Well, this is a new one. I've spent more than 20 years in the news biz, but it took until now to come up with a story about mummies. Yeah, I said mummies.
OK, well, maybe not mummies of the kind wrapped in gauze. But, last week, the bodies of two people were found in a home in Bradford County. In a news release from the state police, the remains were described as "mummified." Hence, mummies!
As you might imagine, the story has generated quite a bit of interest from the media. The weekly newspaper that covers that area updated its web site with "breaking news" and a headline reading "MUMMIFIED BODIES UNLEASH NEWS MEDIA BLITZ." TV stations from Scranton and Elmira, NY covered the story. My station received special mention in the article for sending a satellite truck. Eventually, ABC News picked up the story. Like I said, mummies!
The story, in a nutshell, is this. The mummified remains of two people were found in the home of a 91-year-old woman who lives near Wyalusing. According to court papers, they were discovered when workers from the Area Agency on Aging went to check on the elderly woman and she happened to mention that her late husband was wrapped up in a carpet in the garage and her late sister was also in the house. Those same court papers reveal that, to the agency workers, the elderly woman seemed quite sane except for, you know, the mummies!
Further investigation revealed that the elderly woman's husband died in 1999 and was buried near the home. It seems that, not long after he was buried, the woman enlisted help to have his body dug up and brought to the house. Similar events apparently occurred last year following the death of the woman's twin sister. She got buried, then quickly got dug up. As of this writing, police have not said why the elderly woman wanted her dead relatives brought to the house and no charges have been filed.
So far, it doesn't seem to be a case of Social Security fraud or anything of a similar criminal nature. It just seems that, for whatever reason, the woman wanted her dead relatives in her house and whoever helped her dig up the bodies went along and said OK.
My question is how did this woman get away with this for so long? Granted, her home is in a rural area of Bradford County. Pretty much ALL of Bradford County is rural, but it's not like there aren't any neighbors for miles. It sounds like there are neighbors who knew her, and there certainly seemed to be plenty of friends or relatives coming and going from the house once the bodies were found.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, it seems like there were more than a few people who knew about this - and no one said anything? What kind of spell did this elderly woman cast to make others think it's OK to dig up a body or two and keep them in your home? No one thought, hey, maybe I should tell the police or somebody about this? Everyone just went along? I get the feeling that the home with the mummies was pretty much the best-kept secret in town.
I can't wait for the rest of this story to come out.
Blog posts
After months of work, the INTERBRANCH COMMISSION ON JUVENILE JUSTICE did what commissions do: It issued a sternly-worded report with various and sundry recommendations that may or may not lead to any actual changes.
State lawmakers authorized the commission to look into what went wrong with the juvenile justice system in Luzerne County, which is now known around the world as the home of the so-called "kids for cash" scandal starring former judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella.
My station sent a reporter to Harrisburg yesterday when the Commission released its FINAL REPORT (you can read the news release HERE; it includes the word "Dickensian"). The main conclusions seem to be that a) most of the blame falls on Ciavarella; b) nobody did anything to stop him; and c) Pennsylvania's juvenile court system is pretty good, but Luzerne County has single-handedly ruined it for everyone else.
The report contains several RECOMMENDATIONS to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again, at least not in Pennsylvania. Many of the recommendations involve reviewing, revising or reinforcing procedures and systems that were already in place to, you know, prevent this kind of thing. But, in case the people in the juvenile court system don't know that it's wrong to (allegedly) send kids to detention centers in exchange for kickbacks, these recommendations, once enacted, should make it really, really clear.
I guess my overall feeling about the whole report is one of "That's it?" When I looked over the reporter's script yesterday, I felt that there should have been more. I can't say that more was available. None of the affected juveniles or their parents was at the news conference; neither was anyone from the JUVENILE LAW CENTER, which did a lot of work to expose what was happening. After months and months of coverage, it all just felt rather anticlimactic.
At least there's (as of now) Conahan's official guilty plea and (as of now) Ciavarella's trial to look forward to.
Thank goodness that's over! Pennsylvania Primary 2010 certainly turned into a busy one - lots of contested races, lots of candidates, and lots of national attention!
Of course, the race that got the most attention featured upstart Congressman Joe Sestak defeating Republican-turned-Democrat Senator Arlen Specter. Sestak will now face former GOP congressman Pat Toomey in the fall.
As a registered independent, I couldn't vote in this primary. But, I have to admit, I was secretly rooting for Specter. I suppose it dates back to 1984 or so, when I was in my first year of college and Specter was in his first term in the Senate. My RA gathered everyone on the floor and asked us to write letters to politicians asking them to support funding for higher education (student loans, I believe). My letter went to Specter. In return, I received a letter from him in which he promised to fight for whatever cause I had asked him to fight for. Undoubtedly, it was some kind of form letter, probably written by a staffer, but it came from his office and my 18-year-old self was impressed.
So, thanks for that, Arlen. Now it's time to spend more time with your family.
The Specter-Sestak race made planning election coverage challenging. About a week before Election Day, Specter's people announced that his gathering would be held at a hotel in center city Philadelphia. That means lots of tall buildings and very few parking spaces. Basically, it's a nightmare for any station (i.e. us and just about every other station in PA) planning to send a satellite truck. We sent one anyway, but ended up hooking up with a CNN truck for coverage after the polls closed. So, Specter's camp gave us more advance notice but promised more of a headache on Election Day.
Sestak's people were just the opposite. After peppering the station with emails and phone calls in the months and weeks leading up to the election, they were very last-minute about their plans for Election Day. I started making phone calls in the week before the election, and the best his people could tell me was that Sestak would be "somewhere in Delaware County." I left work on Friday still not having heard anything definite. They finally put out an email on Saturday (which I got Monday). They chose Valley Forge Military Academy which, despite the late notification, actually worked out pretty well in terms of accommodating a large satellite truck. So, Sestak's people gave us less advance notice but less of a headache on the big day. Hopefully, he'll go back there (or someplace similar) in November.
Outside of the US Senate race, the bulk of our coverage was spent on races for the PA Senate, where two long-time senators are retiring, and for the PA House (which also had several open and/or contested seats). The logistics here were challenging for several reasons: the unusual number of contested races for a primary; one race had six candidates; the general lack of polling data. So, deciding which races to cover and where to send crews was often an educated guess at best.
Generally, I think we did pretty well in getting crews where they needed to be, although it was certainly confusing at times behind the scenes. The only one I wasn't prepared for was in the 83rd PA House District, which takes in the Williamsport area. Democratic incumbent Rick Mirabito was unopposed. But, on the GOP side, former Williamsport mayor and former state rep Steve Cappelli, was making an effort to win back his old seat. His opponent was Dave Huffman, who lost to Mirabito in 2008, when Mirabito won the seat which Cappelli vacated to run for state senate (a race which he, Cappelli, lost in the primary). Follow?
Anyway, I hadn't seen any official polling, but I figured that Cappelli, with his name recognition, would not have much of a problem getting through to November. When I started calling around to find out where candidates were going to be, I had a tough time contacting Huffman directly and didn't pursue it very hard because there was a lot of other stuff going on and he probably wasn't going to win anyway, right? Wrong! As the results came in, Cappelli, had an early lead, but Huffman ended up winning by about 180 votes. I had some other contact numbers for Huffman from two years ago that I was able to give my reporter and we did manage to catch up with him. But, wow, what a surprise! Even the LOCAL NEWSPAPER and, apparently, the candidates themselves thought so.
What surprises will November bring? Will the third time be the charm for Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta to defeat Rep. Paul Kanjorski in the 11th Congressional District? Can former DA and former federal prosecutor Tom Marino recapture the 10th Congressional District for the Republicans or will voters send Democrat Chris Carney back to Washington for a third term? Can Sestak beat Toomey? It should be exciting.
The infamous sexting case in Wyoming County ended today not with - if you'll pardon the pun - a bang, but with a whimper.
A federal judge issued a permanent injunction that prevents prosecutors in Wyoming County from filing charges against one of the Tunkhannock area teens involved in the 2008 case. The judge made the ruling based largely on the fact that the current district attorney (who was not the one who initially threatened the charges) said he had no intention of prosecuting the teen. (The previous DA had already said he would not prosecute two other teens involved in the case) The DA made that statement earlier this year after a federal appeals court issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the filing of any charges.
THIS article regarding that temporary restraining order does a pretty good job of explaining the issue. The key factors are 1) the judge said prosecutors could not prove that the girls knowingly sent the pictures to others; and 2) the judge's opinion that forcing the teens to attend a class about the alleged dangers of sexting violated the civil rights of parents to raise their children as they wish.
The issue that the ruling does not address is whether sexting would be considered protected free speech under the First Amendment.
So, long story short, after 18 months and numerous court rulings, everyone's older, the lawyers have more money, and we're pretty much back where we started.
Remember my last entry where I bragged slightly about the Philadelphia Phillies' fine start to the season? Well, the gods of irony must have been listening because, fast forward a couple weeks, there's not much to brag about now.
21 games in, the Phils have a record of 12-9. That means they've gone 5-7 since I wrote about how well things were going. If I recall, the Philles lost the game they played the night I wrote the post. Tonight, they wrapped up a road trip with an improbable come-from-behind, extra-inning win against San Francisco. But, overall, the trip did not go very well. The team as a whole stopped hitting and even Roy Halladay suffered a loss.
The 12-9 record has the Phils in second place (a half game behind the hated Mets) and just one game ahead of the previously lowly Nationals. This is what happens when a team that relies on hitting stops hitting. Utley has been in a funk of late and Polanco has cooled off. But, they'll get it turned around and, hopefully, Rollins will be back soon.
Also expected back soon is closer Brad Lidge. The question is, will he be the Brad Lidge from 2008 or the one from 2009? If he's gonna be the one from 2009, the Phillies are gonna need another closer because Madson has shown that he's not up to the challenge.
Say what you want about the Phillies. They sure make things interesting.
I know it's early, but so far, so good for the Phightin' Phils. At 7-2, the team is off to its best start since 1993, when they went to the World Series. OK, so most of those 7 wins have come against the lowly Nationals (and the Phils let one slip away today) but, generally, it looks like this team will be able to hit its way to an NL East title at the very least.
The fact that they can hit (as they did last season) is a good sign because the pitching is slightly uncertain (as it was last season). So far, Roy Halladay is as advertised. He's gone deep into his two starts and given up few runs. The rest of the rotation, not so much. Cole Hamels seems to have picked up where he left off last year - throwing a lot of pitches early and giving up more runs than he should. He's won both of his starts so far, but that's only because, as I mentioned, this team can hit.
Kyle Kendrick and JA Happ have each had one good start and one not so good. Jamie Moyer's lone start went well for about four innings, bad for one, then OK for another inning or two. Again, with the exception of Halladay's starts, the bullpen has been worked hard in this early going and both losses have been tagged on relievers. The starters have to find a way to go deeper into games so the bullpen doesn't get burned out and the hitters don't stress themselves into a slump.
This week, the federal government handed down its latest ruling on Pennsylvania's efforts to turn Interstate 80 into a toll road. To the surprise of pretty much no one - except maybe the governor and certain lawmakers - the feds said no. Again. They said no to the initial proposal, and now the revised proposal has also been rejected.
The feds' main rationale seems to be that putting tolls on I-80, at least in the way Pennsylvania wants to do it, would violate federal rules because the money from the tolls would be used to maintain roads around the state, not just I-80.
Most of the congressmen from NE and central PA (not sure about Holden, as I-80 doesn't go through his district) opposed tolls on 80. So did a good many of the state lawmakers. But, Rep. John Siptroth (D-189), who represents a section of the Poconos, issued THIS news release which contains dire warnings that the loss of toll revenue will jeopardize several projects and will likely necessitate increases in certain taxes and fees. Duh.
So, what's next? So far, I haven't heard any talk of putting together a third proposal in an effort to get the government to reconsider. Instead, the plan now seems to be calling a "special session" of the state legislature in order to come up with ways of filling a budget gap that was initially filled with fantasy money. As Siptroth pointed out in his news release, options are likely to include increases in the gas tax and in license and registration fees. I also imagine that Turnpike tolls will be increased faster than the current 3% annual rate. The idea of leasing the Turnpike could also end up back on the table.
So, here are my general thoughts. First of all, this whole thing just points up the overall irresponsibility of our state leaders. It's one thing to budget for money, such as tax revenue, that you can reasonably expect to have. It's quite another to budget for money that, by all indications, you have no chance in hell of ever getting. All the past couple years have done is kick the can down the road and delay increases in taxes and fees - which were probably going to happen whether there were tolls on 80 or not, but now they'll probably be more "shocking" because the increases will likely happen all at once rather than over a period of time.
Secondly, I'm slightly alarmed by some of the comments people made to OUR REPORTERS when asked about the rejection of tolls on 80. As expected, drivers who use the highway were pleased that they wouldn't have to pay tolls. They said the tolls would be a "hardship" and that the state could find "some other way." Well, what exactly do they think that other way is going to be? Will the state finally find a way to make money magically appear? No! One way or another, you and I are going to end up paying. We won't pay by stopping at a toll booth. Instead, we'll pay every time we fill up, every time we renew our driver's license, every time we ride the bus. Will paying in those other ways be any less of a hardship than tolls might have been?
Oh, we're going to pay, alright. It's just a question of how and how much.
Talk about an Easter surprise! The Philadelphia Eagles just traded long-time quarterback Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins. ESPN has the story HERE.
The rumors that McNabb would be traded have been swirling for a few months now, but I didn't start believing them until a couple weeks ago when Andy Reid admitted that the Eagles were entertaining offers for all three QBs - McNabb, Kolb and Vick. With the trade, it looks like Kolb moves into the starting slot and, you have to think, the Eagles will either use Vick as the backup or trade him for a proven #2.
On the face of it, I hate to see McNabb go, especially to an NFC East rival like the Redskins. He's a talented guy and I think he still has some good football left in him.
However, he's 33 now. Although that's not terribly old by modern QB standards, McNabb isn't likely to pull a Brett Farve and play into his late 30s. He's been banged up a lot over the past few seasons and his legs certainly aren't what they used to be. For his sake, I hope the Redskins O-line affords decent protection.
McNabb's age also worked against him in terms of the Eagles general trend toward youthfulness. The Eagles have a habit of trading aging fan favorites, i.e. Brian Dawkins, while they can still get something for them. From what I've seen, these players (the ones the Eaagles traded), while doing OK, generally have not had the same impact with their new team(s) as they had with the Eagles. In short, by the time the Eagles trade them, their best years are behind them.
The other thing that made McNabb expendable was the emergence of Kevin Kolb. The guy finally got some decent playing time last season (filling in for an injured McNabb), and he did all right. Surround him with talented players (which, I think, the Eagles have), give him more reps, and I think he'll do well.
At least, I hope so. We'll find out this summer.
So, I went to see "Hamlet" at the Alvina Krause Theatre in Bloomsburg. The production was a combined effort by the BLOOMSBURG THEATRE ENSEMBLE and the BU Players from Bloomsburg University. When I ordered my ticket online last week, not many seats had been filled. By the time of this afternoon's performance, not many seats were empty. Nice to see.
I have some thoughts on what, overall, was a rousing production. But, first I must correct one aspect of my previous entry. I wrote that I had never seen "Hamlet" performed on stage. Not true. I'm not sure why I didn't recall this, but I saw "Hamlet" in 1993 at Juniata College. That was five years after graduation, so I'm not sure why I went back to campus - whether it was just to see the play, or whether there was some other event and I stuck around.
In any case, I can't say that I remember much about the production. I do remember, however, that there were only four actors to play all the roles. In particular, I remember that one actor played both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. When he was speaking as Rosencrantz, he held up one hand; when he was Guildenstern, he held up the other.
As such, it's probably a good thing that I reread the play before seeing today's performance. Reading it again made me realize that I forgot a lot more than I remembered. I think that what really came through in this reading is how frequently the play mentions ears and listening and the poisoning effects words can have. This aspect is borne out literally in the poisoning of King Hamlet by Claudius spilling poison in his ear. But, we see it as Claudius speaks lies to Gertrude and Laertes, and there are many references to wind and whispers being spread far and wide.
For example, in Act I, Scene i, Horatio explains that Denmark seems to be preparing for war and says, "At least the whisper goes so."
In Act II, Scene i, Polonius speaks to Reynoldo, who he is about to send in search of Laertes to find out how he's doing. Polonius instructs Reynoldo on how to make his inquiries:
"...and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
as may dishonour him;..."
Polonius later continues:
"You laying these light sullies on my son,
As 'twere a thing of little soil'd wi' th' working,"
Interestingly, I didn't really pick up on this theme during the BTE production. I think some of the passages may have been cut out to limit the running time of the play (which still encompassed about 2.5 hours plus an introduction and intermission). On a larger scale, this particular production focussed more on Hamlet himself. It really brought out his awareness of the separation of body and soul.
My other takeaway from the production concerns Hamlet's ability (or inability) to act. My thinking now is not so much that Hamlet couldn't act or was indecisive, but rather that his actions are primarily reactions. He sees the ghost of his father and reacts by pretending to be mad. This action leads to reactions by Claudius, Polonius, Ophelia, et. al, and their reactions lead to further reactions that ultimately lead to the deaths of almost all involved.
I also have a sense - and I'm not sure if it's valid - that what sets Hamlet apart is that his actions/reactions are less calculated and more impulsive, if only slightly, than the actions/reactions of others. It's not that he doesn't know what he's doing and doesn't realize that his actions will have consequences. Obviously, as in the case of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he knows they will. What I'm trying to get at is that while the other characters try to control things to the point of micromanaging, Hamlet ultimately casts his fate to the wind. In Act V, Scene ii he says the following when Horatio warns him against dueling with Laertes:
"..we defy augury: there is a
special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it
be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it
will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come -
the readiness is all. Since no man owes of aught
he leaves, what is't to leave betimes? Let be."
So, to finally answer the question that has nagged me for more than 20 years: Did Hamlet have to die? I'll say yes, because that is his fate. It is the fate for us all. We just have to be ready for it when the time comes.
Nothing like a little Shakespeare to get the analytical thoughts flowing.
I haven't been close to the Bard since 2008, when I saw a very decent production of TWELFTH NIGHT at Luzerne County Community College.
This weekend, I plan to take in a production of "Hamlet" by the fine folks at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. I saw "Macbeth" there several years ago, and they did a nice job. I anticipate good things this time around as well.
I have never seen "Hamlet" performed on stage. I recall seeing - and liking - Mel Gibson's movie version, but that's as far as it's gone. I've read "Hamlet" several times, however, and the prospect of seeing the play has me thinking about what I took away from those readings. Mostly, what I took away was an overwhelming sense of indecision. Indecision on my part and also on the part of Hamlet.
To backtrack slightly, I studied "Hamlet" almost 25 years ago when I took a Shakespeare class during my junior year abroad at the University of Leeds. I ended up reading the play several times as I studied for the final exam. The exam consisted of several essay questions and you could pick three of them to answer. Obviously, they weren't going to give you the questions in advance. So, the revision process consisted of looking at questions from previous final exams to get an idea of what types of questions might appear this time around.
One of the practice questions I pored over involved "Hamlet." At issue, did Hamlet have to die? Of course, he does die at the end of the play, killed by Laertes during a duel. But, is that how it had to end for the fair prince of Denmark? Could he have lived? Or, was there something in his nature that made Hamlet's death the inevitable end?
So, I read the play and decided that, yes, Hamlet had to die. But, was that the right answer? I read the play again and decided that, no, maybe he didn't have to die. I think I even read it a third time and decided that, yes, Hamlet really, truly, had to die. And, I think the reason I thought he had to die is because of what I perceived as his tragic flaw - his inability to make a decision. He could not act.
(As an aside, nothing remotely similar to this question appeared on the actual final exam. Now THAT'S a tragedy!)
At any rate, as I prepare to see BTE's performance of "Hamlet," I've been thinking about the play all over again. I've even started to read it again, but have only managed the first few scenes so far.
Will the BTE performance bear out my earlier analysis? Or, will I find something that makes me rethink my conclusions? If the production is any good, the answer in both cases will be yes.
I guess a snow-freee winter was too much to ask for. Sure, December and January were cold but, here in NEPA, we managed to escape the waves of snow that kept blanketing much of the mid-Atlantic.
All that changed in February. The southern and western parts of the area have been hit twice in the past week or so, NEPA got hit one of those times, and now it appears as though a third storm is headed our way Monday night and Tuesday. I am planning my strategy. My plan for dealing with last week's storm worked out well. A similar plan may be called for this time around.
So, other than that, not much has been going on. Soon after the New Year, I began redesigning the main Web site, putting to use what I learned at LCCC. It's pretty much done now, although I do have to update the Politics portion. I'll do that in a few weeks, once the roster of candidates gets kind of settled.
In the meantime, I'm ready for baseball! Spring training starts this week. Go Phillies!
In the previous entry, I mentioned that the AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY would soon choose the 2009 Word of the Year. And, so it has - along with the Word of the Decade and a host of other words deemed useful, outrageous and unlikely to succeed.
This weekend, the members of the Society gathered in Baltimore where the fateful votes were cast. You can read the entire news release HERE, but I'll give you the highlights:
- Word of the Year: tweet
- Word of the Decade: google
- Most useful: fail! (used to indicate something that is egregiously unsuccessful)
- Most creative: Dracula sneeze (sneezing into the crook of your arm)
- Most unnecessary: sea kittens (a PETA term for fish)
- Most outrageous: death panel
- Most euphamistic: hike the Appalachian trail (think South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford)
- Most likely to succeed: twenty-ten
- Least likely to succeed: Naughties (or any similar term used to describe the first decade of the 21st century)
If you read the news release, not only can you learn more about the winning words, but you can also check out the words and phrases that were runners-up in each category. For example, crotch bomber, which made it into the "most outrageous" category.
The news release also recaps winning words from the past 20 years. It's interesting to look back at this history of the language because it accurately reflects the social and political trends of the time.
Can you feel the anticipation? In just a couple short weeks from now, the AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY will reveal its choice for the 2009 Word of the Year (WOTY). Early nominations include the likes of sexting, birther and Octomom. As always, I will let you know the winning word when it is chosen.
I know what word I would choose. It's not some newfangled compound or trendy catch phrase. No, it's an old-fashioned word that we've come to appreciate in a whole new way: Corruption. As a resident of Pennsylvania in general - and NEPA in particular - I can think of no other word that is more representative of the events of the past year.
Just how pervasive has the word "corruption" been? Well, let's start with the obvious. A phrase that seems to pop up in almost every local newscast these days is "the on-going corruption scandal in Luzerne County." So far, 23 people have been charged by the Feds. That tally includes, among others, two judges, one county commissioner and assorted school board members.
Of course, you know that the number of indictments won't stop at 23. Fortunately, the US Attorney's office has created a special Web page to help us keep track. You can check it out HERE. Greg Skrepenak's name hasn't been added yet, but you can bet it's coming soon. How many other names will be added remains to be seen but, from what I'm hearing, a safe guess is "lots."
The Feds are now feeling their way into neighboring Schuylkill County. Two young men face Federal hate crimes charges in connection with the beating death of a Mexican immigrant. The police chief and two officers stand accused of obstructing the investigation into that beating death. And, the chief and a fourth officer face Federal charges for allegedly shaking down illegal gambling operations. Published reports say the Feds have set up a tipline for people in Schuylkill County to call with information about other possible corruption. They did the same thing in Luzerne County, and we've seen where that's led. Will an "on-going corruption scandal in Schuylkill County" be next? Time will tell.
At the state level, we have the Pennsylvania attorney general's on-going corruption investigation known as "Bonusgate." The AG got indictments against a bunch of Democrats. Then, some Republicans got indicted. Now, a few more Democrats. They're all accused of basically using taxpayer money to fund political campaigns. According to prosecutors, they went about this alleged wrongdoing in different ways but always working toward the goal of political gain. I'm not sure what the total number of indictments is here. Around 25, I think. But, that number could increase any day now. As I said, the investigation is on-going.
The whole situation reminds me of a time a few years ago when the corporate types required us lowly employees to take - and pass - an ethics test. It was ten questions, I think, which could be answered correctly by applying what a co-worker broke down into three basic principles:
- Don't take anything from anybody;
- Don't give anything to anybody;
- If you see anybody doing either of those things, tell somebody.
Maybe they don't exactly qualify as rules to live by, but they seem like pretty good tips for avoiding a corruption scandal, on-going or otherwise.
With only two weeks left in the year, everyone at work is in full holiday mode. That means lots of people on vacation, and the people who are at work really need time to sample all the goodies brought in by people from other departments. Basically, when the newsroom is in holiday mode, the actual news is supposed to be in holiday mode, too.
Not so this week. Monday, as I recall was pretty quiet. But, Tuesday, Wednesday and today have been intense. We've had several big stories, any of which could have led a newscast had not another big story come along to trump it.
Tuesday morning brought the arrests of two young men and four Shenandoah police officers on Federal charges. The young men are accused of hate crimes in connection with the July 2008 beating death of a Mexican immigrant. The young men are almost finished serving the time they got after being convicted of lesser charges at the county level. But, the Federal charges carry potential life sentences, so I'm guessing the guys won't be released on probation any time soon.
Three of the police officers, including the chief, are accused of obstructing the investigation into the death. The fourth officer, along with the chief, is accused of extorting money from illegal gambling operations (video poker) in the borough.
Tuesday's arrests in Shenadoah required coverage in the borough and also in Wilkes-Barre, where the police officers were arraigned in Federal court. In all, three reporters worked the story on Tuesday. That topped the one reporter we assigned to the recall of 800,000 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine by the manufacturer which is based - where else? - in the Poconos. It also topped the arrest of a powerful state lawmaker, his aide, and a former lawmaker/current Revenue Secretary in the so-called "Bonusgate" scandal. We sent a reporter to Harrisburg to cover that story.
Wednesday brought more developments as we sent two more reporters to Shenandoah for follow-ups and a third reporter to Federal court, where the four police officers (who were held in jail overnight) appeared for bail hearings. The timing of the hearings added extra pressure as they ended pretty much as our 5 pm news began.
Once again, the Shenandoah story trumped a story that could have led a newscast on any other day - a hearing for a man accused of trying to make off with millions of dollars worth of artwork done by his famous father. The museum is in the Poconos, and the fact that the son used a backhoe to break into the gallery last week adds extra spice to the story. At the hearing, the son talked on camera to our reporter and claimed to have notarized evidence that his father gave him permission to get the artwork "by any means possible." We also had two guilty pleas by suspects in the on-going corruption scandal in Luzerne County. Their guilty pleas happened in late morning. A reporter covered the pleas live at noon but, by the evening newscasts, each plea only rated a 20 second vo.
Had enough? I had. But then Thursday rolled around and so did more big stories. We sent a reporter back to Shenandoah, where he learned that the chief and three officers (more than half of the borough's seven-member force) had been suspended without pay. But, the really big news came out of Luzerne County where a commissioner long-suspected of being caught up in the corruption scandal resigned. It's also where money may be missing from a county office, and where county officials abruptly took down the manger/menorah display at the courthouse after threats of a lawsuit from the ACLU. You know things are bad in Luzerne County when even the baby Jesus gets the boot.
So, we had one reporter on the manger story, which broke in the morning. Word of the commissioner's resignation started surfacing in the early afternoon and ultimately required coverage by three reporters to handle the various and late-breaking aspects of the story.
What will Friday bring? I'm not sure if we'll be in Shenandoah yet again, but I'm sure we'll be able to find a couple, two, tree follow-ups in Luzerne County. And central PA's been awfully quiet. Maybe too quiet. We'll see.
So, I went to the movies this afternoon. It doesn't matter what movie I saw because it's not really relevant to the story. What does matter is that there were, I think, seven other people in the theater with me. What also matters is that, because there were only a few people in the theater, there were many, many empty seats in many, many empty rows.
The few people who were in the theater arrived in the following approximate order: me, two guys, a woman, a young couple, and a woman with an older man.
I staked out my seat in the center of the second row from the back so there were proabably seven or eight seats on either side of me. When the two guys came in, they sat just left of center about four or five rows in front of me. The woman went all the way to the back row and sat a few seats to my right. The young couple sat in the row in front of me, a couple seats to my left. Then the movie started.
The woman and older man showed up about five minutes into the movie. Now, where do you think they chose to sit? That's right. They decided to sit in my aisle. Not only that, but they decided against sitting in one of the seven or eight empty seats to my right. Instead, they decided to sit to my left, which meant that I had to change my position to let them pass in front of me. And then, they left only one seat between me and the old guy, who turned out to be a loud breather, so I had to listen to him essentially snore his way through the rest of the movie.
I suppose I should be glad he didn't have popcorn. That could have been a deal-breaker.
My stress level is a lot lower today due to the fact that (thankfully) Election Day is over and (sadly) so is the World Series.
Tuesday's elections - in my view, anyway - did not yield may surprises. Luzerne County voters said no to another term for Judge Peter Paul Olszewski but gave Judge Thomas Burke ten more years on the bench. That's about the way I thought it would go. Olszewski couldn't overcome the implied guilt by association to the on-going corruption scandal. Burke's name, to my knowledge, has never been mentioned in connection with the scandal, so I figured he'd be safe. The PPO vote, I thought, could have gone either way, but I figured it was more likely to go "no" than "yes."
As for the open seats on the LuzCo bench, you had to figure that William Amesbury would win one of them. He was on both the Democrat and Republican tickets. The fact that the judicial age limit will prevent him from seeking retention may have also played in his favor. The other seat went to Tina Gartley, who beat out the Republican Richard Hughes. Again, that's pretty much the way I thought it would go. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Luzerne County, so Gartley had the edge there. And, I think there may have been a movement among the voters to choose a woman if for no other reason than to break up the old boys' network that brought us all the corruption.
A couple things did stand out, however. One is the loss by long-time Wyoming County DA George Skumanick. He squeaked out a victory in the primary, but lost Tuesday to Democrat Jeff Mitchell. My station talked to Mitchell yesterday and even he seemed a little surprised by the whole thing. As to why Skumanick lost, I can think of two possible reasons. One is his pursuit of charges in the cell phone sexting case that surfaced in the Tunkhannock Area School District back in the spring. Some voters may have felt Skumanick was overzealous in his handling of the case, especially in his threat to file charges against the kids.
The other thing Skumanick may have had going against him was the fact that he has been DA in Wyoming County for 20 years. I didn't realize it until I started preparing my notes, but he's wrapping up his fifth term as DA. That's a long time in DA terms. Maybe voters just felt it was time for a change.
The other thing that stood out was that a good number of incumbents seemed to lose. I'm not talking about row offices, but rather about mayors and council people. I didn't take any official count, but as I was entering vote totals, it appeared that many incumbents in communities all over the area came out on the short end.
Also coming out on the short end were my Philadelphia Phillies. They lost the World Series in six games to the New York Yankees. I can't say that the Phillies deserved to win. If you don't hit and you don't pitch, you don't win. In this series, the Yankees were the better team. They hit when the Phillies didn't; they pitched when the Phillies didn't. Now, if you play a second series next week, the results might be different. But, for this week, in this World Series, the Yankees were better.
My general take on it is that it's something of a miracle that the Phillies got back to the World Series in the first place. They ran hot and cold all season rather than playing consistently good baseball, and the pitching was always shakey. Fortunately, the Phillies got "good" Cliff Lee for two games in the series, otherwise it might have been over in four instead of six. In terms of hitting, Ryan Howard picked a bad time to go on a strikeout streak, and Rollins and Victorino weren't much help. When Carlos Ruiz is the second most dependable hitter in the lineup, you're in trouble.
101 days and counting until spring training 2010.
Halloween is almost here and that means the end of one Death Pool season and the start of another.
This past season was pretty good for me, Lady Macbeth. Three people on my list are no longer eligible to be on my list - Mark "Deep Throat" Felt, Ted Kennedy and Patrick Swayze. By no means will I win the pool, but to have three scores is pretty good for me. Usually, I have one or none.
Anyway, now that it seems I'm on something of a roll, the people on the new list (which includes a lot of holdovers from the previous list) better watch out.
20. Billy Graham
19. Nancy Reagan
18. Betty Ford
17. Kirk Douglas
16. Fidel Castro
15. Ariel Sharon
14. Kim Jong Il
13. Jerry Lewis
12. Louis Farrakhan
11. Stephen Hawking
10. George H.W. Bush
9. Ernest Borgnine
8. Olivia De Havilland
7. Eli Wallach
6. Abe Vigoda
5. Mickey Rooney
4. Robert Byrd
3. Phyllis Diller
2. John Wooden
1. Rod Blagojevich
First of all, it sounds like winter is getting an early start. The forecast for today and tomorrow calls for snow, especially in the higher elevations. Could be three inches or so there. Most places won't see that much, and what does fall from the sky will probably be rain. Still, the mention of the word "snow" on October 15 is not comforting.
Secondly, hearing one song a couple of times reminded me of another song that I like very much. The first song is "BLUE SKIES" by Noah and the Whale, the same group that brought us "FIVE YEARS TIME." Embedding on both songs is disabled, so you'll have to click the links if you want to listen.
The second song is "Got You Where I Want You" by The Flys. I think it's the bass lines that tie them together. They're not exactly the same, but similar enough.
... that maybe I had given up on this blog thing comes a sign that, no, I have not.
For me, the sign came this morning in the form of an AP article stating that Pennsylvania is planning another run at putting tolls on Interstate 80.
If you recall, the idea first surfaced a couple years ago during budget negotiations (which did NOT drag on for 101 days, BTW). The big picture involved generating billions in revenue by a) leasing the Turnpike to a private company and/or b) allowing the Turnpike Commission to turn Interstate 80 into a toll road.
So far, neither scenario has come to pass. A Spanish-led consortium tried to lease the turnpike, but lawmakers didn't think they were offering enough money. And, the feds put the kibosh on the I-80 plan.
Now, according to this latest AP article, the Turnpike Commission plans to present the feds with new evidence that tolling 80 should be allowed. I don't know what that new evidence is, but I suppose we'll find out shortly.
At any rate, I'll believe there will be tolls on I-80 when I see construction start on the toll booths.
Today seems to be a day for tying up loose ends. I've finished the ironing that I didn't get to over the weekend, made an appointment with the bank, and made the bed. So, while I'm at it, I might as well update the ol' blog seeing as how I haven't posted anything here for almost a month. It's not like I haven't thought about it, because I have. But, I just never got around to putting fingers to keyboard until now.
So, what have you missed? Not much, really. The Phillies are still on track to make the playoffs, though I wonder how far the pitching staff will be able to take them with these injuries popping up all over the place. I also have concerns about the hitting. The Phils tend to run hot and cold, and if they're cold when the playoffs roll around, forget it, especially if the pitchers aren't healthy.
Pennsylvania still doesn't have a budget, but at least there's an agreement in place now. So, there could be an actual budget by late this week or early next week. That will put the budget somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 days late. Can you imagine a scenario in which YOU were 90 days late with something? How well do you think that would go over? I'm just sayin'.
I went to my high school reunion over the weekend. After 25 years, the Class of '84 still looks good.
I spent the rest of the weekend at Penn State catching up with a good friend and molding young minds. I also briefly met the husband of an acquaintance from college and had a quick chat with a former news director who once considered me for a job. It's a small world and a smaller business.
- January 2015 (3)
- March 2014 (2)
- February 2014 (1)
- January 2014 (1)
- November 2013 (2)
- August 2013 (1)
- July 2013 (4)
- February 2013 (1)
- January 2013 (1)
- December 2012 (1)
- November 2012 (2)
- October 2012 (2)
- September 2012 (2)
- July 2012 (1)
- June 2012 (3)
- May 2012 (1)
- April 2012 (2)
- March 2012 (1)
- January 2012 (1)
- December 2011 (2)
- November 2011 (2)
- October 2011 (1)
- September 2011 (3)
- August 2011 (1)
- June 2011 (1)
- May 2011 (2)
- April 2011 (1)
- March 2011 (1)
- February 2011 (2)
- January 2011 (2)
- December 2010 (1)
- November 2010 (1)
- October 2010 (2)
- September 2010 (1)
- August 2010 (2)
- July 2010 (3)
- June 2010 (1)
- May 2010 (2)
- April 2010 (5)
- March 2010 (2)
- February 2010 (1)
- January 2010 (1)
- December 2009 (2)
- November 2009 (2)
- October 2009 (3)
- September 2009 (1)
- August 2009 (3)
- July 2009 (2)
- June 2009 (2)
- May 2009 (3)
- April 2009 (2)
- March 2009 (6)
- February 2009 (10)
- January 2009 (13)
- December 2008 (15)
- November 2008 (11)
- October 2008 (16)
- September 2008 (11)
- August 2008 (16)
- July 2008 (16)
- June 2008 (16)
- May 2008 (17)
- April 2008 (13)
- March 2008 (21)
- February 2008 (15)
- January 2008 (15)
- December 2007 (11)
- November 2007 (8)
- October 2007 (10)
- September 2007 (9)
- August 2007 (11)
- July 2007 (11)
- June 2007 (9)
- May 2007 (11)
- April 2007 (5)
- March 2007 (9)
- February 2007 (9)
- January 2007 (8)
- December 2006 (12)
- November 2006 (8)
- October 2006 (5)
- September 2006 (9)
- August 2006 (19)
- July 2006 (15)
- June 2006 (14)
- May 2006 (14)
- April 2006 (6)
- March 2006 (6)
- February 2006 (7)
- January 2006 (9)
- December 2005 (8)
- November 2005 (2)
- October 2005 (4)
- September 2005 (4)
- August 2005 (3)
- July 2005 (4)
- June 2005 (5)
- May 2005 (3)
- April 2005 (2)
- March 2005 (5)
- February 2005 (6)
- January 2005 (4)
- December 2004 (1)
- November 2004 (3)