Grumpy Editor

NOAA PREDICTS RISING SEA LEVELS WITHIN TWO DECADES

Sea levels on coastlines in the U.S. are forecast to rise about a foot on average within two decades, notes Grumpy Editor.

The prediction comes in a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The report also notes sea levels around the globe are up about 0.55 feet in the past 100 years.

In the same time period, water along the East Coast will rise a few inches more compared with West Coast and Hawaii shorelines, adds the report.

Gulf coasts are predicted to be hit the most — with seas up about 1.5 feet.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

WHERE WERE CALIFORNIA AVOCADOS?  Widely circulated news reports last week mention scarce avocados in U.S. grocery stores because they are imported from Mexico with delivery suspended after an American inspector working in Mexico's state of Michoacan receives threats.  Not mentioned, however, is that avocados also are produced in the U.S. making them not as scare as reported. But all is well now after the U.S. on Friday lifted its temporary ban on imports of Mexican avocados.

CONDE NAST TURNS PROFIT. Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue, Bon Appetit and the New Yorker, says its publications turned a profit last year for the first time in years.  It attributes that to strong digital-revenue growth and cost savings from reorganizing global operations.  The publisher says it recorded nearly $2 billion in revenue last year, a double-digit-percentage increase from 2020.

 

CARGO SHIP ADRIFT IN ATLANTIC.  A massive cargo ship, transporting thousands of luxury cars, including 1,000 Porsches among 4,000 from the Volkswagen Group, is left floating in the Atlantic Ocean after it caught fire near Terceira Island in the Azores.  The ship was enroute from Emden, Germany to Davisville, Rhode Island.  The 22 crew members are safe after being lifted from the burning ship by helicopter.

TOP PAY FOR CITIGROUP CEO. Banking’s Citigroup, based in New York, is paying Chief Executive Jane Fraser $22.5 million for her first year in that position. The figure includes salary, cash bonus and restricted stock tied to performance metrics.

BLACK BEAR ENTERS 28 HOMES.  A 500-pound black bear has been roaming the streets in the Tahoe Keys area of South Lake Tahoe, about 100 miles east of Sacramento, for seven months. In that period it causes extensive damage at 33 properties and forcefully enters 28 homes, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

 WOMEN SOUGHT FOR SAUDIA ARABIA POSITIONS.  A Saudi Arabia rail company, seeking to recruit 30 female candidates to drive high-speed trains between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, receives 28,000 applications.  It marks the first time such roles have been advertised for women in the conservative Muslim kingdom.  

 SUPER BOWL GAMBLING SOARS. Gambling on the Super Bowl this year soars to records after legalized sports betting surges across the country with a report noting betting transactions are more than double last year’s total.

 

PAIR’S LOST-AT-SEA DETAILS ARE RAISING EYEBROWS

Eyebrows are being raised in the story from two women with two dogs who were on a 50-foot yacht hit by bad weather and lost at sea for almost six months before being rescued by a U.S. Navy ship, notes Grumpy Editor.

What hit them, they claim, was a storm with near hurricane-force winds on the night they set sail from Hawaii on a planned 18-day voyage to Tahiti.

But government records show no severe weather at that time in their area of departure, reports an Associated Press follow-up story.

The women had an emergency beacon aboard their yacht but never turned it on, say Coast Guard officials.  If they had, rescue routine would have been dispatched in minutes.

The women also mention a coordinated attack by 20 to 30-foot tiger sharks ramming their boat for more than six hours.  However, shark experts point out such a routine by tiger sharks has never been recorded and the sharks grow only to about 17 feet.

Mother of one of the women says she called the Coast Guard to report her missing daughter one and a half weeks after departure.  The Coast Guard claims it never got such a call.

The women also say they flagged vessels and sent distress signals for at least 98 days. 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

BUSINESS NETWORKS BATTLE.   Fox Business Network extends its total viewers winning streak to five months over business news rival CNBC, according to Nielsen Media Research. 

VIN SCULLY ABANDONS NFL.  Former Los Angeles Dodgers announcer and Hall of Famer Vin Scully, who turns 90 this month, says, "I used to love, during the fall and winter, to watch the NFL on Sunday.  And it's not that I'm some great patriot. I was in the Navy for a year --- didn't go anywhere, didn't do anything. But I have overwhelming respect and admiration for anyone who puts on a uniform and goes to war. So the only thing I can do in my little way is not to preach. I will never watch another NFL game."

TV REPORTER AT CRIME SCENE.  KTVU news reporter Claudine Wong became the subject of a crime story when her purse was stolen in a Concord, Calif. parking lot.  She says she was pushing a shopping cart after visiting a Costco store on Friday when a car pulled up beside her and a man leaned out of the passenger side and grabbed her purse from atop the cart. Then the car sped off.

MAGAZINE PUBLISHER CUTS JOBS.  New York-based publisher Condé Nast is slashing about 80 jobs from its 3,000 work force as budgets are being sliced.  The publisher also is reducing frequencies of some titles and will close Teen Vogue in print.  Not seeing frequency changes are monthly titles Vogue, Vanity Fair and Wired plus weekly The New Yorker and Brides which runs six times a year. 

MARKET SHOPPER STEALS RED WINE. A male shopper at California’s Incline Village at Lake Tahoe walks out of a supermarket with a shopping cart loaded with about 55 bottles of stolen expensive red wine worth about $15,000, report authorities.