CNN 2011-02-19

Have you heard about Bernie's bombshell? Bernie Madoff, that is. The man among con 1 men giving his first published interview since he was arrested two years ago. "The New York Times" actually talked to him in the North Carolina prison where he is serving 150 years. Madoff told the paper there's no way banks and hedge funds were clueless about his monster pyramid scheme. You know, the $85 billion fraud that ruined so many peoples’ lives. He tells The Times, quote, "They had to know but the attitude was sort of, 'If you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know.'" Until now, Madoff said he acted alone. Madoff still says his family had no idea what he was up to.

And the story about Bell, California, just keep getting juicier, like bacon cooking on the skillet. Remember Bell, that tiny, poor town that put government corruption 2 on the map? A city manager making about $800,000. Other officials making huge salaries for doing hardly no work, sometimes no work at all.

And when the people found out their leaders might be bleeding them dry, they hit the streets in protest. Ran a lot of those folks out of office, and out of town.

Eight people now face corruption charges. Robert Rizzo, how can you forget this guy? The former city manager accused of being the ringleader. Prosecutors 3 now showing e-mails from 2009 that say that Rizzo and his assistant, Angela Spaccia, plundered 4 the town's bank accounts and tried to hide their actions.

Take a look at this. This one is between Spaccia and the now former police chief, Randy Adams. Randy Adams actually writes, quote, "I'm looking forward to seeing you and taking all of Bell's money." Spaccia responds and "LOL. Well, you can take your share of that pie, just like us. We will all get fat together. Bob" -- talking about Rizzo - "has an expression he likes to use on occasion. Pigs get fat, hogs 5 get slaughtered 6. So long as we're not hogs, all is well." There's that juicy bacon we were talking about.

E-mail never dies, folks. Adams was making about 450 grand per year. He was never indicted 7 because there was no proof that he took the money illegally.

Okay, step one. You meet Mr. Or Mrs. Right. Step two, you get the bling, you tie the knot. Step three, move in together, buy the perfect pad.

Now, that's been the relationship protocol 8 for generations. But you know what? It's changing. More couples are nixing the second step and just shacking 9 up without the wedding, the rings, and all of the rice in the hair.

Just over half of American adults were married in 2009, according to the Population Reference Bureau. That's the lowest percentage since the census 10 began taking marriage data a century ago. But the number of couples living together is through the roof. The most recent census says eight million couples are living together outside of marriage. That's up one million from just a year ago.