—From Pilot Knob, NY.

Nation: The 31-year-old founder of the Silk Road website known as an international market for heroin, cocaine, LSD and other illegal drugs was sentenced to life in prison yesterday in a federal court in Manhattan. San Francisco native Ross Ulbricht operated on a lesser-known level of the Internet called “The Dark Web,” which allowed for anonymous transactions. Investigators said Silk Road made about $214 million in sales and Ulbricht earned $18 million over the three years he was in business.

Ulbricht defended himself saying he believed people should be able to buy anything they want so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, but prosecutors said some customers died of overdoses and described Ulbricht as “the kingpin of a worldwide digital drug-trafficking enterprise.”

Romeo y Julieta: The US has removed Cuba from its list of countries that sponsor terrorism, a big step in restoring normal relations between the two. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement that “while the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions,” fostering terrorism is not one of them any longer. Despite this, the US and Cuba are still having difficult negotiations over re-establishing diplomatic relations.

The Payoff: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was paying a former student for his silence about sexual abuse going back to Hastert’s time as a high school teacher and wrestling coach 35 years ago, according to several news reports.

Hastert was indicted on charges that he violated banking rules with cash payments and lied to the FBI about it. His possible sexual indiscretions are not part of the charges. Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Ill. from 1965 to 1981.

The indictment has dredged up a strange incident from last fall when Hastert appeared on C-Span talking about the mid-term elections. A man who identified himself as Bruce called in and said, “Do you remember me from Yorkville?” He then laughed and hung up.

Red Card: Sepp Blatter, president of the world soccer organization FIFA that had 14 of its officers indicted on corruption charges this week, was re-elected yesterday to a fifth term in office. After his win Blatter triumphantly declared, “I am now the president of everybody.”

He wasted no time throwing down the gauntlet with American prosecutors, telling a Swiss broadcaster that the arrests timed with FIFA’s annual meeting “doesn’t smell good,” and he suggested that the American investigation is sour grapes for not being awarded the 2022 World Cup.

The Obit Page: Jerry Dior, who designed the silhouetted batter logo for Major League Baseball but didn’t get credit for it until 40 years later, has died at age 82. For Dior it was an afternoon of work to create the red, white, and blue logo of a batter facing a ball. It’s on everything related to Major League Baseball. Dior created the logo in 1968, but it wasn’t until 2009 that the league formally acknowledged he was the man who made it.

Small Screen: The gentle Bob Schieffer, host of “Face the Nation” on CBS for the past 24 years, is signing off and retiring tomorrow. He’s 77 and has been with CBS for 46 years. Schieffer made several previous attempts to retire and CBS talked him out of it. This time, he says, he means it.

Eggcorn: NPR notes that the Merriam Webster has added “Eggcorn” to its dictionary, “A word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used in a seemingly logical or plausible way for another word or phrase.”

Some eggcorns:

-“Spread like wildflowers” instead of “wildfire.”

-“Coldslaw” for”coleslaw.”

-“Self phone” an eggcorn of “cellphone.”

– Explanation mark.

– Eggtopic pregnancy

We liked this concept right from the gecko.

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