Seattle News Bites: May 4, 2001

Today, we're going to start-off with an analysis of some things we found while watching the various local 5-5:30 AM news broadcasts.

Seems they had PLENTY of time for WEATHER every 5 minutes! And by the way, there isn't much going on weather-wise.

A negative unemployment report: April's unemployment rose 4.5% and jobs fell by 223,000. This is MUCH HIGER than analysts had expected, and comes on the heals of a triple-digit gain in the Dow 2 days ago (which was also MISSED) and a double-digit loss yesterday. Look for the markets to be sharply down today. On the positive side: some analysts believe this will push the Federal Reserve to further lower interest rates during its next meeting later this month.
Border Patrol Agents arrested 12 people yesterday, including the ringleader, for smuggling Ukrainian immigrants into the US via Mexico. They also netted over 200 of the illegal immigrants, which agents believe amount to roughly 10% of the actual number being smuggled.
A 13 year old boy, Nathan Brazille, is on trial in West Palm Beach, Fla. for murdering his English Teacher, Barry Greneau. Yesterday, jurors viewed a tape of the shooting. Nathan is being tried as an adult and if convicted, faces life in prison. Defense attorneys argue that the shooting was accidental and say Nathan didn't mean to kill his teacher. In fact, they argue he liked him.
Record heatwave hits the Northeast for the 2nd or 3rd day in a row! Expect 91 in Philadelphia and 88 in NYC today, but tomorrow, things cool off quite a bit to the mid 60's.
In Denver, it's December! While the rest of the country is enjoying May, Denver and surrounding areas like Lakewood got SNOW and up to 80 MPH WINDS!
Violence flares up again in Macedonia where rebels are using approximately 2000 women and children as "human shields."