Grumpy Editor

HOMICIDES FALL IN SOME U.S. CITIES

Homicides are down in some U.S. cities, notes Grumpy Editor.

A major Wall Street Journal story points out homicides are falling after rising during the first two years of the pandemic.

Citing government data, the Journal reports “so far this year killings are down 12 percent overall in nine of the 10 most populous cities compared with the same time frame last year.”

Major cities with a drop in homicides, notes the Journal, include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and Philadelphia.

However, Texas cities San Antonio, Dallas and Austin show an increase.

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VETERANS BRAVE WEATHER TO MARK D-DAY.  More than 50 veterans from World War II braved the chilly, windy air along the northern French coastline to salute their fallen comrades last Tuesday, the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE JUMPS.  Consumer confidence is soaring this month to a fresh pandemic high as Americans become more upbeat about the economy and job market. The Conference Board’s index increased to 127.3 from an upwardly revised 120 reading in May. 

CHINA GETS OUTPOST ON CUBA.  China makes a secret agreement with Cuba, roughly 100 miles from Florida, to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island. It will allow Chinese intelligence services to monitor electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S. where many military bases are located.

L.A. TIMES CUTS NEWSROOM JOBS.   Citing “economic challenges,” the Los Angeles Times plans to cut 74 jobs.  The cuts will eliminate about 13 percent of newsroom positions.

“CHEERS'’ BAR SELLS AT AUCTION.  Remember that famous bar on the TV show “Cheers” where people got their drinks?  It sells for $675,000 at an auction.  It was among items at an Dallas auction of items from classic shows.

U.K.’S DAILY TELEGRAPH UP FOR SALE.  The Daily Telegraph, the 150-year-old British newspaper, is up for sale after its parent company entered a form of insolvency proceedings.

HOW DOGS CAN LIVE LONGER.  A survey and data collection effort involving more than 21,000 dog owners finds dogs live longer and happier lives when they get to socialize often with other dogs.

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.”

 

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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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STOLEN GUNS LEAD TO MORE HOMICIDES

More stolen guns are fueling the rising homicide rate, notes Grumpy Editor.

The number of stolen guns reported to police in 10 major cities rose 29 percent in recent months, via data compiled by The Wall Street Journal.

Guns often are stolen from vehicles.

A record number of Americans purchased guns over the past two years, driven by protests and rising crime, adds the Journal.

Murders rose nearly 20 percent in 2020 from 2019 and remained at elevated levels last year, the Journal points out.

 

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U.S. LEAVES $7 BILLION IN MILITARY EQUIPMENT.  About $7 billion in U.S. military equipment that was transferred to the Afghan government over 16 years is left behind in Afghanistan after the U.S. completed withdrawal from the country in August, according to a congressionally mandated report from the U.S.Department of Defense. 

NEW VIRUSES SEEN HITTING ANIMALS.  Climate change will result in thousands of new viruses spreading among animal species by 2070. That's likely to increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans, according to researchers’ findings published in the journal Nature.

L.A. COUNTY CORONAVIRUS CASES JUMP.  Los Angeles County coronavirus cases jumped 40 percent in one week while hospitalizations are creeping up, causing officials to contend with “reinvigorated coronavirus transmission.”

WORLD’S OLDEST PERSON DIES AT 119.  Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest person, dies at 119 in Fukuoka, Japan.  Japanese media say Ms. Tanaka, who relished chocolate and carbonated drinks, had a motto: "Don’t give up and say there’s no point."

JUDY GARLAND’S ‘OZ’ DRESS TO BE AUCTIONED.  The blue and white checkered gingham dress Judy Garland wore in the 1939 classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” is set for auction May 24 in Los Angeles where it is expected to bring $800,000 to $1.2 million.

DEGENERES WRAPS UP TV SHOW.  The final Ellen DeGeneres TV show is taped for release on May 26.  The talk show host says the program brought her "incredible joy" since it first aired in 2003.

PANDEMIC TRIGGERS DOG THEFTS.  Higher demand for dogs during the Covid pandemic results in canine thefts reaching a seven-year high.  More than 2,700 are snatched in 2021.

BLUE DIAMOND SELLS FOR HEFTY SUM.  A 15.1 carat, vivid blue diamond from the Cullinan mine in South Africa, is sold at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong for the equivalent of 57.5 million U.S. dollars to an unnamed buyer.

WATER SHORTAGE LIMITS OUTDOOR WATERING.  A water shortage emergency is declared in Southern California, leading to restricted outdoor watering to one day a week in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.  The action affects about 6 million people. 

WORKER GRILLS ONE MILLION STEAKS.  Gayle Dudley, who works at the LongHorn Steakhouse in Columbus, Georgia, is surprised at work by executives from the nationwide chain (and a $5,000 check) after grilling one million steaks during her two decades there.

 

 

CAR CHASE SHOOTINGS GRAB ATTENTION ON TV

 

Car chase shootings often lead off local TV news programs.  Somehow they grab attention of news editors who feel they’ll grab attention of viewers, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Thus, it’s not unexpected seeing a report of road-rage shootings killing or injuring an average of 44 people a month (yes, a month) last year, double the average of like incidents in 2019, before the pandemic.

 

“Driving gets heated in plenty of other countries, but only in the U.S. is someone shot and injured or killed every 17 hours in a road-rage incident, says Sarah Burd-Sharps, director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.

 

From 2016 to 2019, the study found one-third of road-rage incidents involving a gun resulted in injury or death.

 

Grumpy Editor feels inspiring some of that road rage are car chases depicted in movies and television.

 

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SURPRISE.  A study suggests people who live with handgun owners are shot to death at a higher rate than those without such weapons on premises.

 

NORTH KOREA THREATENS…AGAIN.  Two times in three days the sister of North Korea’s leader warns her country’s nuclear forces would annihilate South Korea’s conventional forces if provoked.

 

SIX DAYS A WEEK MAIL CONTINUES.  Six days a week of mail delivery is assured after President Joe Biden signs into law a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service.  The bill signing occurs on the same day the Postal Service announces it plans to raise rates effective July 10.

 

D.C. FOX BITES PEOPLE.  A fox roaming near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. that tested positive bites California congressman Ami Bera near a Senate office building and at least eight other people.

 

DODGERS PRODUCE NAME PRONOUNCIATION GUIDE.  With many tough-to-pronounce baseball players’ names on the Los Angeles Dodgers roster, a guide is produced on how the players would like those names pronounced.

 

CLEARING THE AIR.  Barcelona beachgoers no longer will have to contend with cigarette butts or passive smoke starting in July when Spain's second largest city bans smoking on all its beaches.

 

NEW YORK CITY ADDS SKYSCRAPER.  Steinway Tower, the world's “most slender skyscraper" — at 1,428 feet — is completed, adding a new landmark to Manhattan's skyline.  It compares to the Empire State Building that stands 1,250 feet or 1,454 feet to the top of its antenna.

 

HELIUM SUPPLY CURBED.   The National Weather Service is reducing the frequency of weather balloon launches due to a "global supply chain disruption of helium" and a "temporary issue with the contract" of a hydrogen supplier. However, most NWS weather balloons now use hydrogen rather than helium.

MEDIA SHOULD REFRAIN FROM NAMING MASS SHOOTERS, SAY EXPERTS

Grumpy Editor agrees with the growing movement for print and broadcast media to refrain naming mass shooters because it fuels celebrity-style coverage that encourages more violence.

Too many news outlets go into detail with biographical material on trigger-happy gunmen, often anxious to see that information along with photos that sometimes go back to high school days.

A recent Associated Press story by Lisa Marie Pane, mentions Adam Lankford, a criminologist at the University of Alabama who studied the influence of media coverage on shooters, saying it’s vitally important to avoid focusing excessive attention on gunmen.

“A lot of these shooters want to be treated like celebrities," adds Lankford. "They want to be famous. So the key is not to give them that treatment."

The criminologist argues attackers are trying to outdo previous shooters with higher death tolls and media coverage encourages copycats.

James Alan Fox, a professor at Northeastern University who has studied mass shootings, tells AP's Pane that naming shooters is not the problem but it's over-the-top coverage that includes details about the killers, such as their writings and their backgrounds, that “unnecessarily humanizes them.”

Fox adds, “We sometimes come to know more about them --- their interests and their disappointments --- than we do about our next-door neighbors."

Pane reminds that “late last year, the Trump administration’s federal Commission on School Safety called on the media to refrain from reporting names and photos of mass shooters. It was one of the rare moments when gun-rights advocates and gun-control activists agreed."

 

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MARINES MIXED TRAINING ENDS.  The Marine Corps experiment integrating female recruits into an all-male unit in boot camp ended Friday.  It lasted three months.

MANY SPORTS EDITORS SNUB BASEBALL.  While many newspaper sports pages curb baseball coverage with the season opener Thursday, the Wall Street Journal on Friday runs a four-column front-page photo spotlighting the Milwaukee Brewers - St.Louis Cardinals game, with additional baseball coverage inside the first section.

DODGERS BELT EIGHT HOMERS IN GAME.  Speaking of baseball, first game of the season sees Los Angeles Dodgers players belting eight home runs, setting a major league record for opening day in a 12-5 thrashing of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

TAXPAYERS FOOT $25 MILLION PROBE.  The two-year probe by special counsel Robert Mueller that finds President Donald Trump and his campaign did not collude with the Russians cost American taxpayers $25 million.

SCHUMER CALLS TRUMP UNIFORMED.  CNSNews notes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) on the Senate floor calls President Donald Trump "the least informed president we have ever had in American history."

WHITE REPORTERS BANNED BY CHURCH.  Breitbart reports white members of the press barred from entering the Bolton Street Baptist Church for a community event highlighting black mayoral candidates in Savannah, Ga.  Sign on the church door: "No media (T.V., Radio, etc.). Black Press Only!" 

IWO JIMA BATTLE REMEMBERED.  A dozen of the dwindling number of U.S. World War II veterans of the February 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima are among those allowed onto the island last week for an annual remembrance ceremony.

MEMOIR ON TRACK TO SET RECORD.  Michelle Obama's memoir "Becoming" sells nearly 10 million copies around the world since its November release.  It could set a sales record in its genre.

MELTED SNOW LEAVES OFFENSIVE SHAPE.  A Tennessee woman claims her homeowners association is fining her $100 because heat from her parked car's engine melted snow underneath resulted in "displaying offensive images or slogans."

THOUSAND OAKS NEWSPAPER TACKLES DUAL TRAGEDIES

With shootings and massive fire striking Thousand Oaks, Calif., within days, the local newspaper --- Thousand Oaks Acorn --- certainly jumped in to tackle coverage of the events in a city that was ranked third safest in the U.S., observed Grumpy Editor.

Under publisher Jim Rule, managing editor John Loesing and editor Kyle Jorrey, it operated much like a major city daily in getting the word out.

 

With a circulation of almost 40,000, serving the communities of  Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, North Ranch and Westlake Village, the 44-page weekly tabloid did a commendable job in reporting the shooting at Borderline Grill & Bar along with a raging fire, the most destructive in Conejo Valley history, that consumed about 500 homes in its circulation area.

 

For a paper of its size, it has a photo editor and two photographers and eight editorial staff writers, all highly active during the week.

 

Its opinion page last week carried an editorial, "A community in mourning tries to heal."

 

It mentioned, "Never in the history of our community has there been such a terrible one-two punch to the gut:  a mass murder followed by massive destruction from fire.

 

"People need to be heard.  If your life was inconvenienced for a few days, seek out and comfort the neighbor whose life was destroyed during those same few days.

 

"Look for ways to console, to donate and to volunteer --- not just in the immediate aftermath of the horrible past week but throughout the year when recent events are no longer in the headlines or trending on social media.  Those who have suffered great loss will need our help."

 

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PRESS PASSES NOT EASY TO GET.  Amazing about the heavy coverage given to the yanking of CNN's Jim Acosta's White House press pass.  It's been Grumpy Editor's observation that over the years before a press pass is issued, via police department or city hall, as examples, the issuing authority screens the applicant thoroughly and can nix or pull issuance for any reason.

SURPRISE!  MORE NORTH KOREA MISSILE SITES.  There shouldn't be any surprise that tricky North Korea was found --- via satellite imagery --- to have 13 secret missile development sites, making it tougher to formulate an arms control agreement.

 

MACY'S CUTS STAFF.  Macy's, where it's already difficult to locate a store employee for guidance, plans to reduce the amount of merchandise and number of workers while walling off sections of stores, leaving the space vacant.

LONG COLD WINTER AHEAD?  Global warming folks will find it hard to agree, but NASA scientist Martin Mlynczak, declared a long, cold winter could see temperatures across the planet plunge to depressing lows stemming from sunspot activity on the surface of our star dropping so low that it could herald the arrival of a "uniquely grim Ice Age."  Mlynczak at Langley Research Center, warned "our atmosphere is losing heat energy."

JAL SEEKS TO KEEP PILOTS SOBER.   Japan Airlines, facing a problem with pilots showing up for work drunk, introduced a breathalyzer system at foreign airports.  Japan does not set alcohol limits for pilots, so it's up to airlines to keep them sober, reported BBC.

TOSS THE RAZOR BLADES.  Men who have full beards are more attractive than those who are clean-shaven, according to a study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Researchers asked more than 8,500 women to rate men on their attractiveness as a long-term romantic partner.  Heavy stubble (10 days worth) topped the list, followed by full beards and light stubble, with clean shaven at the bottom.

PIG FEVER SWEEPS CHINA.  An outbreak of African swine fever over the last three months has spread to over half of China's provinces.  China has labelled the epidemic "very serious," reported Asia Times. The virus doesn't affect humans but it is fatal to pigs.