Patrick Kiger

Biography: Journalist Patrick J. Kiger tells the stories of people who make their mark in ways big and small.

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Patrick Kiger 'sPosts

Frank R. Lautenberg: Oldest U.S. Senator, Last World War II Vet

Posted on 06/3/2013 by Patrick Kiger | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Legacy | PoliticsFrank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who died on June 3 at age 89 in New York City, was the oldest sitting member of the Senate by a decade — California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who turns 80 in a few weeks, now takes his place — and the last remaining veteran of World War II. (Here’s a Wikipedia list of U.S. Senators by age). But that’s not the half of it. Lautenberg, the son of a silk-mill laborer, served in the U.S. Army Signal …

Jean Stapleton: As Edith Bunker, She Really Was Archie’s Better Half

Posted on 06/2/2013 by Patrick Kiger | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Entertainment | LegacyAsked to describe Edith Bunker, the character she portrayed in the classic 1970s sitcom All in the Family, actress Jean Stapleton put it this way in a 1972 interview with the New York Times: “I hope she’s not the typical American housewife.” Indeed, Stapleton, who died on May 31 at age 90 in New York City, portrayed a character who was the very antithesis of a liberated woman: a working-class Queens housewife who was screechy voiced and docile to the point of being timid, …

What Happens in Vegas May Not Be Staying There This Time

Posted on 05/31/2013 by Patrick Kiger | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Money & SavingsWhen you think about gangsters with ostentatious tastes, you tend to think of guys like Tony Montana, the fictional drug lord portrayed by Al Pacino in the 1983 film Scarface. Remember him sitting in an ornate mansion with gold chains dangling out of an open-necked black silk shirt and diamond rings decorating his hands that clutched a grenade launcher? Well, the scam artists who make millions ripping off older Americans apparently spend their ill-gotten proceeds getting gaudy as well. Take, …

Could That ‘Star Trek’ Gadget Soon Be Diagnosing You?

Posted on 05/30/2013 by Patrick Kiger | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | TechnologyIf you’re a fan of the original Star Trek TV series and its myriad spin-offs, you may remember the medical tricorder — a futuristic gadget with special handheld sensors that the Enterprise’s intrepid crew used to check the vital signs of an injured or sick person. Pretty amazing, huh? Wouldn’t it be cool to actually have a gizmo like that to monitor your vital signs? Well, there’s a good chance that a real-life version of the Star Trek device will be available …

Remember ‘O-o-h Child’ by the Five Stairsteps?

Posted on 05/30/2013 by Patrick Kiger | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | LegacyClarence Burke Jr., who died on May 26 at age 64 in Marietta, Ga., was the lead singer, guitar player, sometime songwriter, and choreographer of the Five Stairsteps, four brothers and a sister from Chicago who got their name because their mother said that when the siblings stood together, they looked like stairs. While the Five Stairsteps achieved an impressive string of R&B hits in the 1960s and 1970s, their shining moment was “O-o-h Child,” a 1970 single that became their …

Could That Be a $671,400 Relic in Your Garage?

Posted on 05/29/2013 by Patrick Kiger | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | TechnologyIf you were one of the 200 or so people who bought an Apple-1 computer back in 1976 or 1977 and still have it on a shelf in the back of your garage, guess what? You’re in the chips. And we don’t mean microprocessor chips, either. The technology news website ZDNet reports that a surviving Apple-1, the computer giant’s first product, fetched a breathtaking $671,400 at a German auction. Other Apple-1s have fetched six-figure prices in the past, but this …