Bob Collins1) THE UNHAPPY SURVEY
What’s the profile of an unhappy person in the office and at home? She’s a 42-year-old, unmarried woman with a household income under $100,000, working in a professional position such as a doctor or a lawyer, a new survey reports.
The survey of white-collar workers finds women across all demographics are 33 percent unhappier than their male counterparts. When it comes to extreme happiness, men are consistently happier than women, the survey showed. The higher up the economic totem pole you climb, the better it gets for women, but a disparity exists there as well, LiveScience.com reported.
I’d have guessed the unhappiest would be the one who’s still working, but has been told his/her job is being eliminated.
2) ADDING JOBS
You don’t hear a lot of news about companies expanding in Minnesota. Coincidentally, there are two today.
In Eden Prairie, the state is giving a $500,000 loan to Emerson Electric that the company does not have to pay back. In exchange, the company will expand and add 100 jobs.
In Otter Tail County, the Brunswick Corporation has announced it’s expanding its manufacturing facility that makes Lund boats in New York Mills.
President Obama gives his long-awaited speech on a jobs program tonight.You can hear it on MPR, of course.
Somewhat related: Wired.com presents 10 jobs that didn’t exist on September 20, 2001.
3) FAITH AND 9/11
To be honest with you, I’d hoped for more from last night’s Frontline documentary on faith and 9/11. It was 15 minutes of video of people jumping to their deaths before we heard how people reconciled their faith in God with 9/11. The imagery distracted from the intellectual. Better to begin with “chapter 3…”
Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.
The CBC chose a different path, focusing instead on one religion: Islam. It has put together a compelling website with 10 Canadian Muslims. Unfortunately, it couldn’t resist opening with images of jets hitting the World Trade Center, either.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is banning clergy-led prayer at this weekend’s events marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Some religious groups are calling the ban a sign of prejudice against religion, NPR reports.
4) THE LIFE OF THE TOW TRUCK DRIVER
“I have one impediment to making money at this job,” Gopher Towing’s Gene Buell tells the U Daily today, “and that’s that I have a conscience.”
With the kids returning to the U, you’d think times would be good for a towing company. But the recession has hurt.
“The biggest thing is trying to be nice to people when they’re not nice to us,” he said. “We treat everybody nice no matter what they call us.”
5) MAGICAL BILLBOARDS
NewsCut loves stories about billboards, you know. The Quebec City Magic Festival came up with this billboard, but in the spirit of most magicians, the organizers refuse to say how it was done.
TODAY’S QUESTION
Republican presidential candidates held a televised debate last night. It was their first debate since Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined the race for the Republican nomination. Today’s Question: What’s your reaction to last night’s GOP debate?
Last night, by the way, Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed gas was below $2 a gallon when President Obama took office. She was wrong last night, she was wrong last January when I first wrote about it. What do presidents have to do with gasoline prices? Not much.
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) – First hour: President Obama reveals his jobs plan tonight before a joint session of Congress, but will it be bold enough to make any dent in the unemployment rate?
Second hour: What the recent release of thousands of pages of oral histories, phone logs and radio transmission from 9/11 tells us.
Midday (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) – First hour: former VP Walter Mondale.
Second hour: Rebroadcast of the GOP presidential debate.
Talk of the Nation (1-3 p.m.) – First hour: The jobs plans.
Second hour: The future of the National Football League.
All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) – A section of West Virginia’s mountain wilderness is being transformed for the arrival of tens of thousands of guests. Boy Scouts from around the country and the world will converge on what’s to become a super-camp. And it’s expected to provide an economic lifeline to an area in need. NPR will have the story.
Fed chair Ben Bernanke is giving a speech today in Minneapolis. MPR’s Annie Baxter will be there.
Laura Yuen will report on what it’s like to be a Muslim in Minnesota.
