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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Sep 27, 2012
September 27, 2012
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Your tax dollars at work:
The National Journal reports that the U-S Postal Service is bracing for its second default in two months. The service is slated to default this week on a $5.6-billion-dollar congressionally mandated payment to pre-fund its retiree health benefits, marking the second time it's happened in the last eight weeks.
Those mandatory payments were part of a law Congress passed back in 2006. The Post Office lost $5.2-billion-dollars in the third quarter of current fiscal year, $2.1-billion-dollars more than during the same stretch in 2011. (Pacelli)NFL ref strike settled:
The NFL and the NFL Referee's Association have come to an agreement on a new, long-term collective bargaining deal that will even put the real refs back on the field for tonight.
All that's needed now is for the referees to meet in person tomorrow to ratify the eight-year deal, and then the refs will go through a refresher course on the NFL rules before receiving their assignment's for this weekend's games.
There was some worry the deal wouldn't leave enough time for real refs to work tonight's game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns, meaning those two teams would play one extra game without real refs, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
Editor's note: How soon before we hear someone say, "Bring back the replacement refs!"? (The greatest trick the NFLRA ever pulled was convincing the world they weren't terrible. --Maiman)Grace notes:
MIKE LOVE has officially announced that the BEACH BOYS 50th anniversary reunion tour is over. BRIAN WILSON, AL JARDINE and DAVID MARKS are no longer in the band, but Mike and BRUCE JOHNSTON will continue on as the Beach Boys, just as they have for the last 30 years. Mike said this was a money thing and that promoters told him to give those guys a rest for a year, then maybe go out again as the full group. Mike mentioned that the EAGLES learned that the hard way when they went out for a second year and wound up giving tickets away to fill venues. Brian, Al and David claimed they were "shocked" by this announcement. (Marino)
TV Briefs:
Tonight's episode of "Glee" is going to make fashion-lovers' heads explode. Former "Sex & the City" star SARAH JESSICA PARKER is guest-starring. She's playing the editor of Vogue.com. Her character will be interviewing Kurt (played by CHRIS COIFER) for an internship. The fashion magazine itself is playing a role too. They helped outfit Sarah's costumes. Expect to see her wearing designers like PRABAL GURUNG, Altuzarra, Belstaff and Fendi. (Bartha)
Filling a need:
Some parents rent ponies for their childrens' birthday parties, but those crazy moms and dads down in Florida are bucking the norm and hiring (wait for it...) alligators! Yahoo.com reports reptile wrangler BOB BARRETT noticed business at his tourist attraction slowing down during the summer months, so he made a business decision to loan out his precious gators! For a mere $175 he'll bring out a baby beast to your home, tape it's mouth shut and throw it in the pool to swim with the kids! (Lee)
Health and Medical Briefs:
It may sound absurd, but the childhood obesity epidemic could be a risk to our national security.
A new report referenced by the Washington Post reveals that about 25-pecent of American adults are too overweight to join the military. A group of military leaders is specifically targeting the accessibility of junk food in schools. Their report claims the amount of junk food purchased and consumed within U-S schools in a single year is equivalent to 90-thousand tons of candy bars, or more than the weight of an aircraft carrier. (Page) -
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