Alert: The State Department is closing many US embassies Sunday as the result of a terrorism alert. State did not name the embassies, but Sunday is a business day in the Middle East. A State spokeswoman said the closures were “out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations.”

National: Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro, pleading for mercy, described life with three captive women as “a happy household”. He said he never beat the women, that they wanted to have sex with him, and the only thing he did was prevent them from leaving his house. He said, “People are trying to portray me as a monster and I’m not a monster, I’m just sick.” The judge gave him life plus 1,000 years.   

Greed Is Good: Former Goldman Sachs banker “Fabulous” Fabrice Tourre has taken the fall for the company. A Manhattan civil jury found him guilty of promoting a bad mortgage deal to investors. Not charged was the company or higher-ups who created the toxic investment so they could bet against it, making $15 billion. Goldman agreed to a $550 million penalty without admitting a crime, but Tourre could be barred from the securities industry for life.

World: Former Italian Premiere Silvio “Bunga Bunga” Berlusconi issued an Internet video protesting his conviction for tax fraud. He said that his troubles were the result of “an incredible series of accusations and trials that had nothing to do with reality”.

Deadline: In the slow death spiral of newspapers, the Cleveland Plain Dealer announced it is cutting a third of its newsroom staff, 45 reporters, photographers and editors. The paper earlier cut home delivery to just four days a week.

The Obit Page: Dick Kazmaier, the last Ivy Leaguer to win the Heisman Trophy in 1951, and who passed up a career in the National Football League, has died at age 82 in Boston. Kazmaier skipped the professional game because he thought he’d done everything he wanted in football and could make more money in business, which he did. When the Princeton dean of students told him he’d won the Heisman he said, “I thought it was nice. Then I went back to class.”

Hot Air: A study published in Science says violent crimes increase during shifts in climate. The study says domestic crime went up during drought in India and rapes and murders increased in the US during heat waves. They could have asked any murder beat reporter in the world and come to the same conclusion 100 years ago.

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