Congressman Charlie Rangel Facing Questions About His Harlem Rental Apartments

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Renter's Wrangle

Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York is facing questions about a group of apartments he rents in a rent-stabilized building in Harlem.

The New York Times reports that Rangel — who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee — has three adjacent apartments at a building called Lennox Terrace. He also has a fourth apartment which he uses as an office despite regulations that require a rent-stabilized apartment to be used only as a primary residence.

The Times says Rangel pays just half the market rate for the apartments at a time when the city is experiencing an affordable-housing crisis.

Treasurer of the New York Tenants Political Action Committee Michael McKee says, "Whether it's an elected official or not, no one should have four apartments, especially when one is being used as an office."

At a press conference this afternoon, Rangel said he did not see anything unfair about the situation. But, said he would re-evaluate using one of the apartments as an office.

Steely John

John McCain reached out to football fans in Pittsburgh during an interview with KDKA-TV, Wednesday. He said the city's beloved Steelers made a huge impression on him during his youth.

He then told a story about his time as a POW in Vietnam saying, "When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information... I named the... defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates."

McCain has told this story before — with one exception. He listed players from the Green Bay Packers, not the Steelers.

McCain writes in his memoir "Faith of My Fathers," "Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line."

The movie version of the book also referred to the Packers. And, in Newsweek magazine from November 29, 2005 McCain argued against torture as an interrogation technique writing "I gave them the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line, knowing that providing them false information was sufficient to suspend the abuse."

A campaign spokesman tells FOX News that McCain had a memory lapse calling it a non-issue.

Food Coloring

A Dallas County, Texas, official is calling the terms black hole, angel food cake and devil's food cake racist.

Monday's county commissioners meeting about traffic tickets turned into a tense debate when Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield — who is white — said, "It sounds like central collections has become a black hole."

Mayfield said his comments were to be taken in the scientific context. But one African-American official at the meeting demanded an apology. And commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, said the language was unacceptable, and that, "If it's angel food cake it's white. If it's devil's food cake it's black. If you're the black sheep of the family then you gotta be bad. White sheep you're okay."

Mayfield told FOX News today, "In no way will I apologize for this ridiculous hyper-sensitivity. Anyone who is offended by the term black hole needs serious psychiatric treatment."

Bad Signal

And finally, public works officials in Atlanta are replacing the city's "Men at Work" signs. The reason? Well, in some cases those signs were used around not only male workers — but near female workers as well.

The founding editor of an Atlanta-based women's magazine, Cynthia Good, says the signs are sexist. She sent letters complaining to Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. Atlanta's public works commissioner agreed with Good's argument.

The changes will cost the department $144 for each new sign. But in some cases the old ones will be covered at a cost of $22 per sign. The signs will now read, "Workers Ahead."

— FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.