Train, Bombers and Mermaids Daily Brief for Wednesday
Here’s The Things You’ll Want To See Hear and Know Today.
The Big Picture
A freight train slammed into a truck and derailed yesterday in Maryland. No one died, but the truck driver was badly hurt. After burning for awhile, the train exploded, and several witnessed caught it on their cell phones. Here’s a recording from some people who were watching the fire from a street nearby.
President Obama went to the Jersey Shore yesterday, to tour the reopened Point Pleasant boardwalk together with Governor Chris Christie. The governor just cut a five-and-a-half-mile ceremonial ribbon on Friday, to announce that the shore was open again for summer business. (Obama and Christie played a boardwalk game together, and Christie won a stuffed animal. Then he gave it to Obama.)
A report came out yesterday that Chinese hackers have been stealing U.S. military secrets, by targeting private defense contractors. President Obama is about to meet with the Chinese government to discuss it. (Plans for missile defense systems and fighter planes have been stolen. The Chinese already have a stealth fighter that looks just like our F-22.)
Sports Shorts
The Ithaca Bombers vaseball team saw it’s record-setting season end with a 13th inning loss to Southern Maine yesterday. The final was 5-4. The Bombers end the season with a school record 41 wins. This was the first time in the the championship weekend since 1994!
Showbizzy Newz
Rob Lowe is heading back to the White House for a new movie role. The former “West Wing” TV star has been tapped to play President John F. Kennedy in the upcoming National Geographic movie “Killing Kennedy,” based on the book by Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. National Geographic has also announced Ginnifer Goodwin to play First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
Mayim Bialik is officially a free agent in the relationship department. “The Big Bang Theory” actress has reportedly finalized her divorce from Michael Stone.
CNN and Buzzfeed are hooking up to create news mashups for young adults online. According to “The Wall Street Journal,” the new YouTube channel aims to become a news destination for the 18-to-34 demographic, using content from the cable news network and Buzzfeed’s own digital presence. CNN Buzzfeed is expected to use a “mashup” video format that includes topical photo and text posts ranging from humor to current events and pop culture. CNN says the new partnership “will enable both organizations to engage new audiences.”
Scholarly “Inside The Actors Studio” host James Lipton is sharing details about his pimp past. The 86-year-old told “Parade” magazine he once ran “a whole bordello” in Paris in the 1950s, adding that it was a great year of his life. Lipton says while he doesn’t believe in the sex trade, he defends his involvement after World War II. He says young women desperately needed money for various reasons and that in the male chauvinist Paris of the time, where women couldn’t get work at all, it was perfectly respectable for them to work in prostitution. Lipton says the trade was “completely regulated” and that bordellos were flourishing before the sheriff of Paris, a woman, closed them down.
Q Country Closeup
BILLY CURRINGTON’S hearing for making terrorist threats against a boat captain last month was supposed to go down yesterday, but it was postponed for 60 days. Both sides asked for a continuance and they got their wish.
Two more singers got voted off “The Voice” last night. Things were pretty tense among the judges. Shakira and Usher were both in danger of losing, with only one singer left for each of them. But Adam and Blake took the biggest shots at each other. (While Adam was talking about Blake’s team not taking enough chances, Blake cut in and said “Bullcrap,” but disguised it under a cough. Then Adam said that Blake’s coaching style was just to sit back and let singers do whatever they wanted.
Get the full recap here
Meanwhile… CASSADEE POPE is returning to “The Voice” next Tuesday to perform her song “Wasting All These Tears”. She was last season’s winner and a member of BLAKE SHELTON’S team.
Blake Shelton is hitting the small screen tonight to help his fellow Oklahomans. The Oklahoma-based country star is leading the lineup for “Healing in the Heartland,” a fundraiser inspired by last week’s devastating tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma. The hour-long NBC special will also feature Shelton’s wife Miranda Lambert and other stars with ties to the Sooner State, including Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Rascal Flatts, and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder. Other artists are stepping up as well. Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, and Usher are also on board for the benefit.
The sold-out “Healing in the Heartland” concert will be staged at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and air live on NBC, CMT, and E! at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. G4 will carry the first half hour of the show, while other outlets, including Style and Bravo, are set to rebroadcast the concert. Proceeds will go to the United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund.
The sold-out “Healing in the Heartland” concert will be staged at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and air live on NBC, CMT, and E! at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. G4 will carry the first half hour of the show, while other outlets, including Style and Bravo, are set to rebroadcast the concert. Proceeds will go to the United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund.
The Backside of the News
A couple in Pennsylvania just got arrested for driving their daughter around in a DOG CAGE in the back of their pickup. They said they didn’t see a problem with it, because the cage was strapped in. The girl actually wanted to ride back there, with her dog. And get this . . . the guy says he let her do it, because he didn’t want to be cruel TO THE DOG. (The parents’ names are Abbey Carlson and Thomas Fishinger. Their daughter is ten years old. They weren’t doing it to punish her or anything like that. Clearly they’re not cruel people . . . just really, really stupid.)
The U.S. is as politically divided as it’s been in modern history, and Congress has definitely followed that trend. So . . . what is Congress ACTUALLY able to accomplish?
According to a new report, they’re really good at NAMING POST OFFICES. Since 2009, they’ve managed to agree on names for 116 post offices. That accounts for about 20% of the laws they’ve actually been able to pass.
Randoms
Martha Stewart is about to go out on her first dates since she put up her Match.com profile, and she’s heading back to the “Today” show to report back on how they went.
On “Mermaids: The New Evidence,” Animal Planet revisited its documentary about the existence of mermaids from last year, “Mermaids: The Body Found.” Biologist Dr. Paul Robertson returned with what appeared to be brand new footage of the alleged mythical creatures, allegedly taken this spring in the Greenland Sea.
But the whole thing is a hoax — the original documentary was revealed to be staged.Discovery, Animal Planet’s parent company, described the program as “science fiction” based on “scientific theory.”
The executive producer of “Mermaids: The New Evidence” told the Mother Nature Network that he wanted people to think it was real — that’s why they made it look like a documentary.
There’s a new study out about how people are getting dumber and dumber over time. Apparently in the West people are about 14 IQ points LESS intelligent now than they were back in 1889. Ever seen the movie “Idiocracy”? That’s where we’re headed.
TorrentFreak.com is reporting that “more than 100,000 people” illegally downloaded the new“Arrested Development” episodes within the first 24 hours they were out. That’s a lot . . . but it’s only one-tenth of the number of people who pirated the season premiere of “Game of Thrones” last month.
If you want to know who VIN DIESEL will be facing in “Fast & Furious 7”, stick around until after the credits of “Fast & Furious 6”.
