THE ASSOCIATED PRESS reports that former shock jock and current blogger Harold ”Hal’” Turner, who recently urged readers to ”take up arms’” against Connecticut lawmakers and who suggested government officials should ”obey the Constitution or die” has surrendered on a charge of inciting violence.

Turner was angry over legislation that would have given lay members of Roman Catholic churches in Connecticut more control over parish finances. So, on June 2, he wrote on his blog that Catholics should ”take up arms and put down this tyranny by force.’”

”It is our intent to forment direct action against these individuals personally,’” Turner wrote. ”These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die.’” And, speaking of police or prosecutors who may try to stop him, Turner wrote, ”I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down too.”

Last week, however, he explained the posts as ”crude political hyperbole uttered in a context which did not lend itself to imminent lawlessness.’” And upon his surrender to authorities, Turner’s attorneys issued a statement saying that his First Amendment rights need to be protected, even if people disagree with his views.

The progressive radio network Air America is landing back in the nation’s capital after a long hiatus — inking a local marketing agreement with Bonneville International Corp. to begin broadcasting its programming in June on 1050 AM.

“Air America is obviously very interested in the D.C. market,” Bennett Zier, Air America’s CEO told the Washington Business Journal. “It’s where decisions are made. Its number one business is politics.”

As reported in the Hartford Courant, Internet radio host Hal Turner “accused of inciting Catholics to “take up arms” and singling out two Connecticut lawmakers and a state ethics official on a Web site “was taken into custody in New Jersey recently after state Capitol police in Connecticut obtained a warrant for his arrest.

The paper noted that, “Turner, who has been identified as a white supremacist and anti-Semite by several anti-racism groups, hosts an Internet radio program with an associated blog. On Tuesday, the blog included a post that promised to release the home addresses of state Rep. Michael Lawlor, state Sen. Andrew McDonald and Thomas Jones of the State Ethics Office” in reaction to a controversy over a Connecticut bill that would have changed the way the Roman Catholic Church is governed, taking power away from church officials and turning it over to lay members.

The blog of the “Turner Radio Network” recounted the matter, then included the following remarks in a section labeled “commentary”: “It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally. These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die.”

The post continued: “If any state attorney, police department or court thinks they’re going to get uppity with us about this, I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down, too.

“Mr. Turner’s comments are above and beyond the threshold of free speech,” Capitol Police Chief Michael J. Fallon said in an e-mail announcing the warrant. “He is inciting others through his Web site to commit acts of violence and has created fear and alarm. He should be held accountable for his conduct.”

Broadcasting & Cable reports that the Media Research Center delivered almost 400,000 petitions to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “to hold a floor vote on a stand-alone bill to prevent the FCC from re-imposing the fairness doctrine.”

As Commissioner Michael Copps noted in reply, the FCC has no intention of bringing back the fusty old regulation — before it was scrapped in 1987, the doctrine required broadcasters to both cover issues of public importance and to seek out opposing viewpoints on those issues — but MRC and its crazed leader Brent Bozell still fear that “the doctrine, or something like it, might return in the guise of localism initiatives Copps is backing.” Copps rightly has noted that tying the two together is “issue-mongering,” as the industry trade journal puts it.

The House did pass a bill last session sponsored by former radio talk show host Mike Pence (R-Ind.), which placed a one-year moratorium on funding any FCC re-imposition of the doctrine. Democrat David Obey (D-Wis.), suggested that this was a red herring, a nonissue and that it was being debated only to provide sound bites for conservative talkers and “yap yap TV,” who had ginned up the issue.

Jay Severin began his first WTKK Radio show since he was suspended a month ago by reading an apology for his hateful remarks about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Here’s a portion:

“My remarks were hurtful, unkind and wrong. For those remarks and for failing to meet the standards you are right to expect of me, I am sincerely sorry. Most especially to the members of the Mexican community and Mexican-American community, I regret my remarks and I apologize for them. I am sorry. I want you to be an engaged and proud member of this audience, but I appreciate I must earn that privilege, every day….

To every person I have offended by my recent remarks: I am truly regretful and extend my apology. And to those who were not offended, I have still let you down by appealing to something less than the “best and brightest” in you, and for this I am also sorry.”

You can read the rest on the station’s Web site or courtesy The Boston Globe.

Jay Severin returns to the WTKK-FM airwaves with “a tricky task ahead of him, according to Boston Phoenix media writer Adam Reilly. “On the one hand,” notes Reilly, “Severin needs to show his bosses that he can, in fact, be “civil and respectful,” or at least come reasonably close. But Severin also has to convince his loyal listenership that–his recent suspension notwithstanding–he’s still the same edgy, erudite, Asian-women-lovin” conservative they’ve come to esteem.”

And fellow Boston media hound Dan Kennedy quotes Heidi Raphael, spokeswoman for Greater Media, WTKK’s parent corporation in his Media Nation blog:

“We have had conversations with Jay Severin over the past several weeks about his hurtful, inappropriate remarks. He understands that we will not accept this type of commentary on our airwaves in the future. Based on this understanding, we have agreed to conclude Jay’s suspension and he will return to the 96.9 FM WTKK airwaves on Tuesday, June 2, 2009. We want to emphasize that WTKK still strongly supports an open and spirited debate about the many issues our community and our country currently face. There will no doubt be times when people disagree with what Jay says. Our goal is to maintain a level of discourse that is compelling and thought-provoking, yet civil and respectful. While we will not always succeed in walking this line, we will continually strive to do so.

As Kennedy notes, “Given that Severin’s entire show is based on making hurtful, inappropriate remarks, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out.”

Indeed!