GM Blames Managers, Hailey Cancels
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Vol. 3, No. 156
Self-Critique: A General Motors internal report blamed “a pattern of incompetence and neglect” for the 10-year failure to recall millions of defective cars. Chief Executive Mary Barra said, “Repeatedly, individuals failed to disclose critical pieces of information that could have fundamentally changed the lives of those impacted by a faulty ignition switch.” Forty-seven crashes and 13 deaths were blamed on the bad ignition switches. Barra said 15 employees were fired and 5 disciplined. The report did not put any blame on Barra or the current management team.
Disaster Wrap: Thirty-four people were injured when fire raced through three Staten Island townhouses early this morning. Two hundred firefighters responded. The injured included 23 firefighters and 11 civilians.
>A Marine Harrier jump jet crashed into a neighborhood in Imperial outside San Diego, destroying two houses. The pilot had ejected and no one was hurt.
>A Navy Hornet fighter jet crashed into the ocean making a late night landing on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson off Southern California.
Nation: Hailey, Idaho, the hometown of former POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, abruptly cancelled a welcome celebration planned for June 28, citing security worries over expected crowds. Hate mail has poured into the town after revelations that Bergdahl may have walked away from his post in Afghanistan five years ago, causing his own capture by the Taliban. A statement from Hailey said the town of 8,000 wouldn’t be able to handle the crowds if thousands of protesters showed up among people celebrating Bergdahl’s return.
> New York police have arrested a 27-year-old man with a long criminal record in the stabbing death of a 6-year-old boy in a Brooklyn elevator. Daniel St. Hubert got out of prison only on May 23. It was a crime that horrified New Yorkers and set police on a manhunt. Prince Joshua Avitto, known as PJ, was killed, and Mikayla Capers, 7, was badly wounded when they were attacked with a knife in the elevator of a housing project. Investigators say they found DNA on the knife that led them to St. Hubert.
Shooter Loose: Police in Moncton, New Brunswick are searching for a gunman who killed three police officers in a suburban neighborhood. The gunman was seen and photographed wearing a Rambo-like headband, camouflage fatigues, and carrying two rifles.
World: Despite fighting a raging civil war against his own citizens, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was re-elected with 88.7 percent of the vote. That gives him a third seven-year term. Just think how popular he’d be if he weren’t dropping barrel bombs.
Sports Page: The Los Angeles Kings came from 2-0 behind to beat the NY Rangers 3-2 in overtime in the first game of the Stanley Cup finals. Game two is Saturday in Los Angeles.
The Obit Page: One of baseball’s perpetual boys of summer, player, coach, and manager Don Zimmer, has died at age 83. The jowly, bulldoggish Zimmer was in the game his entire life and even married on a baseball diamond. Zimmer was an infielder when the Brooklyn Dodgers won the World Series in 1955 and again with the Dodgers in Los Angeles when they won the Series in 1959. He was one of the first players for the NY Mets and was a coach with the Yankees for four World Series wins.
He wrote in his book, “All I’ve ever been is simple baseball man, but it’s never ceased to amaze me how so many far more accomplished people I’ve met in this life wanted to be one, too.”
Translated: The logo for the 50th Super Bowl in 2016 will drop the Roman numerals and feature the clearly understandable number “50” instead of “L.” The logo designers said they struggled with “L” and decided it was too lonely and homely. They say they are returning to Roman in 2017, but they are stuck with that “L” instead of the manly “X” for the next 38 years.
-30-
Leave a Reply