Craigslist

Jonathan Ames may be the closest thing our generation gets to Norman Mailer. Literally a literary pugilist -- his essay of a boxing bout with another writer is included -- he's got an ever-present, outsized sense of himself. He's willing to have adventures and chronicle them, often at the expense of his own dignity. Despite his advancing age and well-rendered perversions, he's wooed no shortage of women.

An informal market is springing up online for the IOUs that cash-strapped California began issuing last week, attracting the attention of regulators and state officials. Meanwhile, the state's bonds moved a step closer to "junk" status because of the budget mess that has prompted the state to pay tax refunds and other obligations with the vouchers. Would-be buyers of the scrip, officially called registered warrants, have expressed their interest on Web marketplaces including Craigslist and EBay.

Attorneys general from seven states asked online classified site Craigslist for details on how it will keep pornography and prostitution off its newly created adult services section. They made the request nearly two weeks after Craigslist agreed to eliminate its "erotic services" ads, a change prompted by intense scrutiny after a Boston man was charged with killing a masseuse he met through Craigslist's online classifieds. "It's a step forward, but we need to know what specific measures Craigslist is using," Connecticut Atty.

Craigslist, the advertising website in hot water over classified listings for prostitution, is striking back at criminal investigators in South Carolina -- even as seven New Yorkers were indicted on charges of running a prostitution ring through the site. Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster said in a blog post Wednesday that the San Francisco company had sued South Carolina to block possible prosecution by Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster.

Bowing to public pressure from a nationwide cadre of law enforcement officials, Craigslist said Wednesday that it would shutter the "erotic services" section of its website and pledged to closely vet ads for massages, escorts and other adult services that fall short of prostitution.

State attorneys general from across the country are stepping up pressure on Craigslist to shutter what they call the nation's busiest virtual street corner, where prostitution runs rampant. Craigslist says it has reduced by 95% the number of inappropriate listings on the erotic services section of its classified-ads website since November, when the San Francisco company reached an accord with more than 40 of the states' top prosecutors.

Philip Markoff seemed to have a good life: The handsome, clean-cut, 23-year-old medical student was planning a lavish beachfront wedding this summer to a beautiful woman. But authorities say his computer and surveillance videos paint a picture of a suspected serial criminal who targeted women offering erotic services through Craigslist. Now he's accused of killing one and suspected of robbing and tying up another. Police say there could be more victims.

A Florida man has been arrested on suspicion of meeting a teenage girl over the Internet and luring her to Southern California with the promise of making her a show-business star. Instead, she worked as a prostitute in Las Vegas, Orange County and Los Angeles, authorities said. Christopher Tyrone Young, 28, also known as Staydown, is charged with placing ads on Craigslist to find prostitution clients for the 17-year-old in Anaheim, Montclair, Los Angeles and Pomona, authorities said.

Cook County's sheriff filed a lawsuit Thursday against Craigslist, saying the popular online classifieds site not only allows the solicitation of prostitution but also has actively created "the largest source of prostitution in America." "They've actually catered their site so it facilitates [prostitution], where you can actually and more specifically and quickly get to what you want," Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said at a news conference while announcing the federal lawsuit.