Grumpy Editor

MURDER RATE RISES AT A SLOWER RATE

Despite almost daily front page stories on shootings, the number of murders rose at a slower rate last year, notes Grumpy Editor.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates murders rose four percent last year after jumping nearly 30 percent in 2020.

Law enforcement people have been extra busy working on shootings in cities and rural areas across the country.

As The Wall Street Journal points out:  “Soaring murder rates across the country since the onset of the pandemic have made crime a major issue in local and national elections.”

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

DOGUE FEATURES DOGGIE CHOW.  A San Francisco restaurant, appropriately called Dogue, offers a range of fancy treats and special menus of French cuisine, tailored specifically for canine diners.  The restaurant’s in-house “pawtisserie” serves healthy and colorful snacks made from organic, locally-sourced  “human-grade ingredients.”  That includes a cake made with ingredients like pastured chicken, liver, wild sardines and organic vegetables.  The restaurant offers a $75 tasting menu every Sunday.

BOA CONSTRICTOR STRANDED ON ROOF.  Firefighters and police in High Point, North Carolina, conduct an unusual rescue when a boa constrictor is spotted stranded on the roof of a home.  They help an animal control officer get to the roof and bring the red-tailed boa constrictor down to solid ground.

UTAH CITY RESIDENTS SNIFF SOMETHING.  Officials in North Salt Lake City, Utah, are investigating the cause of a foul odor reported by residents.  It doesn't appear to be coming from the sewer.  Many locals compare the smell to rotting meat.

TEXAS DOG PERCHES ON ROOF.  An Austin, Texas, dog enjoys greeting neighbors and passers-by from the roof of his home.  Huckleberry the dog started climbing onto the roof of his home years ago and now is a local celebrity with his unusual routine.

$2 MILLION OFFERED FOR BASEBALL.  A baseball fan who caught Aaron Judge’s American League record 62^nd home run ball is offered $2 million for it by a sports memorabilia auction house owner.  The record price for a home run ball is $3 million, paid for Mark McGwire’s record 70^th in 1998.

POLAND SEEKS $1.3 TRILLION FROM WORLD WAR II.   Poland’s foreign minister requests about $1.3 trillion in reparations for damage incurred by occupying Nazi Germans during World War II.  A Polish official says action should be taken without delay to address the effects of Germany's 1939-45 occupation in a “lasting and complex, legally binding as well as material way.”

ELECTRIC PASSENGER AIRCRAFT TRAVELS EIGHT MINUTES.  Dubbed “Alice,” an electric passenger airplane built by Eviation Aircraft took off from Washington state’s Grant County International Airport and traveled at 3,500 feet for eight minutes.  Eviation said that Alice can last up to one to two hours per charge and can reach a top cruise speed of 287 m.p.h.

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GUNS ARE LEADING CAUSE OF CHILDRENS' DEATHS

 

Current leading cause of death among American children is guns, reports Axios, notes Grumpy Editor.

More kids are involved in gun-related homicides, including last week’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, it adds.

Nearly two-thirds of the 4,368 youths to age 19 who were killed by guns in 2021 were homicide victims, tallies the CDC.

Axios says that number passes motor vehicles as the top killer of kids in 2020.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

SUPPORT DOGS ARRIVE IN UVALDE.  Eight golden retrievers, emotional support dogs, arrive in Uvalde, Texas, to provide support in the wake of the tragic shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers. The canines are provided by Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Ministries.

 

NORTH KOREA FIRES THREE BALLISTIC MISSILES.  North Korea launches three ballistic missiles, including one that travels an unusual trajectory, according to officials. The missile’s flight path is described as a "double arc,"  ascending and then descending twice.

PENTAGON SPOKESMAN GETS NEW POST.  John Kirby, a retired rear admiral, is stepping down as chief Pentagon spokesman and soon will advise the National Security Council in strategic communications.

BIRTHS INCREASE IN 2021.  U.S. births rise in 2021 but fall short of pre-pandemic levels.  It is a one percent increase from 2020 that set the largest one-year drop in U.S. births in nearly 50 years.

AMAZON OPENS STORE IN LOS ANGELES.  In Los Angeles, Amazon.com Inc opens its first brick-and-mortar clothing retail store, as people start to venture out to shop following easing COVID-19 curbs. 

 

CONGRESS CITES WORLD WAR II DARING UNIT.  Lawmakers finally get around to awarding Merrill's Marauders the Congressional Gold Medal for the unit's daring World War II mission in Burma.  It’s the  highest civilian honor to the Army unit.

 

HOTEL RATES JUMP.  A surge in travel demand, worker shortages and a dearth of guest rooms trigger a steep increase in hotel prices. To attract workers, some hotels introduce sign-on bonuses as high as $2,000.

MAKING IT HARDER FOR SUPERMAN TO CHANGE.  New York City removes the last open-air pay phone in midtown Manhattan.  Now only four open air booths remain in outlying areas.

 

LIFEGUARD SHORTAGE HITS U.S.  The American Lifeguard Association says a nationwide lifeguard shortage could prevent about a third of the 309,000 pools across the country from opening and fewer manned lifeguard towers at recreational beaches.

VETERAN NOVELIST RELISHES KNOCKING OFF SOMEONE --- IN PRINT

 

Print and broadcast media give heavy coverage to murders these days --- and so does novelist Morgan St. James, notes Grumpy Editor.

Author of 17 books, St. James beams one of the perks of being a writer of novels is that “you can kill someone in print and not worry about going to jail.”

It happens in SCAMMED, her latest book, inspired by “a power-hungry HOA president who caused me tons of frustration and money in real life and took years for me to find the right book to do him in,” she mentions.

The book, which details life in the upscale Los Angeles community of Venice Canals, takes an ominous turn when a retired doctor and his wife, vice president and treasurer of the local HOA, disappear after a meeting.

Police are on the case, she writes, but looking in the wrong places.   What appears to be a home invasion and a kidnapping turn out to be more, including murder.

Set for release on Sept. 2 --- start of National Literacy Month --- pre-orders for the book are via Kindle, bit.ly/Scammed-K, or EPub, bit.ly/Scammed-ePub.  It also will be available through Barnes & Noble, Apple and others.

St. James has written more than 600 articles on the business and craft of writing, frequently discusses writing at Clark County’s main library in Las Vegas, where she is based, and on radio plus at writer’s conferences.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

SURVEY FINDS AFGHANISTAN INTEREST SLIPS.  A Rasmussen Reports national survey finds only 31% of likely U.S. voters consider Afghanistan a vital national security interest for the United States, down from a high of 45% two years ago.

FIRST FEMALE MARINE TO FLY F-35 FIGHER JET.  Marine Capt. Anneliese Satz, a 29-year-old Boise native, is the first woman in the Marine Corps to fly an F-35 fighter jet, a supersonic stealth aircraft.  Satz’s training lasted four years, taking her to bases in Florida, Texas and Mississippi.

SLOWER SALES HIT BEVERLY HILLS.  Beverly Hills is suffering a shopping slump amid the Trump-China trade war, notes The Hollywood Reporter.  It cites a sales associate at the Coach store on Rodeo Drive who estimates purchases by Chinese clients are down "maybe 40 percent" this summer compared with last year,

MORE OINKS HEARD IN HOUSES.  More people around the nation are welcoming pet pigs.  While some cities are legalizing pigs as pets, others are upholding bans and calling for their ouster.

BEAR WRECKS SHERIFF’S PATROL CAR.  A Humboldt County, Calif., sheriff’s deputy patrol car, responding to a call, is struck near Hoopa by a bear falling or jumping onto his vehicle, smashing the hood and windshield. The patrol car hit an embankment, rolled onto its side and burst into flames. The deputy escapes without serious injury.

DRIVERS PAUSE AS DUCKS CROSS HIGHWAY.  Rush-hour traffic come to a standstill in Biddeford, about 20 miles southwest of Portland, Maine, when a parade of ducks --- almost four dozen --- make their way across a highway, Route 111.

TESLA CRASH IN MOSCOW DRAWS ATTENTION.  Overlooking the daily number of Fords, Chevrolets and other brands involved in crashes in the U.S. alone, media play up one Tesla Model 3 in far-off Moscow that smashes into a parked tow truck and catches fire.

 

MILLIONS OF TREES PLANTED IN INDIA.  In a government campaign to combat climate change and improve the environment, more than a million people in northern Uttar Pradesh, India,  plant 220 million trees.