Page 1 Roundup (08/02)

The Daily News: After a year in homeless shelters former press secretary to top NYC officials is homeward bound

White House blames booze for Trump’s bizarre claim that you need an ID to buy groceries

Al Franken says he hasn't ruled out running for office again after resigning amid sexual misconduct allegations

Ex-tennis star James Blake says city never told him of second department trial of cop who tackled him

New York Post: Their parents certainly didn't call Trump, but their remains are reportedly back on U.S. soil

Has Harold Lloyd taken over Homeland Security?

Missing teen sends letter after vanishing 5 years ago

Page Six: Brooklyn Decker opens up about her marriage to Andy Roddick

Instagram: Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go's on her most famous song

Towleroad: GOP candidate said homosexuality kills more people than smoking, wants to ban mention of it in public schools



NBC: Rep. Jim Jordan is privately pressuring sex abuse witnesses to take back their allegations

The New York Times: Mueller’s digging exposes culture of foreign lobbying and its big paydays

The New Yorker: Keeping faith with the Manson women

The Washington Post: Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims in 558 days

The Wall Street Journal: Darth Vader, your presence is required at our Star Wars wedding

Gov. Jerry Brown to Decide if Leslie Van Houten, Manson Family Murder, Will Go Free

Wow. Having grown up obsessed with the Tate-LaBianca murders, this one really touches a nerve. Leslie Van Houten was a Charles Manson follower who admitted in court testimony to stabbing one of the victims of the "family" -- Rosemary LaBianca -- 14 times in 1969. Van Houten says she and another woman first held Rosemary down as Charles “Tex” Watson stabbed to death husband Leno LaBianca before turning the knife on Mrs. LaBianca. Watson then handed the knife to Van Houten, whose stabbing frenzy may have occurred post-mortem. 

Van Houten admitted holding a pillow over the head of Rosemary La Bianca, left, while other cult members stabbed her and husband Leno, right, to death

On Thursday, a review board recommended parole for her, which is awaiting a final decision by Gov. Jerry Brown. I have ambivalent feelings about this. While I understand prison is supposed to be a place to rehabilitate criminals -- even though we know it's so dysfunctional it often makes them worse -- and I can imagine a 66-year-old convict with an exemplary prison record poses little threat to the general population, I'm not sure a crime this heinous warrants parole. (Or any crime this violent.) That being said, if she was sentenced with having the chance at parole, what message are we sending by not granting it if someone does everything right after doing something so wrong? Apparently she was originally sentenced to death when she was convicted in 1971 but then had that changed to life with the possibility of parole when the California Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty. (She later was retried twice and eventually was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, hence where we are today.) What I would have liked to have seen is the Manson family members being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, and save the option for people who have not committed violent offenses. Thoughts?

Leslie Van Houten, 19, is escorted by two deputy sheriffs as she leaves the courtroom in Los Angeles, Dec. 19, 1969

Van Houten, right, along with fellow Manson family members Susan Atkins, left, who died in prison in 2009,.and Patricia Krenwinkel, center, arrive in court in August 1970 

Curt Gentry, Co-Author of ‘Helter Skelter,’ Is Dead at 83

Happen to be re-reading his and Vincent Bugliosi's true-crime masterpiece right now, inspired by a week beneath the Hollywood Hills. Well done, sir. Read HERE.

It's that good.