Washington Post

WASHINGTON - How hot is hot when it comes to housing markets across the country right now? Crazy hot: Some houses sell within days, sometimes within hours, of listing. Then there are the growing numbers that sell even before they formally hit the market - sold through a controversial technique known as "pocket listing. " What's a pocket listing? Essentially it's a private, "off-market" listing, often of short duration. Instead of putting the house on the local Multiple Listing Service, which exposes it to a vast number of shoppers and agents via real estate websites, agents restrict access to information about the house to their own buyer clients or colleagues in the same brokerage, hoping for a quick, full-price sale.

A former elementary school teacher who had been on the run for nearly five years was arrested in Nicaragua over the weekend on suspicion of producing pornography of young boys, the FBI said Tuesday. Eric Justin Toth, now 31, was once a third-grade teacher at Beauvoir, an exclusive elementary school attached to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. When Beauvoir officials confronted him about pornography of a student on a school camera, he fled. "That media card contained many images that you expect to see on the camera of a teacher: pictures of kids smiling, playing in the classroom," U.S. Atty.

The Washington Post Co. is looking at selling off its historic headquarters located downtown in the nation's capital. The site, which has been home for the paper since 1950, got worldwide attention with the 1976 film "All the President's Men. " The film depicted Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein breaking the Watergate story, which ultimately led to President Nixon's resignation. Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth told staff of the potential sale Friday morning, according to a story on the paper's website.

The Washington Post's "Wonkblog" page is up Wednesday morning with a flow chart showing how to determine eligibility for government help to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The Post describes the chart , which was prepared by the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners and can be seen here  or at the top of this item, as "insanely complicated. " It's not. Unless, that is, the Washington Post's reporters as a species are easily confused, which is doubtful.

The Washington Post's publisher abruptly canceled a series of policy dinners Thursday that were to have been underwritten by lobbyists or corporations willing to pay thousands of dollars to be in the same room as journalists and lawmakers, saying the marketing department had misrepresented the newspaper's intent. Lawmakers who had been invited said they were not told the events would make money for the newspaper.

Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. announced his retirement after 17 years in that role, making way for a new editor to lead the newspaper's transition into the digital age. Downie, 66, worked up the ranks as an investigative reporter and editor, London correspondent and national editor. He said that after his Sept. 8 departure he would stay on as a vice president at large at Washington Post Co., the same title held by his predecessor, Ben Bradlee. The Washington Post won many accolades during Downie's tenure, including 25 Pulitzer Prizes.

Washington Post Co. said Wednesday that it has joined with American Personal Communications Inc. to develop a new pocket-sized, wireless telephone service for the Washington area. Maryland-based AMC is the general partner in the limited partnership, which expects to begin testing an experimental phone system by year-end and be fully operational by the end of 1991, the companies said.

Microsoft Corp. sold its popular Slate online magazine Tuesday to Washington Post Co., a move that makes Slate's political commentary and quirky feature articles more broadly available across the Internet. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Slate editor Jacob Weisberg said the amount was "a very respectable, impressive price." Microsoft has said Slate, with about 6 million readers monthly, breaks even financially but isn't consistently profitable.

Most of the reporters and photographers at the Washington Post withheld their bylines and credit lines from the paper's Thursday editions as a protest of their going one year without a new union contract. The action was expected to continue today. The so-called byline protest "sends a message . . . to the company and to the newspaper industry as a whole . . . that there is something wrong at the Post," said Tom Sherwood, a reporter and chairman of the Post unit of the Newspaper Guild.

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a $2-million libel judgment against the Washington Post, and ruled that a newspaper's policy of encouraging "high-impact investigative stories of wrongdoing" does not show that it acts with "actual malice" toward public figures. The 7-1 decision reverses a 1985 opinion, which surprised the press by concluding that an "adversarial stance" taken by a newspaper and its reporters toward the subject of a story tended to prove it would recklessly print lies.

The Washington Post Co. is looking at selling off its historic headquarters located downtown in the nation's capital. The site, which has been home for the paper since 1950, got worldwide attention with the 1976 film "All the President's Men. " The film depicted Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein breaking the Watergate story, which ultimately led to President Nixon's resignation. Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth told staff of the potential sale Friday morning, according to a story on the paper's website.

Stanley Karnow, an award-winning author and journalist who combined insightful reporting with personal accounts and historical sweep in books on the Vietnam War and the Philippines and the critically acclaimed public television series that accompanied the works, died Sunday at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 87. Karnow had congestive heart failure and died in his sleep, said son Michael Karnow. A former correspondent for Time, the Washington Post and other publications, Karnow was one of the first U.S. journalists to report from Vietnam in the late 1950s, when American involvement in South Vietnam was still confined to a small group of advisors.

A raft of new polls, all reporting fairly similar numbers, underscores two critical facts about where the presidential race stands: President Obama has emerged from the back-to-back conventions having erased the edge that Republican challenger Mitt Romney had enjoyed on the economy and holds a small, but consistent, lead. The Gallup , ABC/Washington Post , CNN/ORC and Rasmussen surveys showed Obama with 48% to 52% of the vote in a hypothetical match-up with Romney.

Mitt Romney apologized Thursday after a newspaper story described bullying behavior on his part when he was an 18-year-old senior at an elite, all-boys prep school in Michigan. The Washington Post detailed a 1965 incident at Cranbrook School in which a buttoned-down Romney apparently was incensed by the dyed blond locks of a junior known for his "nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. " He led a "posse" of students in a charge against the boy, the Post reported. "He can't look like that," Romney reportedly told a close friend at the time.

Richard B. Wirthlin, a pollster and strategist whose research, particularly on voters' personal values, helped steer Ronald Reagan's political career from his early years as California governor through his two terms in the White House, has died. He turned 80 a day before his death from natural causes Wednesday at his home in Salt Lake City, his family said. A former economics professor, Wirthlin became what the Washington Post called the "prince of polling" after helping Reagan win the presidency in 1980.

Vice President Biden announced Friday that he was naming Shailagh Murray as his new communications director, choosing one Washington reporter to replace another as his lead spokeswoman. Murray has covered Capitol Hill and politics for the Washington Post since 2005, and the Wall Street Journal for six years before that. She replaces Jay Carney, the former Washington Bureau chief for Time magazine, who left Biden's office after two years to become White House press secretary. "Shailagh's years of experience covering a broad array of issues ranging from domestic policy to foreign affairs make her uniquely positioned to lead our communications team," Biden said in a statement.

USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian turned down the chance to coach the Oakland Raiders two years ago, saying at the time that he wanted to become a college head coach. With Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham fired, effective at the end of the season, Sarkisian said he would be interested in the Huskies' job if school representatives contacted him. "I'd look at it and assess it," Sarkisian said.

Katharine Graham has stepped down as chairwoman of the board of the Washington Post Co. but continues as chairwoman of the executive committee, the company said Thursday. Her son Donald Graham, who had been president, took over as chairman of the board and continues as chief executive, a position he has held since May, 1991. He is also publisher of the Washington Post newspaper. The company said Alan Spoon was elected president and will continue as chief operating officer.

David S. Broder, one of the nation's leading political reporters and a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1973 for distinguished commentary about the Watergate scandal, has died. He was 81. Broder, a longtime columnist at the Washington Post, died Wednesday at Capital Hospice in Arlington, Va., from complications of diabetes. In a statement, President Obama described Broder as "the most respected and incisive political commentator of his generation. " Broder, who continued to write his column despite failing health, served as a mentor to countless colleagues.

As the Senate gears up for a key vote on the package to extend tax cuts, polls released Monday showed that the American people, regardless of political party or persuasion, strongly favored the agreement hammered out by the Obama administration and Republicans. According to the latest poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 60% of those questioned said they favored the agreement, which has been attacked by House liberals and Senate conservatives. About 22% said they disapproved.