The Week: What Caught Our Eye

May 6, 2023

A spring day casts a purple haze at Sage Park on the campus of Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y. John Bulmer

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

A royal weekend is upon us.

Resplendent in color, overflowing with pomp, there will be gilded carriages and roses, trumpets and bugles, and robed Royals by the score. Plus, processions, of course. Two important ones. The first from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, the other from the paddock to the starting gate at Churchill Downs. In the Windsor circle, Charles and Camilla will be aglow in the spotlight first (live TV coverage of the coronation began at 6 a.m. Saturday). The Kentucky Derby is set to begin at 6:57 p.m. tonight.

At Churchill Downs, Forte, Tapit Trice and Angel of Empire are favored. It’s more difficult to say who actually favors Charles and Camilla. But these Sports of Kings are rare spectacles to behold.

Royalty and Charles fatigue notwithstanding, 300 million people are expected to watch global TV coverage of the coronation, 16 million the Derby. (Speaking of which, has it really been 50 years since Secretariat dominated the sport like none other before or since?)

SUBWAY DEATH: Sometimes an incident makes the news and becomes an instant flashpoint in our seemingly endless culture war. That certainly feels like the case with Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Michael Jackson impersonator who was choked to death this week on a New York City subway, an incident that naturally was recorded a bystander’s phone. Was Neely an aggressive and dangerous man who was neutralized by a brave and selfless bystander who risked his own safety to protect himself and others, or a mentally ill man who needed help and was perceived as dangerous because he was Black? The incident is stirring memories of 1984, when Bernard Goetz, a white man, shot four Black teenagers who allegedly were trying to rob him on the subway. Prosecutors are considering whether to charge the Marine veteran who choked Neely.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: You had to know having Antonio Brown as an owner would spice things up for the Albany Empire, the minor league indoor football team that plays to a loyal following in a downtown arena and puts a successful product on the field, having won back-to-back league championships. We should say up front that it’s hilariously uncertain whether he even owns the team, with the Albany Times Union following each twist and turn in this silly saga. TMZ is on the case, and a national football writer couldn’t help but notice. The head coach and several players quit after not getting paid, and the Albany police were called to the team hotel in the chaos after players were locked out of their rooms. The old head coach returned, though who knows to what. Brown evidently plans to say awhile — he is said to be negotiating to buy the so-called Palazzo Riggi, a landmark mansion in Saratoga Springs.

TOP PLACES: USA Today readers have chosen the Saratoga Corinth and Hudson Railway in upstate New York as one of the 10 best train rides in America, alongside similar rides in California, New Mexico and Colorado. The Saratoga Corinth operation travels along the edge of the Adirondacks, with picnic table seating on an open-air flatbed car as well as first-class and coach seating inside. The train is pulled by a restored locomotive manufactured by the Schenectady-based American Locomotive Company in 1947. Meanwhile, the blog “A-Z Animals” has declared Lake George the cleanest lake in America, though it did not make USA Today’s list of top 10 summer destinations which was topped by Mackinac Island in Michigan. If you’re looking for a unique experience, a working farm in the Hudson Valley with 65 freestanding cabins and cottages has been named one of the 100 best new hotels in the world. Travel + Leisure loved the setting and the vibe at Wildflower Farms in Gardinier: 140 acres of flower-filled fields, cozy cabins with floor-to-ceiling windows and private patios, a spa, pool, boutique, and a restaurant called Clay.

ADVERTISING WORKS: Mark Weiner needed a new kidney because he’d lost both of his to cancer. Where better to find a donor than Times Square? His giant billboard ad worked.

ASK THE SOPRANOS: Lots of things get dumped in the woods along waterways in New Jersey: Bed frames, barrels, bodies. But this week’s discovery of hundreds of pounds of cooked pasta along a stream near Trenton has a lot of people noodling.

WHITE GOLD: New York State’s ski centers and its Olympic facilities in the Adirondack region had a huge year, setting a record with more than 1 million visits. The ski centers at Gore, Belleayre and Whiteface attracted most of the visitors, but a ski jumping competition at the Olympic Regional Development Authority facilities in Lake Placid, a major hockey tournament and collegiate Olympic-style games added to the big crowds.

THAT WAS FAST: Last week, we told you about the political hit on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top advisor, with The New York Times granting anonymity to 15 people to take shots at Adam Sullivan, questioning both his political acumen and his treatment of others. We regret not adding the line, expect him to develop a sudden interest in spending more time with his family, because that obviously was going to be the outcome. Sure enough, Sullivan quit, apologizing and citing “the toll that the campaign took on me” in an email to colleagues. And that was just the beginning.

MUSICAL SOUL: Jason DeFord is a former drug user and dealer, first arrested when he was 14. He spent the next decade in and out of juvenile centers and prison for aggravated robbery and possession with intent to sell. Now, he’s a music sensation, writing songs both honest and therapeutic, literal cries for help from the dark side, the latest of which is a plea to God for a favor. Meet Jelly Roll, the winningest artist at the recent Country Music Association awards.

BENEFICIAL AI: The news lately has been full of cautionary tales about the power of artificial intelligence systems with astonishing capabilities, and the threats posed to everything from the world economy to our collective human psyche. So it’s refreshing to learn that AI has helped one large company measurably improve the performance of its less-experienced employees — working in support of, not instead of, those employees — and that it is being used to help the visually impaired navigate the world by giving them an audio description of what they are facing.

The hills are alive with hikers, as seen on Knob Lock Mountain in Keene, N.Y. That’s Lake Champlain in the distance. Nancie Battaglia

SEAFOOD FEAST: If you’re one of those folks who sees animals on film and wonders, how would I eat that, wonder no more, at least when it comes to the cast of “The Little Mermaid.” Vulture.com’s take: “Because these new versions of the characters deserve death and possess no souls, we take inspiration from (Chef) Louis and decide how we would eat them if given the chance.”

BRAIN DIET: It’s hardly news that eating highly processed foods increases our risk for obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Now, it’s becoming clearer that these foods increase the risk for depression and anxiety, too. Experts are promoting the MIND diet to slow cognitive decline aging with grains, fish, vegetables, nuts, berries, legumes and olive oil.

BLURRY OUTCOMES? Lasik has helped millions of near-sighted people see more clearly without glasses or contacts and is generally accepted as a safe alternative, but one of the earliest champions of Lasik, a retired FDA adviser who voted to approve it in the 1990s, now says he regrets his decision, citing risks and complications that he says the industry disingenuously downplays. Last year, the FDA released draft guidance telling doctors that prospective patients should be warned they might be left with double vision, dry eyes, difficulty driving at night, and persistent eye pain. “After 30 years, the FDA has finally decided that maybe they should require refractive surgeons and manufacturers to tell their customers a little more about the downsides of Lasik,” Dr. Morris Waxler told The Guardian. “If surgeons told people of all of the possibilities of getting complications, they wouldn’t have any customers.”

POWER PLAY: A $1.5 billion power plant under construction in Texas will utilize hydrogen as well as natural gas to spin its turbines and generate carbon-free emissions, the success of which is thought to be critical in power plant requirements under consideration by the Biden administration (and certain to be challenged in court). New emissions limits coming from the U.S. Environmental Protection are so stringent, gas- and coal-burning power plants would need carbon-capture or hydrogen technology to comply, The Washington Post and others have reported.

FAREWELL, LOUIE: Staff at the Wild Center, a museum of the outdoors in Tupper Lake, N.Y., announced the passing of one of their favorite residents this week. Louie, a North American otter who called Wild Center home since 2006, was 21. A post on the Wild Center’s Instagram reads, “We’re sad, but this was not unexpected. Louie was over 21 years old, meaning he was considered ‘geriatric’ and lived an incredibly full life. Most of his wild counterparts only reach 10 to 12 years old.” Louie was one of five otters at the museum in the western Adirondack Park. “Louie will be remembered for his easy-going personality and good nature. He loved any and all kinds of food — even things that typically aren’t favorites of our otters. In the fall, animal care staff give our otters carved pumpkins for enrichment. They would have to ration out the amount of pumpkin they could give Louie in particular — he loved it so much that he would eat it until he was sick. When we wasn’t munching on snacks, Louie loved being with our other otters. He got along well with all of them, and spent his days swimming, wrestling, and cuddling with his otter friends. His personality made him a steady companion to the other otters and a favorite of The Wild Center’s animal care staff, veterinarians, and visitors.”

A WHOLE NEW LOOK AT LAKE GEORGE: Lake George TV debuted this week. It’s a new video streaming channel (think Netflix) offering a glimpse of all things Lake George and Warren County. Thus far, videos of more than 200 hotels, restaurants, stores, festivals and attractions have been posted in a well-organized, visitor-friendly format. The project is funded by the occupancy tax revenues Warren County collects from visitors and so it is free for visitor- and tourism-related business owners and organizations to share their videos. LakeGeorge.TV is available for free on all digital devices, including smart televisions, mobile devices, web browsers and streaming players such as Apple TV, iOS/Android and Roku. It is the brainchild of Look TV’s Jesse Jackson and his team.

LIVES

GORDON LIGHTFOOT sang in the church choir, on local radio stations, in Kiwanis contests and barbershop quartets. While in high school, he wrote his first song, about a kid who was afraid he would lose his job, “’cause I’m hula-hula-hoopin’ all the time.” It was a flop. Over the next 70 years, he became one of the most popular singer-songwriters of his time. His work was recorded by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash, the Grateful Dead, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Buffett, and Lightfoot himself had hits such as “If You Could Read My Mind” and the haunting “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” a ballad about a maritime disaster on Lake Superior. He was, as the Canadian writer Jack Batten put it, “journalist, poet, historian, humorist, short-story teller and folksy recollector of bygone days.” Perhaps the highest compliment came from Dylan, who said: “I can’t think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don’t like. Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.” He was 84.

TORI BOWIE rose from a challenging childhood in Mississippi to become one of the most celebrated track athletes of her generation, helping the U.S. win a gold medal in the 100-meter relay at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where won silver in the 100-meter sprint and bronze in the 200-meter. She won the 100-meter race at the IAAF World Championships the next year, while also helping the U.S. retain gold in the 100-meter relay. She quickly established herself as a star after switching from basketball in high school, and became a three-time All-American at the University of Southern Mississippi. No cause was announced for her death, at 32.

ALMOST FINAL WORDS

“Why are you doing this to me?”
—    One of six common phrases that let you know you’re dealing with a narcissist, according to psychologist Ramani Durvasula, who also offers helpful hints for response.

THE SIGNOFF

DUMPSTER FEAR: An elementary school principal in West Virginia got his week off to a hairy start when he was unlocking the dumpster out back and an enormous black bear popped out. The school had started locking the dumpster to keep the bear from foraging, but it was strong enough to bend the lock bar. The two ran in opposite directions, and the principal will never lack for small talk.

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Principal Author: Bill Callen. 

Sincere Thanks to Contributors: Ryan Moore, John Brodt, Lisa Fenwick, Leigh Hornbeck, Troy Burns, Tara Hutchins, Claire P. Tuttle, John Bulmer, and Nancie Battaglia.

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