1. Multnomah Publishers is selling
PW Daily, the online newsletter from Publishers Weekly, reports from the International Christian Retail Show in Denver: "Multnomah had a huge hit five years ago with The Prayer of Jabez, which sold over 8 million copies in 2001, more than any other book that year. Multnomah made ambitious expansion plans based on those sales, but eventually took heavy returns and was forced to reduce staff and title output. Still, the company remains well positioned in the Christian market."

Now the Christian publisher is selling. Rumors reported by PW Daily say it's going to Random House (which owns WaterBrook Press) and that "the acquiring publisher will absorb Multnomah's backlist, but close down its operations." An announcement, due Friday, will clarify the rumors.

2. Sen. Grassley wants nonprofit crackdown In what will certainly send shivers down the backs of many nonprofit leaders, Sen. Chuck Grassley says in an op-ed in today's edition of The Hill, "Nonprofit organizations must earn the privilege to keep their tax-exempt status." Complaining about excessive compensation, political activity, lack of financial transparency, and "nonprofit groups that act more like for-profit businesses than charities," he says, "Just as Congress has acted in the public interest to protect shareholders and workers from corporate mismanagement, so too must Congress demand transparency, accountability and good governance from the nonprofit sector." Well, it's not like nonprofits were untouched by The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to which Grassley is apparently referring. But it's not like there are no problems in the nonprofit world, either. But surely Grassley must agree that some organizations—churches, for ...