WALL STREET JOURNAL: Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has long sold weed killer. Now, it’s hoping to help people grow killer weed. In an unlikely move for the head of a major company, Scotts Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company. “I want to target the pot market,” Mr. Hagedorn said in an interview. “There’s no good reason we haven’t.” Sales at Scotts rose 5% last year to $2.9 billion. But the Marysville, Ohio, company relies on sales at three key retailers—Home Depot […]
SIDEWALKING: Windows On The World
Main street Coatesville, PA, 11:04 AM by JEFF FUSCO
SAD: South Philly Cat Lady Hoarding Horror Show
6ABC: “Deplorable” is what SPCA investigators are calling conditions inside Stephanie Sinkin’s home on South Chadwick Street. Inside they found dozens of cats – many in poor health, living in piles of trash. On Sunday, Pennsylvania SPCA investigators carted away 22 live cats and six dead ones in what they’re calling a classic case of hoarding. George Bengal of the PSPCA tells Action News, “As they started cleaning out the trash, there’s nests of cats all in this trash – from ceiling to floor, in every room in the house.” Investigators say they got suspicious after Sinkin brought three cats […]
JUST DESSERTS: Man Dies While Raping Woman
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Investigators said a man has died while in the act of raping an elderly South Texas woman. The Refugio County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as 53-year-old Isabel Chavelo Gutierrez. Sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Wright said the incident happened June 2 after he rode two miles by bicycle from his home to that of his 77-year-old victim in the tiny coastal community of Tivoli. Wright said the 5′-7″, 230-to-250 pound man sneaked into the woman’s house and raped her at knifepoint. During the assault, he said he wasn’t feeling well, rolled over, and died. MORE
EXODUS: Six Million Americans Quit Facebook In May
ASSOCIATED PRESS: According to Inside Facebook, the social networking site hit 687 million monthly users in June, though the growth rate overall has been slower than normal for the past two months. Though for the past year Facebook has grown by at least 20 million users each month, in April and in May, it grew by 13.9 and 11.8 million respectively. And in the U.S. and in Canada, Facebook actually lost users. U.S. accounts fell by close to 6 million, from 155.2 million at the beginning of May to 149.4 million at the end. This marks the first time American […]
GUIDED BY VOICES: Official Ironmen Rally Song
GBV plays Penn’s Landing on Friday with Wavves. Click HERE for tix. PREVIOUSLY: Even in its heyday, Guided by Voices always seemed like a time/space anomaly, like the Bud-swilling protagonists of some alternative history of rock-and-roll wherein the Beatles crawl out of the industrial shadows of the Midwest in the early ’90s instead of Liverpool in the early ’60s, and trigger the incontinent mania of record-store clerks, rock critics, and college-radio DJs. The old guard took the stage beneath a neon sign that declared “The club is open” (a lyric from “A Salty Salute” that has come to serve as […]
PINE BARON: Hiking To The Heart Of Darkness
[Illustration by Alyssa Grenning] CITY PAPER: As for me, Hank offered one last piece of wisdom before I set off into the Pine Barrens: “There’s nothing out there, dude,” Hank said, pausing a long while before adding, “That’s what’s nice about it.” […] I donned my pack and walked into the forest, following a short connector trail until I came to a tree marked with a pink blaze, the color designating the Batona Trail, the color that would guide me through the labyrinth of the Barrens for the next two days. The Pine Barrens is, after all, as great a […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Comedian, writer and producer Steve Coogan, an icon of British comedy, is best known for playing his character Alan Partridge, the “nerdy radio DJ with a terrible taste in sweaters and an inflated ego.” As Partridge, Coogan was often compared to Garry Shandling in The Larry Sanders Show and Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, for his ability to improvise and play with the tiny details of life. In 2006, Coogan took his comedy skills to film, starring in the scripted Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, with fellow comic Rob Brydon. The movie interpreted the comic […]
Brad Pitt To Film Zombie Invasion Of Philly In Glasgow
MYFOXPHILLY: Brad Pitt is filming a $120 million movie about zombies invading Philadelphia, but one thing is missing: any location shooting in our area. Instead, “World War Z” will use Glasgow, Scotland as a fill-in for Philadelphia. On Monday, crews started changing store fronts and other landmarks in Glasgow to make it look like Philadelphia. The is the second high-profile location snub for Philadelphia, after ABC decided to shoot “Body Of Proof,” its Philadelphia-located drama, in Providence. British newspapers say Pitt will show up for filming in August for two weeks of action shots. The work will add $US 2.5 […]
Saxophonist Clarence Clemons Suffers Massive Stroke
ROLLING STONE: Bruce Springsteen’s famous E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons suffered a serious stroke Sunday night at his home in Florida. He was reported to be very ill and in critical condition. Clemons has since had two brain surgeries and is now, according to The Star-Ledger, “responsive and in stable condition“, but is sadly paralyzed on the left side of his body, reports Fox New York. MORE BACK STREETS: The latest out of Florida has Clarence Clemons in better condition than anyone expected, a close friend tells Backstreets: “Yesterday, it did not look good at all. Today… miracles are […]
Anthony Weiner And The Politics Of Self-Destruction
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Rep. Anthony Weiner finally began considering Sunday the possibility that he may have to resign, as yet another cache of embarrassing photos appeared. A source close to the congressman told the Daily News that he had been adamant about keeping his seat – even amid daily new revelations of his reckless sexting. But the unrelenting media coverage, the demands from his party’s leaders that he step down and the appearance of more humiliating photos made Weiner realize he may not be able to bull his way through the crisis after all, the […]
90% Of Captured “Taliban” Turned Out To Be Innocent
IPS: But it turns out that more than 80 percent of those called captured Taliban fighters were released within days of having been picked up, because they were found to have been innocent civilians, according to official U.S. military data. Even more were later released from the main U.S. detention facility at Bagram airbase called the Detention Facility in Parwan after having their files reviewed by a panel of military officers. The timing of Petraeus’s claim of Taliban fighters captured or killed, moreover, indicates that he knew that four out of five of those he was claiming as “captured Taliban […]
THIS JUST IN: Weiner Checks Into Treatment Facility; Will Request Leave Of Absence From Congress
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] NEW YORK TIMES: Representative Anthony D. Weiner planned to check himself into a treatment center on Saturday after House Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, called on him to resign and suggested he needed psychiatric counseling. A spokeswoman for Mr. Weiner said he would request a leave of absence from the House and seek treatment, but provided no further details. “Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person,” said the spokeswoman, Risa Heller. “In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from […]