There have been dramatic changes in two stories reported on this website last week.

It appears that the Democratic National Committee website ad depicting adult abuse -- described in an article here dated October 10th -- has been removed from the DNC website at www.dnc.org. The website has no references to the ad’s previous existence.

In an unrelated story, the New York Times reported on Saturday that officials at “several” New York state psychiatric hospitals distributed memos last week saying that the hospitals were no longer allowed to release patients to nursing homes, an arrangement that was discussed in an article here dated October 15th. For the first time, the number (eleven) and names of the nursing homes with the special “secured” wards for mentally ill residents were released, in the memo distributed by the Bronx Psychiatric Center to its staff. “This protocol shall remain in effect until further notice,” that memo said.

The Times reported that Roger Klingman, a spokesman for the State Office of Mental Health, “denied yesterday that any policies had changed and said that the office still believed that the units were appropriate.” When told about the memos being distributed at psychiatric hospitals, which seem to imply that the nursing home wards are no longer seen as suitable residences for those being discharged from those hospitals, Mr. Klingman declined to comment.

Other attempts by the Times to determine who ordered the change in placement protocols were apparently unsuccessful