Grumpy Editor

$250 MILLION SOUGHT FOR EVERGLADES RESTORATION PROJECTS

It’s interesting to note that while a federal budget request seeks to cut about $15.5 million a year from Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper produced for U.S. military personnel around the world, president Donald Trump included $250 million for Everglades restoration projects in his proposed $4.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2021, observes Grumpy Editor.

As pointed out here last week, Stars and Stripes receives about $8.7 million annually in operations and maintenance funds and about $6.9 million in contingency operations funds to support news reporting in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.  The Pentagon wants to reinvest funds in functions it considers more critical for warfighting.

Everglades National Park, a 1.5-million-acre wetlands preserve on the southern tip of Florida, is made up of coastal mangroves, sawgrass marshes and pine flatwoods that are home to hundreds of animal species, including the endangered leatherback turtle, alligators, Florida panther and West Indian manatee.

Maintenance of the wetlands preserve is provided by entrance fees that range from $30 per vehicle to $200 per commercial motorcoach.

 

So an additional $250 million injection for the Everglades would be quite a boost.

 

 

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BLOOMBERG SAYS HE'LL SELL COMPANY IF ELECTED PRESIDENT.  Michael Bloomberg, latest on the Democrats' presidential campaign list, says he will sell Bloomberg LP, the financial-data and media company he co-founded in 1981, if he is elected president. 

WELLS FARGO TO PAY $3 BILLION.  Wells Fargo plans to pay $3 billion to settle criminal and civil investigations linked to when the bank opened millions of unauthorized accounts — which came to light in 2016 — in efforts to meet unrealistic sales goals.

 

CHINA EXPELS THREE REPORTERS.  Beijing’s expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters comes a day after the State Department said it was imposing restrictions on five Chinese state-run news organizations operating in the United States, saying they would now be treated as the equivalent of foreign government missions.

 

IWO JIMA BATTLE OBSERVED.  The nation's top military officer pays tribute last week to thousands of Marines and Navy corpsmen who took part in what was called "the bloodiest campaign in American history, per square mile” — the World War II battle of Iwo Jima.  It began on Feb. 19, 1945 and lasted through March.  Nearly 7,000 U.S. service members died and over 19,000 were wounded.

VIRUS TRIGGERS GARLIC PRICE RISE.  As the coronavirus outbreak widens, garlic prices are rising because of disruptions in the supply chain from China. The Wall Street Journal reports China, in recent years, is responsible for up to 80 percent of the global garlic supply and more than two-thirds of garlic U.S. imports comes from China.

COMEDIANS SET FOR CORRESPONDENTS DINNER.  The White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25 will see the return of comedians.  The White House declines to say if President Donald Trump will attend this year.  He has skipped the annual event throughout his presidency.

 

KEEP SMILING SAYS OLDEST MAN.  Oldest living man, nearing 113 years living in Japan, says his secret to longevity is “don’t get angry and keep smiling.”

 

McCLATCHY FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION.  McClatchy Co., second largest newspaper operation by circulation, files for bankruptcy protection as it struggles to pay off debt as revenue shrinks, stemming from more advertisers and readers going online.

 

RING LOST IN 1973 FOUND IN FINLAND.  A woman's class ring lost at a Portland, Maine, high school in 1973 is found by a welder while metal detecting in a Finland forest.

PENTAGON SEEKS TO CUT FUNDS TO MILITARY NEWSPAPER STARS AND STRIPES

A federal budget request seeks to cut about $15.5 million a year from Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper produced for U.S. military personnel around the world, notes Grumpy Editor.

The Pentagon wants to reinvest funds in functions it considers more critical for warfighting.

 

Stars and Stripes receives about $8.7 million annually in operations and maintenance funds and about $6.9 million in contingency operations funds to support news reporting in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

The proposed cut in funds to Stars and Stripes equals about half of the news organization’s annual funds to pay expenses. The military newspaper’s remaining money comes from sales, subscriptions and advertising.

Stars and Stripes first appeared during the Civil War and has been published continuously since World War II.

 

It prints European and Pacific editions. 

 

During wars and other times, the newspaper is a key source of worldwide news for those in uniform, including those at front lines and foxholes.

 

During the Korean War, for example, it published five editions a day from its Japan-based newsroom.  Editions were delivered to South Korea, the Philippines, ships at sea, throughout Japan along with a Tokyo street edition hawked by Japanese boys.

 

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NAVY PUNISHES PATCH-WEARING SAILORS.  U.S. Navy punishes several sailors who wore “Make Aircrew Great Again” patches while attending a President Donald Trump speech in May, 2019 aboard a Navy ship in Japan.

 

WOMAN KEEPS 130 CATS IN APARTMENT.  Authorities find a woman in Moscow with 130 cats in her small inner-city apartment.  Seems it all stems from when she took in a pregnant stray cat four years ago after divorcing her husband.

MILITARY VETERANS IN JOURNALISM FORMED.  Two former military journalists team up to form the nonprofit Military Veterans in Journalism to help fellow former service members find work and also increase the number of veterans working in the media.  About 10 volunteers help run the organization.

MOST AMERICANS SAY THEY ARE BETTER OFF.  A Gallup poll finds 61 percent of Americans say they are economically better off now than in early 2017 at the start of President Donald Trump’s administration.

SAN FRANCISCO TOPS HEALTHY CITIES LIST.  The 10 healthiest cities in the U.S. tallied by WalletHub: San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Portland (Ore.), Washington, D.C., New York City, Denver, Irvine (Calif.), Scottsdale (Ariz.) and Chicago.

AIRMEN GET NOD ON WEARING TWO-INCH BEARDS.  Airmen will be allowed to wear up to two-inch beards under a new Air Force guidance that outlines grooming standards for religious accommodations. The updated grooming policy, published Friday, also allows members of the Sikh faith to wear turbans and Muslim women to wear hijabs

 

 

 

PETA SEEKS TO BAN THE WORD 'PET'

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the animal rights group, seeks to shelve use of the word “pet” and substitute it with “companion animal,” notes Grumpy Editor.

PETA also says dog owners should call themselves “dog guardians." 

PETA’s Jennifer White, in a combative segment on the U.K. television show "Good Morning Britain" with hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, urges people to think of alternatives, pointing out one of the main problems with the word “pet" is that it is patronizing to animals.

“A lot of people at home who have dogs or cats will call these animals pets and refer to themselves as owners and this implies that the animals are a possession, like a car for example,” she says.  “When you refer to animals not as the living beings that they are but as an inanimate object, it can reflect our treatment on these animals.  Animals are their own individual beings.”

PETA mentions the Journal of Animal Ethics "published an academic paper on how derogatory words ‘pets’ or ‘pests’ affects the way we treat these animals. That’s why instead of ‘pets’ PETA recommends ‘companion animals’ and instead of ‘dog owner’ say ‘dog guardian.’

The word “pet” dates back to the 16th century and can be traced to Scotland and northern England.

Noting the suggestion that dog owners should call themselves “guardians,” Morgan St. James, author of 18 books and owner of 10 dogs over the years, exclaims: "What hogwash for PETA!  The Cambridge English Dictionary defines 'pet' as an 'animal that is kept in the home as a companion and treated affectionately'."  St. James says, "Jennifer White is totally off-base in her assumption that if a person calls a dog or a cat a ‘pet' it won’t be treated well. The word has nothing to do with how a ‘pet' is treated. My pet dog Dylan, as with all my past dogs, is a cherished member of my family. Mistreatment has to do with the person themselves.”

 

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DOG OWNER GATHERS SAVINGS TO SAVE PET'S LIFE.  California dog owner Jason Garrett is cashing his 401K and digging into life savings so he can pay for surgery to save his dog’s life.  His 12-year-old miniature Schnauzer, Lola, is diagnosed with mitral valve disease, common in dogs, affecting lungs and heart.  A veterinarian gives her about eight to nine months to live.  Garrett plans open-heart surgery for Lola by a specialist in the field — at a $45,000 price tag. "I’m also looking into selling my car if need be," he adds.

13 FULL MOONS THIS YEAR.  Moon watchers will have a special year in 2020 with 13 full moons that include two in October, one of them on Halloween night.  Noteworthy in 2020:   two supermoons (in March and April), four lunar eclipses and a blue moon.  A supermoon occurs when the full moon is especially close to Earth. 

 

 

FOX SETS RECORD WITH SUPER BOWL.  The Fox Channel, in showing the Super Bowl to more than 150 million viewers, grabs the largest revenue day in TV history, generating about $600 million gross revenue via more than 100 advertisers from the pregame through The Masked Singer.

PUBLISHING GROUP ADDS NEWSPAPERS.  A group of 11 community newspapers owned by Red Wing Publishing Co. has been sold to Media­News Group, owner of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and more than 100 newspapers across the country.

SERVICE DOGS PROGRAM SET FOR VETERANS.  House lawmakers unanimously approved a bill that would lay the groundwork for the Department of Veterans Affairs to start funding service dog programs and connect veterans with canines that could be critical for their mental health care.

ARMY OFFERS $60,000 BONUS.  The Army is offering a $60,000 bonus to lure more warrant officers into the air defense artillery branch, where specialists are in high demand to meet an expanding set of global missions. Sixty-eight new warrant officers are needed each year.

 

NORDSTROM PLANS TO SELL USED ITEMS.  Department store Nordstrom plans to sell second-hand items alongside new ones, joining such rivals as Macy’s, JC Penney and Madewell.

COMPANY IN ISRAEL WINS U.S. AIR FORCE CONTRACT.  State-run Israel Aerospace Industries wins a $240 million U.S. Air Force contract to manufacture wings for U.S. Air Force T-38 training aircraft.

BUFFETT SELLS NEWSPAPERS FOR $140 MILLION

Lifelong newspaper supporter Warren Buffett, via his Berkshire Hathaway, is selling BH's newspapers to publisher Lee Enterprises for $140 million, notes Grumpy Editor.

Buffett views the current newspaper business as unsustainable, warning in recent years that the industry is “toast” due to the decline in advertising.

 

His first job in the field was as newspaper delivery boy.

 

Among the 30 newspapers in the deal are the Buffalo News, Tulsa World, Richmond Times Dispatch , Omaha World Herald, Waco Tribune Herald and more than 100 weekly publications.

 

The newspapers’ earnings have been declining in recent years.

 

Buffett’s newspapers operations employed 3,685 at year-end 2018, down from 4,337 a year prior.

 

The deal is expected to close in March. 

 

 

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Sinatra's gold-seated toilet sells for $4,250.

SINATRA'S GOLD TOILET SEAT SOLD.  Singer-actor Frank Sinatra's highly sought-after Italian marble and gold-seated toilets are sold.  A gold one goes for  $4,250 while a basic marble one without a gold seat sells for $1,800. Also sold:  Sinatra's baby grand piano for $7,000.  Sinatra died in 1998.

POSTAGE STAMP HONORS GWEN IFILL.  The 43rd stamp in U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage series honors Gwen Ifill,  journalist, television newscaster and author.  In 1999, she became the first woman of black heritage to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program with Washington Week in Review.

BLOOMBERG SPENDS HEAVILY ON TV.  Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg spends $188 million from late November to year end.  In that period, about $140 million is spent on TV and digital advertising.

MURDOCH PLANS RADIO STATION.  Rupert Murdoch,  media mogul who founded News Corp., plans to inaugurate a radio station to rival BBC Radio 4 . Programming will run uninterrupted with no breaks for advertising.

 

HALF BILLION DOLLAR HOME IN L.A.  Movie producer turned developer Nile Niami says he's  about ready to test the market with a 100,000-square-foot mansion in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles with an asking price of  $500 million . The property includes a nightclub, four swimming pools, bowling alley and 360-degree vistas.

SEINFELD WRITING COMEDY BOOK.  Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is writing a book about comedy, his first in 25 years.  Due out in October, the book is organized by decade, from the 1970s.

 

FTC WARNS ON ROBOCALLS.  The Federal Trade Commission puts 19 internet-based phone companies on notice that assisting or facilitating robocalls could place them in legal trouble.

 

ALASKA AIRLINES HIRING.  Alaska Airlines plans to hire almost 2,800 people this year, including about 400 pilots, divided equally between Alaska and Horizon Air, along with more than 300 flight attendants, more than 1,100 passenger service agents, 450 ground service agents and 90 maintenance technicians.

 

CHASE TRIMMING STAFFERS.  JMorgan Chase & Co., in a cost-cutting measure, this week plans to dismiss several hundred workers from its consumer unit as the lender seeks to rein in costs.  The unit contains deposit, credit-card, home-loan and auto-lending businesses.