Grumpy Editor

NO DROUGHT TALK IN CALIFORNIA --- THIS MONTH

Heading into spring, California soon will be concerned (an annual ritual) about its water supply, especially with the influx of millions of new residents since the last reservoir was constructed in 1979, observed Grumpy Editor.

Since that last reservoir --- New Melones in Calaveras County --- went operational, California has added 15 million people.

An upcoming reservoir, the Pacheco Reservoir in southeast Santa Clara County, is in the works but completion is more than a decade away.

The Sierra Nevada snowpack, source of about one-third of California’s water supply, last week was up 161 percent from its historical average for that date and up from just 69 percent on New Year’s Day.

Every major reservoir in California is at or above its historic average, and some, like San Luis, east of Gilroy, were full.

The 10 largest reservoirs in California were built between 1927 and 1979.

Shasta Lake, the massive inland sea on the Sacramento River, was completed in 1945. Oroville, the tallest dam in the country at 770-feet on the Feather River in Butte County, was finished in 1968.

Until more reservoirs are built, much California water runoff continues to flow into the Pacific Ocean.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

SOME STATES EYE DUMPING DST.  With daylight saving time kicking in yesterday, some states were mulling joining Hawaii and most of Arizona to opt out of a system established more than 100 years ago. Considering staying permanently on standard time: California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. 

NORTH KOREA NUKE SITE BACK IN ACTION.  In the wake of summit talks last month between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea appeared to restore normal operations at a long-range rocket launch site it partially dismantled last year as part of what was claimed to be disarmament steps, declared U.S. analysts. 

 

TORNADO SENDS BILLBOARD 20 MILES.  A fierce tornado with 170 m.p.h. winds that blasted southeastern Alabama were so strong a billboard sign was sent flying 20 miles into neighboring Hamilton, Georgia.

 

GOAT NAMED HONORARY MAYOR.  Fair Haven, Vermont elected a three-year-old Nubian goat named Lincoln that edged out a victory over Sammie the dog.  As the town's first honorary pet mayor, Lincoln will attend special events throughout the year. 

 

NEW JERSEY CITY FROWNS ON BARKING. Saddle River, N.J. seeks to clamp down on excessive dog barking, proposing an ordinance that would prohibit loud, continuous barking for over 20 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.  It would be stricter at night, with penalties kicking in for barking lasting more than 15 minutes from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. (Officials didn't say how they plan to muzzle barking canines.)

 

DNC NIXES FOX NEWS ON DEBATES.  The Democratic National Committee nixed Fox News hosting any 2020 Democrat primary debates, citing the network's "inappropriate relationship with President Donald Trump."

 

RECORD WET WINTER.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said from December to February (what it calls winter), the lower 48 states received 9.01 inches of rain and snow --- 2.22 inches more than the 20th century normal. Record or almost record rain and snow fell in the West, Tennessee Valley and parts of the Great Lakes. 

 

MILWAUKEE GREETS NEW SPORTS EDITOR.    Louisa Boardman has been named the third sports editor in the history of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She started her career with Milwaukee newspapers in 1985.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GENERAL ELECTRIC DEPARTS DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE

Struggling General Electric, started in the 19th century by Thomas Edison, tomorrow will be booted from the 30 large, publicly-owned companies that compose the Dow Jones Industrial Average, notes Grumpy Editor.

GE is an original member of the DJIA that debuted in 1896.

National retail drug store chain Walgreens will replace GE which has seen its shares tumble nearly 55 percent over the past 52 weeks amid downturns in its power generation and oil services businesses plus competition and unraveling of finance operations.

Since founding of the blue-chip index, "the U.S. economy has changed: consumer, finance, health care and technology companies are more prominent today and the relative importance of industrial companies is less," observes David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones.

The DJIA change will make the index a better measure of the economy and the stock market, adds Blitzer.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

SURVEY FINDS TV REPORTING TOPS IN COVERING TRUMP ACTIONS.  A Rasmussen Reports survey finds 49 percent of likely U.S. voters "very closely" follow news reports about President Donald Trump's actions and policies from TV programs.  A distant second is the internet, at 25 percent, followed by radio, garnering 11 percent.   Only seven percent turn to newspapers very closely for information, while three percent look to social media, notes Rasmussen.

 

RUSSIAN SUBMARINES A GROWING THREAT.  Russia is deploying more submarines to the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and North Atlantic than at any time since the Cold War as part of a growing power game driving the U.S. to revive a decommissioned fleet and NATO to strengthen its naval defenses, informs a U.S. Navy commander.

 

LAST STRAW IN SEATTLE.  Starting July 1, Seattle restaurants must stop offering plastic straws and utensils as the first large city to ban such products.  The city passed a ban on single-use disposable food-service items in 2008, but utensils and straws were exempted until the market matured to provide affordable and effective alternatives.

STARBUCKS TO AX POORLY PERFORMING OUTLETS.  Starbucks is going to close 150 poorly performing company-operated locations next year, about three times as many as it usually shutters. Those affected are mostly in urban areas where there are many Starbucks stores.

BOARDROOMS SEE RISE IN FEMALE DIRECTORS.  Through May this year, 248 or 31 percent of new members of board of directors at the country's 3,000 largest publicly-held firms are women, highest percentage in at least a decade. 

 

CANADA GOES TO POT.  Canada's Senate passes legislation that will make it the first country with a major economy to legalize marijuana for recreational use.  When fully approved, the new law is expected to ignite a multibillion dollar industry as Canada joins Uruguay in allowing citizens to use marijuana without fear of arrest.

 

MAJOR LEAGE BASEBALL AIMS FOR LONDON GAMES.  Major League Baseball plans a two-game series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in London's Olympic Stadium next summer after years of rumors about playing there.

 

STUDY SUGGESTS SEAFOOD TRIGGERS SEX.  Reuters Health reports a study suggests couples who eat a lot of seafood may have sex more often and get pregnant more quickly than those who shun shellfish and sardines.  Researchers followed 500 couples in Michigan and Texas for one year, asking them to log seafood consumption and sexual activity in daily journals. Result:  Couples had 39 percent higher odds of having sex on days when both partners dined on seafood.

 

CALIFORNIA VOTERS TO DECIDE ON FREE-ROAMING HENS.  California voters decide in November whether egg-laying hens must roam freely.  The cage-free hen requirement would take effect in 2021.  Along with calves and pigs, backers say extreme animal confinement is cruel and can increase the risk of foodborne illnesses.

 

RAT CHEWS THROUGH BILLS IN ATM.  A rat slipped through a small hole for cables in the back of an ATM near Gauhati, India and chewed through the equivalent of almost $20,000 in bills.  Technicians who fixed the broken State Bank of India cash machine find the dead rat inside and Indian currency notes worth nearly 1.3 million rupees in shreds.

 

CVS ADDS DELIVERY.  CVS Health is launching delivery of prescription drugs and other medications in a move to retain customers following a decline in sales of general merchandise and shopper visits at its drugstores, reveals Fortune.

Here’s why PR folks don’t return some phone calls

In the why-corporate-PR-folks-don’t-return-some-phone-calls-to-reporters department:  Grumpy Editor noted that comment was sought from Mars Inc. by a national newspaper staffer because a suspect was nabbed trying to smuggle methamphetamine “disguised as Snickers bars.” 

McLean, Va.-based Mars, with annual net sales of more than $30 billion and producer of the candy, had nothing to do with the case. 

Yet, some quotes were sought from the company with 70,000 worldwide employees and six business segments including chocolate, pet care and Wrigley. 

A Los Angeles International Airport inspection of a “sealed cardboard box with a design printed on the outside suggesting that it contained Snickers candy bars” turned up several pounds of meth disguised as a tasty confection. 

Officials noted 45 individually-wrapped “candy bars” in luggage contained a white substance. 

A 34-year-old was taken into custody as he prepared to board a Tokyo-bound aircraft. 

The writer worked in the line:  “A spokesman for Mars Inc., the maker of Snickers, couldn’t be reached for comment.” 

Maybe the luggage maker should have been contacted.

 

Media jump on Wal-Mart’s alleged bribery in Mexico

Word that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was caught up in allegations of bribing Mexican officials to speed up growth south of the border, then trying to cover up the situation sent most broadcast/print media into overtime yesterday --- as if such activity is unusual in a foreign country, notes Grumpy Editor. 

That sent Wal-Mart’s stock down 4.66 percent to $59.54 a share by Monday’s New York Stock Exchange close. 

A New York Times story Saturday mentioned executives from Wal-Mart’s Mexican subsidiary reportedly used systematic bribery to receive building permits across the country. 

The article reported Wal-Mart executives learned in 2005 about allegations of  “widespread bribery” designed to smooth the path for rapid expansion in Mexico.  

Getting a jump on others, CNBC had Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on scene yesterday in Mexico City reporting live from the parking lot in front of a Wal-Mart store. 

While broadcast/print media --- and Washington officials --- expressed shock at the happening involving the world’s largest retailer, she summed up the matter succinctly in six words: “That’s how business is done here.”

In Washington the focus will be on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 

Enacted in 1977, it makes it a federal crime for any company, officer, director, employee or agent of a company to pay or offer anything of value “to any foreign official for purposes of influencing any act or decision of such foreign official in his official capacity, inducing such foreign official to do or omit to do any act in violation of the lawful duty of such official, or securing any improper advantage.”

 

Most media miss Carnival Corp. as Costa Concordia owner

Many print/broadcast reporters have been confused over ownership of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia that ran aground with 4,234 people on board Friday night off Giglio island, 18 miles off Italy’s central west coast, observes Grumpy Editor.

The 114,500-ton, 952-foot-long Italian-built ship, in service five and a half years, hit an object (possibly a rock) that caused a 160-foot gash in its hull, sending water gushing into the vessel.  It rolled over in shallow water.  

Passengers described the resulting confusion as reminiscent of the Titanic. 

The ship was near capacity, with 4,234 people, including about 1,100 crew, on board. 

Death toll reached five with 29 missing. 

While most print and broadcast reports identified the ship as being Italian, run by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, actual owner is New York Stock Exchange-listed Carnival Corp. & plc, the world’s largest cruise ship operator, with dual headquarters in Miami and London. 

Along with Costa, the company owns Carnival Cruise Lines, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line among others, with a fleet of 101 ships.  Another 10 ships are scheduled for delivery by March 2016. 

Costa Cruises operates 15 ships. 

Corporate public relations people will be very busy in the days ahead. 

"This is a PR nightmare for the Costa brand," said Jaime Katz, equity analyst from investment research company Morningstar in Chicago, Reuters reported. 

The stricken vessel was one of Carnival Corp.’s key assets in the lucrative European cruise market.

 

U.S. population grows, wolf enters California, radio talk show replays, Kodak stock sinks, among year-end events

Catching up on some year-end events that Grumpy Editor feels some folks (and editors) may have missed --- 

+ The Census Bureau’s projected U.S. population going into 2012:  312,780,968.  The agency also calculated one birth is expected every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds in the U.S. 

One would think that with more people contributing to the federal pot, taxes would be lowered much like a going-away office party in which the more participants involved mean less contributions per person toward an outlay for a gift. 

+ A dopey year-end Verizon Wireless move to yank $2 a month for online or telephone payments from each customer lasted a day before the pickpocket idea was shelved.  The “convenience fee” plan immediately triggered a lot of grumbling and complaints from users of Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodaphone Group Plc. 

It followed the bad PR Bank of America received two months earlier when it attempted to impose a $5 monthly fee for debit card use. 

+ Associated Press got excited when a lone gray wolf crossed into California from Oregon.  That warranted an eleven-paragraph report, noting the animal --- wearing a global positioning system collar since February --- had wandered more than 300 miles from its original location.  Last gray wolf spotted in California was killed in 1924. 

+ Radio listeners during the holidays heard much of “best of” (the upscale name for repeats) talk shows.  What talk show hosts and their syndicators seem to forget is that radio is hailed for immediacy.  Year-end airing of such things as preparing for Thanksgiving dinners and other “upcoming” events that have long passed is just plain stupid. 

Guest hosts should be used to keep the focus on current events in a fast-moving world.  It’s an opportunity, too, to develop fresh fill-in talent at microphones. 

+ The stock of once-booming Eastman Kodak Co. closed 2011 at 65 cents a share, compared to the year’s high of $5.85.  The struggling image and printing company’s stock sold for about $30 a share on the New York Stock Exchange as recently as mid-2007.  Its last dividend was in December, 2008. 

Three Kodak directors resigned in December as the company works on shoring up an eroding cash position.

Year-end observations conclude tomorrow.

 

Imagine: Omaha World-Herald and GEICO in same family

Looks like insurance company GEICO and The Omaha World-Herald Co. will be in the same conglomerate --- Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., notes Grumpy Editor.

Buffet, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, also based in Omaha, says his company is buying Nebraska’s principal daily newspaper. 

The $200 million deal, subject to a Dec. 20 vote by 275 employees and retirees who own World-Herald stock, also includes Nebraska dailies in Kearney, Grand Island, York, North Platte and Scottsbluff. 

The 126-year-old World-Herald has an average weekday circulation of about 135,000. 

Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries focus on diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing and services. 

Yet, it’s not Berkshire Hathaway’s ’s entrance into the newspaper business. Buffet’s company also owns The Buffalo News and is the largest shareholder in the Washington Post Co., holding about 21 percent of the publicly traded shares. 

Buffet says his hometown newspaper is “an important institution here” and “is a reasonable investment.”  The paper, he adds, “delivers solid profits and is one of the best-run newspapers in America.”

At a meeting yesterday, Buffet, 81, reveals he got his first taste of the newspaper business as a child when he earned $5,000 delivering newspapers, an activity that became the basis of investments that grew into Berkshire Hathaway.

 

Study finds much tax avoidance among Fortune 500 firms

With plenty of talk on taxes these days, editorial page writers will have some interesting material to digest after next week’s release of a study focusing on federal income taxes paid by 282 large, publicly-held U.S. corporations among the Fortune 500, learns Grumpy Editor.

The compilation finds widespread tax avoidance.

An advance clue indicates the report, to be released on Nov. 3, will show most of America's most profitable corporations are paying far less than the 35 percent official corporate tax rate and many pay little or nothing as a result of various loopholes and deductions in the extensive tax code.

 The report promises “surprising results” in what companies pay on U.S. profits vs. taxes to foreign countries on overseas profits.

Issuing the findings are Washington, D.C.-based Citizens for Tax Justice, a public interest research and advocacy organization focusing on federal, state and local tax policies and their impact on the country, and Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that concentrates on federal and state tax policy.

The study covers the 2008-2010 period and includes tables and detailed company-by-company thumbnails.