JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Tracking world, national and back-home developments is different when you’re on vacation.

Wherever I am, I follow the news, but it’s with a more removed outlook when I’m out of town. We’ve been in Florida almost two weeks now, and there’s been a lot to keep track of. But my news-priority list is not the same.

For example, I’m every bit as concerned as I was two weeks ago about the Ukrainian crisis. I go to The New York Times and Washington Post websites several times a day, and that’s usually the lead story — appropriately.

Another timeless and place-less story is the $73 million settlement in the Sandy Hook school shooting settlement, a case in which the relatives of children and adults who were killed in that awful incident took on and defeated the now-bankrupt Remington Arms Co.

The relatives and their attorneys charted a novel approach, arguing that Remington’s advertising encouraged illegal use of the Bushmaster weapon the 20-year-old killer used. One ad equated owning a Bushmaster with manhood: “Consider your man card reissued.” Another included the words: “Forces of opposition, bow down. You are single-handedly outnumbered.”

…Remington’s epitaph should be, “Hoiist on its own petard.”

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From afar, I got a kick out of reading a story about Missouri: On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland sued the Show Me state over its gun law that discourages local officials from enforcing federal firearms measures.

The state’s “Second Amendment Preservation Act” allows citizens to sue any local police agency for $50,000 for every incident in which they can prove that their right to bear firearms was violated, provided they were not flouting state law.

The way the General Assembly and Gov. Mike Parson have been going, it’s not surprising that Missouri would try to stiff arm federal law, but to much of the nation it must look ridiculous. As Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said, “A state cannot simply declare federal laws invalid.”

And what was the reaction from fearless Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt? “Make no mistake, the law is on our side in this case, and I intend to beat the Biden administration in court.”

Fighting the feds…A Missouri politician can hardly go wrong going in that direction.

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Then there was the snow storm back home. For news about that, I turned to The Star — with the expected result that I’d be disappointed.

And, of course, I was. The Star’s main report informed readers how much snow had fallen in just about every part of the metro area, with one glaring exception — Downtown and central Kansas City.

I learned that Weatherby Lake, Shawnee and Kansas City, KS, got nine or more inches; that Lenexa got 8.8 inches; that Overland Park and Parkville got 8.5 inches; that Lansing and Platte Woods got 8 inches; that Platte City and Independence got 7 inches; that Spring Hill got 6.5 inches; and that Lake Tapawingo, Lone Jack and Stillwell got 6 inches.

Somebody needs to remind The Star’s editors that the area’s center of gravity (C.O.G., as one former editor used to call it) is still Kansas City proper.

That said, can somebody tell me how much it snowed in Brookside?

I’d appreciate it…