Imus--When is a Supension Not a Suspension?

You'd think that a story which has occupied so much oxygen this week--lead story on all three network newscasts Tuesday night!--would have all the basic facts nailed down for us by now. So here's a little fact I haven't been able to ferret out--maybe I'm just a poor Googler: is Imus' two-week suspension from his radio show and simulcast gigs paid or unpaid? If it's a paid suspension, it's what we civilians would call a "vacation." If it's unpaid, why hasn't that been made abundantly clear? A clue might be the fact that the suspension didn't start immediately, so as not to disrupt a fund-raising radiothon scheduled for late this week--he couldn't be suspended until Thursday, then have the suspension....suspended for those two days?. If he can be trusted today and tomorrow, what exactly are his bosses telling Imus, and the rest of us? It sounds like the message is, "Chill, y'all."

PS: Was it just me, or did Imus start sounding a little "southern"--you know, the way Hillary and Obama did down South--when he was on Sharpton's radio show?