Issue #84 of Star Wars Insider features a new HoloNet News article, appearing in the Insider after a long absence.

HoloNet News is essentially an "in universe" newsmagazine that comments on happenings in the galaxy far far away. It originally began as a website prior to the release of Episode II, written by Pablo Hidalgo with Paul Ens, before moving into the pages of the Insider after Episode II's release. Pretty much all of the accompanying artwork in all incarnations of HoloNet News was done by the talented Joe Corroney. The spiritual godfather to HoloNet News was a feature called "Galaxywide NewsNets" from the Official Star Wars Adventure Journal that was written by Paul Sudlow.

The HoloNet News article in #84 is the "Official Inaugural Edition" and covers Palpatine's rise to Emperor. It takes place only a few days after the events of Episode III.

I thought it would be fun to list out some of the more obscure references. There's no structure to these -- you need to read the article first and come back here to get the context, but this should give you a good standing to pick out the article's "Easter Eggs":

- "The Full Text of Palpatine's Glorious Speech" doesn't include his lines from the novelization. D'oh.

- Note the new dating system referenced in the sidebar! "47BrS:8:11" means 47 years before the Great ReSynchronization.

- The Paths to Power is new. Palpatine was established as a writer back in Dark Empire, where he was said to have penned volumes such as The Book of Anger and The Creation of Monsters.

- The COMPNOR article links Ishin Il-Raz (a future Grand Admiral) and Crueya Vandron, who was one of the most important COMPNOR founders according to West End Games' Imperial Sourcebook.

- Most of the politicians named in "63 Senators Arrested in Collusion with Jedi Insurgency" are newly-created, including Streamdrinker of Tynna (a personal indulgence since I like Tynnans).

- "Senator Grebleips of Brodo Asogi" is an Easter Egg referring to the E.T. senators seen in The Phantom Menace. "Grebleips" is Spielberg spelled backward (I'm just referencing it from another source; somebody else already beat me to the gag) and Brodo Asogi is one of the names of E.T.'s homeworld according to the spinoff novel E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet.

- "Meet Your Regional Governors" has profiles on Denn Wessex (an old WEG character from the gaming module Starfall) and Marcellin Wessel, who is intended to be the old man in charge of Yinchorr in the Marvel comic "The Last Gift from Alderaan." General Redd Wessel, who appears in Crimson Empire, would presumably be his son.

- The list of fugitive Jedi includes Qu Rahn and Maw the Boltrunian from the game Jedi Knight, Kai Justiss (more about this character here), Ranik Solusar (father of Kam Solusar from Dark Empire II), Ydra Kilwallen (Dev Sibrarra's mom from The Truce at Bakura before she changed her last name...c'mon, nobody caught that one), and, of course, Halagad Ventor.

Finally, check out Joe Corroney's own "annotated HoloNet News" entry focusing on the article's artwork here.

Dan
(writing projects and current releases)