NY Observer

Ah, yes: The Monday New York Times crossword puzzle, routinely mocked by seasoned crossword freaks as the province of entry-level puzzle-doers and amateur intellects. In today's puzzle, however, those who regularly frequent the blank box page may observe an interesting redundancy, and on a technical level, an inaccuracy. Involving rappers.

The final clue to today's puzzle, by Tom Pepper, solvable with a three-letter answer:

"63. Hip-hop's ___ Def."

As blogger and columnist Phillip Bump notes, the same clue appeared back in November. The puzzle, by Jeremy Newton and Tony Orbach, ran on Sunday, November 13, 2011 with the clue to a three-letter answer being:

"113. Hip-hop’s ___ Def."

[Before we proceed any further, it may be wise to enlist herein a SPOILER ALERT for the answer out of sympathy for those who may need one, unfortunate folk that they are.]

The answer is clearly Mos Def*. There are at least two other three-letter "Def"-related clue/answer combinations within the realm of hip-hop puzzle makers could potentially consider:

• Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin's seminal New York rap label Def Jam.
• 'Underground' rap label Def Jux.

 
....Which goes without mentioning all the other "Def" references in hip-hop (like 90s Atlanta-based rap label So So Def, or the "supergroup" of rappers whose 1998 cover of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" became a hit single, Def Squad) or any of the other possible music-related answers that could go with the word "Def" ("Hi-Def," "Def Leppard," etc). And granted, Will Shortz probably can't remember every single clue that comes under his purview. Surely, some will repeat themselves.

But the answer is technically inaccurate, if not simply outdated: The rapper formerly known Mos Def stopped going by that name last year, which he famously noted in a November 2011 interview with Stephen Colbert.

Furthermore, the crossword section has a recent history with a debatable answers to hip-hop oriented clues.

At the beginning of January, a reader email debating the answer to the clue "Wack, as in hip hop" became the subject of joyously heated debate among the oddly inevitable cross-section of hip-hop fans and seasoned crossword solvers. The answer was "ILLIN."

Most hip-hop fans would tell you that someone who is "ILL" (the neutral-action descriptor of "ILLIN") is certainly by no means "wack," though there's room for debate about the transitive verb's mostly-positive connotations. The fence-sitters at Gawker weighed in on the final definition of the word as "malleable," an unfortunate entry in their series of outdated but relatively astute hip-hop punditry.

Also, crossword freaks would argue that an outdated clue from a Sunday puzzle (the week's most challenging) appearing in a Monday puzzle (the week's least challenging) undermines the challenge of the original clue. And the truth is, there is no more an accessible def-related answer than the word "Mos," one of the first Google results for "hip-hop" and "Def."

Needless to say, the Times should expand its rap-related hip-hop purview. Should Will Shortz decide to take us up on the matter, we've made a Spotify playlist in his honor. May the Times' crosswords forever be more 'def,' less 'Mos' from this day forward.

[*Who, full disclosure, is not a fan of The Observer.]

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Victory tastes so good. (Stephen Duffy)

“Accessible taxi’s is happening, it’s happening in Washington D.C., it’s happening in Chicago, it’s happening Philadelphia and it’s happening because we've done it in New York,” said a contented James Weisman, his words accompanied by warm applause.

Mr. Weisman, senior counsel to the United Spinal Association, was speaking at a party for those involved in the Taxis For All campaign on Friday. The reason for the celebration was the Disability Rights Advocates landmark judicial victory against the city in December, when they successfully argued that any future New York taxicab that was not wheelchair accessible violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“The same way we made the buses accessible and the whole country followed, the same thing is going to happen here with the taxis.” Mr. Weisman said, speaking in front of a yellow cake that had a model taxi with a ramp as decoration, the word ‘Congratulations’ was poured across in icing. “It’s going to be as profound a change as the buses, I’m sure,” he said, alluding to the ripple effect that occurred after  the adoption of accessible buses in New York.

Someone in the crowd got a tad excited and shouted, "And if it doesn't happen, we'll sue!".

"Right!" responded Mr. Weisman, with a nod of his head and shrug of his shoulders. The party was thrown by Anne Davis, former chair of the Taxi For All steering committee. "We’ve been working for 15 years towards this legislation," Ms. Davis said, "and I thought we should celebrate it so I offered to throw the party.”

Those at the party who used a wheelchair were in top spirits. Considering they had spent 15 winters (or more) wheeling around Manhattan, waiting at various bus stops with frost bitten fingers, one could understand their glee.

Major cities like London have had a 100% accessible taxicab fleet for a long time, so why has it taken New York this long? "Well, we didn't get the cooperation," Ms. Davis said. Mayor Bloomberg "didn't even think people in wheelchairs should be out on the streets hailing cabs."

Indeed, it would appear for long periods that Mayor Bloomberg was steadfast against any agreement on accessible cabs. At one stage, answering why the 'Taxi of Tomorrow' wasn't accessible, he the bizarrely stated that "wheelchair users don't tip well." The ruling last December was viewed by some in the political world as a victory for Governor Andrew Cuomo, who consistently reiterated his refusal to sign any bill that did not include accessible cabs.

Joe Rappaport, ex-Transportation Analyst at the State Senate who was deeply involved in the Taxi For All movement, was there, as was  Julie Pinover, one of the attorneys who represented the Disability Rights Advocates.

The next step in this story will see the Bloomberg administration present a extensive report to Judge Daniels, which outlines the plan for increasing the availability of wheelchair-accessible taxis. Until this report is produced, and approved, the City can only issue permits to cabs that are accessible.

For at least one group of New Yorkers, they can have their cake and eat it, too.

sduffy@observer.com

Dig in!

The new Apple store in Grand Central Terminal is a lovely, understated project in one of the city's premier public spaces.

All the same, some sour apples have been complaining that the Cult of Steve has been paying below market rents for its space, leading to an investigation by the state. The M.T.A. counters that Apple is still paying more than the previous tenant, and its arrival means bigger revenues across Grand Central, given Apple's appeal. This latter bet appears to be paying off.

According to Crain's, that culinary slam dunk, The Michael Jordan Steakhouse, has seen a 7 percent jump in sales since Apple opened. And this is not simply because a competing restaurant was closed—while the new store was under construction, there was no commensurate rise in receipts. The M.T.A. says this proves the success of the Apple strategy, as do the dribbling meat eaters.

“We know their customers are coming here,” Matthew Glazier, an owner of the steakhouse, told Crain's. “I'm always looking for the little white bags."

Another perfect accompaniment? Maybe a Junior's cheesecake or some of Mendy's signature matzah ball soup. Just imagine the synergies when Shake Shack opens. Between there and Apple, a giant Möbius strip of lines will form, with no escape.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 8

Tour: ArtWalk Chelsea: David Zwirner, Gagosian and Gladstone
The American Federation for the Arts takes visitors on a tour of three exhibitions of three very different artists in Chelsea--Doug Wheeler, Damien Hirst and Shirin Neshat. --Michael H. Miller
Meet at David Zwirner, 519 West 19th Street, New York, 4–6 p.m., $25 for AFA members, $35 for non-members.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9

Opening: "Happenings" at the Pace Gallery
Over 300 photographs document performance pieces from the movement, featuring work by Jim Dine, Simone Forti, Red Grooms, Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, Lucas Samaras, Carolee Schneemann, and Robert Whitman. Sounds like a stellar tribute to a too-short movement, and you never know, someone may stage a be-in right at the opening. --Dan Duray
The Pace Gallery, 534 West 25th Street, New York, 6-8 p.m. Read More

In an interview with the Cornell Daily Sun, Provost Ken Fuchs revealed plans to make the tech campus on Roosevelt Island, a 50-50 partnership between Cornell University and Israel's Technion, even more of a "global institute."

Over the next six months, he said, Cornell plans to start a search to find "at least one university from Europe and as many as two from Asia" to boost the applied sciences program's prestige abroad. Read More

The Daily is one year old and doesn't care what we think. “I don’t care about what people in a 20-block radius of our office say about this product,” editor Jesse Angelo told the New York Times. [NY Times]

Greg Kelly and the tabloids. [Capital NY]

Food advertising is no longer a safe bet. [WWD]

Video ad spending is increasing, which is why print is rushing into streaming. [NY Times]

Choire Sicha says that BuzzFeed should be careful not to spend too much. [NY Times]

NBC apologizes for M.I.A.'s obscene gesture. [WSJ]

Architectural Digest won best business turnaround within Conde Nast. [WWD]

Everything you ever wanted to know about World Star Hip Hop. [NY Mag]

Carson Daly has cockroach-like industry resilience. [NY Mag]

About.com is The New York Times Co.'s problem child. [PaidContent]

Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh faced off with protesters yesterday outside his hotel, the Ritz Carlton on Central Park South. Mr. Saleh came to the United States last month to seek medical treatment after signing a deal in November allowing him immunity from prosecution if he transferred power to his vice president in the wake of months of bloody protests against his regime.

Protesters gathered outside the Ritz yesterday afternoon and greeted Mr. Saleh with photos of some of the hundreds of people killed during the demonstrations against his administration that began during last year's "Arab Spring." Police fended off one man who attempted to "charge" Mr. Saleh. Another protester threw a shoe at the former head of state as he departed the hotel. The shoe-thrower was arrested for disorderly conduct.  Read More

The changing shape of homeless families—they've got smartphones, too. [NY Times]
Will a shrinking Wall Street be bad for Manhattan landlords? [Journal]
And the bankers are passing on our housing, too. [Crain's]
Want a seat? Study finds Friday's a slow day for M.T.A. [Daily News]
Brownstoner has a developer blog for much-watched Strong Place townhouses. [Brownstoner]
Mitt Romney does not want to help underwater homeowners. [Journal]
Coney Island guy can't keep store, so he'll just move the whole damn thing. [Curbed]
Hip developer swooped into stressed sites, now in trouble himself. [Crain's]
The storied Oak Room will not be coming back to a rebooted Algonquin. [NY Post]
Buy it with the black card! The fabulous American Express carriage house. [Real Deal]
Prospect-Lefferts Gardens is the latest "no longer secret" neighborhood. [Journal]
Moving madness: companies fight for turf. [Crain's]
American Airlines bankruptcy has a twist: Larry Silverstein's long-time lawsuit. [Journal]
Two townhouse brokers go into the wind power business. [Real Deal]
The world  loves One57, where the cheapest apartment is $7 million! [NY Times, Daily News]

George Demos, a GOP contender for the Suffolk County congressional seat currently held by Tim Bishop, launched an effort today to tie the Democrat to Barack Obama's decision to require religious affiliated hospitals to provide contraceptive insurance.

Mr. Demos, who ran for the seat in 2010, sent his supporters an email petition with the goal of trying to "get Bishop to oppose the ObamaCare mandate forcing Catholic charities and hospitals to provide abortion-inducing drugs - an outrageous violation of their religious freedom."

"Voters of the 1st District will no longer tolerate Tim Bishop's strategic silence. People ask me, 'What has he said about this?' In a word: Nothing. He has refused to confirm or deny his support for this Obama policy just as he has on the Keystone Pipeline and so many others," Mr. Demos writes."By signing our petition, Americans of all faiths can send a powerful message to congressmen like Silent Tim: It's disgraceful for you to remain mute as President Obama forces our religious institutions to violate their most deeply cherished beliefs." Read More

Jay-Z may be the proud papa of Blue Ivy, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still rock a mic. Tonight the Marcy projects messiah will be holding an intimate concert at Carnegie Hall to benefit his foundation and the United Way of New York. As the Brooklyn boy bellows his greatest hits along with surprise special guests, the hallowed hall will shudder with the unfamiliar rhythms. Instead of the usual white-gloved doyennes and their staid bow-tied husbands, the box seats will be occupied by hand waving, lighter-lighting Jigga fans rocking to the pulsing beats. Who knows? Maybe bouncing baby Blue will make a guest appearance.

Jay-Z at Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium, 8 p.m. Tickets,
from $1,250, available at http://www.carnegiehall.org/.

Everyone who hasn't been living under a rock knows the New York Giants whipped up an impressive victory in the Super Bowl last night. However, even rock-dwellers were aware of the news if they were friends with any elected officials on Facebook.

Generally, the excited  politicians' responses needed at least five exclamation marks.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and State Senator Marty Golden were examples of this. Ms. Crowley wrote "NY Giants XLVI Super Bowl Champions!!!!!" while Mr. Golden wrote "Congratulations to the SuperBowl Champions the New York Giants!!!!!! Go Big Blue."

Councilman Jumaane Williams might have been the most excited of them all. "UH...Yeah! We did it again. ANY DAMN QUESTIONS!!!!!!!" he declared, adding "WHOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" He also had another "WHOAA" post containing 50 exclamation marks.

Read More

All that gym time finally pay off for Madonna (Getty Images)

After a spectacular performance that had Fergie crying into her pillow and Lady Gaga slapped firmly back in her place, Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show ended with Madge disappearing in a puff of smoke like someone dropped a house on her sister. As backup singers Cee Lo, M.I.A., Nicki Minaj, and LFMAO, dispersed, the phrase "World Peace" appeared  in gold pompoms. We were surprised they didn't read "Fuck you, Elton John."

The feud between the two queens has a history longer than the Capulets and the Montagues, but was recently stirred back up again after the Golden Globes, where Madonna won for Best Original Song. During her acceptance speech, the cameras panned to a stony-faced Sir John (who was also up for the award), who had just finished telling Carson Daly on the red carpet that Madonna "hasn't got a fucking chance" at winning.

Then Elton John's partner David Furnish took to calling out Madge on Twitter and Facebook, and the whole debacle turned vicious.

Though the three reportedly made up, when asked recently if he had any advice for his adversary's Super Bowl performance, Sir John didn't take the high road. "Make sure you lip-sync good.," the singer relayed in an interview with Good Morning America. Then he conceded:

Of course you have to play live, but I don't think you can. In all fairness to everyone who's done it before, I think you may be able to sing live, but it's really hard to play live.

(By the way, this wasn't the first time Elton John has accused Madonna of not singing during her performances.)

Yes, Madonna was mostly lip-syncing through the majority of the performance: throughout the fifteen minutes of strenuous calisthenics and acrobatic maneuvers, she never sounded less than radio-perfect. (The jury is still out on her "Like a Prayer" duet with Cee Lo, which sounded live despite the fact that the 53-year-old never missed a note.)
Watch the whole thing here:

It's good to be queen (Getty Images)

Even if she wasn't singing live, Madonna took her frenemy's words to heart. Not content to stop at "good," Madonna's performance was great; earning her resounding applause from everyone from Fred Durst to Alec Baldwin and The New Yorker's music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, who was liveblogging the event:

I no longer believe that this performance contains any live singing, nor do I care. The song is better than I thought, now it seems as happy as it should have, maybe because of the positive pressure of live performance...

And now it’s “Like a Prayer,” my fifth favorite Madonna song. This crazy-ass video screen field is genuinely wicked. Is this maybe live singing now? Cee-Lo has been brought in to do black lame (I think) gospel robes. This sounds live, and I assume Cee-Lo is here to kill the hook. Madge knows the crowd—choose the song Americans know, and hey, election year, let’s go with prayer.

In conclusion: Did Madonna lip-sync? Probably. (Though we won't say yes for sure, because we don't want to get an angry call from Liz Rosenberg tomorrow.)

Did it matter? Not at all. Despite a few detractors, not even Sir Elton John nor Mr. Furnish could muster any public Haterade for a dazzling performance whose only "Fuck You" moment came not from a Cee Lo reference nor a pissed off Madonna, but from M.I.A. trying to make a statement about...lord knows what.

Maybe we need more lip-syncing during these live shows: it certainly couldn't have hurt last year's Black Eyed Peas debacle. And the perfect vocals allowed us to pay attention to what really mattered: Madonna's bizarrely fantastic costume changes. As comedian Julie Klausner tweeted during the show, "Every man's fantasy of an ancient gay icon cheerleader in front of a marching band just came true."

What could be more apropos during a football game than that?

Around 8 p.m. on a recent Monday, about 35 people of disparate ages were sitting on the marble steps of the public atrium inside Two World Financial Center, listening to a 25-year-old in baggy jeans named Jordan Phoenix talk about Living. “This is the class where we figure out who we are and what we want to do with our lives,” he told his audience, a range of artists and professionals, employed and unemployed, 20-somethings and middle-aged divorcees who, like me, were drawn in by Mr. Phoenix’s aggressive pitch on the website Meetup.com.

As the post had put it: “This group is for you if you know you are capable of greatness, but are unclear and frustrated about how to get there.” The group, “Start Living in 2012,” had picked up more than 100 members in three days, which made it a very fast-growing meetup group indeed.

“I love that everyone here showed up,” Mr. Phoenix said. “Sixty-eight people RSVP’ed. Thirty people didn’t show up. Guess what? They’re not invited to the next meetup, because they’re bullshit artists.”

I had no intention of going to the next meetup. As much as I want to start living in 2012, I was merely a tourist. Read More

Giants!! Giants!! Giants!!

A victory parade in Lower Manhattan is set for Tuesday.

Video from last night's celebration in Times Square.

Senate Republicans are threatening to throw state government into chaos and block key parts of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's agenda if he follows through on threats to veto district lines.

A Republican consultant doesn't think Cuomo will make a stand on redistricting: “It’ll be two days of outrage and then it’s on to the budget."

A half-dozen big pocketed donors lent Cuomo their own private air craft so that he could attend fundraisers around the state. Read More

M.I.A. briefly shot the camera a middle finger during her guest spot on the Super Bowl halftime show last night--because nothing is so much fun for everyone as a multimillionaire flipping off 100 million plebeians at once. Anyone who remembers the somehow more-innocent and crasser time of 2004 will remember the months-long "controversy" over Janet Jackon's briefly bared breast knows that we're in for some recriminations, some of which have already happened. NBC has disavowed any responsibility for the halftime show, noting that the NFL books the guests--and somewhere, Madonna waves her fist, angry that her triumphant moment and Illuminati-inflected headgear got overshadowed.

Screengrab

As many as 2000 students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst rioted in the streets tonight following the New England Patriots' 21-17 loss to the New York Giants. There were riot squads at the ready. Police used flashbangs and smoke bombs break up the action and supplemented with horseback officers who waded into the crowd gathered in student residential area. Police were on hand because reports indicate rioting in conjunction with major events is simply something students at UMass Amherst sometimes do:

Approximately 1,000 students rioted last May to mark the death of Osama Bin Laden, lighting small fires and scaling Berkshire Dining Commons’ low-hanging awning, chanting, flashing and setting off fireworks before a row of riot gear-clad officers marched at the crowd and sent rioters fleeing through campus.

None were arrested following the 2011 celebration and campus officials issued a release praising the handling of the situation.

The relative ease with which police broke up the gathering tonight made University spokesman Edward Blaguzewski hesitant to use the word riot, telling local media authorities were dealing "with a large crowd and there was a need to issue a dispersal orderto move them along."

Masslive.com reports police made 8 arrests after students poured into the streets following the Patriot's Super Bowl loss to the Giants 4 years ago.

Videos allegedly made during the riot were uploaded to Youtube Sunday night, including the one seen below, which was accompanied by a description indicating campus police on horseback "shot at the crowd--not with real bullets, but with what I'm sure hurts like a mother effer."

Umass Amherst Superbowl 2012 Riot - YouTube.

[masslive.com]

via @MikeGiardi

It turns out the New York Giants were prescient when they briefly put their website on a championship footing Saturday: in spite of a strong effort by the Patriots in the 4th quarter including a failed Tom Brady Hail Mary pass, the Giants won their Super Bowl match-up against the New England Patriots, 21-17.  The Giants profited as much off Patriot foul-ups as they did from quarterback Eli Manning's efficient move into high gear in the fourth quarter, when Mr. Manning led what would ultimately be the game-winning drive, culminating in a touchdown by Ahmad Bradshaw with less than a minute left in the game. The AP reports as many as 100 million viewers may have tuned into the game on NBC.

M.I.A.: is that a middle finger or are you just glad to sing for us?

Madonna's much-anticipated half-time show was a musical recap of her career so far and featured guest players LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and Cee-Lo Green. There were no FCC-baiting "malfunctions" as seen in past Super Bowl half-time shows but in a screen capture of M.I.A.'s performance circulated over social media, the singer appears to flip off the camera. As yet the House has not convened a Warren Commission-style panel to investigated the gesture, but we will keep you updated as developments warrant.

Business Insider has published a master post reviewing the often over-hyped Super Bowl ads in live-blog format--highlights included spots for the city of Detroit starring screen legend Clint Eastwood and a bizarre Ken Burnsesque Budweiser ad.

[Fox/AP]

via @MikeGiardi

It turns out the New York Giants were prescient when they briefly put their website on a championship footing Saturday: in spite of a strong effort by the Patriots in the 4th quarter including a failed Tom Brady Hail Mary pass, the Giants won their Super Bowl match-up against the New England Patriots, 21-17.  The Giants profited as much off Patriot foul-ups as they did from quarterback Eli Manning's efficient move into high gear in the fourth quarter, when Mr. Manning led what would ultimately be the game-winning drive, culminating in a touchdown by Ahmad Bradshaw with less than a minute left in the game. The AP reports as many as 100 million viewers may have tuned into the game on NBC.

M.I.A.: is that a middle finger or are you just glad to sing for us?

Madonna's much-anticipated half-time show was a musical recap of her career so far and featured guest players LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and Cee-Lo Green. There were no FCC-baiting "malfunctions" as seen in past Super Bowl half-time shows but in a screen capture of M.I.A.'s performance circulated over social media, the singer appears to flip off the camera. As yet the House has not convened a Warren Commission-style panel to investigated the gesture, but we will keep you updated as developments warrant.

Business Insider has published a master post reviewing the often over-hyped Super Bowl ads in live-blog format--highlights included spots for the city of Detroit starring screen legend Clint Eastwood and a bizarre Ken Burnsesque Budweiser ad.

[Fox/AP]

The mystery of missing Utah woman Susan Powell took another tragic turn Sunday when Pierce County, WA authorities raced to an explosion and house fire at the home of Mrs. Powell's estranged husband, Josh Powell. Officials say the blast killed Mr. Powell, long a person of interest in his wife's mysterious 2009 disappearance, and his two sons, who were at the home for supervised visitation.

The explosion occurred after a social worker dropped Powell's sons at the residence. Powell reportedly shut the social worker out of the home. The social worker smelled gas, then the home blew up.

Just last week Powell lost a custody bid for his sons, 7-year-old Charlie and Braden, age 5, after a judge ordered that they remain with their grandparents.

Even though Utah authorities have considered Powell a suspect in Susan Powell's disappearance in December, 2009, Powell originally retained custody of his sons and moved to Washington to live with his father, Steve Powell. The elder Mr. Powell was arrested in September of last year and charged with possession of child porn and voyeurism. Washington officials granted a subsequent bid for the children's custody by their maternal grandparents, as Washington assistant Attorney General John Long had indicated that Josh Powell was also being investigated in connection with his father's case.

Susan Powell's disappearance has drawn national attention since the investigation began 2 years ago. Josh Powell has been at the center of scrutiny the entire time and repeatedly questioned by police about alleged inconsistencies in his story. In September 2011, Powell's estranged sister Jennifer Graves said she believed her brother was "responsible for his wife's disappearance" and that Charlie and Braden Powell "shouldn't be with Josh" or the senior Mr. Powell.

[News Tribune and the Salt Lake Tribune]

(Getty Images)

Public relations in this bad year for cruise ships will not improve with reports of Norovirus outbreaks on two Princess Cruise liners. Saturday saw the Crown Princess dock at Port Everglades with nearly 170 sick passengers and crew on board. On Sunday the Ruby Princess docked with over 100 passengers in gastrointestinal distress. Princess Cruises issued a message to passengers noting there will be delays in weekend departures to allow for "prolonged and additional" ship-wide disinfection procedures.

Noroviruses are a common family of stomach bugs that pass quickly from person to person in isolated environments. Cruises have had so many similar outbreaks that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes a regularly updated web page devoted to tracking them. Since 1994 Princess Cruises have reported 77 incidents.

Since 17 people died when the Carnival-owned Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Italy on January 13 the cruise ship industry has been in the news regularly with reports of men overboard, on-board suicides and even a scam in which three Hungarians allegedly faked the deaths of relatives aboard the Concordia in hopes of receiving settlement money. The wreck of the Concordia even entered the national dialogue in U.S. politics when Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus compared President Barack Obama to allegedly delinquent Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino.

Carnival Corporation owns 10 brand name cruise lines, including Princess Cruises.

[CBS Miami]