2008, however, an unrepentant Novak said in an interview with Barbara Matusow from the Nation Ledger:

“

From a personal point of view, I said in the book I probably should have ignored what I'd been told about Mrs. Wilson. Now I'm much less ambivalent. I'd go full speed ahead because of the hateful and beastly way in which my left-wing critics in the press and Congress tried to make a political affair out of it and tried to ruin me. My response now is this: The hell with you. They didn't ruin me. I have my faith, my family, and a good life. A lot of people love me – or like me. So they failed. I would do the same thing over again because I don't think I hurt Valerie Plame whatsoever. [27]

”

In the same interview, Novak also stated:

“

Journalistically, I thought it was an important story because it explained why the CIA would send Joe Wilson – a former Clinton White House aide with no track record in intelligence and no experience in Niger – on a fact-finding mission to Africa.[27]

”

In fact, Joseph Wilson is a former United States Foreign Service diplomat who had been posted to African nations and Iraq during several administrations, including the George H. W. Bush administration.

Novak has taken on a pro-Palestinian stance.^[28] In his syndicated column, Novak has blamed Israel for the plight and mass exodus of Palestinian Christians. He has also met with several Palestinian Authority officials, including former Education Minister and one of the leaders of Hamas, Nasser al-Shaer. Novak praised former president Jimmy Carter for likening Israeli policy toward the Palestinians to "apartheid" in Israel.^[29]

On April 25, 1972, George McGovern won the Massachusetts primary and Novak phoned Democratic politicians around the country, who agreed with his assessment that blue-collar workers voting for McGovern did not understand what he really stood for.^[30] On April 27, 1972 Novak reported in a column that an unnamed Democratic senator had talked to him about McGovern.^[31] "The people don’t know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot," the Senator said.^[31] "Once middle America – Catholic middle America, in particular – finds this out, he’s dead."^[31] The label stuck and McGovern became known as the candidate of "amnesty, abortion and acid."^[30][32]

Novak was accused of manufacturing the quote.^[31] Novak has claimed that, to rebut this criticism, he took the senator to lunch after the campaign and had asked whether he could identify him as the source,^[31] but the senator said he would not allow his identity to be revealed.^[31] "Oh, he had to run for re-election", said Novak.^[30] "The McGovernites would kill him if they knew he had said that," Novak added.^[30]

On July 15, 2007, Novak disclosed on Meet the Press that the unnamed senator was Thomas Eagleton.^[30] Political analyst Bob Shrum says that Eagleton would never have been selected as McGovern's running mate if it had been known at the time that Eagleton was the source of the quote.^[30] Shrum said:

“

Boy, do I wish he would have let you publish his name. Then he never would have been picked as vice president. Because the two things, the two things that happened to George McGovern – two of the things that happened to him – were the label you put on him, number one, and number two, the Eagleton disaster. We had a messy convention, but he could have, I think in the end, carried eight or 10 states, remained politically viable. And Eagleton was one of the great train wrecks of all time.[30]

”

Eagleton died March 4, 2007, "relieving me of the need to conceal his identity," Novak wrote.^[31] Some of Eagleton’s former aides were reportedly angry that Eagleton's name was attached to a quote that made him appear duplicitous.^[31] Asked about the story, Novak acknowledged that disclosing Eagleton’s identity was "a judgment on my part."^[31] If there’s any disagreement, Eagleton could settle it with him in heaven "or wherever we end up," Novak added.^[31]

Novak and Evans both joined CNN as political analysts in 1980. Eventually they were given their own weekend interview program Evans and Novak where they interviewed prominent figures in the news. He was the co-host from the right-wing of CNN's Crossfire, a political debate show featuring a host from the left-wing and a host from the right-wing debating each other. He also appeared regularly on CNN's Inside Politics as a commentator.

On August 4, 2005, Novak walked off the set during a live broadcast of the CNN show Inside Politics, on which he appeared along with Democratic strategist and analyst James Carville (with whom Novak had debated for years on Crossfire). During a heated discussion about Florida Republican Representative Katherine Harris' just-announced 2006 bid for U.S. Senate, Novak uttered an expletive; and as anchor Ed Henry was asking Carville a question, Novak threw off his microphone and stormed off the set.^[33][34] Critics later charged that Novak had done so to avoid discussing recent developments in the Valerie Plame affair on-air. In response to the incident, CNN suspended Novak for one day and apologized to its viewers, calling the outburst "inexcusable and unacceptable."^[35]

Novak retired from CNN after 25 years on December 23, 2005, stating that his relationship with the network lasted "longer than most marriages". Novak also said he had "no complaints" about CNN. Fox News had confirmed one week earlier that Novak had signed a contract to do unspecified work for the network. Novak stated that he still would have left CNN even if he had not been kicked off in the August incident and did not go to Fox News because the network was more friendly to his point of view. Novak said:

“

In 25 years I was never censored by CNN and I said some fairly outrageous things and some very conservative things. I don't want to give the impression that they were muzzling me and I had to go to a place that wouldn't muzzle me.

”

Novak was third in most appearances on NBC's Meet the Press, behind David Broder of the Washington Post and May Craig of the Portland Press Herald. He was a Fox News contributor since 2006 and continued to write his opinion column for the Chicago Sun-Times.^[36]

His memoirs, entitled Prince of Darkness: Fifty Years Reporting in Washington, were published in July 2007 by Crown Forum, a division of Random House. "Prince of Darkness" was a nickname given to Novak by his friend, reporter John Lindsay, "because [Lindsay] thought for a young man I took a very dim view of the prospects for our civilization," Novak said in an interview.^[37]

On May 15, 2008, Novak wrote a column celebrating and reviewing his 45 year career as a reporter and columnist. Novak noted that, presently, his column is the "nation's longest-running current syndicated political column."^[1] Novak also stated it was his intention to continue to report and write his column and to "die in the saddle without retiring."

On July 23, 2008, Novak received a citation from police for "failing to yield a right of way" to an 86-year-old pedestrian, Don Clifford Liljenquist, who was hit by Novak's Corvette in slow-moving traffic. Novak drove approximately one block from the scene before being flagged down by a cyclist who had witnessed the accident and subsequently called the police. Novak said that he was unaware that a collision had occurred until being informed by eyewitnesses. The pedestrian was taken to George Washington University Hospital and treated for a dislocated shoulder.^{[38][39][40][41]}

On July 27, 2008, just days after the car accident, Novak was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a written statement given to his publisher, Novak said: “Doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment. I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period.”^[42] Hospital residents check for brain tumors in patients who didn't realize they struck something in a car accident, as this can be a focal neurologic sign.^[43] Novak tendered his resignation from his column on August 4, 2008 after revealing that the prognosis on his tumor was considered "dire".^[44] Later that month, he began writing new opinion columns for Creators Syndicate.^[45]

On February 4, 2009, Novak announced in his newsletter, the Evans-Novak Political Report, that the biweekly newsletter would be coming to an end due to his illness. The newsletter, started four years after the column, had been published continuously since 1967.

Novak died on August 18, 2009, due to complications from brain cancer.^[46]