Grumpy Editor

THANKSGIVING THIS YEAR COMES WITH HIGHEST PRICE TAG IN YEARS

Inflation and supply chain problems are making an expensive Thanksgiving this year, notes Grumpy Editor.

Thanksgiving dinner's average cost for 10 people is $53, estimates the American Farm Bureau.

It cites a 16-pound turkey costs about $24 --- almost $5 more than the average cost a year ago.

Also contributing to a higher outlay for Thanksgiving, adds the Farm Bureau, is high global demand for food, particularly meat. 

It's the priciest meal in the survey's 36 years and up 14 percent from about $47 last year.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

COVID-19 DEATHS SWELL. Total reported deaths linked to COVID-19 tops 770,800 on Saturday, Johns Hopkins data show. This puts the pandemic total at more than twice the 385,343 COVID-19 deaths last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COMPANIES STRUGGLED TO FILL JOBS.  Although employers added 531,000 jobs last month, companies are still struggling to fill positions after about 4.4 million people quit their jobs in September.  Companies are dangling higher pay and flexible work schedules in efforts to hire and keep people.

UNIVERSITY LECTURERS STRIKE AVERTED.  A massive two-day strike by University of California lecturers that threatened widespread class cancellations is averted after the union and university reached a tentative agreement on a new contract.

POLICE LASSO STRAY PIG IN NEIGHBORHOOD.  Cincinnati, Ohio police use a pet leash to "lasso" a pig found running loose through the Bond Hill neighborhood.

 

10-POINT BUCK GOES TO CHURCH.  In other animal news, a 10-point buck seeks sanctuary inside a Sturgis, Michigan church auditorium on opening day of the state’s firearm deer hunting season. The animal later leaps through a window and back into the wild.

 

$43 MILLION PAID FOR U.S. CONSTITUTION COPY.  A rare first edition copy of the U.S. Constitution sells to an anonymous buyer at auction for about $43 million --- more than double what was expected, says Sotheby’s.

"HEADING IN RIGHT DIRECTION" UP A FRACTION.  One third of voters think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey for the week ending November 11. The findings are up three points from a week earlier.  

NAVY SLOW IN PAYING SOME SAILORS.  Some Navy sailors are being forced to take out loans over months-long delays in pay to those who earned increases in their housing allowances this year stemming from marriages or moving somewhere with a higher cost of living. 

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CURTAILS U.S. FOOD INSPECTIONS

The current partial government shutdown has dramatically curtailed routine food inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, observed Grumpy Editor.

 

The FDA oversees the nation's food supply and regularly investigates foodborne illness outbreaks. 

 

The shutdown concerns many because not getting a close look are risky foods such as produce, cheese and infant formula.

 

However, according to the FDA, efforts were being made to bring back about 150 FDA workers this week to focus on riskier food items.

 

The agency usually conducts about 160 domestic food inspections a week.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said each year 48 million people get sick from a foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.

 

CDC researchers have identified more than 250 foodborne diseases. Most of them are infections, caused by a variety of bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

 

A Wall Street Journal report said the FDA, during the shutdown “has continued to conduct inspections at foreign food facilities, and it is still inspecting imported goods coming into U.S. ports.”

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

 

GOLDEN STATE EYES BANNING PAPER RECEIPTS.  The California State Assembly proposed a bill that would ban paper receipts by Jan. 1, 2022, replacing them with digital receipts.

 

MILDER FLU SEASON AHEAD?  While earlier reports saw a big flu season ahead, the latest from U.S. health officials predicted a "gentler" flu period, based on a milder flu strain, compared to last winter's "unusually brutal one."   

 

SURVEY FINDS CONSERVATIVES OUTNUMBER LIBERALS.  A Gallup survey revealed conservatives outnumber liberals in the U.S.  Thirty-five percent of adults said they were "very conservative/conservative." Twenty-six percent said they were "liberal/very liberal." Thirty-five percent said they were "moderate."

 

TESLA  MODEL 3 BEST SELLER.  CNBC reported Tesla's Model 3 was the best-selling luxury car of 2018.  It pointed out Tesla sold more cars in the U.S. last year than it did in every previous year of the electric automaker's existence combined.

 

SUBSCRIPTION RATES VARY.  Fortune magazine still continued with different subscription renewal rates, baffling subscribers.  With the mailed magazine, an “Act Now  and Save!” message offered a one year renewal for $59.95.  Then via mail to the same subscriber, a “Last Issue!” offer for one-year print and digital showed just $10.

 

51 STAFFERS USED ON FORTUNE REPORT.  On the positive side, the latest Fortune issue’s special report on the shrinking middle class, according to editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf, “brought together the talents of 19 writers, five editors, three copy editors, 12 photographers (in 12 different cities), three photo editors, four video producers, two illustrators, two designers and one data visualization artist --- 51 people in all.”

 

NEWSPAPER LAYOFFS CONTINUE.  As the newspaper industry struggles to stem a decline in revenue, The Dallas Morning News laid off 43 employees in its newsroom and other parts of the company.

 

HUNGRY MOOSE ENTERS HOSPITAL.  Staff and patients at Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage were surprised to see a large moose wander inside for a quick snack on some greenery near an entrance.

TV ANCHORS ANNOUNCE BREAKING NEWS.  Two popular Cincinnati on-air TV personalities on WLWT announced they are joining forces beyond the anchor desk.  Co-anchors Sheree Paolello and Mike Dardis said they are engaged and expect to marry in late spring or early summer.

SHADES OF THE WICKED WITCH: AVOID APPLE OFFERED NEAR END OF FLIGHT

So you think walking off a commercial airliner with an apple in a carry-on is nothing to worry about, asks Grumpy Editor.  Hold on.  That one apple could nick your wallet for $500.

Most media missed this one.

It’s the case of Crystal Tadlock, returning to the U.S. on a Delta Air Lines flight from Paris.  Nearing the U.S., flight attendants passed out apples in plastic bags for passengers who needed a snack. 

Sounds like a good gesture, right?

Tadlock put the fruit in her carry-on as a later treat for the second leg of her flight to Colorado.

Back on U.S. soil, Tadlock and her bags were randomly selected to be searched by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent, reports Fox 31 in Denver.  Tadlock said the agent pulled out the apple still in the plastic bag with Delta’s logo on it.

When questioned about the snack, Tadlock explained she received the apple from Delta and asked if she could throw it away or eat it. 

The Customs agent, as reported by the Fox affiliate, allegedly told her no and said there is a $500 fine for carrying undeclared fruit.

"He had asked me if my trip to France was expensive and I said, 'yeah.' I didn’t really get why he was asking that question, and then he said 'It’s about to get a lot more expensive after I charge you $500,'" said Tadlock.

Tadlock told Fox 31 she was frustrated with the incident and felt Delta should not have passed out the apples to passengers or should have at least reminded passengers not to take the fruit off the plane. She also thinks Customs could have handled the situation differently after seeing the fruit was in an airline-marked bag.

"It’s really unfortunate someone has to go through that and be treated like a criminal over a piece of fruit," added Tadlock.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

HAPPENS IN CHINA, TOO.  Seven students are killed and 12 injured in a stabbing rampage at a middle school in Mizhi county.  Knives are common weapons in violent crimes in China since the country tightly restricts private gun ownership.

GET BACK TO COVERING WEATHER?  With the House intelligence committee finding no evidence that Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign, how is CNN and MSNBC going to fill up air time?  Suggestion:  Get back to covering breaking news events…or the weather.

CHINA CALLS U.S. “BULLY.”  The U.S. is “acting like a bully,” says a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman in response to reports that the U.S. Treasury Department is considering using an emergency law to curb Chinese investments in sensitive technologies, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.

WSJ EYES MORE WOMEN READERS.  Talking Biz News reports that “a media battle is being fought over the next generation of business-minded women and The Wall Street Journal has achieved early success by recruiting nearly 200,000 female students as subscribers.”

43-YEAR-OLD SPIDER PASSES.  Australian scientists report the world’s oldest known spider --- a female Giaus Villosus or trapdoor spider --- died at the age of 43, outliving its nearest rival by 15 years.  The spider was under observation since 1974.

CODE TALKER DIES.  Ex-Marine Roy Hawthorne Sr., an Arizona Navajo “code talker” who used his native language in U.S. military communications to confound the Japanese in World War II, died at 92.  

TRUMP GREETS OFFSPRING OF D.C. JOURNALISTS.  President Donald Trump treats children of White House journalists to an Oval Office visit on Thursday while their parents are left outside looking in through windows.

FAREWELL TO FUSION AND TAURUS.  Ford plans another $11.5 billion in cuts in order to reach a profit margin target of 8 percent by 2020, two years earlier than previously planned, reports Fortune. The move means the end of the line for Fusion and Taurus sedans. Ford wants to save $25.5 billion by 2022.

BBC ADVERTISES IN WSJ.  British Broadcasting Corp. takes out a one-quarter page ad in The Wall Street Journal asking:  How do you know you can trust the news?  Then BBC lists five reasons, including, “Because we’ve covered the story from every angle” and “We’ve always asked the difficult questions.”

Eating 150 million hot dogs seen on Fourth of July

 

Grumpy Editor, in holiday spirit as we celebrate the Fourth of July, notes it is a hot day for hot dogs with 150 million of them due to be consumed, contributing to total spending on food today of $6.77 billion, according to personal finance website WalletHub.

 

WalletHub also sees (overlooked) chickens in the holiday picture, too.  It anticipates 700 million pounds of the birds are purchased in the week prior to the holiday.

 

In addition, about $324 million worth of fireworks will be ignited today, although fireworks this year are cancelled in many dry brush areas around the country.

 

While the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, annual value of American flags --- most made in China --- is $4.4 million, figures WalletHub. 

 

WalletHub also cites the top five most popular Fourth of July destinations as Chicago, Las Vegas, Washington, Orlando and San Diego.  Las Vegas, however, also has the highest average price for a Fourth of July party ticket --- $124, making it eight times more expensive than Atlanta, the lowest, at $15.

 

And which city has the longest fireworks show? 

 

St. Petersburg, Fla., where the pyrotechnics run a full hour. 

 

 

 

Now, Grumpy Editor has to fire up the grill for a batch of hot dogs.

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Halting source of salad mix illness takes two months

 

It took two months to halt shipments of prepackaged salad mix that brought 576 cases of cyclospora to 19 states, at last count by the federal Centers for Disease Control through Thursday, notes Grumpy Editor. 

The outbreak started in Iowa and Nebraska before spreading to 17 other states:  Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York (including New York City), Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Medical writers, essential staffers at one time before newsroom cuts became routine, probably could have cracked source and distributor in a matter of days. 

First cases of cyclospora --- a single-celled parasite often associated with contaminated fresh produce --- turned up in early June.  Shipments of Mexican-grown Taylor Farms salad mix were halted Aug. 9. 

Reports circulated that some restaurant chains served the contaminated salad mix.

Cyclospora symptoms can take several days or weeks to appear and include diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, nausea and stomach cramps. 

J-school grads take 6-8 months to land jobs 

It’s been a tough time for journalism graduates to line up jobs pronto. 

A University of Georgia’s Grady College survey found about 66 percent of 2012 journalism graduates took six to eight months after graduation to line up full-time positions.  That was up from 62 percent in the prior year. 

The J-school graduates were going into a market where thousands of newsroom jobs have been slashed at both large and small publications. 

“Employers might be shedding senior-level jobs, but there’s always pressure to hire entry-level jobs,” said Lee Becker, University of Georgia journalism professor and co-author of the report. He noted there was an increase in start-up online publications. 

The median salary for new hires hasn’t been earth-shaking:  $32,000 in 2012, edging up from $31,000 a year earlier.

 

In case you missed these… 

Celebrity scandals or Egypt riots?  A new Rasmussen Reports national survey found 81 percent of Americans think fellow Americans pay too much attention to celebrity news and not enough attention to other developments that have real impact on their lives.  In allied action, Rasmussen tallied 58 percent of those surveyed, when given the choice, preferred to read printed versions of newspapers rather than online material, while 29 percent gave the nod to online versions of papers --- and 12 percent were undecided.  

Rick Folbaum, from Fox News Channel, joined Miami’s WFOR-TV (known as CBS4) as co-anchor of the station’s weeknight 5 and 11 newscasts.  He goes on air next Monday…Also in Miami, demolition is under way at the former Miami Herald headquarters by the Genting Group which paid nearly $240 million for the site on Biscayne Bay.  Genting plans a condominium and hotel project on the property and is seeking approval to incorporate a casino…Sports makes way for classical music beamed from California’s Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz radio station KYZZ 

Chris Roush at Talking Biz News uncovered a busy business editor at the Statesboro (Ga.) Herald.   He pointed out Jan Moore, along with editing business items for the daily, also is a psychologist for the local school system and is running for mayor of Statesboro. 

The city, with a population of about 28,000 is in Bulloch County, southeast Georgia.

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.

 

Drink up! Wine review mixes marinara sauce, tobacco

Those seeking to give wine as gifts during the holiday season often are influenced in their selections by comments on the subject from writers whose taste buds seem to be in a world of their own, judging from some of their descriptions of fermented grape juices that pass through their palates, finds Grumpy Editor. 

Most of the descriptions by wine writers sound like they should appear in recipes found in newspaper or magazine food sections.  Other reviews, with references to minerals, seem like they should get the attention of chemists. 

Note one writer’s portrayal of a merlot from the Tuscan Coast of northern Italy: 

“The wine seems a bit restrained at first, but then opens up with a barrage of crushed red cherries, black pepper, marinara sauce, loganberry juice, ripe elderberry fruit, spice box, chewing tobacco and rustic earth-driven minerals.” 

Black pepper teamed with marinara sauce, chewing tobacco and earth-driven minerals? 

That combination triggers thoughts of a quick visit to the emergency room. 

But there is more. 

“It is a nice mouthful of a wine on the palate with juicy black spicy fruit, peppercorns, tobacco, cherry juice, huckleberry sauce, ripe black plums, toast points and loads of chewy minerals.” 

Chewy minerals give visions of a fast trip to the dentist. 

A simple description of merlot can be summed up in one line: 

A fruitful red wine, blended with other grapes, for a flavor with hints of plums and cherries.

National Coffee Day 2012 serves abundance of free cups

With all the fast-moving worldwide events and pressures going on these days, how about a soothing break in routine with a FREE cup of coffee --- favorite beverage (at least during work hours) of editors --- today, tomorrow or Saturday at a number of locations around the nation, poses Grumpy Editor. 

It’s all part of Saturday’s National Coffee Day 2012. 

Take your choice of with or without caffeine. 

Getting a jump on the official day are participating McDonald’s Restaurants that will be passing out free small cups of coffee today and the rest of this week. 

Joining in one day ahead of the official National Coffee Day are participating 7-Elevens tomorrow.  The outlets will serve free 20-ounce cups of coffee from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. 

Then on Saturday, others join in marking National Coffee Day, including: 

Participating Krispy Kreme outlets with free 12-ounce cups of the classic American beverage.  Of course, the 75-year-old retailer will try to lure visitors to munch on one of its sweet treats.

Don’t drink coffee and still want to celebrate? 

Well, Saturday also is Confucius Day, observing the philosopher born in China in 551 B.C. 

So drop by a Chinese restaurant and pick up a fortune cookie.

See what your future holds.

Maybe with a little tea.

PETA unhappy over California 'happy cows' TV spot

A 30-second television commercial featuring “happy cows” --- so happy, they talk --- is not making People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) happy, notes Grumpy Editor.

What’s more, a California judge tossed out a PETA lawsuit, filed last year, seeking to shelve the California Milk Advisory Board/California Department of Food and Agriculture TV spot promoting happy, healthy and well-cared-for cows. 

In the action, the animal rights group demanded that California dairy farmers prove that California cows are “happy,” as claimed in the commercials. 

PETA complained that “most California dairy cows are subjected to physical and psychological pain and stress caused by intense and uncomfortable dairying practices, have a high risk of suffering from a number of diseases and die prematurely.”

(One wondered if PETA had happy cows mixed up with some chronically unhappy taxpayers struggling around tax-filing time.) 

Actually, PETA has complained about happy cows since 2002. 

The judge ruled the California Milk Advisory Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture provided sufficient evidence to support their claim that dairy cows in the Golden State are comfortable, safe and happy. 

Few daily newspapers reported the judge's decision. 

However, the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star covered the ruling under the headline:  Judge: California dairy cows are happy. 

In the TV spot promoting California cheese, two happy cows chat in a barn as a rooster crows nearby. 

A voiceover mentions: “Great cheese comes from happy cows.  Happy cows come from California.  Real California cheese.” 

See the TV spot here.

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.