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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Feb 3, 2015
February 3, 2015
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The White House:
Marijuana would be legalized in Washington, D.C., under PRESIDENT OBAMA's proposed budget. Buried deep inside the bill is a small provision that would pave the way for marijuana sales in the city.
The city's voters approved a ballot measure last November that would legalize the sale of marijuana, but before the D.C. government could develop a system to regulate and tax marijuana sales, Congress stepped in and blocked the measure. The president's budget would subtly roll back that move by Congress, freeing the city's government to move forward with the plan. (Pacelli)Posturing, Posing and Press Releases:
Would you vote for a presidential candidate who did not have a college degree? Bloomberg's AL HUNT poses that question in an interesting piece, noting that two possible GOP candidates --WI Gov. SCOTT WALKER and KY Sen. RAND PAUL-- don't have undergraduate degrees.
Walker --who's won two elections and survived a recall in a blue state-- attended Marquette University for more than three years, before dropping out to take a job. He's about a year short of a degree. Rand Paul never completed his undergraduate degree at Baylor University but scored so high on his medical school entrance exams that he was admitted to the prestigious Duke University Medical School, where he completed his training as an ophthalmologist.
Some other folks who did pretty well without a college degree? Twelve presidents, including GEORGE WASHINGTON, ABE LINCOLN and HARRY TRUMAN. Add to that list BILL GATES, STEVE JOBS, LARRY ELLISON, CLINT EASTWOOD, GEORGE CLOONEY, TED TURNER, WALTER CONKITE and BRIAN WILLIAMS, among others. (Pacelli)On, off and way-off Broadway:
JENNIFER NETTLES, singer for the country music band SUGARLAND made her Broadway debut last night. Playbill.com says she's the latest actress to step into the long-running revival of the musical "Chicago" as Roxy Hart. And, CARLY HUGHES, who finished up the revival run of "Pippin," is the newest Velma Kelly. (Marino)
Ratings:
Super Bowl 49 --biggest ratings ever. Overnight ratings show the big game which went down to the wire between the Seahawks and Patriots pulled in 114.5 million viewers. That's more than the former record holder --and makes it the most watched show in U.S. TV history.
In fact, during that last quarter hour from 9:45-10 pm (Eastern), viewership was up to 120.8 million. And, while we're measuring things, the halftime show starring KATY PERRY also pulled in 118.5 million viewers --that's three mill more than last year's BRUNO MARS /RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS performance and it breaks the overall record held by MADONNA in 2012 which had 114 million pairs of eyeballs.Look what I found:
A woman in West Virginia gave birth to a fourth child, even though she had no idea she was pregnant.
MANDIE SMITH of Culloden woke up at two in-the-morning last Thursday with "some pretty significant pain." She went to the hospital and less than six-hours later she was welcoming a healthy boy named HARRISON. Smith says her friends and family think the whole thing is some kind of a prank. She explains, "We've been texting people showing the baby, and they were like 'I was with you yesterday, you didn't look pregnant'." Mandie said she didn't gain any significant weight for her fourth child, and her normal clothes all fit her. She did say she doesn't have normal menstrual cycles.
Doctors say "surprise births" actually happen more often than people think. Over a thousand women in the United States have babies each year without realizing they were pregnant. (Still) -
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