Heads and tales: Foolish notions

daylight savings Narrow daylight: Forget the whole time-change exercise this weekend. Scientists at the U.S. Daylight Saving Institute have temporarily suspended Daylight Saving Time for Katrina-affected states, including Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Clocks aren’t expected to “spring forward” until late June or early July. One researcher noted, “We couldn’t ask thousands of displaced residents to change their clocks, much less look for them under all that rubble.” The states will likely make up the time by extending Daylight Saving until November or December.
• Katrina knocks clocks off course [Temporal Mechanics]

Domain event: The fourth estate is looking for a second chance. In a controversial move, Mayor Bernard Kincaid used the city’s power of eminent domain to seize control of the yet-to-be-completed Birmingham News downtown offices to use for either the railroad park museum or the successor to Boutwell Auditorium. The daily newspaper was expected to move into the new headquarters by summer, but Kincaid took possession of the property late Friday. He denied any personal motive against the newspaper, long a critic of his tenure at City Hall. A newspaper spokesman said, “We have incriminating photos of [Kincaid] in a closet somewhere, and as soon as we find them …”
• Stop the presses [WADE-FM]

Fighting fire with ire: The chapel at Birmingham-Southern College was found in smoldering ruins early Friday, in apparent retaliation for the church arson suspects’ affiliation with the school. A passing professor discovered the scene while the campus was deserted for spring break. During an impromptu press conference, the school’s president said, “It’s as we feared: Those backwoods Baptists are pissed off and gunning for us.” Students were asked to pray temporarily in the campus bookstore and rec center.
• Birmingham-Southern burns; bumpkins believed to be baddies [Birmingham Bugler]

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