Someone Wasting Crystal Meth on Dogs in ChelseaChannel 2 has picked up on an upsetting trend at the Chelsea Dog Run — hounds getting high on a mystery drug that some are saying is crystal meth. We’re actually, astoundingly, not joking here. Three dogs have died and many more have fallen ill after consuming mystery substances while playing at the park on 22nd Street. The organization NYCdog has issued a warning to pet owners across the city. “After the first incident, it was believed to be an isolated case where an illicit drug may have fallen out of someone’s pocket,” a press release said. “But now, with nine reported cases, it appears to be the act of deliberate poisoning.” The Channel 2 report said that some owners even saw a stranger feed their dogs before they fell ill. Many will probably think that the obvious culprits — those damn meth-loving Chelsea gays — are behind this, but if there’s anything that gang treasures more than sleeveless tees, it’s puppies. We smell a setup!
Danger in the Dog Park: Is Someone Giving Your Pooch Drugs? [Channel 2]
in the magazine
Why Do New Yorkers Live Longer? Flavored, Sugared Water!New Yorkers live longer than other Americans, and in last week’s New York cover story, Clive Thompson tried to explain why. We walk more than most Americans, he pointed out, we climb more stairs than most Americans, and many fewer of us die young of onetime urban plagues like murder and AIDS. We have great hospitals and lots of healthy-eating options, and, as he noted, people who are ambitious and hard-working and appearance-focused can be just as Type-A about their health as about everything else. But leave it to a marketer to isolate the mysterious X factor, the key reason New Yorkers live longer than everyone else. It came in a press release this morning, and it’s beautiful in its simplicity: “Life Expectancy for New Yorkers Increases as Snapple Grows in Popularity.” Why didn’t Clive think of that? Oh, the press release was, of course, from Snapple.
in other news
New Katie Couric Unauthorized Bio Slings Mud, CurryKatie Couric just can’t get a break – the embattled CBS Evening News anchor doesn’t have to just struggle with sagging ratings, now she also has to deal with a new hatchet job by celebrity unauthorized biographer Ed Klein. The Daily News unearthed a few nuggets from Katie: The Real Story today, and it ain’t pretty. Klein claims (quoting, as always, anonymous sources) that Katie’s marriage to late husband Jay Monahan was basically over well before he succumbed to colon cancer in 1998 — and that she’s subsequently painted a happy portrait of their relationship to strategically position herself as a struggling widow. Not to butt in further, but relationships during illness are complicated, difficult, and private. This accusation seems like a low blow even for Klein, whose similar books about Hillary Clinton and the Kennedys were best-sellers. The author also claimed that Couric was jealous of co-presenter Ann Curry and tried to get in the way of her advancement. Which is funny, because we always thought the only thing getting in Curry’s way was her own inability to complete a sentence.
Talk About Katie Hatin’ [NYDN]
Related: Alas Poor Couric [NYM]
party lines
Big Pussy Wants to Send a Little Pussy to SchoolSimply airing TV commercials featuring an insidiously catchy jingle is apparently no longer an adequate way to sell cat food, and so the Meow Mix people yesterday opened the “Meow Mix Acatemy” (Get it? A-cat-emy? Hilarious) in the Daryl Roth Theater on Union Square. For the next week, New Yorkers will be invited to “learn to think like a cat” by taking seminars with titles like “Feline Freud,” “Understanding Your Cat’s Meow,” and “What Is My Cat Doing and Why.” For the opening-night festivities last night, a fifteen-piece marching band from St. John’s University played that dastardly tune, accompanied by cheerleaders chanting “LETS GO COOL CATS!”
company town
Arianna Huffington and Cory Booker — We Really Did Not See That ComingMEDIA
• Blogosopheric scoop of the month: Looks like Arianna Huffington and Cory Booker may be dating. [NYDN]
• Elizabeth Spiers’s crazy idea for Portfolio: Fire Joanne Lipman and put Tina Brown in charge. Wow. Elizabeth Spiers writes for The New Republic? [TNR]
• Keith Olbermann’s news show to run before NBC’s Sunday Night Football. You can go home, after all! [TV Newser, NYT]