Grumpy Editor

CORONAVIRUS HITS REVENUE OF SOME DOCTORS

Doctors who focus on primary care checkups, endoscopies and other non-urgent services are facing tough times, notes Grumpy Editor.

As Axios points out, hospital care for COVID-19 and social distancing are taking priority, adding some doctors are reporting revenue falling 50 percent to 90 percent, as "loans and bailout money are helping some doctors stay afloat” while “the federal government and health insurers are paying doctors for telehealth visits, but that isn’t making up for lost revenue."

 

A survey of doctors indicates 20 percent of primary care practices believe they will temporarily close within a month.

 

Hospitals, insurance companies and private equity firms, which were rapidly buying practices before the pandemic, will view financially distressed practices as a golden opportunity, especially if the doctors are valuable sources of referrals, sees Axios.

 

 

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SUNDAY TRAVEL, SPORTS SECTIONS SUSPENDED.  With vacations cancelled and professional sports on hold, The New York Times suspends travel and sports sections in its Sunday print edition.  Sports news now is folded into the main section of the Sunday paper while travel coverage appears throughout the paper.

 

NAVY HOSPITAL SHIP READY TO DEPART.  After three weeks in New York harbor — mostly without patients — the U.S. Naval hospital ship USNS Comfort readies for departure.

 

CNN STAFFERS ABANDON OFFICES.  CNN president Jeff Zucker informs the network’s workforce that most staffers will not be returning to their offices until early September as precautions remain to curb the spread of the coronavirus. 

 

FOX CHIEF FORGOES SALARY.  Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch is forgoing his salary amid the coronavirus pandemic and 700 employees at the company will see pay reductions.

 

TV NEWS SHOWS NAKED HUBBY.  Camera of  KCRA-TV, Sacramento news reporter broadcasting from her home during the coronavirus pandemic, accidentally captures her naked husband taking a shower in the background.  

 

MARINES TO CUT TANK BATTALIONS.  The Marine Corps decides it must eliminate tank battalions and reduce its infantry and artillery units in 10 years as it converts its force to one more aligned with taking on potential adversaries such as China.

 

RIGHT TIME TO ORGANIZE?  Writers at Wired magazine form an editorial union as Condé Nast, the publication’s parent company, plans deep cuts amid the coronavirus-fueled economic downturn that has ravaged the media landscape.

 

JOB LOSSES GROW.  A Rasmussen Reports national survey finds 40 percent of American adults say they or someone in their immediate family has lost their job because of the coronavirus outbreak.  That’s up from 32 percent from a month earlier. 

 

WORLD'S INSECTS DWINDLE.  Researchers are alarmed that the world has lost more than a fourth of land-dwelling insects in the past three decades.  Bugs, they add, are disappearing at a rate just under one percent a year.

WITH LESS ADVERTISING, PUBLISHERS SLASH JOBS

With less advertising, hypoed by the coronavirus, more publishers are being forced to slash jobs — or worse, finds Grumpy Editor.

Latest newspaper to call it quits is the Glendale (Calif.) News-Press.  Established in 1905, lack of advertising forced it to roll out its final edition on Saturday.  

 

The Washington Post’s Jonathan O’Connell points out “cuts to the industry have accelerated so greatly that groups representing journalists have taken a maybe unprecedented step and asked the government to help, by keeping the industry afloat financially during the pandemic and seeding its resurgence once the economy begins to recover."

 

O’Connell reports Jon Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild labor union says, "We have to treat this as an emergency" and "there is a real interest in public health to keep people informed in this crisis.”

 

Since the pandemic began, newspaper chains have instituted furloughs of 10 percent to 25 percent of their staffs.

 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which covers a metropolitan area of more than 2 million people, lost 28 of its 32 union journalists this month due to new cuts.

 

Newspapers in Seattle, Portland, Boston, Sacramento, Reno and elsewhere have suspended print operations and furloughed their staffs, according to the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, Florida.

 

Cutbacks in advertising are "dealing a sharp and immediate blow to local news publishing," says News Media Alliance president and chief executive David Chavern.  "If this continues, there won't be local journalism in many communities.”

 

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ANIMAL SHELTERS EMPTYING.  Animal shelters across the U.S. are emptying amid the coronavirus pandemic.  People forced to wait out the pandemic at home are adopting and fostering shelter dogs and cats to keep them company. The shelters are thrilled.  Example:  Workers and volunteers at the Friends of the Palm Beach County (Florida) Animal Care and Control celebrate when the usually-packed kennel goes empty for the first time, stemming from lonely humans stuck at home seeking companionship.

LIFE INSURERS SHELVE SENIOR APPLICATIONS.  Some U.S. life insurers are deciding not to gamble on older Americans during the coronavirus crisis by temporarily suspending applications from certain age groups or imposing tougher requirements.

FORTUNE MAGAZINE TRIMS STAFF.   Fortune magazine cuts 35 staffers and CEO Alan Murray is taking a 50 percent pay cut. 

NBC NEWSCAST AIMED AT YOUNGSTERS.  NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt is leading an experimental version of the network’s flagship newscast aimed specifically at children and teens.  “Nightly News Kids Edition” streams on YouTube and is likely to appear at least twice a week and perhaps with  greater frequency.

 

VETS GET HOTEL ROOMS. The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to distribute $200 million to ease the burden on homeless shelters during the coronavirus pandemic and buy hotel rooms for veterans in need of help.

ESPN CUTS PAY.  With sports events on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN asks its 100 commentators to take a 15 percent pay cut over the next three months.

 

U.S. ASTRONAUTS LAUNCH SET.  Look for a May 27 astronaut launch.  That’s when NASA and SpaceX resume astronaut launches from the U.S. — the first since 2011.  Two astronauts will be sent to the international space station.

 

BALD EAGLES RELOCATE IN ARIZONA SAGUARO CACTUS.  For the first time in decades, bald eagles are found nesting in Arizona saguaro cactus.  Last known sighting in saguaro cacti in that state was in 1937.

 

 

 

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE FACES HALT IN OPERATIONS

 

Officials warn about a precipitous drop in mail volume as fewer people and businesses send mail because of the coronavirus outbreak that could hasten the decline of the U.S. Postal Service, forcing it to halt operations as early as June, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

With a negative net worth of $65 billion and an additional $140 billion in unfunded liabilities, the USPS originally expected to run out of liquidity by 2021 without intervention.

 

Compounding things, hundreds of postal workers have fallen sick during the pandemic and a dozen have died from the virus.

 

The Postal Service delivers about 1 million lifesaving medications each year and serves as the only delivery link to Americans living in rural areas.

 

Working with other delivery services like United Parcel Service, the agency supports $1.7 trillion in sales and 7.3 million private sector workers.

 

“At a time when America needs the Postal Service more than ever, the reason we are so needed is having a devastating effect on our business," says Postmaster General Megan Brennan.

 

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ANIMAL ADOPTIONS JUMP.  The pandemic is inspiring many people to adopt animals.  The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which reviews reports from 1,200 animal welfare organizations nationwide, says Los Angeles and New York shelters have seen a doubling of requests to adopt dogs.

 

MUCH OF CNBC'S STAFF WORKS FROM HOME.  With the pandemic, most of CNBC’s staff — and 40 on-air contributors — is working from home.  To get them airborne, production kits are used based on the Padcaster platform which features a front-end lens for higher quality and adapters for the use of lapel or shotgun mics. 

 

JIGSAW PUZZLES JUMP IN POPULARITY.  There’s a boom for jigsaw puzzles with people confined to homes.  But it takes time to produce the puzzles.  Each puzzle piece must be uniquely shaped to avoid one accidentally fitting into the wrong place. That means 1,000 different shapes for a 1,000-piece puzzle, each drawn by hand.

 

WHITE HOUSE JOURNALISTS TESTED.  Before the White House press briefing last week, journalists were tested for COVID-19.  It marks the latest effort by the White House and the White House Correspondents’ Association to keep the coronavirus off the premises.

 

ASTRONAUTS DEPART WITH LITTLE NEWS COVERAGE.  With news columns focused on the virus-plagued planet, there was little coverage of three astronauts — one American and two Russians — who took off for the International Space Station last week.

 

TRIBUNE CUTS PAY.  Tribune Publishing plans a series of permanent 2 percent to 10 percent pay cuts, effective April 19, for non-union staffers with an annual base salary of $67,000 or more.

LOCUSTS INVADE AFRICA.  A second wave of voracious locusts — billions of them, some 20 times the size of the first wave — is arriving in parts of Africa, including Uganda.  They are winging in from breeding grounds in Somalia in search of fresh vegetation springing up with seasonal rains.

 

MAJOR LAYOFFS AT YELP.  Yelp is laying off about 1,000 employees and furloughing about 1,100 as the coronavirus pandemic closes doors of advertisers.

AS CORONAVIRUS MOUNTS, NEWSPAPERS CUTTING STAFF, HOURS AND PAY

Newspaper readers, seeking latest information on the spreading coronavirus, especially in their area, are finding problems with coverage, notes Grumpy Editor.

Newspapers and other publications under pressure with dwindling advertising, are cutting staff, hours and pay.  Some are dropping print editions or shutting down entirely.

 

Those that are still operating find “the coronavirus pandemic has been likened to a war,” says the Washington Post.  "But journalists are largely absent from the harrowing, heartbreaking front line of this crisis: hospitals. In a disaster with an invisible enemy — no burning buildings or swamped towns to photograph — it is emergency rooms and intensive-care units where the day-to-day human toll of the deadly illness is most plainly visible.

 

"But a combination of health worries and privacy concerns has made it extremely difficult for the members of the media to go into these places and capture a vivid, firsthand portrait of this facet of the crisis.”

 

Researchers have long worried that the next recession — which economists say is already upon us — “could be an extinction-level event for newspapers,” says Penelope Abernathy, a University of North Carolina professor who studies the news industry. 

 

In the past week, Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper chain, announced 15-day furloughs and pay cuts for many employees. Lee Enterprises, another major chain, announced salary cuts and furloughs.  The Tampa Bay Times, cut five days of its print edition and announced furloughs for non-newsroom staffers.

 

 

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And away we go.

DOG IN DRIVER'S SEAT.  A Washington state motorist led police on a chase with speeds up to 100 m.p.h. and when stopped, the 51-year-old motorist claims he was teaching his dog how to drive.  Cops found the canine in the driver’s seat.  On a route from Marysville to Arlington, the car crashed into several cars.

CORONA BEER OUTPUT HALTED.  Corona beer production is being temporarily suspended in Mexico because of the coronavirus pandemic.  Grupo Modelo, the company that makes the beer, says it's halting production and marketing because the Mexican government has shuttered non-essential businesses.

DNC CONVENTION MOVES TO AUGUST.  The coronavirus pandemic is pushing back the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee to the week of Aug. 17.  It still is expected to run four days.

 

N.Y. GOV. CUOMO SAYS NO PRESIDENTIAL RUN.  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, with an approval rating near 90 percent, during an interview with his brother, CNN’s Chris Cuomo, says he has no thoughts of running for president. 

 

THEATER CHAIN SHUTTERS.  AMC Entertainment Holdings closes more than 1,000 theaters around the world in response to the spread of the coronavirus.