Grumpy Editor

REAL CHRISTMAS TREES ARE POPULAR THIS YEAR

Demand is up for real Christmas trees this year, observes Grumpy Editor.

Wholesale tree farmers and others report strong demand for fresh-cut evergreens.

Tree sellers say they are seeing more people and earlier than in recent years.

With bigger demand, big box stores are seeking fresh trees earlier this year from places such as Oregon and North Carolina.

Pushing the trend, Walmart is offering free home delivery of the real trees.

More Americans are staying home for the holidays amid pandemic restrictions and are realizing that for the first time in years — or maybe ever — they will be home to water a fresh-cut tree, reports Associated Press.

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

ROBOT DOGS PATROL MILITARY BASE.  Security forces at the 29,000-acre Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida are using robot dogs for patrolling the installation, a first for mechanized pooches. The computerized canines can be programmed to patrol areas that aren’t desirable for humans and vehicles.

YOUR NEW FRIENDLY BANK.  General Motors’ lending arm is planning to apply for a banking charter that would allow it to accept deposits and expand its auto-finance business.

TONING IT DOWN.  Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, sees any future negotiations with President-elect Joe Biden, potentially more difficult than with President Donald Trump. 

POISON GAS, FIRING SQUADS RETURN. The Justice Department, in amending execution protocols starting Dec. 24, no longer will require death sentences to be carried out by lethal injection, clearing the way for other methods such as poison gas and firing squads.

CHER VISITS LONELY ELEPHANT IN PAKISTAN.  Singer-actress Cher visits Pakistan to mark the departure of Kaavan, dubbed the “world’s loneliest elephant,” that will soon leave a Pakistani zoo for better conditions. Kaavan’s destination is a sanctuary in Cambodia .  The move follows years of lobbying by animal rights groups and activists.

NOT ENOUGH VANS WITH DELIVERY RUSH.  FedEx and United Parcel Service are running into a shortage of delivery vans, prompting a surprise cost squeeze that’s cutting into profits during a record surge in package volumes.

MILITARY CEMETERY CLOSES FOR WREATHS.  Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, will close to the public from Dec. 13 to 19 to allow Christmas wreaths to be placed at 267,000 graves.  The wreaths will be placed as part of the Wreaths Across America event.

BRITISH ARMY DOG GETS TOP AWARD.  A retired British army working dog — named Kuno, a Belgian Malinois — that suffered life-changing injuries while supporting the British special forces fighting Al Qaeda is awarded the Dickin Medal – the highest award an animal can receive within the British military. The award is equivalent to the U.S.’s Medal of Honor.

SINGER DOLLY PARTON'S $1 MILLION GIFT BOOSTS COVID-19 RESEARCH

 

Dolly Parton's $1 million gift aids research 

 

Missed by some media is that a $1 million gift from country singer Dolly Parton helped researchers develop a coronavirus vaccine, observed Grumpy Editor.

 

She said she felt "very honored and proud" to have given money to research into one of the most promising Covid-19 vaccines.

 

The gift went to Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center leading to the development of Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine. The Moderna vaccine is reported to be nearly 95 percent effective.

 

"I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world,” said the singer.

  

Parton’s donation also is supporting a convalescent plasma study and research involving antibody therapies, said a Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesperson.  Convalescent plasma is used to treat people who are battling a Covid infection.

 

Funds from Parton’s gift are also supporting research into monoclonal antibodies that act as a temporary vaccine for Covid.  Two of these antibodies are now being tested by a global pharmaceutical firm.

 

Vanderbilt's plasma pilot showed enough promise for the U.S. National Institutes of Health to step in with $34 million in additional support to conduct a national, multi-site clinical trial into the benefits of convalescent plasma.

 

Parton pointed out “my longtime friend Dr Naji Abumrad, who's been involved in research at Vanderbilt for many years, informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards that research of the coronavirus for a cure.”  She mentioned her $1 million donation toward that research would “encourage people that can afford it to make donations."

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

SMALLER TURKEYS THIS YEAR.  Fewer guests at Thanksgiving dinners this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, means smaller turkeys — 12 to 14 pounds rather than 16 to 20 pounds.

 

BIG BUCKS FOR RUDOLPH AND SANTA.  A buyer at a Hollywood auction was willing to pay $368,000 for the six-inch-tall Rudolph and 11-inch high Santa Claus figures used in the 1964 Christmas special “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.”

 

MARS SEEKS TO EXPAND.  Mars, candy maker of  Snickers, Milky Way and M&Ms reached a deal to acquire Kind, which makes nutritional snacks, as a move to expand the candy maker's snack menu.    

 

NEWS CORP. EYES BOOK PUBLISHER.  Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is making a play for Simon & Schuster, home to best-selling authors like Stephen King and Hillary Clinton. It is one of more than half a dozen inquiries, with one topping $1.7 billion.

 

JOURNALISM SCHOOL HONORS DR. FAUCI.  Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease expert, was honored by the journalism school at San Jose State University for his role in delivering vital public health information during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The William Randolph Hearst Foundation is for excellence in mass communication.

 

MOTORSPORTS BROADCAST BOOTH WELCOMES WOMAN.  Fox Sports said veteran NASCAR reporter Jamie Little, with 20 years in broadcasting, will move to the broadcast booth to call play-by-play for the ARCA Series in 2021 — becoming the first woman named as the television voice of a national motorsports series.

 

CORONAVIRUS DELAYS RETURN TO WASHINGTON POST OFFICES. Because of the coronavirus, Washington Post staffers won’t be back in the offices until at least June 1 next year.

 

MLB MINIMUM SALARY UP $7,000.  Minimum Major League Baseball salary next year rises to $570,500, up $7,000 from this year.

 

2021 MARDI GRAS PARADES SHELVED.  The annual New Orleans Mardi Gras parades, previously scheduled for January and February, will be canceled for 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

 

JOURNALISTS STRUGGLE WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF VIRUS

Journalists around the world are struggling to cope with the psychological toll of reporting during the COVID-19 crisis, notes Grumpy Editor.

As reported by ijnet, the internnational journalists network, more than 80 percent of respondents note at least one negative psychological effect affecting them:  anxiety, burnout, difficulty sleeping and a sense of helplessness.

With the pandemic inflicting significant economic damage on newsrooms and shuttering of newspapers, three in four respondents say their first priority during the pandemic is survival of their publication, according to the report.

Underscoring the economic impact, almost four in five respondents with access to information about their newsroom's finances reported at least a 50 percent decline in revenue, it mentions, adding “to cope, outlets are cutting back on content, shrinking salaries and laying off employees.”

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

BIDEN SELECTS LONG-TIME ASSOCIATE FOR CHIEF OF STAFF.  President-elect Joe Biden selects Ron Klain as his White House chief of staff, highlighting their long history of working together on the economy and public health crises.  Klain was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and worked in the White House as chief of staff to Biden and Vice President Al Gore.

CORONAVIRUS SIDELINES SECRET AGENTS.  From recent travels, more than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the White House and the president are ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronvirus or had close contact with infected co-workers.

FOREIGNERS SCOOPING UP PROPERTY.  After Joe Biden won the election, there is a huge pent-up demand among wealthy foreigners to buy property in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other major cities.. 

WOMAN BREAKS SPORTS GLASS CEILING.  Kim Ng, 51, becomes general manager of the Miami Marlins baseball team, the first woman to hold that position in Major League Baseball.  Ng began her baseball career in 1990 as an intern with the Chicago White Sox. 

NEW LOGO FOR MUTUAL OF OMAHA.  Mutual of Omaha unveils a new corporate logo that replaces the Indian chief head symbol used for 70 years.  The new logo depicts an African lion.

NO INCREASE IN SUICIDES BY VETERANS.  Since the pandemic struck in March, there is no increase in suicides or suicide attempts among patients or visits to Department of Veterans Affairs emergency rooms related to suicide attempts, says the VA.   

SIDELINES QUIET AT 2020 MASTERS.  After a seven-month delay with the pandemic, action at the 2020 Masters at Augusta National is with no onlookers, no roars, no ropes, no grandstands. Some players miss the noise from the crowd, others enjoy the silence.

TV ANCHORS SURVIVE LONG HOURS OF ELECTION RESULTS

 

TV network anchors sure got a workout covering the extra long election results that usually wrap up in one night, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Some on-air personalities spent 16 hours or more daily facing cameras.

 

Among them: working maps, Steve Kornacki at MSNBC, John King at CNN, Chuck Todd at NBC and Bill Hemmer at Fox News.

 

Panels were led by Anderson Cooper and Jack Tapper at CNN, Rachel Maddow at MSNBC, Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie at NBC, Norah O’Donnell at CBS and George Stephanopoulos at ABC.  

 

Viewers are used to election results unfolding in a single evening, as news organizations in the past were able to project winners with confidence as the results are tallied in real time.

 

The surge in mail-in ballots this year, stemming from the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, changed that dynamic.

 

Election officials forewarned vote counting would take several days, especially in key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where mail-in ballots aren’t processed until the morning of Election Day.

 

According to the U.S. Elections Project, a non-partisan data-tracker run by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, more than 62 million ballots were cast by mail. That’s part of a staggering 97.6 million strong early voting turnout or more than two-thirds the votes cast in the entire 2016 election.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

Wilbur is new mayor in Kentucky

 

NEW MAYOR HAS LOTS OF BARK.  New mayor in the Kentucky hamlet of Rabbit Hash is Wilbur, a 6-month old French bulldog.  Amy Noland, Wilbur’s owner, says Rabbit Hash has never had a human as mayor.  Noland points out there's a thriving community of dog lovers in the Ohio River town with just under 500 residents.  Noland fosters kittens and cats, ferries rescue dogs to their new homes and has two rescue dogs in addition to Wilbur, adopted four months ago, as an "anomaly" because he's an American Kennel Club registered purebred dog.

 

PARROT CREDITED WITH SAVING MAN'S LIFE.  An Australian man in Brisbane, Queensland, is crediting his pet parrot, Eric, with saving his life after the bird shouted his name and alerted him to a house fire.

 

REPORTER SETTLES LAWSUIT.  Henry Houston, a Eugene, Oregon, reporter who was shot with pepperballs and tear gas at a riot in May settles a lawsuit with the city of Eugene with a $45,000 payout.

 

ANOTHER MEXICAN JOURNALIST MURDERED.  Mexican authorities in the border state of Sonora are looking into the shooting death of a local journalist. The crime marks the seventh murder of a journalist in Mexico for 2020.

 

NEW CONGRESSWOMAN HOLDS JOURNALISM DEGREE. Iowa congresswoman-elect Ashley Hinson is a native of that state, growing up in Des Moines and graduating from Valley High School in 2001. Although, as a violin player, her passion is music, she received a journalism degree from the University of Southern California.

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS SOAR AT N.Y. TIMES.  The New York Times’ third-quarter report notes for the first time revenue from digital subscriptions (with more than 6 million subscribers) is greater than money brought in from print subscriptions.

 

 

 

MOST NEWSPAPERS BACK JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT

Joe Biden gets the nod from newspaper editorial boards around the country, notes Grumpy Editor.

The Hill finds they favor the former vice president over President Donald Trump by a huge margin this year with their endorsements, with some of the most conservative papers in the country breaking precedent to back the Democrat.

 

At least 119 daily and weekly newspaper editorial boards have written formal endorsements of Biden so far, tallies The Hill.   Among them are conservative outlets Chicago Tribune and New Hampshire Union Leader, which has not endorsed a Democrat candidate in a century.

 

“America faces many challenges and needs a president to build this country up. This appears to be outside of Mr. Trump’s skill set,” the Union Leader proclaims.  “Building this country up sits squarely within the skill set of Joseph Biden. We have found Mr. Biden to be a caring, compassionate and professional public servant.”

Trump wins endorsements from only six daily or weekly periodicals, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, owned by billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.  Adelson and his wife have spent millions promoting Trump’s reelection bid.

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

C-130 flies adoptable cats, dogs

ADOPTABLE CATS AND DOGS AIRLIFTED TO MAINLAND.  More than 600 adoptable cats and dogs are airlifted from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland in the largest animal rescue flight in history.  Dubbed "Paws Across the Pacific," a chartered Hercules C-130 aircraft flies across the Hawaiian Islands  picking up dogs and cats from overcrowded shelters on Kauai, Oahu and Maui. 

ON-AIR PERSONALITIES EXPOSED TO VIRUS.  Several Fox News Channel on-air personalities are exposed to someone with the virus on a private plane flight from Nashville to New York.  That person later tests positive for COVID-19, leading the network to take extra precautions.

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE GOING WEEKLY.  The Salt Lake Tribune will stop printing a daily newspaper at the end of December after nearly 150 years and move to weekly print editions that will be delivered by mail.  Reporters and editors will continue to file breaking news online.

 

FOX NEWS MOST WATCHED ON CABLE.   Fox News was the most-watched cable network in October in both total day and primetime total viewers. Tucker Carlson's show sets the record for the highest-rated monthly viewership of any program in the history of cable news with more than 5.3 million viewers.

ARMY UNIFORMS GOING GREEN.  Two hundred Army privates, nearing the end of basic training at Fort Sill, Okla., receive the Army’s new, throwback style dress green uniforms, becoming the first recruits to be issued the World War II-inspired threads.

RARE CHAMELEON SPOTTED.  Scientists find an elusive chameleon species that was last spotted in Madagascar 100 years ago.  Researchers from Madagascar and Germany discover several living specimens of Voeltzkow's chameleon during an expedition to the African island nation.

FEWER ISSUES FOR GLOSSY FASHION/LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE.  The Wall Street Journal is cutting its glossy fashion and lifestyle print magazine to eight issues a year from 12.  It’s an insert in the Journal’s weekend edition.