Weekend Digest: The Howdy Doody Looking Nimrod Edition

TV PREVIEW: LAW AND ORDER
On this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, which airs Sundays at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7, tune in for the following:

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge joins us to discuss the death penalty. Lethal injections are deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court in a ruling expected to jump start state executions after nearly a decade of pause. What happens next? Plus, Rutledge has fulfilled her campaign promise to push back on the EPA on air pollution, water quality and energy regulation. Rutledge discusses her latest efforts.

Our political roundtable looks back at this last week of activity. As the budget process gets moving, what legislation still needs to move? Is the term limits extension changing the capitol dynamic? And could we go without changes to the state constitution? Jessica DeLoach Sabin, John Burris and Bradley Phillips are part of our political roundtable.

South by Southwest. It’s not an airline. It’s a tech, music and film festival that just wrapped up its annual affairs in Austin. Stone Ward’s Emily Reeves Dean is on set to talk about what social media app you may be talking about next.

Tune in Sunday for Talk Business & Politics at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7.

For our weekend business and political readers:

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST OIL AND GAS COMPANIES
Forbes says, “Big Oil is in a panic.” And its not because of a shortage of petroleum. It says the “the world finds itself swimming in too much oil.”

The global price of crude has fallen further and faster than anyone could have predicted. At $43 a barrel oil is down about 70% from June 2014. Record oil supplies have outstripped demand, and now storage tanks are filling up. By June, we might just run out of room to stick all this crude. If that happens $43 a barrel might look great compared with how far oil prices could fall.

With that in mind, Forbes pulls together its annual list of the world’s biggest oil & gas companies. If you think an American company heads that list, you’re in for surprise.

Click on this link for an eye-opening look at the world’s biggest oil and gas companies.

EMBRACING INTRAPRENEURSHIP
How can a large company prosper? Embrace innovation from within, says Entrepreneur.

It’s called “intrapreneurship.”

It has been well-documented that big companies typically struggle with innovation. Once companies get to a certain size, their investors become more conservative, their leaders less entrepreneurial and their employees less willing to stick their necks out with “out-of-the-box” ideas that may not work out, resulting in them losing their jobs. Without innovation, companies get too “comfortable” with their past successes, and eventually go out of business (see Woolworth, Montgomery Ward, Borders, Blockbuster, American Motors, Pan Am).

For a look at “some of the best products and businesses that were born out of intrapreneurship inside a big company” and how a culture of intrapreneurship can be created, go to this link.

THE WORLD’S MOST INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
That sounds like that could be a tall-order, searching-the-globe quest. But actually it isn’t, as the top winners were chosen recently with the seventh annual SXSW Accelerator startup competition held in Austin.

The event offered prizes in categories that represent several different tech verticals, many of them sponsored by major brands, and other commendations in the startup space.

Want to see what innovations smart startup companies like Slantrange, Tinitell and RealSavvy have produced? Find out here.

HOW DO YOU CLEAN A POLLUTED CITY BLOCK?
How about a five-story building with a mini-forest suspended in air? No kidding. Fast Company found it in Turin, Italy.

Walking down a certain city block in Turin, Italy, you won’t see any trees lining the sidewalk. Instead, they’re suspended in the air: A new five-story apartment building called 25 Verde is covered with 150 trees, each surrounded by custom-shaped terraces. It’s the apartment building version of a treehouse.

So how much pollution do these trees absorb “in one of Europe’s most polluted cities?” And why do the trees have more room to grow with this design?

Take a peek at this link.

10 FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM C-SPAN, INCLUDING HOWDY DOODY
Our venerable old friend C-Span turned 36 this past week and to celebrate the anniversary The Washington Post has collected its “10 Favorite Moments” from over the years on C-Span’s airwaves.

On March 19, 1979 C-SPAN cameras went live in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives. Since then has the network been a forerunner for trust in government? Naah.

In the three-plus decades since C-SPAN began airing House proceedings – it got access to the Senate in 1986 – trust in and approval of government has tanked.

Of course, we can’t blame C-SPAN for that one. The truth of the matter is that C-SPAN has done – and continues to do – a massive public service for anyone interested in seeing up close how their government works. Yes, much of the time the hearings and even floor speeches and votes that the network covers religiously are rote and boring. But, the very fact that the C-SPAN is just always there is what makes it so terrific.

And for those “10 Favorite Moments”, all we can say is they are definitely not boring, especially No. 9 from former Arkansas Congressman Marion Berry in which he calls another House member a “Howdy Doody looking nimrod.” A near free-for-all ensues.

Watch for yourself at this link.

JEB BUSH AND HIS MEXICAN FATHER-IN-LAW
Politico dives into the story of Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush’s father-in-law, who may or may not have abandoned his family in the U.S.

Jeb Bush often mentions his wife’s family, how he fell in love with her in nearby León, and her immigrant challenges coming to the United States.

Only rarely — and critically — do the likely front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination or his aides mention his wife’s father, José Maria Garnica Rodríguez.

Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell reiterated Tuesday that Columba Bush’s father abandoned his family. “Mrs. Bush did not have a relationship with her father after he left her mother and their family when Mrs. Bush was just a young teenager,” she said. And published accounts, including one in The New York Times recently, largely have taken that line, calling him a migrant worker and non-presence in his daughter’s life.

But Rodriquez’s relatives in Mexico say that’s not true?

What is their story and what do those relatives say about why Columba Bush didn’t speak to her father for 40 years before he died?

For the full story, click here.

SHAKEUP AT MSNBC
With ratings plunging, Politico reports that, “In a memo to staff in December, MSNBC President Phil Griffin conceded that the network is suffering.”

“It’s no secret that 2014 was a difficult year for the entire cable news industry and especially for MSNBC,” he wrote.

But change was coming, Griffin promised, with “more announcements in the New Year.” The extent of that change could be vast: In the months ahead, MSNBC is likely to shake up the bulk of its programming, moving some shows and canceling others, high-level sources at NBCUniversal told POLITICO.

What will happen and whose shows will be a risk? Details here.

NEW WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
In fact, former Facebook engineer David Recordon will be the White House’s first-ever Director of Information Technology reports Fast Company.

Barack Obama is conducting a raid on Silicon Valley. No, it’s not a paranoid talk radio conspiracy theory. It’s real life: The White House has been snatching up some of the tech industry’s top talent to beef up the government’s tech game. The latest to get lured to Washington? One of Facebook’s top engineers.

Why and what will Recordon’s role be especially in light of the disastrous rollout of Healthcare.gov?

Connect here for the complete story.

ROOTING FOR THE UNDERDOGS
With March Madness underway, it renews our focus on “rooting for the underdogs.”

But why do we feel compelled to pull for those upsets? Vox surveys a plethora of psychological research on the subject and quantifies some conclusions.

Read more here.

A STEVIE WONDER LOVE STORY
A musical one that is. The Wall Street Journal has posted an intriguing piece on the “story behind the opening track of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ album, ‘Love’s in Need of Love Today’.”

“Songs” defied the naysayers. The album quickly reached No. 1, where it stayed for 13 weeks, remaining on the chart for 80 weeks in all. This week, Mr. Wonder is launching the second North American leg of his “Songs in the Key of Life” tour in Denver, then visiting several other Midwestern and Eastern cities before wrapping it up April 12 in New York. He performs “Songs” in its entirety and the album recently returned to the chart at No. 48.

“Last week, Mr. Wonder, 64, reflected on writing and recording the album’s opening song, ‘Love’s in Need of Love Today’.”

Enjoy at this link.

BRAND-NAME MENTIONS IN SONGS ARE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH
And why is that? USA Today reports it’s “probably driven by musicians’ efforts to stay profitable in a market fragmented by Internet radio, iTunes and digital downloads.”

“Artists have to make that delineation of how far they will go, but you can’t blame them, considering the amount of money on the table,” said Storm Gloor, an associate professor of music business at the university’s College of Arts & Media. “It’s certainly more accepted than it used to be.”

How much are placements like that worth and what are the most common references?

“Spin” to this link to learn more.