It's not my neck of the woods, but Germany is going to de-nuke itself in 10 years. 17 nuke power plants will be decommissioned. They are making a commitment to solar and wind.

This comes as a surprise to me, since Grand Rapids, MI is the second largest in MI AND my hometown. Evidently it rated number 10 of America's "Dying cities." Some residents lipsync to American Pie. I find it hard to believe and actually it makes me wanna cry. It's a long video but you'll get the idea. I see it was filmed in downtown area. Sigh!!!!


In January, MainStreet.com named Grand Rapids, Michigan, 10th on its list of America's "dying cities." It's possible nobody would have ever learned about this dubious distinction, but Newsweek picked up the story on its website, giving folks living in the Midwestern city -- and nearby Detroit and Flint -- something to be bummed about in addition to massive unemployment and home foreclosures.






http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/amplifi...the-music-died/

TIS,

Thanks for sharing. Great video, but in many ways kind of sad.

That's for sure. I got teary eyed just watching and G.R. is no where nearly in need of help as Detroit or Flint. I know how those people must feel.


TIS

I've been through GR a few times. Nice place.

This is a source of some local amusement.

http://detnews.com/article/20110602/METRO/106020394/1408/LOCAL

Kilpatrick book to 'set record straight'
Before he can profit, former mayor has to pay back Detroit
Mike Wilkinson/ The Detroit News
Kwame Kilpatrick is peddling his life story, hinting that his impending autobiography will be a "tell-all" for those wondering how the once-promising Detroit mayor fell from grace so spectacularly.
"I'm ready to talk about everything. Carlita, my wife. My former mistress. Detroit. The job. Everything," he says in a blurb on the website www.kwamekilpatrickbook.com.
Kilpatrick, in a Michigan prison awaiting parole, announced through social media outlets that fans can "pre-order" his book, "Surrendered: The Rise, Fall and Revelation of Kwame Kilpatrick," for $26.95. It will "set the record straight and let the truth be known," according to the website.
But it's unclear whether Kilpatrick will be able to profit...

Festival

Terrible tragedy - four shot and killed in cold blood during the robbery of a pharmacy. One of the dead was an 18 year old worker, just days from graduation and prom. My dad was a pharmacist, and this was my mom's greatest fear.

What the heck is going on out there? First the serial killer, now this? All sorts of craziness seems to be taking Long Island by storm. Is there something in the water?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/at_least_dead_in_li_drugstore_shooting_dXhhbxZFDWu49fQ0BINDXM

THE rooftop party was in full swing when midnight approached on a warm Friday evening. Kerry Doman, 29, founder of an event planning business; Justin Jacobs, 28, head of a citywide recreational sports league, and Ara Howrani, 29, a photographer who runs a commercial studio, knocked back beers, while a group of office friends from a nearby dot-com chatted about the scratch-and-sniff wallpaper in their colorful new headquarters.

In another circle, a group of real estate brokers excitedly discussed the renovation of a 1920s office tower called the Broderick into a 127-unit apartment building with a restaurant, lounge and retail stores.

“I want the penthouse,” Jeffrey Hillman, 37, said jokingly as he pointed to the building’s ornate Baroque-style top in the distance. “I’ll fight you for it,” retorted Hank Winchester, 37, a local TV reporter.

The scene might have been run of the mill in Seattle or Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or other urban enclaves that draw the young, the entrepreneurial and the hip. But this was downtown Detroit, far better known in recent years for crime, blight and economic decline.

Recent census figures show that Detroit’s overall population shrank by 25 percent in the last 10 years. But another figure tells a different and more intriguing story: During the same time period, downtown Detroit experienced a 59 percent increase in the number of college-educated residents under the age of 35, nearly 30 percent more than two-thirds of the nation’s 51 largest cities....
Full Article

The dimwits are out full-tilt here in the Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals:

Yesterday's paper reports that a man and woman were arguing in the lobby of a local hotel, and the man asked the clerk to call police. When they arrived, he told them that he had arranged with the woman online to pay $250 to get it on with two hookers at the hotel. When he arrived there, the woman took him to the room, took his money, and told him there'd be only one hooker. Man demanded his money back. When she wouldn't give it, he asked the hotel clerk to call the cops.

The cops listened to his story--and arrested him for solicitation. Idiot!!!

Today's paper has a story about a woman who was beinq questioned about possible shoplifting. She kept falling asleep while the cops were quizzing her. They searched her bag and found a syringe and a deck of heroin. Three felony charges!

Ha ha ha ha! Talk about idiots.

Here in CA Carmageddon has been a big dud. It's been very very smooth from all reports. Every so often the local channel has "alerts" and most so far, have been non-eventful.

However, one report last night showed a police chase on the 101. Evidently, people are listening and staying home thus all the surrounding freeways have been pretty empty. This gave this potential "drunk driver" a pretty clear driving path, which started in L.A. and last I heard went to Fullerton in OC. I didn't see how it ended but assume he was captured.

TIS

Two more goodies from the Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals:

Local guy, who'd been secretly stalking a 17-year-old, offered her a ride to work in his pickup. Instead he drove her to a deserted forest road and attempted to rape her. She got away and hid. But the guy couldn't find his way out of the forest...so he called the sheriff's office to help him. Soon as they arrived, the girl ran out of hiding and told all. Sheriff booked him for kidnapping, assault, attempted rape...

A 24-year-old was at the local hospital with his 17-year-old wife who'd just given birth. He thought the medical people were dissing her, so he started a fight with doctors and nurses. Cops were called. Guy resisted arrest, grabbed one cop in a headlock and injured him, finally was Tasered into submission. His lawyer called it "just a melee."

Evidently Maria & Arnold Schwarzenegger's 13 year old son, Christopher, was in a serious surfing accident. He is in serious condition suffering from several broken bones and a collapsed lung.

TIS


http://www.examiner.com/la-in-los-angele...urfing-accident

(CNN) -- Six people are dead and four others are injured after a birthday party shooting at a Texas skating rink.

Officers responded to the Roller World skating rink in Grand Prairie Saturday evening and found six people dead at the scene, Grand Prairie Police Chief Steve Dye said. Dye said one of those was the shooter, who appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The four injured were taken to local hospitals.

Police said the shooting happened during a private birthday party, and one witness told detectives on the scene that the alleged shooter was the guest of honor celebrating his birthday.

While the investigation is ongoing, the shooting appears to have stemmed from a domestic dispute between a husband and wife, Dye said.

The stupes who get convicted here in the Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals have lawyers who work overtime concocting "mitigating circumstances" at sentencing. Yesterday a woman was up for sentencing on three raps: DWI, failure to use an interlock device mandated by a previous DUI, and attempting to bribe three arresting cops to make the case go away. "After all, this is about a traffic stop," her lawyer told the judge. He then blamed the court that ajudicated her previous DUI for putting her back on the road again. She got 5 months in jail and 10 years probation.

Today a 24-year-old came up for sentencing in a rape case. After attacking thr victim, he fell asleep on her bed, so she fled and summoned the police. "He's a tortured soul," his lawyer pleaded. His wife said he's "the finest husband imaginable." He got 10.5 years.

Heidelberg Project

25 years later, 'outsider art' vision still fuels fame, furor on Heidelberg Street
Despite acclaim, installation continues to draw neighbors' ire
Michael H. Hodges/ Detroit News Fine Arts Writer
It began as artistic protest.
To shine a spotlight on the dilapidation of the east-side Detroit block where he grew up, Tyree Guyton, his grandfather Sam Mackey and other family members started stapling "found objects" — trash to some — on Heidelberg Street's abandoned houses.
Now, 25 years later, the Heidelberg Project, as it's known, has morphed into an art-and-education nonprofit that's been awarded more than $500,000 in grants and established Guyton as an "outsider art" star on the international scene.
"I never thought it'd last this long," said Guyton with a smile. "It's just unbelievable."
Still, the project has antagonized many neighbors, not least because of summertime crowds. And while part of the Heidelberg mystique is that it brings city and suburbs together, some argue visitors mostly gawk at the locals as if they were on exhibit, with no real effort to bridge the social divide...

Lilo,

Did that project make it into an episode of Detroit 1-8-7? I vaguely remember it.....or something similar.

It sure did MC. I don't know if it was a whole episode or not, though.

Here's another from the Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals:

Police booked Christopher Janson on several charges including DUI and felony criminal damage after witnesses told police he drove his car into the sign in front of the First Christian Church in the 1200 block of Willow Creek Road.

Police found Janson, who was later identified as the driver of the car, when he ran in front of the officer's patrol car to the Walmart parking lot, according to the police report.

.he officer noticed that Janson had red, bloodshot, watery eyes, slurred speech and smelled of alcohol, according to the police report.

When the officer asked Janson if he was in the car that crashed into the sign, Janson said he had been sleeping in the back seat, woke up when he heard a bang, got out of the car and ran.
Janson told the officer he did not know who the driver was, Reinhardt said. Yet the passenger of the car and two other witnesses identified Janson as the driver.

After the keys to the car were found in Janson's pocket, Janson told the officer that the driver must have thrown the keys into the back seat as he ran away from the scene, and the keys landed inside his pocket, according to the police report.

Ha ha ha ha!! You couldn't make stuff like that up. Talk about a dumb ass.


TIS

I'm tellin' ya, TIS, stuff like that is in the local paper every day!

...and here's yet another from The Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals:

A man accused of being a serial eat-and-runner was arrested by police after running from a restaurant without paying his bill.
Police were tipped by email about a man who had on several occasions eaten at a restaurant, then claimed medical distress in order to avoid paying the bill.

At 9:15 p.m., an officer answered a call about a man who fled after refusing to pay the $75.45 bill for his food and drinks at Monsoon on the Square, according to a police report.

"An employee told the officer that Patten initially tried to pay his bill with a Sears credit card, so she asked him if he had another credit card or cash to pay the bill," said Lt. Andy Reinhardt. "Patten looked through his wallet, and the employee saw he did not have any cash or other credit cards."

When the employee told Patten she would call police if he didn't pay his bill, Patten jumped the fence out of the restaurant's courtyard, ran north, jumped another fence into the parking lot of the Hassayampa Hotel, and ran down an alley, according to the police report.

Soon afterwards, dispatch received a call about a suspicious man on the porch of a home in the 100 block of Alarcon who turned out to be Patten, according to police reports.

Patten had a laceration to his head and appeared to be having a seizure so the officer called for emergency medical services and Life Line Ambulance took Patten to Yavapai Regional Medical Center for treatment, according to police reports.

At the hospital, Patten would not hold still when staff took a CT scan of his head and tried to remove his C-spine collar after being told he might have a neck injury, Reinhardt said.

When a nurse said he would be restrained, Patten said "This is not going to happen." He then fought three officers trying to help the nurse restrain him and refused repeated officer commands to stop fighting. An officer Tased him and restrained him, according to the police report.

Police recognized the name Byron Patten from an interoffice email sent out by the Fire Department. Fire Department personnel said they had contact with Patten on several occasions. The email stated that Patten eats a whole meal at a restaurant and then complains of a medical condition and is transported to the hospital to get out of paying the bill.

That's a great story, Lilo! I remember some of those old cars. They were really something.

Anybody following what's going on in Lybia? It seems the rebels are near to taking Tripoli with little resistance.


TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan rebels have entered the capital Tripoli and are within two miles of the city center.

Associated Press reporters with the rebels said they met little resistance Sunday as Moammar Gadhafi's defenders appeared to melt away.



TIS

Full story:

http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-rebels-move-close-center-tripoli-210810372.html

This is a bummer of a story, but it happened locally down here in South Jersey. Perhaps you saw it on national news. It touched me personally.

This past Saturday, August 20, four members of the Mainland H.S. football team died in a car crash on the Garden State Pkwy near Exit 38, The Atlantic City Expressway. They were on their way to a team breakfast after practice. Four other boys were traveling in the same vehicle and escaped with minor injuries. The accident happened at 11:45 am. It is suspected that the driver lost control of his vehicle when he tried to stop for traffic that was backed up from an exit.

Mainland High School is located in Linwood, N.J. and serves the communities of Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield. On Sunday evening, a vigil was held at the school football field. It was attended by 3,000 people. Members of rival football teams attended the vigil.

My daughter taught two of the boys at Northfield Community School and she attended the vigil. The boys were in her eighth grade English class. The mother of one of the students is also a teacher at the same school. Needless to say this tragedy has devastated the community.

Oh, MC, how devastating! Any loss is tragic, but when it's young people, the loss is compounded.

That's a very sad story MC. It IS more heartbreaking when it's a young person.

A couple times in my years working at the school, we suffered a loss of a student. I remember one young girl died in a car accident and another was sadly abducted and murdered. And, although, not your likely scenario, but we even had one young student (boy) who murdered another boy from our school(not during school hours, a non school related issue) and he is serving a life sentence (or maybe 25 years).

Anyway, it is always so hard hearing these kinds of accidents especially when it's a young person we know.

TIS

I am hearing on the radio right now that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are separated. I thought they were one of the rare breed in Hollywood. Too bad.


TIS

News is reporting an earthquake in D.C. Wow! It sounds like it was a "jolt" as opposed to shaking and was very brief. Senator Coons (Del) sounds shaken though.

They say a 5.8 magnitude. That's pretty strong considering it occurred where there aren't usually earthquakes. They also reported that it was felt in North Manhattan???


TIS