Speeding has boosted this year's highway deaths, greatest in more than a decade, notes Grumpy Editor.
Traffic data indicates an increase in the death toll is linked to higher average speeds in conjunction with roads seeing more drivers under the influence of drugs and alcohol, along with a slight decline in seatbelt use.
But Grumpy Editor points to another factor behind the speeding: TV commercials.
Viewers this year have seen TV spots from various American and foreign manufacturers showing speeding vehicles on winding mountain roads, sliding sideways on city streets, splashing through small streams, and kicking up dust and rocks while zooming off roads.
Think that doesn't give viewers ideas?
In California, for example, tickets issued by the Highway Patrol for speeding in excess of 100 m.p.h. from January to June were nearly double pre-pandemic levels. The number of tickets for reckless driving citations also jumped.
Nationwide traffic deaths last year rose 7.2 percent to 38,680 even after a 13.2 percent reduction in the number of miles traveled.
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...
SOCIAL SECURITY BUMP COMING UP. Social Security recipients are in line for the biggest percentage bump for inflation in 40 years. Likely cost of living adjustment for 2022, to be announced in October, is predicted to be 6.2 percent.
READY TO HELP VETS. The Department of Veterans Affairs urges Afghanistan War veterans to seek mental health care if they need help coming to terms with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan…a country where hundreds of thousands of veterans served in the 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
FALSE ONLINE INFORMATION EYED. Amid rising concerns over misinformation online, including that of COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines, Americans are a bit more open to the idea of the U.S. government taking steps to restrict false information online. A majority of the public continues to favor technology companies taking such action, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
THURSDAY SPOTLIGHTS CANINES. International Dog Day, observed on Thursday, encourages dog ownership of all breeds. It celebrates all dogs and encourages adoption.
UNRULY BEHAVIOR IN AIR DRAWS FINES. Fines for unruly behavior during commercial air flights soar this year, with the Federal Aviation Administration reporting it has proposed more than $1 million in penalties in 2021. The FAA receives almost 4,000 reports of aggressive behavior since January.
VETERANS TOUR D.C. MONUMENTS. A flight organized by Honor Flight Chicago, sends more than 100 veterans from three wars to Washington, D.C. for a whirlwind tour of monuments around the nation's capital that were built in their honor. In attendance: Three veterans from World War II, 33 from the Korean War and 76 from Vietnam War.
PELICAN ESCAPES AGAIN. A great white pelican escaped for a second time from an Irish zoo and was spotted more than 100 miles away. The pelican flew the coop and was spotted in Wexford --- the same place it visited after an earlier escape in 2018.
While President Obama and the first family’s western vacation trip over the weekend was heavily covered by print and broadcast reporters, U.S. media have been quiet on Michelle Obama’s overseas trip next week with daughters Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson, observed Grumpy Editor.
In marking the 100th anniversary of the U.S. national park system, the Obamas spent the weekend at California’s Yosemite National Park where, in a speech against a mountain backdrop, the president pinned a heat wave on climate change.
It followed a Friday visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.
In travel to the other direction, the First Lady and family companions head for Liberia, Morocco and Spain, June 27 to July 1 to promote her year-old global girls' education initiative.
The aircraft Mrs. Obama usually travels on costs $11,684 an hour to operate, and figuring about 25 hours on the upcoming trip, the bill should amount to just under $300,000 for flying, calculated the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
The London-based newspaper also pointed out the First Lady “racked up $424,142 on travel and expenses for the plane crew on her 2011 trip to Botswana and South Africa.”
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…
Washington thinking: House Speaker Paul Ryan said he feels a responsibility not to lead "some chasm in the middle of our party" that would hurt GOP chances to win the White House...In the “huh?” department:NBC's "Late Night" host Seth Meyers announced the ban of Donald Trump after Trump revoked Washington Post press credentials over a headline he didn't like. Said Meyers: "As long as the Washington Post is banned from Donald Trump's campaign, Donald Trump will be banned from ever coming on this show." Trump earlier called the Post "phony and dishonest' in its coverage of his reaction to the Orlando shooting...Think of Iowa and envision corn fields? The Hawkeye state now has 19 state-licensed casinos with the opening last week of Rhythm City Casino resort in Davenport. It attracted more than 1,000 invited guests, many dressed in tuxedos and sequined cocktail dresses…Dozens of protesters said “journalism matters” at a rally outside The Denver Post building on Friday to take a stand against job cuts at the newspaper…Another consumer credit warning shot?Synchrony Financial, largest issuer of retail-store credit cards, raised its outlook for credit losses over the next year. It triggered a selloff in shares of Synchrony and sector rivals Capital One, Discover Financial and Ally Financial…The Washington Post reported the parent company of news and gossip site Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday and subsequently put itself on the market for a buyer…Tesla opened a 400-square-foot gallery in the men’s department at Nordstrom’s, at The Grove mall in Los Angeles. It spotlights the electric car maker’s Model X SUV…A report that GannettCo. planned to add to its stable of New Jersey papers by snapping up The Recordand some weekly papers, owned by the North Jersey Media Group, sent a jolt through the Record newsroom.
American boardrooms remained more than 80 percent male last year.
That finding came from research by Catalyst, a nonprofit organization with a mission to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that with 26 million more people in the U.S. since 2005, aging roads are more crowded and additional time is required to reach destinations.
So Grumpy Editor notes that print and broadcast media late last week focused, often at length, on a report that growing urban population has boosted traffic congestion around the country and it is outpacing the nation’s ability to build infrastructure.
Among the nation’s worst traffic cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Houston and Riverside (Calif.) experienced population growth outpacing the national average of 0.7 percent last year, according to a report by Inrix, a Kirkland, Wash. company that analyzes travel data, and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station, Texas.
U.S. population now stands at an estimated 321.2 million, according to the Census Bureau. This compares with 295.5 million 10 years ago.
Washington, D.C. tops the list of commuter gridlock, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
Rush-hour congestion adds 82 hours annually to motorists’ average commute in Washington, 80 extra hours in Los Angeles, 78 hours in San Francisco and 74 hours in New York.
Average travel-time delay per commuter nationwide is more than twice what it was in 1982, while for cities with under 500,000 people, the problem is four times worse than in 1982, adds the report.
Traffic congestion findings are drawn from traffic speed data collected by Inrix, along with highway performance data from the Federal Highway Administration.
More congestion lies ahead. The report predicts by 2020 annual delay per commuter will rise to 47 hours from 42.
In case you missed these...
As the weekend neared, excited print/television/top-of the hour radio news, in following tropical storm Erika through the Caribbean, noted the likelihood of slamming Florida Sunday night or Monday as a hurricane. But on Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center issued: “All coastal watches and warnings are discontinued” as Erika fizzled…Meanwhile, many editors missed an unusual atmospheric development over land far to the West on Tuesday when fierce winds brought a high, wide wall of thick dust to the Phoenix area. Wind was strong enough to topple a tractor-trailer. The Washington Post was alert on the event, noting “A mean and massive dust storm swallowed up parts of the Phoenix area on Tuesday.” NBCNews also reported on the giant "duster," coupled with footage.
That word omitted again in a news story
“Illegal” was missing from this sentence from a Boston Globe story on Donald Trump’s Friday night appearance at a Norwood, Mass. campaign rally: “Some researchers have disputed Trump’s claims about immigrants and crime, arguing that immigrants, regardless of their status, are less likely than the native-born to commit serious felonies"...Earlier in the week in the aftermath of Trump ordering biased Jorge Ramos out of a news conference, the Los Angeles Times noted the Univision anchor "has been called the Spanish-language Walter Cronkite." And Juan Williams, yesterday on Fox News, repeated that description. Wait a minute.Unlike Ramos, viewers watching the CBS Evening News, anchored by Cronkite for 19 years, never got a clue as to which way the veteran newsman leaned politically.
No airstrikes against Islamic State camps
Washington Free Beacon writer Bill Gertz on Friday revealed the "Pentagon has not conducted airstrikes against an estimated 60 Islamic State (IS) training camps that are supplying thousands of fighters each month to the terror group, according to defense and intelligence officials"...Two U.S. servicemen killed in southern Afghanistan by a shooter in an Afghan uniform Wednesday originally were identified as NATO personnel. Thus, the incident didn't get much coverage in the U.S. The two were Air Force special operations troops identified as Capt. Matthew D. Roland, 27, and Staff Sgt. Forrest B. Sibley, 31...Long-time production by AM General of the military's famous vehicle, the Humvee, now goes to Wisconsin’s Oshkosh Corp. which won a contract that could be worth $30 billion or more to build nearly 50,000 vehicles over the next 25 years for the Army and another 5,500 for the Marine Corps.
Chopping due in ‘discover the forest’ PSAs
Enough, already! Listeners to a national morning radio news hour hear four or five public service announcements for the U.S. Forest Service, repeated daily (often the same PSA within minutes), promoting "discover the forest"...Chipotle Mexican grill plans a one-day hiring binge. It intends to sign up 4,000 workers in a single day, Sept. 9...American Journalism Review, founded as the Washington Journalism Review in 1977, is ending its online publication. AJR was produced by Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Merrill College Dean Lucy Dalglish said, “Unfortunately, we are unable to provide the resources needed to keep AJR the vibrant, innovative online publication it deserves to be."
Summertime delicacy:
USA Today got to the meat of things with sizzling summer news on Wednesday with "13 ways to eat watermelon all day long."
While President Barack Obama stays behind, wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha are quietly scheduled for another trip to the Far East next week, finds Grumpy Editor.
The First Lady and teenage daughters are taking a spring break trip to Japan, March 18 to 20, and Cambodia, March 21 and 22.
Going overseas is an annual ritual.
Last March, Mrs. Obama, her mother and the girls visited China. Earlier trips took the First Lady and daughters to Ireland, Germany and South Africa.
The likely aircraft that will be used in the upcoming trip is a C-32A, a specially configured military version of the Boeing 757-200 extended range aircraft, that usually provides transportation for the nation’s leaders.
(A typical 757-200 accommodates between 178 and 214 passengers.)
In the past, the Obama daughters were listed as “senior staff.”
Others on board, aside from regular staffers, have included Mrs. Obama's mother, Marian Robinson; niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson, along with the First Lady’s makeup and hair stylist.
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…
Tired of this reasoning from Wall Street? Stocks tumbled 278.94 to 17856.78 on Friday, with media again reporting --- as investors brace for higher interest rates…Poof! An older weather satellite --- technically known as Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13, DMSP-F13 --- used by the U.S. military, encountered some problems, causing it to lose altitude and disintegrate into 43 pieces…Time magazine marked its 92nd year on March 3…After Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a joint meeting of Congress, House Speaker John Boehner gifted the Israeli prime minister with a bust of Winston Churchill because Netanyahu and Churchill were the only foreign leaders who addressed Congress three times. Presentation of a Churchill bust may also carry a subtext --- President Obama’s return of a Churchill bust from the White House to the British Embassy shortly after he took office…The Wall Street Journal hired a “financial enforcement correspondent.” Sounds sinister. But Chris Roush, senior associate dean at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication explained it: “It is a person who covers federal government agencies that regulate businesses”…While the U.S. reduces its military ranks and equipment, China, home to the world's largest standing military, will increase its military budget by about 10 percent this year…A Columbia Journalism Review study found the current White House-press relationship is the least open in history…Contrasting headlines. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal March 5 (based on information from California research firm RealtyTrac): With rising foreclosures, it’s not looking good for Nevada homeowners. Meanwhile, from Las Vegas TV station KLAV, same day (with input from California real estate analytics company CoreLogic): Las Vegas foreclosure rate continues to fall.
Power of the press.
President Obama said he learned about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account only after "reading news reports."
In getting readers/viewers minds off glum news such as blizzards, terrorists and taxes, most media missed a heart-warming story of Sissy the miniature schnauzer which, amazingly, trotted 20 blocks of city streets at night from her Cedar Rapids, Iowa home in a successful effort to visit her hospitalized owner, notes Grumpy Editor.
How the dog did it, including walking through two automatic doors and along corridors at Mercy Medical Center, had the town talking.
Security cameras caught it all. Cedar Rapids TV station KCRG broke the story.
Nancy Franck, in the hospital after surgery, and her husband, Dale, were concerned when Sissy unexpectedly disappeared from home.
But later a surprised Mercy security officer “looked up and there was this dog that was just running across the lobby.”
The security guard used the dog’s tags to call Dale Franck at home. This led to information that the dog's owner was in the medical center.
Happy dog and surprised patient were reunited.
For more details, likely route and video of Sissy trotting through medical center’s automatic doors and along corridors, go here.
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…
Proposed White House regulation of the Internet “mimics ObamaCare” in process and substance, and would lead to “billions of dollars in new taxes,” warned Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission…U.S. Marines, departing Yemen last week,boarded contracted aircraft, not U.S. military planes…Yale University students concerned about global warming postponed a planned protest slated for the weekend because of “unfavorable weather conditions.” Translation: frigid, snowy weather…With China now one of the world’s top two economies, a U.S. State Department program provided most of $12.3 million in foreign aid for China last year with $6.8 million more slated this year…A proposed tax-hike surprise in a state noted for low taxes: In connection with the ignoring of a reelection campaign pledge by Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandovalto keep hands off more taxes, three Republican state senators, including the majority leader, in a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor on Feb. 12, defended Sandoval’s proposal to hike taxes to increase funding for education…Also involving Nevada: Under a $20.2 million contract, the Silver State went to far-off Ohio to select a firm to market Nevada to tourists…In another visit to the dentist, Boris, a 29-year-old polar bear at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash. underwent three-hours of surgery Friday to extract an abscessed tooth. Boris, one of the oldest polar bears in North America, in the past underwent multiple root canals…A Rasmussen Reports survey found that while 60 percent of Americans termed news reported by media as at least somewhat trustworthy (including seven percent who think it is very trustworthy) 38 percent did not trust the news media…Southern California Edison Co. expected to lay off hundreds of employees and hire less-costly foreign workers. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said the Edison layoffs are part of a growing trend of companies that use H-1B visas to bring in foreign workers for jobs that could be filled by Americans…In another case of a San Francisco TV news crew being attacked, a KTVU female reporter and a cameraman were assaulted by two masked men. Gear was taken just after a live report in Hayward. The news crew was shaken up but uninjured.
EARTH-SHAKING NEWS. Among the top dozen What’s News items on the front page of The Wall Street Journal on Feb. 11: “Jon Stewart will retire as host of ‘The Daily Show,’ Comedy Central said.”
Despite growing hostilities in the Middle East, aggressive actions elsewhere, continued post-superstorm Sandy struggles
plus the looming fiscal cliff at home, Washington is at a standstill this week
as key government leaders and Congress are away from their desks, observes Grumpy Editor.
President Barack Obama is in Myanmar (also known as
Burma) today, the second day into a four-day tour that started in Thailand
yesterday, with Cambodia slated for tomorrow.
Not widely broadcast in the first leg of his around-the-world flight, is that Air Force One headed east from Washington with a stop in Germany on Saturday.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, also in the Southeast Asia-Australia region, joined Obama in Thailand.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was traveling from Southeast Asia over the weekend, after a week-long trip that took him to Australia, Thailand and Cambodia.
The House and
Senate are on a Thanksgiving break this week.
The Senate, by
the way, met in a pro forma session Friday for a whopping 28 seconds and reconvenes at 2 p.m.
Nov. 26.
So who is "minding
the store."?
After being on the road yesterday touring superstorm Sandy-wrecked parts of New Jersey, Vice
President Joe Biden remains, quietly, in D.C. today.
His official
Website notes “no public schedule” this week.
But there may be some stirring at the vice president's residence tomorrow.
Media
who trail President Barack Obama, as he travels around on Air Force One, face multiple
time zone disorientation, sagging sleep and deadline disorder, reminds Grumpy Editor.
So they
have to be a pretty sturdy bunch.
Look at Wednesday's schedule.
After an overnight stay in Las
Vegas, with casino slot machines and table games distractions, foggy-eyed media
were up early for a morning campaign rally at a North Las Vegas high school.
There, in
a 26-minute speech on education, the president declared, “I’m standing here as
president because I had a bunch of great teachers. Teachers matter.
They’re on the front lines of our future.”
After media filed his remarks, it was back to Air Force One and across the country and
time zones to New York City for a basketball-flavored fundraising dinner.
The “Obama Classic,” as it was
labeled, cost $20,000 a person.
About 120 people, including basketball stars, attended the event ---
hosted by Michael Jordan --- at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.
"It is very rare that I come to an event where I'm like the fifth or sixth most interesting person," he joked, after an introduction by Jordan.
But the
best photo op of the day was shuttered to the press. The president later changed to gym clothes to shoot hoops.
Marooned passengers confined for an extraordinary time aboard a Spirit Airlines A319, after an emergency landing in Texas, should stir up the carrier’s public relations department, finds Grumpy Editor.
What was supposed to be a routine five-hour flight from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, late Saturday night wound up taking a blushing 19 hours to reach its destination.
The 100 passengers at times were subject to pressure cooker conditions after the aircraft’s pilot made an emergency landing at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport following actions by an unruly, disruptive and screaming 81-year-old blind passenger.
Passengers were kept on the Tarmac for two hours without air conditioning before being allowed into the terminal, reported ABC News.
The airline, it added, then told the grumbling passengers that they would be shuttled by bus five hours north to Dallas, because Spirit does not operate a flight between Houston and Fort Lauderdale, and did not have a fresh crew to take over the controls.
Hearing that, passengers became irate, yelling and screaming at airline staff.
"We went 'No! No Way!'” a passenger recounted for ABC News, adding “it took them 25 minutes afterwards to come back and tell us that they were going to have a plane for us."
Spirit Airlines eventually flew passengers in a different aircraft with that flight arriving in South Florida about 8 p.m. Sunday.
The unidentified disruptive passenger was turned over to the Houston Police Department.
The Miami-area-based low-cost carrier said it offered the wayward passengers refunds and credits for future flights.
Spirit’s public relations department, hopefully, was busy at work this week devising a plan to soothe passengers with prompt action in similar future events.
Anyone notice the workout Air Force One is getting these days in shuttling President Barack Obama around the U.S., asks Grumpy Editor.
Media in the entourage are having a difficult time figuring out what state they are in.
Last Friday the Boeing 747 flew the president to Minneapolis and Chicago for six fundraisers in one day.
On Monday the commander in chief appeared in New York.
Today, after two fundraisers in San Francisco, the 747 flies to Los Angeles in Obama’s second visit to L.A. in less than a month for an evening gay and lesbian community fundraiser in Beverly Hills.
Then tomorrow morning he heads for a breakfast in Los Angeles’ View Park neighborhood, called the “black Beverly Hills,” where more than 80 percent of residents are African-American and the median income is $85,000 a year.
Both of the Los Angeles area events are expected to cause “Obamajams,” a recently-coined word in the City of Angels for messed-up traffic, irritating motorists, triggered by presidential motorcades causing street closures and traffic delays.
Then the 747 is off to Las Vegas where Obama speaks mid-day tomorrow in an indoor arena at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
The UNLV appearance marks the president’s fourth visit to Nevada this year.
Cheers to two newsmen from The Sun, London, who used ingenuity in posing as businessmen to get a truer inside look at North Korea without being shadowed or escorted as journalists, notes Grumpy Editor.
The second part of the story --- by writer Alex Peake with photos by Simon Jones --- runs today in the British newspaper.
The pair entered from China, crossing the border into what they called “the crumbling town of Sinuiju” where Peake noted “many of the people here are starving.” Also, he added, “Nobody was smiling and most people were walking alone in a zombie-like state, staring at the floor.”
From there, a 200-mile, six-hour journey on a chugging 1940s-era train took them to Pyongyang.
In the capital city, their hotel room featured a TV set and “airtime on one channel filled with pro-regime propaganda including hours of footage of new leader Kim Jong-un watching military displays.”
They toured the town, saw statues, rode on the Pyongyang Metro, sampled a Big Mac-lookalike which Peake declared, “God only knows what the meat is, there was no way it was beef.”
Peake noted less than one percent of North Koreans own a car “so traffic jams are non-existent” and that most of Pyongyang “is plunged into darkness at 11 p.m.”
The Sun writer also observed blue vans with megaphones patroled streets in cities and countryside blaring the message: Work harder.
