Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Tornado aftermath and L.A. mayoral election lead the Tuesday headlines

The death toll is still listed as 24, including seven children and the number of injured now stands at 120, but both figures may go up; as the effort to search for victims and begin recovery operations goes on in the Oklahoma City area.  The tornado is now being classified as an EF-5, the highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

The polls showed that Eric Garcetti was ahead as voters went to the polls today in the L.A. mayoral race but in Los Angeles politics anything is possible.  A potentially record low voter turnout means either he or his opponent Wendy Gruel will become the next mayoral first.  Either the first Jewish mayor or the first female mayor will take office when the incumbent's term expires.

Melissa McCarthy is on location in North Carolina filming a movie she co-wrote with her husband and she's making news.  She fired an extra after reportedly seeing the woman mistreat a child on set.  The season finale of her show "Mike and Molly" was pulled by CBS last night because the storyline involved a tornado.  It may air later.

The L.A. Clippers and head coach Vinny Del Negro have parted ways in typical Donald Sterling fashion.  The long-time owner of the Clippers waited nearly a month after the team's season ended with their first-round exit from the playoffs to let Del Negro know he would not be returning next season.

Jamie Dimon is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of JP Morgan Chase and he will continue to hold both positions at once; now that a shareholder proposal to split the offices has failed.

Five of the University of California medical centers are being forced to cancel elective surgeries and do what they can to reduce the number of patients in their facilities as patient care workers are staging a strike.  The UCSF medical center CEO eliminated 300 positions in April and the remaining workers are claiming the cuts are making it much harder to provide proper care for their patients.

The government committee investigating the factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed over 1,100 workers have recommended life in prison for the nine suspects arrested and blamed for the tragedy.

Lois Lerner, the IRS official who was running the tax-exempt organization unit in Cincinnati when employees there gave improper scrutiny to applications for non-profit status from conservative organizations will take the 5th Amendment if forced to testify tomorrow before Congress.  Her attorney has informed the committee she will take the 5th and therefore ask that she be excused from attending.  No action has been taken on the request.

A veteran LAPD officer has been arrested and charged with two counts of molesting young girls.  His attorney says he is innocent and being falsely accused.  The officer is on paid administrative leave until an internal LAPD investigation, separate to the criminal prosecution, is concluded.

Lothar Schmid has died.  He was 85.  If his name is vaguely familiar, it might be because he was the third man on the stage when Bobby Fischer played his famous world chess championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972.  He was the "chief arbiter", meaning he was the referee.  His successful negotiations between the two vitriolic players saved the match from being cancelled.

Actress Alice Eve plays "Dr. Carol Marcus" in the new Star Trek movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness" and there's a scene where she strips down to bra and panties.  Now Damon Lindelof, co-writer and co-producer of the film has taken responsibility for the gratuitous shot.

A Florida man saw a big snake coming out of the brush alongside the road he was driving on and decided to stop.  He ended up killing an 18 foot, 8 inch Burmese python, the longest snake ever killed or captured in Florida.

A Federal appeals court has ruled the U.S. does not have to release photos of the body of Osama bin Laden.  Judicial Watch, a watchdog non-profit had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the photos and the judge ruled against them.

The Shelby Cobra that Nicolas Cage drove in the remake of the classic 1974 film "Gone In 60 Seconds" has been sold at auction for $1 million.

The 7 year old cancer patient who scored a touchdown at the Nebraska Cornhusker's spring game autographed some promotional rookie cards, to be sold on EBay to raise money for his charity.  Now some scumbag who made the winning bid is claiming someone used his account to bid as a sick joke, and won't pay up.

Seattle Seahawks QB Josh Portis was waived by the team one day after he was arrested for a DUI.

In a stunningly ironic twist, the Fort Hood shooter has been paid $278,000 since the day he murdered 13 and injured 32 others, while his victims continue to be denied the pay and benefits that they would have received if their injuries were considered to be "combat-related" rather than "workplace violence".  Acts of terrorism where military personnel are involved are considered combat-related.  But the Obama Administration continues to consider their injuries nothing more than workplace violence.

NFL teams are giving their players an incentive to lie to the teams because of a new system involving tracking player's medical history away from the team.

Airbnb has lost a round in court in its battle with New York City involving a city law that prohibits landlords from using apartments as "illegal hotels".

Apple Corp says it pays all the taxes it owes and what it is doing in creating offshore subsidiaries to avoid U.S. corporate taxes is perfectly legal.  They are right.  It is legal.  If it is moral is another question, but since my job is to help my clients pay the absolute minimum amount of income tax they can, legally, I'm not the one to question the morality of Apple.

A pet owner who tattooed his dog's belly is taking a lot of flak but continues to insist he did the right thing.

TMZ.com, in reporting that Doors co-founder Ray Manzarek had travelled to Germany for treatment of his bile duct cancer, showed incredible insensitivity with this statement:  "Manzarek's next appearance was scheduled for August at the Orange County Fair ... but that's obviously been canceled."