et tu Karen? I wish everyone would stop glorifying this train wreck of a news person. I totally understand the new reports; it's juicy and tantalizing, and frankly, not reporting on major breaking events involving two of the top news anchors and the (arguably) top news program would be irresponsible for philly.com. But Karen you, and your fellow columnists don't have to go there. The occasional mention in the "gossip" columns--ok--I can live with that. But really, I hold you to a higher standard. At least take the toothy head shot publicity picture down.

All those actresses are way too young. I say Angie Harmon or Eva Longoria.

I can't think of anybody other than Larry King. I wonder what CBS3 is going to do with all of the leftover foundation. Maybe use it to patch up dilapidated buildings in North Philly....

I believe the problem is that the people in the media tend to think they are more important than the story. I don't know who said that before but I know I heard it in regards to Howard Eskin and Angelo Cataldi of WIP but I think it it accurate and applies to many folks in TV locally.

Local news has been a joke for decades. Nothing but crime, fires, sports, weather -- SNOW!!! -- standups in the dark long after something happened, lazy sensationalist reports about medical studies, cowardly "investigative" reports of small-time crooked businesspeople (how about going after a big-timer once in a while?) cheesy tie-ins to the networks' lead-in entertainment programs, etc., etc., etc. TV newscasters like Mendte and Lane have already made the decision to put makeup on, go Hollywood, and peddle schlock rather than provide real news. So what difference does it make that some of them end of being the news?

Karen, this will soon be a non-issue once we find out what the feds found and what KYW TV-3 found. However, keep one thing in mind, it is illegal to tap a telephone without a warrant (recordings will be declared invalid as evidence) but not illegal to tap someone's email once you know their password. (As far as I am concerned, the law is a pony express when we have supersonic jets fly faster than the horses!) If Mendte vioilated his company's IT (information technology) policy and was warned about that beforehand, then he deserves to be fired. What if upper management appreciated the technological prowess of Mendte in gathering intelligence about Alycia Lane and said nothing about this only to fire him yesterday after doing an "independent" investigation, then we can conclude that he was fired to silence the wolves baying at the door about the station's keeping Mendte on paid leave while terminating Lane. Who are the wolves baying at the door - gossipers in Philly com who bring up every tidbit of this story. Another possible scenario is that the US Attorney advised them he would wind up his work quietly without any indictments once Mendte was fired from his job. KYW would not want this to continue on for months as Lane's lawyer will subpoena everyone in the decision making chain at KYW and all documents relative to the case in the discovery phase of the lawsuit. Plus they might reject a financial settlement in order to get to the bottom of the thing. So, someone had to be thrown to the wolves and it was Larry. Firing both anchors will shut up the gossipy nitpickers and make KYW TV3 look good in doing their job. A strong IT policy that is periodically reinforced will prevent something like that from happening again. Still it is your responsiblity to protect yoru password, not your employer!

This certainly looks serious, James, if CBS 3 went ahead and fired Mendte without the disclosure of the government's report.

Karen Heller said - "It is a train wreck, an improbable one that's cost the station $1.5 mil in salary to pay people to stay off the air." Really who they paying? They paid Larry for a few weeks - which is more then they did for Lane. But they aren't paying either to stay off the air.