Grumpy Editor

SHOPLIFTING, THEFT HIT RETAILERS, CHAIN STORES, PHARMACIES

Shoplifting and theft continue to hurt big retailers, chain stores, including pharmacies but it’s even harder for small businesses still trying to recover from the pandemic, notes Grumpy Editor.

CVS, the drug store chain, reports a 300 percent increase in retail theft incidents since the pandemic started.

Some small-business owners say they’re losing thousands of dollars each month and won’t submit every claim to insurance, fearing being dropped.

In combating shoplifting incidents, Target, for example, turns to surveillance systems, security guards, facial recognition, among multiple deterrents to reduce the number of shoplifting incidents that occur.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

BANK HEADQUARTERS UTILIZES HYDROELECTRIC POWER.  Banking operation JPMorgan Chase will rely on hydroelectric power for its new 1,388-foot skyscraper in Manhattan.  That means net-zero emissions.

INFLATION SOARS TO 8.5 PERCENT.  Driven by skyrocketing energy costs, higher food prices and strong consumer demand, inflation in the U.S. soared to 8.5 percent in March, a four-decade high.

CRUISE MISSILE SINKS RUSSIAN WARSHIP.  Russia’s Moskva warship that sank on Thursday, from what Ukrainian military says was a cruise missile strike, was Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea.

SURVEY FINDS MOST AMERICANS SAY ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION GETS WORSE.  The latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds 55 percent of likely voters believe the problem of illegal immigration is getting worse, while 14 percent think the illegal immigration problem is getting better and 27 percent think the problem is about the same.

LAPD COPING WITH 17 GANGS WORKING AREA.  The Los Angeles Police Department says 17 gangs are sending out crews to prey on the mega-rich, targeting people leaving luxury boutiques, restaurants and nightclubs. 

LIZARDS BUSY IN GEORGIA.  Georgia residents are being warned about invasive lizards that "eat almost anything.”  South American tegus can grow up to four feet long, eat turtle eggs, alligators and ground-nesting birds, among other things.

CALIFORNIA CONSIDERING SHORTER WORK WEEK.  California is considering going to a 32-hour workweek.  A bill at the state’s legislature would make the Golden State the first in the nation to adopt a four-day week for some employees. 

LONG-TIME ALGERIAN NEWSPAPER FOLDS.  Prominent Algerian newspaper Liberte printed its last issue on Thursday, three decades after the French language publication was established and a week after its owner, the country's richest man, decided to liquidate it.

SAN FRANCISCO SANITIZES CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM WORDS SUCH AS 'CONVICT,' 'FELON'

Criminal justice system words, including "convict," "felon," "addict" and "offender" won't be heard or seen in print now in San Francisco after the Board of Supervisors locked them up, notes Grumpy Editor.

As Phil Matier writes in the San Francisco Chronicle:  "Going forward, what was once called a convicted felon or an offender released from jail will be a 'formerly incarcerated person,' or a 'justice-involved' person or simply a 'returning resident.' "

No more "juvenile delinquent" either.  The term now will be labeled a “young person with justice system involvement” or a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system," points out Matier.  A drug addict or a substance abuser will become “a person with a history of substance use," while a parolee and a person on criminal probation will be referred to as a “person on parole” or “person under supervision."

Supervisor Matt Haney, one of 10 supervisors who voted for the new guidelines, says, "We don’t want people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done."

Matier reports that according to the recently-passed resolution,"one of five California residents has a criminal record, and words like 'prisoner,' 'convict,' 'inmate' or 'felon' 'only serve to obstruct and separate people from society and make the institutionalization of racism and supremacy appear normal.' "

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

RECESSION TALK BY MEDIA.  Julia Chatterly, an anchor and correspondent for CNN International says, “I think the biggest risk here is that we talk ourselves into a downturn and we talk about it so much that we end up with a self-fulfilling prophecy,” adding “I do think there is a tendency, perhaps, for aspects of the financial media to be very alarmist.”

OPENING TIME CAPSULE BRINGS SURPRISE.  Residents of Derry, N. H. speculated for years what might be inside a time capsule housed in the local library. Opened after 50 years, the capsule is found to be empty.

 

HOCKEY TEAM LOOMS FOR PALM SPRINGS.  So what type of sports team would go well in mostly hot Palm Springs?  Turns out it’s hockey.  The city is moving ahead with a proposed American Hockey League team in 2021, along with building a 10,000-seat stadium.

MESSAGE IN BOTTLE FOR 50 YEARS.  A message-in-a-bottle is found off the coast of Shishmaref, 600 miles northwest of Anchorage.  Turns out it was tossed June 20, 1969, by the captain aboard a Russian ship, Sulak.

PESTICIDES TAKE TOLL ON BEES IN BRAZIL.  Bloomberg reports more than half a billion bees fell dead in Brazil in only three months.  Main cause of death, say researchers:  pesticides. With bees as vital pollinators contributing to the reproduction of various plants, about 75% of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees.

 

COP IMPERSONATOR EYES WRONG VEHICLE.  A man impersonating a cop in Hicksville on Long Island, N.Y., tried to pull over a van.  But the van was filled with detectives.  When they identified themselves, the impersonator fled the scene but was nabbed by the highway patrol.

 

RECORDS SHOW HIROHITO EXPRESSED REGRET.  Newly released records indicate the late Japanese emperor Hirohito expressed regret about atrocities committed by Japanese troops in the Chinese city of Nanjing in 1937.  He also blamed World War II on military officers who drove Japan into a conflict it couldn’t win.

 

VA FACILITIES TO BAN SMOKING.  Smoking at Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities will be banned starting in October for veterans, visitors, volunteers, contractors and vendors, while employees will have until January to adjust to the change.

TRUMP SCOLDS CALIFORNIA FOR NOT COOPERATING WITH ICE TO CURB 'CRIME NEST'

President Donald Trump doesn’t hold much hope for renegade California where many politicians --- from Gov. Jerry Brown, on down --- can’t seem to get on the same track, observes Grumpy Editor.

Trump says he’s considering pulling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers out of California because he feels the Golden State, loaded with Democrat politicians, is giving his administration no help in targeting the violent MS-13 gang, especially in Los Angeles.

“Frankly, if I wanted to pull our (ICE) people from California you would have a crime nest like you’ve never seen in California,” warns Trump.  “All I’d have to do is say ICE and border patrol, let California alone,” adding “You would see crime like nobody has even seen crime in this country.” 

Trump also took a shot at California’s leadership.

“They are doing a lousy management job,” declares Trump. “They have the highest taxes in the nation and they don’t know what’s happening out there. Frankly, it’s a disgrace, the sanctuary city situation, the protection of these horrible criminals in California and other places. If we ever pulled our ICE out and we ever said, ‘hey, let California learn and let them figure it out for themselves,’ in two months, they’d be begging for us to come back.”

The Justice Department has threatened to deny millions of dollars in federal grant money to communities that refuse to comply with a statute requiring information-sharing with federal law enforcement.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

THOUGHTS ON GUN CONTROL LAWS.  Americans aren’t convinced stricter gun laws will reduce crime and don’t trust the government to enforce those laws, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey.  It finds 15 percent of American adults say stricter gun control laws increase violent crime, while 39 percent think stricter laws would decrease violent crime. Another 39 percent believe beefing up the country’s gun control laws would have no impact on violent crime.

CANADA COMMITS MILLIONS TO LOCAL JOURNALISM.  Canada’s federal government plans to commit $50 million over five years to support local journalism aimed at providing funding to one or more “independent non-governmental organizations” that will support local journalism in underserved communities.  The investment is being made to help “ensure trusted, local perspectives as well as accountability in local communities.”

STEVE JOBS EARLY JOB FORM GOING TO AUCTION.  A one-page job application filled out by future Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1973 when he was 18 is expected to fetch $50,000 when it hits the auction block in March.  The form indicates he was seeking employment as an “electronics tech or design engineer.”

CONFERENCE TAKES SHOT AT MEDIA.  First panel of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., took direct aim at the state of journalism in the United States.  Its title:   “An Affair to Remember: How the Far Left and the Mainstream Media Got in Bed Together.”

WOLF TO ROAST PRESIDENT.  Stand-up comedian Michelle Wolf will host the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner, April 28.  She is a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and also is working on a project with Netflix for an upcoming comedy show.  

ATLANTIC ADDING STAFFERS.  The Atlantic, one of the nation’s oldest print magazines and profitable for eight consecutive years, is adding 100 staffers (a 30 percent staff increase) as a part of a 12 to 18-month expansion across all divisions, with roughly half of the additio0,s going toward editorial.

NAVY ADDS INCENTIVES.  The Navy dangles new incentives that include allowing first-term enlisted sailors to have their families with them overseas in efforts to entice longer sea duties in Japan, Guam and Spain.

NEW ‘FACE THE NATION’ MODERATOR.  Margaret Brennan made her debut as CBS’s “Face the Nation” moderator yesterday.  She replaces John Dickerson who moved to New York to become one of three “CBS This Morning” anchors.  Brennan worked at Bloomberg News and CNBC before joining CBS in 2012.

BUFFET’S MEDIA GROUP CUTS POSITIONS.  Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is cutting jobs in its newspaper empire because of declining advertising revenue.  BH Media Group is reducing staff by 148 employees and not filling 101 vacant positions, representing a total of about 6 percent of its workforce.  Buffett’s hometown newspaper, the Omaha World-Herald, is eliminating 43 positions. 

Police files take spotlight in current news coverage

Hey, is there any good news around?

Apparently not much, using Saturday morning’s edition of a newspaper, largest in its state, as an example of something to kick off the weekend with perhaps some indigestion along with morning coffee and a muffin, notes Grumpy Editor.

Most stories seem to originate from law enforcement agencies.

Front page gets right into it with one of three long pieces devoted to a local man “accused of trafficking teenager.”

Among other items in the opening pages: Mental evaluation for Fresno suspect; Prosecutors file charges in genital mutilation case; Man kills 2, injures 1 before shot dead at office; More than 100 men accused of seeking sex from minors; record homicides reached since 2011 cartel clashes; Violence leaves dozen dead in Venezuelan capital area; Stabbing suspect believed cartel was after him; Parking lot shooting injures one, arrest made; Blood-covered nude man hospitalized, critical; Officers, drivers injured in crash amid traffic stop; Victim of rollover crash identified; Teen, city settle lawsuit over molestation by cop.

Any good news in the edition?

Well, sort of.  On the religion page, top story is on “Taking steps to combat hatred.”

Ads contribute to gloom and doom, too.  A quarter page security screens pitch, for example, carries the headline, “Protect your home, protect your family.”  Included is an illustration of  a masked bad guy in black garb ready to swing a baseball bat.

Other newspapers --- and broadcast outlets --- also go heavy on crime these days.

Whatever happened to coverage of  Boy Scouts helping little old ladies?

Well, there’s always the weather forecast --- unless rain  is predicted.

 

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Navy veterans are shaking their heads over the changes being made in submarines --- for women now serving on them.  Designers are giving women sailors more doors, washrooms, sleeping and bathing areas, plus with more privacy, along with lowering of some overhead valves and installing steps leading to triple-high bunk beds.  These will be incorporated in the upcoming USS New Jersey. But the ship is not scheduled to be delivered until 2021…Bill O'Reilly reportedly will receive up to a $25 million payout following his exit from Fox News...How strange is North Korea?  Otto Warmbier,who was a 21-year-old University of Virginia student from suburban Cincinnati, remains behind bars after being sentenced last year to 15 years of hard labor in a North Korea prison after he confessed to (ready for this?)--- trying to steal a propaganda banner...Tesla Inc., the electric car maker, discloses its billionaire Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk paid at least $593 million in income taxes last year…Sinclair Broadcast Group is adding 14 television stations via purchasing Bonten Media Group Holdings...A U.S. federal judge ordered Volkswagen to pay a $2.8 billion criminal fine in the rigging of diesel-powered vehicles case... IBM, once the darling of business editors in grabbing space in their sections, posts its 20^th straight quarter of falling revenue, despite a 12 percent gain from its new businesses…America's chief federal banking regulator admits the agency failed to act on numerous "red flags" at Wells Fargo that could have stopped the fake account scandal at the bank years earlier. It cites an overlooked key red flag In January 2010, when the regulator was aware of "700 cases of whistleblower complaints" about sales tactics”…Google is planning to introduce an ad-blocker on the mobile and desktop versions of its Chrome internet browser…University of Tennessee’s student-run newspaper, Daily Beacon, is cutting its print edition to twice weekly in the fall from five days a week during the past five decades…The number of out-of-work people collecting unemployment checks dropped to a 17-year low in April.

 

British insurance company Aviva’s annual Home Report surveys 2,004 people on how they handle relatively common tasks around the house and finds one in five not being able to change a light bulb.

Obama commutes sentences of 688 inmates this year

As the U.S. crime rate edges up, President Barack Obama last week commuted the sentences of 98 federal inmates, with 42 of them serving life sentences, notes Grumpy Editor.

So far this year, Obama has commuted sentences of 688 inmates.

One wonders how many of them will wind up in legitimate jobs such as accountants, salesmen, plumbers and such.

The action illustrates why law enforcement folks get more edgy.

Look for more commutations --- especially in December --- before Obama leaves the White House on Jan. 20.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law in September projected the overall crime rate in 2016 rising by 1.3 percent, with violent crime projected to rise 5.5 percent and murder up 13.1 percent,

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman points out that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “has warned Americans that their safety could be at risk because of Obama’s move to set prisoners free ahead of schedule.”

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

Capitol Hill support was building late last week for a law that could absolve Army National Guard troops from repaying re-enlistment bonuses (as reported here on Oct. 24) doled out during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars…Those in military uniform and their families are exposed to health and safety hazards at base housing worldwide that could be alleviated by inspections and better maintenance, says the Defense Department’s Inspector General…CNN's Wolf Blitzer pleads with Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway to ask the GOP nominee to dial back his harassment against the media, saying it endangers reporters…Socked by ongoing print-ad declines that have hurt the broader newspaper industry, USA Today publisher Gannett, is cutting 2 percent of its staff as it reported a loss in its latest quarter…Electric car maker Tesla Motors posted a surprise $21.9 million profit in the third quarter…Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese citizen and permanent resident of the United States, through his attorney says Iranian officials in April told him it would take as much as $2 billion to ensure his release from captivity…90-year old actor-comedian Don Rickles, who played Las Vegas last week, appears in a TV spot as part of a Best Buy ad campaign…Personal finance website WalletHub expects Halloween spending this year to reach $8.4 billion. That’s $1.5 billion more than last year. It also lists its top 20 cities for Halloween:

	1	Santa Ana, CA		11	Irving, TX
	2	New York, NY		12	St. Paul, MN
	3	Jersey City, NJ		13	Anaheim, CA
	4	Newark, NJ		14	El Paso, TX
	5	Laredo, TX		15	Tampa, FL
	6	Gilbert, AZ		16	Philadelphia, PA
	7	Chula Vista, CA		17	Garland, TX
	8	Plano, TX		18	Honolulu, HI
	9	Chicago, IL		19	Fort Wayne, IN
	10	Las Vegas, NV		20	Pittsburgh, PA

 

A Sept. 12, 2001 New York Times front page --- topped with U.S. Attacked headline --- signed by presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush sells for $11,000.

The full headline above a photograph of the burning Twin Towers reads: “U.S. Attacked: Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon in Day of Terror.”

S.F. shooting underscores Trump’s ‘illegals’ remarks

 

Major media are hesitant to admit it but the random killing of a 32-year-old woman in San Francisco last week underscores Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s remarks of crimes committed by illegal immigrants who enter the U.S. via the porous southern border, noted Grumpy Editor.

Francisco Sanchez, 45, was arrested Wednesday night after police said he shot and killed Kathryn Steinle as she walked with her father at Pier 14 along the crowded Embarcadero, a destination popular with tourists and families.

Sanchez, who was deported five times, has a rap sheet with seven felonies, and in March was released from jail in San Francisco --- despite immigration authorities asking that he be kept in custody.  In the Wednesday incident, Sanchez told police he was shooting at sea lions.

In commenting on the shooting, Trump on Friday said, “This senseless and totally preventable act of violence committed by an illegal immigrant is yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately. “This is an absolutely disgraceful situation and I am the only one that can fix it. Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it. That won’t happen if I become president.”

Liz Sullivan, mother of the shooting victim, on Friday said Sanchez “should have never been out, and now our daughter is gone forever,” adding “it’s a terrible travesty, and we lost our daughter. Everybody is trying to put the political spin on it, but it happened, and there’s no taking it back.”

In the presidential race, a CNN poll out last Thursday showed Trump in second place with 12 percent of Republican voters and GOP-leaning independents, up from 3 percent before he announced his candidacy on June 16.  Jeb Bush held top spot with 19 percent, up from 13 percent in May.

 

FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

The press must be able to see, hear, witness and question the President and his or her aides on a routine basis, in addition to the daily White House briefing.  That’s one of the White House Correspondents Association’s primary goals, unveiled in detail Saturday, in search of “meaningful and consistent access to the President and his or her aides whenever and wherever they conduct the public’s business”…Delayed findings:  Hillary Clinton, Democrat presidential candidate, on Saturday accused China of stealing commercial secrets and “huge amounts of government information” and its “military is growing very quickly”…California’s Bay Area continued to be risky for TV news crews in the field.  San Francisco’s KNTV and KTVU staffers, covering a homicide, were robbed at gunpoint by two men, a cameraman was pistol whipped and $100,000 in camera equipment was stolen --- with some of the action captured live…Sneaker-maker New Balance continued to press the Pentagon to buy American-made footwear (through the company’s Boston facility) for U.S. military instead of Chinese-made footwear from rival Nike.  The Department of Defense in April announced military recruits would start using athletic shoes 100 percent manufactured in America…Chris for Hillary?  A photo snapped at a July 4 parade in suburban Washington, D.C. showed MSNBC’s Chris Mathews marching next to a woman holding a Hillary for America banner…Press passes come at a price, a lofty $500, at Wednesday’s FreedomFest in Las Vegas.  Organizers said the high figure was designed to distinguish real journalists from, say, bloggers in covering appearances by GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, radio-TV personality Glenn Beck, Fox Business host John Stossel and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. However, organizers will give a free press pass to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s dominant newspaper.

 

In California’s first statewide rate overhaul since the 2000-01 energy crisis, electric bills for most household customers will rise over the next few years, following approval --- on quiet semi-holiday Friday --- by the state Public Utilities Commission.

The rate hikes will show up on bills starting next year.

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L.A. schools go soft on lawbreakers, but not Compton

While the Los Angeles Unified School District, with more than 640,000 students at nearly 1,100 schools and charter schools, was getting wide media attention in softening its policy on students with bad behavior by sending them to principals offices or counseling centers rather than issuing citations or arresting them, a nearby school district was getting tougher, notes Grumpy Editor.

On the same day the new, less punitive Los Angeles policy involving students caught fighting, vandalizing, possessing alcohol or marijuana, or worse, was announced for the nation’s second largest school district, Compton --- a Los Angeles suburb --- revealed the new policy for schools in its unified school district will allow campus police to carry semi-automatic AR-15 rifles in trunks of patrol cars.

As activists, educators and justice officials praised the new L.A. policy for misbehaving students, some Compton residents were unhappy about the new policy for the 27,000 students in their district.

Compton’s policy allowing rifles in patrol cars, as presented to the school board, could be a “more effective means to protect the students, staff, community and police personnel in high risk and/or dangerous situations.”

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

FEMA.  Those four letters were not heard in broadcast news reports from the 6.0 magnitude California earthquake yesterday centered around Napa.  The shaker, biggest in the region in a quarter of a century, damaged buildings and set some homes on fire.  Yet, no mention of the Federal Emergency Management Agency coming to the rescue with assistance... It wasn’t too far back when widely-appearing photos of wilting corn stalks illustrated “climate change/drought effects.”  Now, U.S. farmers are up to their ears (a bit of humor from Grumpy Editor) in the crop.  As The Wall Street Journal puts it:  “Months of wet weather have fueled expectations for a corn crop so large that mounds of the grain will be a common sight across the Midwest after the harvest, which starts next month.”  Production is expected to exceed 14 billion bushels, topping last year’s historic harvest…The Washington Post’s editorial board says it will no longer use the “Redskins” term in identifying the D.C. football team. Reason?  Some Native Americans consider use of that name offensive…Whoops!  A 28-year-old contestant from Long Island who appeared on VH1’s “Dating Naked” series on July 31, files a $10 million lawsuit against the show’s producers and Viacom, the network’s parent company, claiming she felt “beyond embarrassed” by an uncensored naked crotch shot.  Seems her genitals were not pixilated, as promised…With less advertising sales that supported its $291,000 budget, the student newspaper at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, eliminates Fridays and now publishes Mondays through Thursdays…Post-vacation surprise:  When Gopal Ratnam, national security reporter, returned to the Washington, D.C. Bloomberg News bureau after two weeks reporting in the field, he was immediately laid off, joining others at the D.C. office who bid farewell over the past two weeks… More on Los Angeles Times new publisher Austin Beutner:  LAObserved.com notes, “While being paid $675,000 a year base salary plus an annual bonus with the target of the same amount, Beutner will also start to build up a little ownership stake --- a head start in case he ever wants to buy The Times”…Double whammy:  Along with Florida’s orange growers facing a bacterial disease hitting trees, Americans are snubbing the breakfast beverage for more exotic juices.

Some listeners and Department of Justice (DOJ) staffers tuned to ABC Radio news on Tuesday may have missed a slip of the tongue by President Barack Obama who declared:

“The D-O-Gee works for me."

 

 

Judge jails great grandmother after two dogs run loose

Lost in the week’s heavy news, ranging from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to some key Senate Democrats babbling in an overnight talkathon on climate change (ignoring the coldest U.S. six-month period since 1912) to growing approval of marijuana smoking, was a lack-of-common-sense development reported mainly in the Baltimore area, notes Grumpy Editor.

It was a teeth grinder and a slap to a money-squeezed, cancer-fighting widowed great grandmother with a clean record over her 81 years who was tossed into jail this month by a judge mainly for letting her two small dogs run loose a year ago from her home of 44 years. 

Civil citations were issued to Mary Magdalene Root --- following a neighbor’s photos showing a dog running loose --- that listed dog-at-large, dog license and license violations.  Exercising around Root’s home, on more than 1.5 acres, were her Chihuahua and terrier mix.

Bringing the case to light were the Baltimore Sun and WJZ, CBS’s Channel 13 in Baltimore.  The Drudge Report also noted the action.

The Sun pointed out Root was charged “with failing to pay seven $75 civil citations for three incidents” involving her dogs in 2013. 

The minor pet violations resulted in Root getting slapped with a $7,000 fine or spending nearly a year in jail, reported WJZ. 

“She was booked, fingerprinted and issued a striped jumpsuit… a cell without her cancer medication,” the TV report added.

Root spent two nights in Harford County Detention Center before being released after a person family members characterized as a "stranger" paid $250, the required 10 percent of her bail. 

Vantina Gifford, Root’s daughter, said her mother is resting at home and plans to return to court to fight the charges, according to the Sun.

 

In case you missed these… 

ATTKISSON BIDS FAREWELL TO CBS.  Emmy award winning investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson announced she is leaving CBS.  “It’s not a matter of ‘me’ being on the air, it’s the idea that so few of the incredibly interesting and important original and investigative topics I brought to the table, often exclusively, could find no home at CBS in the past three years or so,” Attkisson told Fox News’ Howard Kurtz.

 

L.A. TIMES FACES COMPETITION.  The Los Angeles Times will get daily print competition starting April 16 with the launch of the Los Angeles Register.  It marks the continued expansion by Freedom Communications Inc., that includes the Orange County Register, Long Beach Register and Riverside’s Press-Enterprise.

 

BEST D.C.-TO-GOTHAM ROUTE.  President Barack Obama hopped aboard Air Force One to New York that included a visit Tuesday to the Gap to pick up sweaters for his two daughters.  He stopped by the retailer because it recently announced it would voluntarily increase wages for employees.

 

WELLS FARGO DEBUTS ONLINE STORIES.  San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. unveiled an online magazine, “Wells Fargo Stories,” with features, photos and videos about employees, customers and communities the bank serves around the U.S.

 

CHICAGO CUBS’ NEW BROADCAST HOME LOOMS.  The rumble in Chicago is the Cubs baseball team could leave TV station WGN, home of play-by-play action since 1925, after the current season and that CBS has expressed interest in rights to carry the games.

 

SEASONED CHINESE FORTUNE COOKIE WRITERS NEEDED?  A message in a fortune cookie had the flavor of "Yogi" Berra, the long-time New York Yankees catcher noted for his quotes, such as the simplistic observation, "It ain't over till it's over.”  Over the weekend, a diner opened a fortune cookie that offered this advice:  “Always remember where you are going and never forget where you’ve been.”

Climate change triggering 'violence' stirs news editors

Team climate change with a likely increase in future violence and news editors at major print/broadcast media go bananas, finds Grumpy Editor. 

Grabbing chunks of newspaper space and radio/TV airtime Friday and into the weekend were mentions that shifts in climate --- even relatively minor departures from normal temperatures --- could significantly increase human conflicts around the world by 2050, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University. 

Solomon Hsiang, the study’s lead author, is described as a postdoctoral fellow in science, technology and environmental policy at Princeton during the research project and now is an assistant professor of public policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. 

Most print/broadcast news outlets did not identify Hsiang other than “lead author,” although Associated Press labeled him as an economist. 

What media overlooked was that Hsiang, also as lead author in a study publicized two years ago, covered much of the same ground with “often war is associated with global climate change.”  See him in an Aug. 29, 2011 podcast here.   

If future extreme heat is likely to trigger violence, then violent crime should be rampant now in places such as Palm Springs, Phoenix and Las Vegas, where temperatures last month soared to (what is considered normal for the period) 112-118 degrees --- and 100-plus readings continue this week. 

And Death Valley, where the thermometer reached a world record ---  a scorching 134 degrees --- a century ago (July 10, 1913, to be exact), should be the shootout capital of the world.  However, readings at the California tourist site “cooled down” in recent days from 128 degrees on July 3 and 129 degrees on June 30.  The temperature reached only 112 degrees there on Friday.  No recent crime sprees were reported. 

Most July job growth comes via part-time work 

While most media trumpeted the July government employment report released Friday as adding 162,000 positions (and not mentioning the number was below economist expectations of 184,000), Kevin G. Hall, at McClatchy’s Washington bureau, went a step further to point out: 

A closer look at the Labor Department figures “suggests that part-time work accounted for almost all the job growth that’s been reported over the past six months.”

He also worked in quotes from Keith Hall, a senior researcher at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and former head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics:  “Over the last six months, of the net job creation, 97 percent of that is part-time work.  That is really remarkable.”

The researcher added, “That is a really high number for a six-month period. I’m not sure that has ever happened over six months before.” 

Plain Dealer dumps 50 newsroom staffers

In what one news person said was a “graceless” layoff method, Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial staffers were told to stand by their telephones on Wednesday, between 8 and 10 a.m., to learn if they got the ax.  Fifty did.

Others got the green light to go back to the office.

Those getting pink slips were then asked to collect severance materials the following day --- at the paper’s production center about 10 miles away from the editorial room.

Ohio’s largest newspaper, owned b y Advance Publications, in April announced a scale-back in home deliveries to three days a week.

Meanwhile, getting pink slips in other cities were 29 workers at Gannett Co.’s Arizona Republic, Phoenix, and Chattanooga Times Free Press editorial writer Drew Johnson who wrote a headline:  'Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough.”  It appeared over an editorial on Tuesday, the day President Barack Obama visited the city.

In case you missed these:

With cries for more U.S. jobs, the Pentagon plans to buy additional Russian-made helicopters for Afghanistan.  The Pentagon has spent $1.1 billion on the Mi-17 choppers since 2010 and will pay $350 million for 15 more of the aircraft, reported the Wall Street Journal…Speaking of where U.S. taxpayers’ money goes, Bloomberg News reported President Barack Obama proposes giving about $323 million in aid next year --- to Columbia, to combat drug trafficking and violence in that South American nation.

Amelia Rose Earhart, weather and traffic co-anchor at TV station KUSA, Denver, an NBC affiliate owned by Gannett Co., is finalizing plans to re-create her namesake and distant relative Amelia Earhart’s legendary flight which ended on July 2, 1937, when her airplane vanished on approach to Howland Island in the western Pacific.  With co-pilot Patrick Carter, a Fayetteville, Ark., businessman, KUSA’s Earhart, 30, plans the flight for next summer…Less on-base magazine purchasing for Army and Air Force personnel as Army and Air Force exchanges worldwide dropped 891 periodicals ranging from Playboy to Saturday Evening Post --- yes, even SpongeBob Comics…ESPN will hire bloggers to cover NFL teams this season. 

Lack of investigative reporters?  While a wide outbreak of cyclospora, a lengthy intestinal illness, sickened more than 400 salad eaters in the U.S., media failed to dig in and seek the source of the tainted pre-packaged veggies, as health officials stayed unusually mum on the source and label involved.

 

U.S. jumps into action after North Korea threatens; First Lady again on Vogue cover; Vegas shooter remains in L.A.

War talk spurs U.S. to bolster defenses, but...

After more North Korea missile testing over the weekend, a Feb. 12 nuclear test plus mounting saber-rattling and elevated tensions spurred by its young leader Kim Jong Eun, the Pentagon decided to strengthen U.S. defenses against a possible attack by the communist country by adding missile systems to protect the West Coast and Alaska, notes Grumpy Editor.

North Korea a few days earlier surprised the U.N., South Korea and U.S. by declaring the armistice that suspended Korean War hostilities 60 years ago was now invalid.

At the same time, it tossed in bolder rhetoric by threatening a nuclear strike on Washington.

With Washington’s sudden growing concern on North Korea’s long-range missile advances, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday said the U.S. will deploy 14 more ground-based missile interceptors.

These will be added to the current 30 long-range missile interceptors already in place in Alaska and California.

While news that the U.S. was moving ahead on additional defense measures grabbed headlines, overlooked by most broadcast and print media:  the new interceptors won’t be in position until 2017.

For example, in missile defense story coverage, The Washington Post didn't mention 2017 until the 10th paragraph. On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal noted the year at the start of the second paragraph.

 

Meanwhile, focusing on the other side of the world and reflecting U.S. military and intelligence assessments, President Barack Obama said it would take Iran a year or more to produce a nuclear weapon.

Vogue cover again spotlights First Lady

Shortly after the election, buzz around New York and Washington was that First Lady Michelle Obama was behind a push to award top Obama campaign fundraiser and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour with a European ambassadorship, perhaps to Great Britain (Wintour was born in the U.K.) or France.

But the diplomatic post assignment idea faded.  

However, Vogue’s April issue features Michelle Obama on the cover, in a “cobalt blue dress, with the line:  How the First Lady and the President Are Inspiring America.

It marks the second Vogue cover appearance for the First Lady.  She last appeared wearing a pink dress on the magazine’s March 2009 cover.

Wintour got a boost last week, though.

Condé Nast announced the Vogue editor in chief is taking on the newly-created additional position of artistic director of Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications.

 

Las Vegas Strip shooter remains in L.A.

Remember that widely-covered shooting spree on the Las Vegas Strip back on Feb. 21 that resulted in three people killed and five injured?

Through sharp police work, suspect Ammar Harris, 26, was nabbed in Los Angeles one week later.

Today, he's still there.

The delay, in part, was because the defense attorney (despite fingerprints and widely-circulated photos) requested an "iddentification hearing" calling on prosecutors to prove the person arrested in the case "is who they say it is." That Los Angeles Superior Court action occurred March 14.

But wait.

Judge Shelly Torrealba formally identified the Las Vegas Strip shooting suspect on March 14.

Did that move things along for Las Vegas authorities to take over?

Not yet.

Harris refused to waive extradition and his public defender asked authorities to produce a governor's warrant.

With that, the judge scheduled an April 12 hearing.

Stay tuned.

 

In case you missed these…

New Pope Francis didn’t waste any time meeting the press. On Saturday, at the media center flanking Rome’s St. Peter's Basilica at what some called “The Pope Francis Show,” he met and chatted with some of the 5,000 reporters from 81 countries --- then gave them a blessing… One America News Network, a 24-hour conservative-leaning cable news operation that partners San Diego's WealthTV with the Washington Times, is slated to start on July 1…Also with a July launch, Al Jazeera America, following its purchase of Current TV, reports more than 18,000 candidates applied for an initial 170 job openings…Britain’s Daily Mail presence is growing.  It’s online audience in the United States swells to become larger than in the United Kingdom…Moving right along:  U.S. intelligence officials warn of the rising threat of cyberattacks to national  and economic security.  It follows President Barack Obama’s concern in January’s State of the Union address, noting the “rapidly growing threat from cyberattacks"...Wrong site for an exciting typo.  An ad on copyediting.com Friday: "Want an Exiting Career?" headlined a pitch for training as a trucker...Sale of Maxim, a male-oriented magazine, is being explored by Alpha Media.