"Do you know where your children are?"

We watch the local and national news here almost every night.  Well, at least Jim does.  Lots of times I’m reading.  But I’ll walk the few steps from the front of the rig to watch the weather ... so I can see hype for a “big drop” in temperatures when the daily forecast is 60 degrees.  

It makes you realize how much national consultants impact local news, as we see alot of the same slogans wherever we go:  News for You, On Your Side, Action News, News Now, First Alert, etc.  One of the stations in Tucson starts the newscast with “It’s ten p.m. Do you know where your children are?” which I’m pretty sure was done on the Cleveland news I watched as a kid. Except in Cleveland it was “It’s 11 p.m....”   

One of the unique things we see on Tucson TV is crime story mug shots. All the accused are wearing what looks like the same pale blue/gray snuggie -- a soft blanket/poncho made to keep you warm while curling up on the couch.  

The first couple of times we thought we were seeing the same person over and over (what a bad guy!) Then we realized they were different people wearing the same “outfit.”  According to a Pima County Department spokesman (and I found this in an Arizona Star article on line -- I haven't started interviewing people for quotes for our blog, except for Jim) they call it a “smock,” use if for a uniform look, and say it makes it easier to look at faces, especially when someone has to look at a lot of mug shots at once.  Pima County has been photographing detainees wearing the smocks for about 15 years.

Local snuggy-wearing person.