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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 14, 2013
May 14, 2013
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Sample content intended for show prep.
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Gay Marriage:
Today, Minnesota will become the 12th state in the nation to legalize gay marriage.
The bill passed in the Minnesota House last week, the Minnesota Senate yesterday (by a 37-30 vote), and Gov MARK DRAYTON is expected to sign the bill today. The law takes effect Aug 01.
This also makes Minnesota "the third state this month to legalize gay marriage after Rhode Island and Delaware." Minnesota also joins Iowa as the only two Midwestern states to approve same-sex marriage --for now.
In yesterday's voting, one senator implored, "It will hurt businesses and confuse children ... more than any issue since the Civil War. We must not pass this bill." (Maiman)Fashion Emergency:
Do people like BEYONCE better as a blonde? A new study between two of her ads for H&M says yes. Racked.com says the study compared two of her H&M ads, then measured how much of an impression she made on consumers. In one, Bey's hair is blonde and she's in a bikini. In the other, her hair is much darker, and she's wearing a clingy wet dress.
The ad featuring Beyonce as a blonde scored significantly better with consumers. The outfit that conducted the study, AceMetrix, said 16% of consumers mentioned the singer by name. In the other ad. Only seven percent mentioned her by name. Their conclusion: Blonde Beyonce makes better advertising.
Editor's note: And we're sure that bikini did nothing to skew the results. (Bartha)Driver's Ed:
If you're too drunk to drive, you're probably too drunk to ride a horse.
Case in point: 43-year-old DAWNALEE ELLIS-PETERSON of Billings, Montana. Cops say they encountered Dawnalee twice in the same night. The first time, she was allegedly "extremely intoxicated" on horseback. Cops gave her a warning. But, a while later, they allegedly caught her behind the wheel of a car. The second time she was charged with a felony D-U-I.
Dawnalee has had several brushes with local law enforcement. Cops say she was arrested in 2004 for disorderly conduct while riding a horse partially clothed while drinking malt liquor. (Still)Grace notes:
Remember, when you got on an airplane, no cell phones, no weapons, and, most importantly, NO SINGING! The Kansas City Star says an American Airlines flight headed from Los Angeles to New York on Thursday had to make an emergency landing at Kansas City International Airport. A woman was disrupting the flight... by belting out WHITNEY HOUSTON's "I Will Always Love You," as loud as she could. When the flight crew could not get her to stop, a federal air marshal put the woman in cuffs, then removed her from the plane.
Even in handcuffs she continued to belt the song out.
Officials spoke to her, then let her go. The woman claimed she was diabetic and that's what caused the musical outburst. But, American Airlines refused to put her on another flight, so she had to find her own way to her final destination.
Despite the flight crews' insistence that nobody record her being taken off the plane, a sneaky passenger was able to get some footage, and yeah, you can hear her singing. (video)
Editor's note: Good thing the Kansas City Airport is small. All of the airlines are in one terminal. (Marino)
--Sheesh, everybody's a critic.
--I like how the flight attendant says, "No photos are allowed to be taken on the aircraft." Shut up. It's not a state secret, it's a commercial airliner.
--Wait'll the record industry finds out she committed a couple dozen public performances without paying a dime in royalties. (Maiman)Look what I found:
Historians have discovered what is believed to be the world's first ever playground swing set.
Photos of the crude swing were recently unearthed in the U-K. It was built 90-years ago without sand or any other soft surface below it --just hard ground (ouch!).
The pictures show kids and grown-ups swinging dangerously high, on long ropes suspended from metal poles. The equipment is believed to have been constructed in 1923 by park owner CHARLES WICKSTEED. (Still) -
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