Grumpy Editor

NORTH KOREA’S LATEST MISSILE TEST SHOWS ITS ICBM COULD THREATEN U.S. MAINLAND

 

Experts say the latest missile to be test-launched by North Korea has the capability to strike the U.S. mainland, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

The Communist country’s 12th test this year saw the latest ICBM soar higher and longer than a previous ICBM test in November, 2017.

 

Launched from North Korea’s Sunan area, it reached an altitute of more than 3,700 miles and treveled more than 680 miles. 

 

Sources said the missile flew for about 71 minutes.

 

North Korea’s state media reported that it met all the test parameters and that its use “can be guaranteed scientifically, technically and practically under wartime.”

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

CAPITOL RESUMES GUIDED TOURS TODAY.  The U.S. Capitol today will restart guided tours to the public for limited groups that have registered in advance.  The Covid-19 pandemic prompted the cessation of the tours two years ago.

 

CAR, TRUCK LEASING EBBS.  The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the percentage of new cars and trucks leased with activity dropping to 19 percent of overall retail sales through March 13, lowest since 2009.

 

LONGEST NON-STOP FLIGHT.  Air New Zealand plans its longest-ever non-stop passenger flight with an 8,828-mile New York to New Zealand flight.  It will take 16 hours, 15 minutes.

DOG NIGHTLY  VIEWS SUNSET.  Newsweek featured a photo of a golden retriever that nightly sits at the same spot on a bluff overlooking the ocean to observe the sun settling toward the horizon. 

 

DRIVING INTO ALLIGATOR PROVES FATAL.  A 59-year-old man dies after his car crashes into an 11-foot alligator on Florida road.  The impact causes John Hopkins’ car to veer off the road and flip into a ditch.  He is pronounced dead at the scene.

 

UNIVERSITY DEBUTS HAPPINESS COURSE.  Centenary University in Hackettstown, New Jersey, introduces the world’s first Master of Arts in Happiness Studies.  It will cost students $17,700.

 

NEW COLA INTRODUCED.  PepsiCo and IHOP team to produce a limited-edition cola --- incorporating flavors of maple syrup and soda --- available only to the first 2,000 fans online who respond with photos of their pancakes.

MAURY POVICH RETIRING.  Veteran daytime talk show host Maury Povich, 83, is retiring, with the last original episodes of “Maury” set for broadcast in September after 31 years on the air.  NBC Universal says “the show has thousands of lively, entertaining and dramatic episodes that will continue to be successful in daytime for years to come.”

LION WANTS HAIR DONE?  Police and animal control officers capture a mountain lion trying to enter a beauty salon in a busy shopping center in in Irvine, Calif.  It was tranquilized by animal control and transported to a local veterinarian.

SEN. RUBIO PUSHES FOR PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

 

A movement in Washington aims to keep daylight saving time permanent, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Behind the push that would end the yearly tradition since World War I of setting clocks ahead an hour in the spring and setting them back in the fall is Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla).

 

On the Senate floor, Rubio argues, "We went through the biannual ritual of changing the cl;ock, and one has to ask themselves, why are we doing this?"  Ending the clock time change, he points out, could send more children outside to play instead of forcing them to play videogames indoors.

 

Under the Senate proposal, that would take effect in fall next year, states would have to select remaining with standard time or daylight saving time year round.

 

The idea of aligning waking hours to daylight hours to conserve candles was first proposed in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

MORE COSTLY OIL MEANS HIGHER AIR FARES.  Higher oil prices will lead to a 10 percent hike in air fares, Ed Bastian, head of Delta Air Lines, tells British Broadcasting Corp.  The final impact, he adds, "really depends where fuel prices settle.”  Oil prices reached 14-year highs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

IS RUSSIA TARGETING JOURNALISTS?  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. is “looking very hard” at whether Russia is intentionally targeting journalists in Ukraine.

AIRCRAFT CARRIER SELLS FOR $1.  The U.S. Kitty Hawk, the last oil-powered aircraft carrier, once the biggest symbol of American military power in the Indo-Pacific, battle tested from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf and a survivor of a collision with a Soviet submarine, is sold for less than $1.

LABRADOR RETRIEVER TOP DOG. Labrador retrievers remain the American Kennel Club’s most popular dog out of 197 recognized breeds.  Coming up fast in popularity among the top five breeds:  poodles.

NEWSNATION ADDING HOURS.  NewsNation, Nexstar Media Inc.’s wholly-owned news and entertainment cable network reaching 75 million U.S. television households, will be adding 12 hours of live news programming weekly by early June.

EUROPEAN NATIONS SEEK U.S. ARMS.  In boosting defense budgets, European countries approach the U.S. government and defense contractors with a shopping list of arms including drones, missiles and missile defenses, reports Reuters.

FIRST MARVEL COMIC BOOK CARRIES BIG PRICE TAG.  The first Marvel comic book, published in 1939, sells for more than $2.4 million in an online auction.  The book launched what became the Marvel universe of comics, movies, TFV shows and video games.

EIFFEL TOWER GETS TALLER.  The Eiffel Tower in Paris adds nearly 20 feet after engineers hoist a communications antenna at the top of France’s most iconic landmark.  It’s now 1,083 feet high.

WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS CLOSING.  Gannett is closing at least 19 weekly newspapers that serve more than two dozen communities in Eastern Massachusetts while nine weeklies are being merged into four.

NORTH KOREA IN NEW ROUND OF NUCLEAR TESTING

While the news focus is on Russia and Ukraine these days, North Korea is on the road to new nuclear testing, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Construction activity at the country’s nuclear testing ground appears to be resuming, based on satellite images.

 

The action comes four years after leader Kim Jong Un declared the site’s closure and invited foreign journalists to observe destruction of tunnels.

 

Punggye-ri in the northeast part of North Korea is the site used for the last nuclear test five years ago.

 

The country has made nine rounds of missile launches so far this year.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

FLORIDA MANATEES GOBBLE LETTUCE.  More than 55 tons of lettuce are fed to starving manatees in Florida.  It’s part of an experimental program to help the slow-moving marine mammals since their natural food is being destroyed by water pollution.

 

CONGRESS PUTS STAMP ON USPS BILL.  After more than a decade in the making, Congress passes legislation designed to place the U.S. Postal Service on stronger financial footing.  It keeps six-days-a-week deliveries. The bill awaits President Joe Biden signing it into law.

 

NO PERMIT TO CARRY WEAPON IN ALABAMA. Alabama residents will not be required to obtain a permit or undergo a background check to carry a concealed weapon starting next year, following legislation signed into law.  It makes Alabama the 22nd state to adopt that policy. 

EARTH SAFE FROM ASTEROID.  Word that a 230-foot-wide asteroid is expected to hit Earth next year turns out to be a false alarm.  When discovered, astronomers thought it would hit Earth and "do real damage" to a city.

MAN'S CLOTHING CONTAINS LIZARDS, SNAKES.   A man at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico is caught trying to smuggle 52 lizards and snakes hidden in his clothing.  Agents find they were tied up in small bags and say "they were concealed in the man’s jacket, pants pockets and groin area.”

  

RUSSIA IN NAME AFFECTS BUSINESS.  Russia in its name is affecting business at New York City’s 100-year-old Russian Tea Room.  Despite its name, the Russian Tea room isn’t Russian at all.  It’s owned by a financial group incorporated in New York state.  But that hasn’t stopped protesters looking to boycott all things Russian. 

RUSSIA INVASION TRIGGERS HIGHER U.S. INFLATION

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is boosting U.S. inflation, notes Grumpy Editor.

Simply put:  The economy is being affected by higher oil prices.

 

Economic consequences of Russia’s invasion are leading upward movements in commodity prices, especially energy.  “That’s going to work its way through the U.S. economy," says Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

 

“We’re going to see upward pressure on inflation, at least for a while,” he adds.

 

Consumer prices already are rising at the fastest pace in four decades,  jumping 7.5 percent in January from a year prior.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

NAVY RECOVERS SUBMERGED FIGHTER JET.  Concerned that China might get to it, the U.S. Navy recovers the advanced F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter jet from the bottom (12,400 feet) of the South China Sea that it lost after a crash aboard aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson a month ago. 

 

CLAM CONTAINS $100,000 PEARL.  Michael Spressler thought he'd cracked a molar after biting into a raw clam at his favorite South Jersey restaurant.  Then he finds that “it was a perfectly round pearl.”  At 8.83 millimeters, it could be worth as much as $100,000. 

 

NEW WEATHER SATELLITE IN ORBIT.  The U.S.'s latest weather satellite takes flight, designed to improve wildfire and flood forecasting across the western half of the country.  It replaces a satellite that was launched four years ago.

 

AMELIA EARHART'S HELMET AUCTIONED. The  leather helmet that Amelia Earhart wore on a flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928 sells at auction for $825,000.  It goes to an anonymous on-line bidder. 

 

PRESERVED SHIP'S WRECKAGE FOUND.  The 130-year-old wreckage of the ship Atlanta is discovered at the bottom of Lake Superior, 35 miles off Deer Park, Michigan.  The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society says the ship is a "wonderfully preserved shipwreck” 650 feet below the lake's surface.

 

NORTH KOREA FIRES ANOTHER MISSILE.  North Korea fires another suspected ballistic missile into the sea, extending its streak of weapons tests this year amid a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations with the United States.

 

YELLOWSTONE PARK MARKS DEBUT.  Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, this month marks its establishment by an act of Congress in March, 1872, the first area in the world to be designated a national park.  It covers nearly 3,500 square miles mostly in Wyoming and into parts of Montana and Idaho. 

 

WATERLOGGED COW TAKES RIVER RIDE.  A cow carried away by floodwaters in Australia is found wandering on a beach after floating down a river in New South Wales.  The confused cow drifted about three miles down Tweed River from a farm in the Terranora area.