Breaking News

I'm watching coverage of the terrorist attacks in India when it is interrupted by a breaking news bulletin. The report is on a shooting at the local Toys 'R Us. My local, not CNN's local.

Switching to the local channels to see what's up, there is a real estate agent touring an exclusive property and 2 cosmetic surgeons discussing breast implants and how to select the right size for one's body size. Another station has a game show on, but not one channel is reporting live what's already made it to both the AP and CNN.

About 15 minutes later, a male reporter reported that there is nothing to report, and about a half-hour later, two female reporters reported that their reporter reported that there is nothing to report. One of the females said that this is another tragedy marring "Black Sunday," so perhaps someone needs to clue her in that it's Friday? Viewers did see the same 30 seconds of officers arriving on-scene 45 minutes after that happened, but nothing current. There was a man interviewed whose wife was in the store and called him on his cell phone to tell him that she was scared and hiding under a clothes rack -- and he cried as he related to viewers that she told him to tell their children that she loves them.

After finally realizing that the same 30 seconds of tape of the officers arriving and the same 60-second interview of the man's talk with his wife had been replayed more times than they should, and with nothing else to report, the local news signed off, promising more up-to-the-minute news at 6 pm.

Hm. That was both informative and engaging. I feel totally on top of the local breaking news. I'll have to check back with CNN and see what they've learned about local events in my area.

UPDATING: It appears that 2 females were in the store and got into it, but no one's sure why. As the hair pulling and punching continued, the menfolk with the women in the store, pulled out pistols -- and shot each other dead in the aisles after a running gun fight that went from the registers to the back of the store. No one is quite sure why the women were fighting or why the men came to a toy store with loaded guns in their pants pockets, but ... .