In the headlines

Most days (time permitting) I jot down some of the headlines that catch my eye and share them with my Facebook friends in a status update.  So I'm going to start posting those here as well.   Here is today's edition.

In the headlines, Pope Francis held his first mass as the leader of the church on Sunday, drawing a gigantic crowd to St. Peter’s Square.  He shook hands with worshippers after the service.

The two teens charged with raping another teen in Stuebenville, OH were found “guilty” by the judge.  There may be more individuals charged in the case.

House Speaker John Boehner appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and said there is no “immediate debt crisis”.  Apparently while he was obtaining his degree in Business Administration he didn’t take much math or economics.

Aleksandra Dublia of Belarus was running her first marathon in Los Angeles on Sunday.  It was a terrific debut as she won the women’s race, won the gender challenge (women get an 18 minute, 35 second head-start over men in the challenge) and set a new national record for Belarus.  Oh, she also pocketed $75,000.

A runner died on Sunday after running in the Barcelona Marathon.  Another died after running a half-marathon in Israel.  Sad news.

Ruth Ann Steinhagen died in obscurity this past December at the age of 83, in Chicago.  She was the woman whose real-life attempt to murder a baseball player in 1949 inspired Bernard Malamud’s amazing novel “The Natural”.

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Mike Cisco was traded to the Anaheim Angels (we don’t call them that other name here) for…nothing.  The Phillies chose to deal the 25 year old for no compensation.

Simon Cowell has married his ideal woman.  Himself.  In a hysterical video clip he donned a wedding dress and the rest is available for you to laugh at on the web.

Bonuses to Congressional staffers as the fiscal cliff approached?  Yes, that’s what happened.  Buried deep in thousands of pages of expense reports are payments showing nearly a quarter of staffers working for members of Congress got bonuses of some type.

CBS New York is reporting that Jewish residents of Brooklyn are upset at plans to film “The Amazing Spider-Man” sequel in their area during Passover.  But did someone from the local “Community Board” really write the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment asking that they not issue a permit during the “…High Holy Days”?  After all, that’s a term that refers only to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, not Passover.

A same-sex couple living in Arizona, who were legally married in California, are in a quandary.  One member of the couple needed surgery and his husband applied for time-off to care for him under the Family Medical Leave Act.  His request was denied as AZ doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages.