Facing Out: The Week’s Most Interesting News

May 3, 2025

To those who say Journalism is dead, we say, how can that be? He’s the morning line betting favorite for today’s 151^st running of the Kentucky Derby, the start of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown season. Skip Dickstein

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

This week marked 50 years since the war America cannot forget ended chaotically in Vietnam, with a horrific toll: 58,000 American lives and 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians.

Vietnam veterans still live with the searing experience every day, and many Americans who never saw action live with a burning distrust of government, political leaders and the media from years of documented deceptions, corruption and incompetence. The New York Times once called it “the war that killed trust.”

From the nightly news, we recognized Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) as the headquarters for U.S. military operations but knew little of its rich 300-year history, its ornate temples and pagodas, delicious street food, mix of Asian and French influences, stunning architecture, and lush landscapes. U.S. investment in and trade with Vietnam has grown dramatically in the last 20 years and Vietnam has become one of Southeast Asia's most popular tourist destinations. This year it expects a surge of foreign visitors.

Many Americans today are protesting war in a distant land, but as different as the circumstances are, a reporter who was there for the Vietnam protests sees a lot of similarities between activists then and the activists today who take exception to the Israel-Hamas War.

KINDNESS PAYS: Za’Myah Ellis has, her mother said, “always been the giving type.” These days, she finances her philanthropy in nickels and dimes, collecting cans and bottles she redeems for cash to purchase gifts and supplies for people in need. “I love helping others. It makes me feel good,” Ellis, a 19-year-old who was born with Down syndrome and lives in Troy, N.Y., told the Albany Times Union. Her donations include track shoes for a teen athlete who couldn’t afford them, bats for the Troy Central Little League and a back-to-school shopping spree for a single mother and her three sons.

PAPAL CANDIDATE: A cardinal from Ghana, with ties to New York’s Capital Region, is rumored to be among the potential candidates to be elected pope. The Rev. Peter Turkson studied at St. Anthony on Hudson seminary in Rensselaer and earned two master’s degrees while also counseling young people. During the 2013 conclave, Turkson was mentioned as a potential successor to Pope Benedict XVI, although his fellow cardinals ultimately chose Pope Francis. In turn, Pope Francis appointed Turkson to top Vatican jobs, including leader of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and of Social Sciences. His fluency in several languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Latin, and Hebrew, along with his deep cross-cultural awareness, are said to enhance his qualifications as a papal candidate. The conclave to choose Francis’ successor is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

FAMILY FUN: Readers of the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union have become familiar over the past two decades with the byline of Larry Rulison, a business reporter best known for his dogged coverage in the aftermath of a horrific limousine crash that killed 20 people. Fans of Family Feud will get to see another side of Rulison next week when he, his three brothers and a sister-in-law make an appearance on the show, fulfilling what Rulison calls “my childhood dream.” The episode airs Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. on WRGB (Channel 6) in Albany.

PAINFUL SPLIT: Nearly 30 years has passed, and still David Kaczynski of Schenectady, N.Y., wrestles with a decision that changed his family forever. The country at the time was gripped by the saga of the Unabomber, who, over nearly 20 years, killed three people and injured 23 others with mail bombs that he sent primarily to university professors, and had published a 35,000-word manifesto laying out his views on technology and society. David Kaczynski recognized the writing as potentially his brother’s and told the FBI, who arrested Theodore Kaczynski at his cabin in Montana. David Kaczynski spent the remainder of his brother’s life attempting to reconnect, to explain his decision. Theodore Kaczynski wasn’t interested. The brothers never spoke again after his arrest.

ANGRY BIRD: Residents of a seaside town northeast of Boston are dealing with an aggressive woodpecker that one bird expert said might be “a little stupid.” Evidently concerned that rivals may be invading his territory during the mating season, the pileated woodpecker — the size of a crow and known for its prominent red crest — has broken more than two dozen side mirrors and at least one vehicle window by hammering them with his beak. “Lots of birds will be aggressive against reflections in mirrors, but I don’t usually hear about woodpeckers,” Pamela Hunt, a senior biologist for avian conservation at the New Hampshire Audubon, told The Associated Press. “They don’t usually peck at their opponents, they kind of chase them around.”

For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils — William Wordsworth. Nancie Battaglia

GAMING THE SYSTEM: The lottery jackpots keep climbing. $50 million. $100 million. $200 million. At some point, you start to wonder, how many tickets would I need to guarantee a slice of that, and man, wouldn’t it be nice to afford that. That’s pretty much what John Wilson has figured out. Over the years, Wilson and his partners have won hundreds of millions of dollars by applying analytics to betting opportunities around the world, betting an estimated $10 billion annually, The Wall Street Journal reports. One such gambit resulted in a $57.8 million payoff from the Texas lottery. State officials are not happy, with the lieutenant governor calling it “the biggest theft from the people of Texas in the history of Texas.”

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS: Akeel Abdul Jamiel is 45 years old and a citizen of Iraq, but somehow he voted in South Glens Falls, N.Y., in the 2020 presidential election. The Justice Department, in announcing Jamiel’s indictment this week, said he had lived in the United States since 2005. Justice credited the Department of Government Efficiency for helping identify Jamiel. DOGE said in a social media post: “This individual was also previously arrested for first-degree assault and was receiving federal benefits.” Local news reports and court filings by Jamiel indicate he was charged with first-degree assault in a 2017 shooting in Monticello, N.Y., and was held in the Sullivan County Jail. He sued the county sheriff and several members of the jail staff, alleging they abused him.

A PASSION TO PROTECT: Patrick Freaney was a junior in high school when his mom was attacked by a violent robber. She was punched in the face. Her foot was shattered. The life of the entire family was changed. The perpetrator got away, but the violent assault instilled in Freaney a lifelong desire to protect people. After college at Siena, he joined the New York State Police, then the Secret Service where he protected President Obama. He’s now the Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, responsible for protecting the president and other senior U.S. officials and their families when they are in New York as well as the 140 world leaders who gather during the U.N. General Assembly.

HISTORY IN FLAMES: A fire that officials say was started by a 17-year-old destroyed an abandoned glove manufacturing building and two nearby businesses in Gloversville, N.Y. Parts of the four-story manufacturing building, built in the early 1900s and once the largest glove maker in the world, collapsed during the blaze. The fire also destroyed Adirondack Exotics, killing all the animals inside.

WINERIES ON ALERT: The spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect that feeds on grapevines, fruit trees and hardwoods, has been discovered in New York’s Finger Lakes region, the center of the state’s $6.65 billion wine industry.

THRILL RIDES: The three-day UCI Mountain Bike World Series will return to Lake Placid, N.Y., in early October, featuring men’s and women’s races in both endurance and gravity disciplines. Events will take place at Mount Van Hoevenberg and Whiteface Mountain.

EASING ALLERGIES: Researchers in London are reporting success in a clinical trial to determine whether adults with peanut allergies can be desensitized through the gradual introduction of peanut derivatives to their diet. Results showed that, over time, 67% of participants were able to consume at least the equivalent of five peanuts without reacting.

GLAD TO HELP: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on social media last week that his company has spent “tens of millions” in electricity costs as a result of users saying “please” and “thank you” to chatbots, which return the courteous behavior. Researchers found that about two-thirds of American users are polite when using generative AI.

PLANE OVERBOARD: A $70 million fighter jet rolled off the side of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman this week and sank in the Red Sea. The Truman is deployed to protect commercial ships from attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

FOR PETE’S SAKE: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week he had dismantled a “woke” Defense Department program supporting women on security teams — a program that received bipartisan approval and was signed into law by President Trump during his first term.

DONNA STICKNEY was driving home with a friend from SUNY Plattsburgh when they spotted a fellow student hitchhiking. They picked him up, and Donna went on to marry Steve Sutton. In those early ’70s days, Donna was planning to teach elementary school. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees but, as much as she loved the classroom and the kids, she and Steve chose a different path. They put their combined energy into Sutton’s Farm Market, a startup that Steve and his dad had launched on Route 9 in Queensbury, N.Y. Sutton’s was a modest but promising combination of fruit and vegetable stand and bakery. Over the years, Steve and Donna turned it into one of the Capital Region’s top shopping destinations with two restaurants, fashions, home décor and design, toys, books, art, gifts and a greenhouse. In fact, it became so prominent that one of its former employees appeared in television commercials to promote its cider donuts and grilled raisin bread: Rachael Ray. Steve Sutton died of cancer at 52 in 2005. Donna was 75.

“She’s jealous of my car. I told her she could have a nice one too if she worked hard and cut spending, but she pointed out she’s a Democrat and can’t do either.”
— Michigan State Rep. Rep. Matt Maddock after a colleague cling-wrapped his BMW over a parking dispute, for which the colleague lost speaking privileges in the House chamber.

LONG WAY HOME: A Yorkshire Terrier who had run away from his home in Louisiana five years ago was reunited with his ecstatic owner after showing up at a Mississippi fraternity house and being cared for by its members, who learned of his ownership when a local veterinarian scanned his microchip. On the other side of the world, an 8-pound miniature dachshund is headed back home after 529 days wandering on Australia’s Kangaroo Island, where authorities speculate she subsisted on road kill and dam water.

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Principal Author: Bill Callen

Contributors: Mark Behan, Ryan Moore, Kristy Miller, Jim Murphy, Amanda Metzger, Nancie Battaglia and Skip Dickstein.

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