Facing Out: The Week’s Most Interesting News

November 23, 2024

A November Adirondacks moonrise so nice, you should enjoy it twice. Nancie Battaglia

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

A wise counselor once observed, blessed is the person who sees the present from the perspective of the future.

We’ve been thinking about that in the context of the news this week that someone paid $6.2 million for the right to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it, “Comedian.”

Seriously.

In 2019, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan caused a stir when he taped a banana to a wall at a Miami Beach art show, calling it “Comedian.” Audiences were befuddled. Somehow, three versions of this sold for at least $120,000 each.

This time, with the bidding starting at $800,000, Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency platform TRON, outlasted the competition for a certificate of authenticity granting him and him alone the right to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it, “Comedian.”

For the same amount, he could’ve bought about 31 million bananas from his local grocer or paid for Thanksgiving dinner for a lot of struggling families with children.

We’re guessing the future will get a good laugh out of all this. We certainly got a chuckle out of the headline that followed this story in a CNN news roundup: Eight foolish things smart Americans waste money on.

LIGHTS BY THE LAKE: For decades, people would drive from miles around to Washington Park in Albany, N.Y., to take in the monthlong holiday lights display. The tradition ended a couple years ago but is being resurrected an hour’s drive north in the Village of Lake George, which is leasing the light displays from the Albany Police Athletic League, which put on the Washington Park shows. But instead of being up for only about a month, they’ll be part of Lights at the Lake, running November 30 to March 2.

MARCHING ORDERS: At first, we did a double take, thinking this must be some sort of satire. Nope, it’s meant to be serious. A veteran environmental journalist is instructing incoming Trump administration spokespersons what is expected of them, issuing an updated “reporter’s bill of rights,” with rule No. 1 being “prompt response” to media queries. Also, “preemptive disclosure” of documents, and agency employees “free to talk to reporters without press office permission or minders, and without restrictions on what they can talk about.” Perhaps he hasn’t noticed, but the modern world doesn’t concern itself as much as it used to with the sensibilities of the press.

MY BLUE HAVEN: Fresh off the heels of a Cornell University study projecting New York State could lose 3 million residents in the next 25 years, Kate Cohen, a Washington Post columnist based in Albany, N.Y., offers a counterpoint. Cohen finds solace in living in a blue state when, “I look ahead, and I see a future in which the federal government slashes protections for health, the environment and civil rights.” She says New Yorkers “need to prepare to defend New York residents from the threats of the country that surrounds us,” listing immigrant, privacy and health protections, and ends with an invitation: “And if anyone out there decides to move to a safer country, I will be happy to welcome you to New York.”

SHIPS PASSING: There ought to be better long-term care planning for great old ships. Consider the fates of the Day Peckinpaugh and the SS United States. Just as New York State prepares to celebrate the bicentennial in 2025 of the Erie Canal, one of the greatest engineering marvels in history, one of the Canal’s most famous cargo-hauling motorships, the DP, may be facing its final days. In 1921, the Day was the first canal motorship ever built to haul cargo across the Great Lakes and Erie Barge Canal. In 1994, it was the last to be taken out of service. The ship played a significant role in World War II, surviving the threat of German U-boat attacks. There once were grand plans to give it new life, but it’s deteriorated so much now, no one is sure that’s possible. Meanwhile, the future of the SS United States, the largest ocean liner ever built in the U.S. and holder of the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing ever, remains in doubt. Philadelphia wants it gone for failure to pay rent. Okaloosa County, Florida, has bought it and wants to sink it for an artificial reef. And Brooklyn now wants it back.

A foggy morning on the Hudson frames the Livingston Avenue Bridge in Albany, N.Y. Originally built in 1866 by the Hudson River Bridge Company, the structure was replaced in 1901–02 with the current design. John Bulmer 

THE CHIPS ARE UP: GlobalFoundries, a maker of semiconductors and a huge employer in New York’s Capital Region, this week learned it would receive a $1.5 billion grant from the federal CHIPS and Science Act, which it will use to expand its current facility in
Saratoga County and build a new one alongside. One thousand new manufacturing jobs are forecast. “The essential chips GlobalFoundries makes are critical for the auto industry, national defense, and dozens of other technologies from smart phones to artificial intelligence,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

TAKING THEIR SHOT: The New York Phoenix are bringing professional basketball to Schenectady, hometown of the legendary Pat Riley and many others who went on to professional and semi-professional careers. The Phoenix will play in the same league as the Albany Patroons, with games at Armory Studios NY beginning in March 2025. The Phoenix will try to rise above the fates of these Capital Region sports franchises that have come and gone.

CHUCK’S OUT: Legendary New York City TV news anchor Chuck Scarborough announced he is retiring after “50 years, eight months and 17 days” with WNBC, channel 4. The Emmy Award-winning newsman is the longest-serving anchor in New York history. Meanwhile, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow took a haircut this week, settling for $25 million a year from MSNBC for the next five years, down from her previous $30 million salary.

BEARLY DISGUISED: “Hank the Tank” is the name of a bear that terrorized people in the Lake Tahoe area of California and got a lot of media attention before being captured and turned over to a Colorado sanctuary. Now, it turns out, there are some Hank knockoffs. Four people were arrested for allegedly submitting fake videos of bear attacks and claiming more than $140,000 in damage to their cars. California Department of Insurance investigators found a bear costume when searching the homes of the individuals charged.

SUPER FREAKY: The late Henry Kissinger is the co-author with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and longtime Microsoft senior executive Craig Mundie of a new book, Genesis, warning that artificial intelligence risks creating “superhuman” people who could overwhelm the species if not countered by biological engineering or some other means of keeping pace. Figuring this all out, they conclude, will not be easy. And if we fail and go extinct, scientists figure the octopus is the species most likely to take over.

HE’S NO. 1: Geno Auriemma, who has guided the UConn women’s basketball team to a record 11 national championships and a ridiculous 23 Final Four appearances in four decades as head coach, this week passed Schenectady native Tara VanDerveer atop the all-time NCAA basketball wins list, getting his 1,217^th victory in a blowout.

BAD TRADE: The 59-year-old CFO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region lost his job after authorities charged him with stealing and defacing campaign signs promoting Donald Trump. He allegedly used black tape to mark one sign with swastikas. He is facing petit larceny and criminal mischief charges.

HUMAN CARTOON Alex Jones is suing to stop satirical news outlet The Onion from taking possession of Infowars and its parent company, a right The Onion won at a bankruptcy auction whose proceeds benefit the Sandy Hook families that Jones abhorrently defamed.

QUIET, PLEASE: Fans of the musical Wicked are fond of singing along to the show’s popular tunes, and many apparently are doing so in movie theaters since its cinematic release. Fellow audience members and the national chain AMC have a message: Please stop.

HELP YOURSELF: The treasurer of a Central New York fire department was arrested and resigned after, according to officials, stealing $92,000 over seven years that she used for purchases such as plane tickets, spa and nail salon visits and a movie channel subscription, Syracuse.com reports.

POUNCING ON JAGUAR: Luxury carmaker Jaguar is launching a rebrand in association with the premier next month of a new electric vehicle model, and this week released a promotional video that, to be gentle, was universally regarded as a disaster.

HAPPY HUNTER: Hunter Mountain, a ski resort in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, was named “best small ski resort” in the U.S. by Time Out, an international travel website.

BELA KAROLYI is probably the best-known gymnastics coach in history, teaming with his wife, Marta, to produce 28 Olympians, nine Olympic champions, six U.S. national champions and 15 world champions, a list that includes Nadia Comaneci, who at 14 became the first gymnast ever to score a perfect 10 in the Olympics, and Mary Lou Retton, the 16-year-old from West Virginia who won the all-around gold in 1984. He later came under criticism for his harsh and demanding training methods, and the Karolyi Ranch in Texas, where Olympic gymnasts trained, was at the center of sexual assault cases against Dr. Larry Nasser, activity the Karolyis denied knowing about. He was 82.

PAT KOCH THALER, the sister of the late New York City Mayor Ed Koch, took her own life a week ago today. She pursued a career in education and ultimately became a dean at New York University. She wore a “Sister of Koch” button while campaigning for her brother and was a sounding board for him during his years in office but said he seldom took her advice. She was suffering from inoperable cancer and notified The New York Times of her plans to end her life. “My mother died in agony,” she told The Times. “And I decided, I’m 92 and a half years old, I have lived a very, very rich life, a very happy life, and I didn’t want to torture myself anymore.”

BRUCE DEGEN had trouble paying attention in school until a teacher let him paint at an easel during class and be quizzed on spelling orally at the same time. He studied art in college, and worked as a librarian, art teacher and freelance illustrator before teaming up with Joanna Cole to create “The Magic School Bus” children’s books. Together, they invented the fictional Ms. Frizzle, who it seems could drive her school bus anywhere — the sun, the clouds, your small intestine — to help kids learn about science. The New York Times credited the series as “the freshest, most amusing approach to science for children”; called Ms. Frizzle “the world’s best-loved weird science teacher”; and estimated that “at one time or another practically every child encounters ‘The Magic School Bus.’” He was 79.

“Effective immediately and until further notice, no search warrants, or planned seizures or other high profile law enforcement initiatives can occur without prior discussion with, and approval from, the DEC interim commissioner and general counsel.”
— Acting New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Sean Mahar, in a directive to staff following a raid that resulted in the seizure and deaths of the internet-famous P’Nut the squirrel and Fred the raccoon. The DEC is facing more questions in the wake of reporting that officers seized an illegal weapon during the raid but haven’t filed charges.

“If they are real fans and love me, I think they should come to the game and really be a part of this thing, not just send 30 people to this game. I’m disappointed in my fan base here. I’m home, and it’s supposed to be home. Prove it. This is ridiculous. I’m the one coach that’s from this place, and this is the respect we get here?”
— Syracuse women’s basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack, an All-America player for the Orange, ripping the lack of fan support for her team after a 73-70 home loss this week to the University at Albany.

A FAN FOR LIFE: The University of Colorado honored a longtime football season ticket holder on her 100^th birthday with a sold-out stadium singing Happy Birthday, and coach Deion Sanders arranged a special line of apparel for the occasion. “This is a wonderful day,” Sanders said at his weekly news conference, where he was seated next to the honoree, Peggy Coppom. “It’s amazing that God would find two people from two different walks of life, two different generations and bring them together as he has. She’s always greeted me with love, compassion, support, stability, and hope. I’m thankful to be celebrating her 100th with her.”
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The Facing Out team will take a break next week and return on December 7. We wish you all a happy and fulfilling Thanksgiving. We are especially grateful for our loyal readers and contributors.

Some of the linked material in Facing Out requires a subscription to read.

Principal Author: Bill Callen.

Contributors: Ryan Moore, John Brodt, Kristy Miller, Claire P. Tuttle, Nancie Battaglia and John Bulmer.

FACING OUT is what we do. We help companies, organizations and individuals work effectively with their most important external audiences – their customers, their shareholders, their communities, the government and the news media.  www.behancommunications.com

Facing Out features news and other nuggets that caught our eye, and that we thought might be of value to you, our friends and business associates. Some items are good news about our clients and friends, others are stories that we hope will leave you a bit more informed or entertained than you were five minutes ago. As always, we welcome your ideas and feedback. 

Let’s make it a conversation: mark.behan@behancom.com