Fresh Loaf

MELTDOWN: Bailout talks crumbled Thursday night when House Republicans announced they won’t back the plan because it offends free-market absolutism. McCain, who made a fuss this week about injecting himself into the negotiations, was largely silent as the Republican revolt ripped apart consensus. Talks resume today, and Bush promised this morning that a bailout package will be passed.

THE REELING IS MUTUAL: Washington Mutual becomes the largest bank to fail in U.S. history as it’s seized by the federal government and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase.

DEBATE AND SWITCH: Obama’s in Oxford, Miss., the site of tonight’s first presidential debate of the general election; McCain is still sending mixed messages about whether he’ll attend, although surrogate Lindsey Graham hinted this morning that McCain may be there after all. And despite McCain’s announced suspension of his campaign, ongoing TV commercials, a speech in New York and media interviews make it seem rather unsuspended. UPDATE: McCain now says he will show up for the debate.

NO. 1 STUNNER: Top-ranked USC falls to Oregon State, making No. 3 UGA’s matchup Saturday with No. 8 Alabama that much more momentous.

OIL FOR FEUD: Tex Pitfield, an oilman whose name wouldn’t allow him any other line of work, has asked Gov. Perdue to cancel the Georgia-Alabama game because of the gas shortage. Perdue’s office calls the suggestion “ridiculous,” and urges people to take common-sense measures, presumably such as stealing gas from Alabama fans. UGA officials have asked fans who can’t make it to Athens and back on one tank, however, not to come.

LONG SHORTAGE: The Washington Post breaks down the regionwide fuel crisis that’s hamstrung the Southeast.

ATLANTA’S AIR FORCE: Delta and Northwest shareholders have endorsed the airlines’ merger, leaving the ball in the Justice Department’s court.

WILD BLUE HITHER: GeorgiaSkies, a new airline launched by Pacific Wings, will offer intrastate flights among Atlanta, Athens and Macon starting Monday.

(SUNK) LIKE A ROCK: The abrupt closure of all Bill Heard Chevrolet dealerships on Wednesday, which the company blames on the economy and gas prices, has left many customers in limbo.

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BAILOUT: President Bush, looking concerned, nervous but still slightly amused, tells the nation that the “entire economy is in danger.”

PALIN: CNN’s Campbell Brown issued a rant to the McCain campaign Tuesday, calling for it to stop sheltering its VP candidate and treating her “like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment,” in response to the campaign barring reporters from asking her questions at a U.N. appearance. Palin was then turned loose to Katie Couric Wednesday, and it did not go well.

MCCAIN: Suspends his campaign to focus on the economy, and asks Obama to postpone Friday’s debate if a bailout deal isn’t reached by then. Obama declines, saying “It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

GAS PANIC: Still going on, and people are still fighting at gas stations.

MERGE PROTECTOR: Northwest Airlines’ shareholders this morning approved merging with Delta, whose shareholders will also vote today. Antitrust approval still awaits.

EURO TRIP: Gov. Perdue’s upcoming trip to Spain is expected to cost taxpayers $100,000 at a time when Georgia faces a nearly $1.6 billion budget shortfall and has asked state agencies, including the governor’s office, to cut back.

SHOOTING THE BREEZE: The Gainesville Times reports that relocated city slickers often are shocked this time of year by their neighbors outside, guns a-blazin’, because much of unincorporated Georgia allows residents to shoot guns on their own property.

UGA VS. ‘BAMA: Officials warn that Athens may be flooded with counterfeit tickets Saturday, as average real-ticket prices are more than $300.

TERROR LEVEL RED HOT: The New Englandish region (touché, Jimbo) isn’t establishing a good track record with bomb recognition. First there was the 2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force scare in Boston; now the Philadelphia Phillies blew up some hot dogs before losing to the Braves Wednesday night.

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VACANCY: Atlanta police have a new burglary unit dedicated to monitoring houses that have been foreclosed or abandoned, as copper thieves grow in numbers and audacity.

CITY COUNCIL: Wants to keep Fire Station No. 7 open.

SOUTH BY NORTHWEST: Northwest Airlines tells its employees that it may move up to 400 jobs to Atlanta.

JACKSON COUNTY: Gets state approval to sell discounted gas to the county’s nine municipalities, the first county in Georgia to do so.

BLUE JEAN BANDITS: Five suspects are arrested.

WITHOUT A PADDLE: Fifty thousand tons of sewage spill into the ground in Gainesville, entering a tributary of Balus Creek.

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EVERGLADE PLUG-IN: United States Sugar agrees to sell 187,000 acres in the Everglades, and all of the company’s other assets, to the state of Florida for $1.75 billion, which will allow natural water flow from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay for the first time since the 1890s.

OBAMA: Leads McCain in two polls by more than 10 points, although June poll results rarely hold steady through November. Hillary Clinton begins campaigning for Obama today. Obama asks his supporters to help alleviate some of her campaign debt.

UNIONS’ UNION: Delta and Northwest pilot unions agree on a joint contract.

CYBER RATTLING: Atlanta is the 10th-largest cybercity and largest in the Southeast.

COLLARED: Police pull over and arrest an Atlanta man in Macon driving a U-Haul loaded with $150,000 worth of Polo shirts that had been stolen in Valdosta.

GAS PRICE WAR: Two gas stations in Buford are in an arms race of affordability, with a gallon dropping as low as $3.45 over the weekend.

DOG BEAT DOG: Fresno State downs UGA to tie the series at 1-1; Game 3 to decide the national champion is tonight at 7.

JOHN THOMPSON: The Clayton County corrective superintendent says he was misheard in the video he posted online Monday, that he said Clayton schools “had a very slim chance” of maintaining accreditation, before he became superintendent, not “have a very slim chance.” Two Board of Education members back up the misheard version, saying Clayton will not maintain its accreditation.

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JOHN EDWARDS: Endorses Obama.

TB LAND: Georgia’s reputation for rogue tuberculosis patients is bolstered by a Covington man arrested and quarantined for not obeying doctor’s orders to stay at home after TB diagnosis.

TAKE A MULLIGAN: Marietta racist Mike Norman has ordered 100 more of his blatantly race-baiting “Obama in ‘08″ T-shirts to sell at his bar, Mulligan’s, despite widespread protests, mockery and death threats. The worst part may be his rationalization.

REMINGTON STEAL: A northeast Georgia man’s Remington 16-gauge shotgun, stolen in 1986, is returned 22 years later after being discovered Monday in Maynard, Tenn. Good timing, too, because now he can take it into restaurants and on public transit.

TRUST NO ONE: Antitrust review is the last hurdle for the Delta-NWA merger, and experts doubt the Dept. of Justice will block the deal on antitrust grounds.

TAKING A SCRAP: Bad economy and rising global copper prices are increasingly driving thieves in Cartersville, and around the country, to steal copper wiring and cables.

C1AL1S BUST: Feds and local police raid a Roswell home where they say a couple was making up to $30,000 a day selling drugs such as copycat Cialis via mail order.

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