Flower Show Isn’t Only Victim of TV News’ Wrong Weather Forecasts

Drew Becher should sue the local TV news stations for snowstorm hype.

The President of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Drew Becher, is ticked at Kathy Orr, Cecily Tynan and Sheena Parveen. The coven of weather women and their gangs of meteorologists cost him an atrium of money: $1.2 million to be exact. That's how much the 2013 Philadelphia Flower Show lost because, Becher told the Philadelphia Inquirer, of a flurry of false forecasts.

Do the Words “Senator Palin” Excite You?

Tea Party dreams could become reality in 2014.

Senator Sarah Palin? Get used to the notion; it could happen. Mark Begich, a Democrat, is currently the junior senator from the great state of Alaska. On the Alaskan endangered species list, a Democratic senator beats out the humpbacked whale and the short-tailed albatross. Alaskan Republicans will be tripping over themselves to get the nomination and run against Begich in 2014.

Nosy Neighbors Are a Dying Breed of Crime-Fighter

Why you should make friends with the people next door.

As details spilled out of Cleveland’s "House of Horrors," I asked the same question that you undoubtedly asked. How on earth could three young girls be held captive in a modest home in the middle of a crowded neighborhood for more than a decade without anyone knowing? That’s when it hit me. We are slowly losing a crucial crime-fighting tool: nosy neighbors.

What Jim Gerlach Wants You to Know About the Flu Tax

Read his lips: No new taxes.

The flu tax is a hot topic on the Internet. A Google search shows hundreds of publications, blogs and TV stations have picked up the story about two bills, one in the House and one in the Senate, that include a 75-cent tax per shot on the flu vaccine. I wrote about the flu tax because one of the sponsors of the House bill is local Rep Jim Gerlach.

Local Republican Jim Gerlach Creates Bill to Tax Flu Shots

Congress has no trouble with "bipartisan" when it comes to taking our money.

Do you have the flu? Are you sneezing, congested, miserable? Good. Sixth District Congressman Jim Gerlach sees money in that. He wants to tax your flu symptoms to help pay down the national debt, thus adding misery to misery.

Don’t Just Blame CNN’s Fran Townsend for Boston Reporting Mistakes

What about the law enforcement officials who leaked information?

The breaking news alerts on my iPhone played like a stinger symphony. CNN’s Fran Townsend reports that a suspect has been arrested in the Boston Marathon bombing. Oops! CNN’s Fran Townsend now reports that no one has been arrested, but they have identified a suspect. By early evening, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was reporting “significant progress” in the investigation.

Prediction: Chelsea Clinton Will Run for President in 2024

Against George P. Bush.

We are witnessing both the longest political dynasties and longest political rivalry in American history. There has been either a Bush or Clinton as president, vice president or secretary of state since 1980. We just started a short time-out with Hillary Clinton's resignation. But with Hillary the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination and Jeb Bush flirting with a run in 2016, the odds are good the rivalry of dynasties will soon pick up where it left off.

Veteran Journalist: Local TV News Is a Waste of Your Time

"Local television news landscape is populated by bubble-heads."

A Charleston Gazette editorial about local TV news has created a stir in newsrooms around the country—not because it was written by respected veteran network news correspondent Ed Rabel, but because it was vicious and unrelenting. Ed Rabel is a newsman’s newsman. Based out of Atlanta for CBS News, he interviewed Martin Luther King and would often appear on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite reporting on the southern unrest of the civil rights movement. When he moved to NBC, he reported from Israel and Cuba. He has journalistic street cred.

“Jesus Stomping” Sounds Bad, But It’s Not

A classroom exercise at a small Florida college makes national news.

Fueled by Fox News, the stomping of Jesus and the young man who tried to stop it has become a national story, a national outrage and a state investigation. Jesus stomping does sound bad. It’s not.