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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Feb 2, 2015
February 2, 2015
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Anniversaries:
The Baseball Hall of Fame inducted its five charter members in 1936. They were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.
--100 years ago, in 1915 in snowy Alaska, a Husky named Balto lead a dogsled team across 600 miles of ice and snow to deliver diphtheria serum to Nome, AK, where an epidemic was underway. The man driving the sled became snow blind so the dog led the team all by himself with the wind blowing 80 mph and the temperature 50 degrees below zero. The dog was a huge hero and the route later became the route for the Iditarod Trail International Sled Dog Race. And if you're really interested, there's even a statue to Balto in Central Park, NY.
--65 years ago, Cartoonist CHARLES SCHULTZ created the "Peanuts" cartoon strip, 1950. Good Grief!Small-town politics:
The state of California is trying to stop teen smoking.
A new bill going through the state senate would increase the legal smoking age in the state from 18 to 21.
A spokesperson for the American Lung Association tells the Huffington Post that smoking contributes to more than 40-thousand deaths in the state each year, and the Los Angeles Times says more than 21-thousand kids in the state start smoking each year.
If Senate Bill 151 is successful, it would make California the first state to raise the minimum smoking age to 21.Those @$#%* Foreigners:
Word over the weekend that a remote-controlled bomb --primarily designed by the CIA-- was used in a joint operation between the CIA and Israel's Mossad to kill Hezbollah's operations chief, IMAD MUGHNIYAH. Sources say the device --placed in an SUV spare tire-- was triggered remotely from Tel Aviv by Mossad agents, when Mughniyah was close enough to the vehicle.
The bomb was reportedly tested numerous times at a CIA facility in North Carolina to ensure the potential blast area was contained and would not result in collateral damage. (Pacelli)Fast Food:
Today (Feb 02) marks the fourth annual National Frozen Yogurt Day. Yogurtland locations will offer free frozen yogurt, toppings and a limited edition Hershey's collectible spoon from 4-7 pm.
Because that's what you crave in the snow-bound zones, for sure. But warm up all month at Chick-Fil-A: Regardless of Punxsutawney Phil's forecast about the duration of winter, customers can wake up to free coffee at Chick-fil-A. For the entire month of February, Chick-fil-A restaurants nationwide will give customers free cups of its new specialty-grade THRIVE Farmers hot or iced coffee all day long. (Kaye)Driving under the influence:
In Fargo, ND, a Zamboni driver was arrested for driving under the influence.
Friday night, during the Davies High School-Williston High School girls' hockey game, a spectator noticed the Zamboni was weaving around the ice in an "erratic" manner while resurfacing the ice around 8 pm. He talked to the staff at the Fargo South Sports Arena and they called the cops.
They showed up around 8:15 and the Zamboni driver, STEVEN ANDERSON, was arrested for a DUI just before the end of the second period. And although the arena staff attempted to call another guy to run the Zamboni, the coaches said they didn't want to delay the game any longer, so the girls teams played the rest of the game on un-surfaced ice.
Anderson has been fired from his job, which he worked at --part-time-- for six years. -
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