July 16, 2007 – CBS News On The Hour – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Juy 16, 2007 – Eleven years ago today, it was about earthquakes of the Terra firma and Ecclesiastical kind. An earthquake in Japan, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale rattled Japan’s Northwestern coast; killing 5, injuring hundreds, ripping up roads and flattening buildings. The earthquake caused extensive damage, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power or water, forcing people to evacuate to shelters as Army rescue teams continued to search collapsed buildings, looking for victims buried under debris. The earthquake caused a fire at a nuclear facility, causing it to shut down – officials said there was no release of radiation and no reactor damage.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles – victims of sexual abuse by Catholic Priests were due in court this day to seal a settlement estimated to cost the Archdiocese some $660 million. The payout was expected to be the biggest since the priest abuse scandal broke out in the open in 2002. Attorneys for the Archdiocese and the victims agreed on the deal; this day a judge was expected to give it his okay. After Sunday Mass Archbishop Cardinal Roger Mahoney sounded contrite; “It should not have happened and it should not happen ever again”. But many of the victims were not impressed, saying it was nothing more than a business decision on the part of Cardinal Mahoney.
And gasoline prices, while promising to go down, in fact went up. The national average price was back to over $3.00 a gallon; an upward turn that had been taking place over the previous three weeks. As of this day, the average was $3.06 – up 6 cents over the previous days. Chicago posted the highest jump, to over $3.46 a gallon – while Tucson, Arizona posted the lowest at $2.80.
And that’s some of what went on, this July 16, 2007 – a scant 11 years ago, by way of CBS Radio’s Hourly News.
