Mourning Lady Bird

Late word today of the death of former First Lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, at age 94. "Lady Bird" was an appropriate nickname for her, given her love of the environment. In recent years, the release of tapes LBJ and she made in the White House confirmed how much she advised her husband on various issues. Here is the Associated Press obituary link:



*Chicago reporter in swimsuit fired

*More ethics trouble in Chicago
Amy Jacobson was fired from WMAQ-Channel 5 in Chicago
after showing up in a swimsuit at the backyard pool of
the estranged husband of a woman who disappeared. If
this was an effort to get more information from a
source, it seriously backfired, as a Chicago Tribune
article says today:




Her bosses made the right decision. There are varying degrees of closeness between reporters and sources; this was way too close.

*Hollywood includes television, too
A Washington Post article by Ann Hornaday mentions the
film industry’s slow toe-dipping into movies about the
civil rights movement. It is too slow, but “Hollywood”
doesn’t just include film; it also features
television, and TV was tackling the civil rights
movement when all television sets were still black and
white and reached its peak during the 1970s, with a
number of weekly series, movies and miniseries. The
bad news is that there hasn’t been much on television
since then.


*Marlins should keep it local
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig says he’s still
hopeful of getting financing for a new stadium for the
Florida Marlins. Major League Baseball should give up
on the Florida Legislature as a potential source for
funding, though. The Marlins’ annual trek to
Tallahassee has come to resemble Charlie Brown’s
efforts to kick the football Lucy pulls away from him.
In a community of 6 million people (South Florida),
there have to be civic and business leaders with the
minds, hearts and wallets to pull a new stadium
project together.