Connecting - July 30, 2024

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Connecting

July 30, 2024

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Colleagues,

Good Tuesday morning on this July 30, 2024,

News of the death of Lt. William Calley, who became the only person convicted in connection with the My Lai Massacre of 1968, sparked memories of an AP reporting legend following the Washington Post’s story on the junior Army officer.

In our lead story, our colleague Peggy Walsh shares memories of Kathryn Johnson, who had exclusive interviews with Calley before his conviction. Johnson died in 2019; click here for her AP obituary.

Here’s to a great day – be safe, stay healthy, live it to your fullest.

Paul

AP’s Kathryn Johnson climbed out a window to get to Calley interview on time

Peggy Walsh - The death of William Calley, reported Monday in the Washington Post, brought to mind a story about Kathryn Johnson, the groundbreaking AP reporter famous primarily for her civil rights reporting.

Kathryn, who died in 2019, was friends with Martin Luther and Coretta King and was the only reporter inside the King house after his assassination.

She also had exclusive interviews with Calley before he was convicted for his role in the 1968 My Lai massacre.

I met In Kathryn when I joined the AP in Atlanta. She was an inspiration to all, especially young women reporters, and I loved to hear her stories.

One about covering Calley's Court martial in Columbus stuck with me, especially given the difficulty women faced in journalism those days.

Kathryn was assigned with one of two more famous male AP reporters (whose names I have conveniently forgotten) to cover the case.

She told me she had arranged an interview with Calley but found her hotel door blocked and heard her colleagues outside laughing.

Kathryn, who never let anything get in her way, climbed out the window and got to the interview on time.

Although this was before I met her, I never forgot. It always reminded me that nothing could stand in my way if I was determined enough.

A note to Connecting colleagues

Norm Abelson - When I became a Connecting member some years ago, I was also working on my fourth book, another memoir. Little by little, I found myself increasingly and happily contributing to Paul's amazing newsletter, while the book took a back seat, and then just faded away.

I'm not certain why. Perhaps it has something to do with my advanced age, where one busy day can sometimes unfold like a miniature lifetime. And different from the lengthy journey of a book, untold and unshared until its slowly evolving finish, each Connecting piece has an immediacy reflecting that miniature lifetime.

On Connecting I have had the pleasure of communicating with and receiving comments from people I admire, of making new friends, of reading so much superior and stimulating writing. Of reconnecting with my roots in journalism and commentary.

I have, like others, had a life chock-a-block with stories. It has been my good fortune to have them remain still accessible from my memory bank. Sharing some of them with you. has been a joy and a highlight of my late-life times.

Connecting series:

Stories of your first AP bureau

Donna Cassata - I joined the AP in Albany, N.Y. in 1983. The bureau was unique thanks to COB Lew Wheaton and news editor Mike Hendricks. Albany was the hub bureau for everything happening in New York north of Putnam County, from Lake Placid to Rochester to Syracuse to Buffalo. Everyone worked desk shifts, editing copy and putting out the daily report.

Mike understood that there was more to the AP than the drivetime summary. He carved out enterprise days for every reporter who had a story to tell. I fondly remember one particular enterprise day -- an early start at West Point for a preview story on the Army football team, a drive to Wallkill to a horse farm where ex-prisoners were learning new skills and then a ride to Max Yasgur's farm for an anniversary story on the Woodstock festival.

After all that reporting, Mike gave us a few days to write our stories before we were back to fulfilling our desk shifts. Our stories often landed on the sports or national or business wires for readers beyond New York. It was an extraordinary education for a reporter four years out of college. Not only did I gain experience, I learned so much from the other talented journalists in the bureau. I still have a few of those enterprise clips.

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Steve Herman - I began working for AP in Indianapolis in February 1970, although my first paycheck from AP came some two and a half years earlier.

At the time, the summer of 1967, I was an intern with The Indianapolis Star before my senior year at Indiana University. I was working in the Star's photo department, and AP bought a picture I took and sent me a check for $3 as a "correspondent." The AP bureau at that time was in the Star-News building. The photo went out as NA1 of Aug. 5, 1967, although I don't remember what it was.

I spent most of that summer in the Star's City Room handling rewrites and obits. In 1968, although having graduated from IU, I returned to the Star's photo staff. In the summer of '69, by then in Law School at Indiana, I again worked at the Star but also spent two weeks as vacation relief photographer for UPI, whose photo office was in the Indy Star-News building. (My first check from UPI was for $5.)

In the winter of '69, AP COB Tom Dygard came to IU to interview journalism students. The interviews were conducted at the Indiana Daily Student newspaper, where I had been an associate editor, and I initially told Tom I was interested in the then-vacant job as AP Indy staff photographer. He was somewhat discouraging, until I switched gears and asked about a job as a writer.

Two weeks later, I received a phone call from Tom asking me to come into the bureau and take the mandatory writing test. Shortly after that, I received the job offer and began working fulltime for AP on Feb. 2, 1970.

I got off to a somewhat rocky start, however. A power outage shut off my alarm clock and I was two hours late my first day with AP. No matter. I lasted 39-plus years in the Indy bureau, including 25 years as state sports editor.

That vacant photo job, by the way, went to Chuck Robinson, who started with AP in Indianapolis exactly one week before I did.

Katy Pownall of Amnesty International, a former AP journalist, dies

Laurent Sauveur - senior director for Movement, Engagement and Partnerships at Amnesty International - It is with profound sadness that I must inform you that Katy Pownall, our dear colleague and Deputy Head of News and Media, passed away on Friday morning after a short and fierce battle with cancer. Katy died peacefully at UCL Hospital, surrounded by her loved ones. My thoughts go out first and foremost to her family, her friends and to each one of you at this awful time.

For so many of you, Katy was not only a colleague but also a close friend, and this news will be very hard to process. In the days and weeks to come, as we come to terms with this enormous loss, there will be a vigil and memorial service, as well as other ways to pay tribute to a truly phenomenal person.

But for now, I wish to say a few words about Katy, her career and her impact on Amnesty.

Katy first joined Amnesty International in 2009, after several years as a reporter for the Associated Press in Kampala, Nairobi and Lagos.

One of her many notable assignments was to track down Joseph Kony – the notorious rebel leader of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army, who remains the ICC's longest standing fugitive. She met him not once, but twice, as he evaded capture in the jungles between DRC and South Sudan.

Katy first arrived at the International Secretariat in April 2009 when she joined Amnesty as Press Officer for the Demand Dignity campaign. Alongside the then Secretary General Irene Khan, she joined a mission to Kenya to launch the campaign, which set in motion Amnesty’s work on economic, social and cultural rights – a pivotal moment for the organization. The following year, Katy moved into the role of press officer for Africa, putting her extensive knowledge and experience of the region to use.

Katy later spent six months in Johannesburg as part of the IS’s shift from a London-dominated, centralized model towards the establishment of regional offices. While there, she helped to set up the comms and media outreach functions of what is now the SARO.

In late 2013, Katy left Amnesty to work for Freedom Against Torture. But luckily for us, she returned to Amnesty in January 2016 as a News Writer.

Katy’s instinct for news, grasp of human rights law and her unwavering poise whilst under pressure made her the ideal candidate for Amnesty’s Deputy Head of News and Media, a role she had held since in 2017. Alongside former Head of News Angus Stickler, Katy led the global news and media team across multiple regions and worked to ensure that Amnesty’s ever-growing and complex human rights portfolio was both dynamic and impactful. She was often the much-needed cool head and calm voice in a reputational crisis. Latterly, she stepped into the role of Interim Head of News & Media, demonstrating the trademark steadfast leadership that Amnesty had come to expect from her.

Over all these years, Katy has been the consummate professional – a problem solver, strategic thinker and diplomatic leader. But most of all, as many in her team have reflected, it was her generosity of spirit and her ability to build, create and maintain a truly nurturing environment that shines brightest. She listened, she cared, she had empathy. Her encouragement and support instilled confidence and trust in her team. She did not take the spotlight, despite often being the driving force behind so many successes. Most recently, Katy played an instrumental role in the launch of this year’s annual report. It says so much about Katy’s character that when life dealt her the cruelest of hands, she continued to be so generous, giving and championing of her friends and colleagues: a testament to her immeasurable integrity.

We remember her as a beautiful soul: gracious, wise, warm, courageous, funny, thoughtful, dignified, clever, stoic.

Words cannot express what her loss means to Amnesty, her team, the wider movement and the human rights world.

The light in our world is dimmer today; may she rest in eternal peace.

(Shared by Chris Lehourites, whose wife works for Amnesty International.)

On GM Keith Fuller – ‘I think we were sort of friends’

Jim Hood - I enjoyed Barry Schlacter's story (Connecting, July 26) about Keith Fuller's repeated attempts to get rid of him, although it was, as they say, nothing personal. In my case, Fuller disliked me rather intensely. but nevertheless named me General Broadcast Editor, accepted my plan to reformat the radio wire, let Larry Blasko and me hammer together the AP TV Wire, which immediately starting gushing cash, and let me blackball the plan to move the radio wire to Dallas, instead moving it to D.C. and merging it with the AP Radio Network.

Despite all that, people came up to me with some regularity and said things like, "Hey Hood, I was just talking to Keith Fuller and your name came up. Boy, he really doesn't like you." My response was always the same: "Lots of people don't like me. He can get in line."

Like Fuller, I had spent some time in Kansas and found that most of the male humans there seemed to see themselves as lean, mean Old West gunslingers who considered a smirk to be an ample sign of recognition if not affection. So despite evidence to the contrary, I think we were sort of friends. And whether he liked me or not, I admired him quite a bit and enjoyed arguing with him.

Connecting mailbox

One that got away

Doug Pizac - A pair of Barn Swallows set up a nest under one of the roof eaves along the front of our home. They had three babies that are now learning to fly and perch themselves on a wooden cross beam above the garage door of Betty’s parking space waiting for their parents to bring them bugs to eat. They are so cute.

Here is a photo I made Sunday of one baby looking at its fly meal escape. It was placed in the baby’s mouth and when the baby opened its beak the fly flew out and away.

I set my camera up on a tripod with a 300mm lens that was manually focused on the baby since it didn’t move; then clicked when a parent stopped by to feed it. The blue background isn’t the sky, but the color of our home.

Connecting wishes Happy Birthday

David Briscoe

Freida Frisaro

Stories of interest

A parody ad shared by Elon Musk clones Kamala Harris’ voice, raising concerns about AI in politics (AP)

BY ALI SWENSON

NEW YORK (AP) — A video that uses an artificial intelligence voice-cloning tool to mimic the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris saying things she did not say is raising concerns about the power of AI to mislead with Election Day about three months away.

The video gained attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared it on his social media platform X on Friday without explicitly noting it was originally released as parody.

By late Sunday, Musk had clarified the video was intended as satire, pinning the original creator’s post to his profile and using a pun to make the point that parody is not a crime.

The video uses many of the same visuals as a real ad that Harris, the likely Democratic president nominee, released launching her campaign. But the fake ad swaps out Harris’ voice-over audio with an AI-generated voice that convincingly impersonates Harris.

Read more here.

AP classes, by the year...

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a listing of Connecting colleagues who have shared the year and the bureau where they started with the AP. If you would like to share your own information, I will include it in later postings. Current AP staffers are also welcome to share their information.)

NEWEST ADDITIONS:

Donna Cassata, Albany, 1983

Alan Clendenning, New Orleans, 1998

Arlene Levinson, Boston, 1986

1951 - Norm Abelson (Boston)

1953 – Charles Monzella (Huntington, WVa)

1955 – Henry Bradsher (Atlanta), Paul Harrington (Boston), Joe McGowan (Cheyenne)

1957 - Louis Uchitelle (Philadelphia)

1958 – Roy Bolch (Kansas City)

1959 – Charlie Bruce (Montgomery)

1960 – Claude Erbsen (New York), Carl Leubsdorf (New Orleans)

1961 – Peter Arnett (Jakarta, Indonesia), Strat Douthat (Charleston. WVa), Warren Lerude (San Diego), Ed Staats (Austin)

1962 – Paul Albright (Cheyenne), Malcolm Barr Sr. (Honolulu), Myron Belkind (New York), Peggy Simpson (Dallas), Kelly Smith Tunney (Miami)

1963 – Hal Bock (New York)

1964 – Rachel Ambrose (Indianapolis), Larry Hamlin (Oklahoma City), John Lengel (Los Angeles), Ron Mulnix (Denver), Lyle Price (San Francisco), Arlene Sposato (New York), Hilmi Toros (New York)

1965 – Bob Dobkin (Pittsburgh), Harry Dunphy (Denver), John Gibbons (New York), Jim Luther (Nashville), Larry Margasak (Harrisburg), Rich Oppel (Tallahassee)

1966 – Shirley Christian (Kansas City), Mike Doan (Portland, OR), Edie Lederer (New York), Nancy Shipley (Nashville), Mike Short (Los Angeles), Marty Thompson (Seattle), Nick Ut (Saigon), Kent Zimmerman (Chicago)

1967 – Dan Berger (Los Angeles), Adolphe Bernotas (Concord), Lou Boccardi (New York), Linda Deutsch (Los Angeles), Don Harrison (Los Angeles), Frank Hawkins (New York), Doug Kienitz (Cheyenne), David Liu (New York), Bruce Lowitt (Los Angeles), Chuck McFadden (Los Angeles), Martha Malan (Minneapolis), Bill Morrissey (Buffalo), Larry Paladino (Detroit), Michael Putzel (Raleigh), Bruce Richardson (Chicago), Richard Shafer (Baltimore), Victor Simpson (Newark), Michael Sniffen (Newark), Kernan Turner (Portland, Ore)

1968 – Lee Balgemann (Chicago), John Eagan (San Francisco), Joe Galu (Albany/Troy), Peter Gehrig (Frankfurt), Charles Hanley (Albany), Jerry Harkavy (Portland, Maine), Herb Hemming (New York), Brian King (Albany), Samuel Koo (New York), Karren Mills (Minneapolis), Michael Rubin (Los Angeles), Rick Spratling (Salt Lake City), Barry Sweet (Seattle)

1969 - Ann Blackman (New York), Ford Burkhart (Philadelphia), Dick Carelli (Charleston, WVa), Dennis Coston (Richmond), Mary V. Gordon (Newark), Daniel Q. Haney (Portland, Maine), Mike Harris (Chicago), Brad Martin (Kansas City), David Minthorn (Frankfurt), Cynthia Rawitch (Los Angeles), Bob Reid (Charlotte), Mike Reilly (New York), Doug Tucker (Tulsa), Bill Winter (Helena)

1970 – Richard Boudreaux (New York), Richard Drew (San Francisco), Bob Egelko (Los Angeles), Steve (Indy) Herman (Indianapolis), Tim Litsch (New York), Lee Margulies (Los Angeles), Chris Pederson (Salt Lake City), Brendan Riley (San Francisco), Larry Thorson (Philadelphia)

1971 – Harry Atkins (Detroit), Jim Bagby (Kansas City), Larry Blasko (Chicago), Jim Carlson (Milwaukee), Jim Carrier (New Haven), Chris Connell (Newark), Bill Gillen (New York), Bill Hendrick (Birmingham), John Lumpkin (Dallas), Kendal Weaver (Montgomery)

1972 – Hank Ackerman (New York), Bob Fick (St. Louis), Joe Frazier (Portland, Ore.), Terry Ganey (St. Louis), Mike Graczyk (Detroit), Denis Gray (Albany), Lindel Hutson (Little Rock), Brent Kallestad (Sioux Falls), Tom Kent (Hartford), Nolan Kienitz (Dallas), Andy Lippman (Phoenix), Ellen Miller (Helena), Mike Millican (Hartford), Lew Wheaton (Richmond)

1973 - Jerry Cipriano (New York), Susan Clark (New York), Norm Clarke (Cincinnati), Jim Drinkard (Jefferson City), Joe Galianese (East Brunswick), Merrill Hartson (Richmond), Mike Hendricks (Albany), Tom Journey (Tucson), Steve Loeper (Los Angeles), Tom Slaughter (Sioux Falls), Jim Spehar (Denver), Paul Stevens (Albany), Jeffrey Ulbrich (Cheyenne), Owen Ullmann (Detroit), Suzanne Vlamis (New York), John Willis (Omaha), Evans Witt (San Francisco)

1974 – Norman Black (Baltimore), David Espo (Cheyenne), Dan George (Topeka), Robert Glass (Philadelphia), Steve Graham (Helena), Tim Harper (Milwaukee), Elaine Hooker (Hartford), Sue Price Johnson (Charlotte), Dave Lubeski (Washington), Janet McConnaughey (Washington), Lee Mitgang (New York), Barry Shlachter (Tokyo), Bud Weydert (Toledo), Marc Wilson (Little Rock)

1975 – Peter Eisner (Columbus), David Powell (New York), Eileen Alt Powell (Milwaukee)

1976 – Brad Cain (Chicago), Judith Capar (Philadelphia), Dick Chady (Albany), Steve Crowley (Washington), David Egner (Oklahoma City), Marc Humbert (Albany), Steven Hurst (Columbus), Richard Lowe (Nashville), John Nolan (Nashville), Charlotte Porter (Minneapolis), Chuck Wolfe (Charlotte)

1977 – Bryan Brumley (Washington), Robert Burns (Jefferson City), Charles Campbell (Nashville), Carolyn Carlson (Atlanta), Dave Carpenter (Philadelphia), Ken Herman (Dallas), Mike Holmes (Des Moines), Brad Kalbfeld (New York), Scott Kraft (Jefferson City), John Kreiser (New York), Peter Leabo (Dallas), Kevin LeBoeuf (Los Angeles), Ellen Nimmons (Minneapolis), Dan Sewell (Buffalo), Estes Thompson (Richmond), David Tirrell-Wysocki (Concord)

1978 – Tom Eblen (Louisville), Ruth Gersh (Richmond), Monte Hayes (Caracas), Doug Pizac (Los Angeles), Charles Richards (Dallas), Reed Saxon (Los Angeles), Steve Wilson (Boston)

1979 – Jim Abrams (Tokyo), Brian Bland (Los Angeles), Scotty Comegys (Chicago), John Daniszewski (Philadelphia), Frances D’Emilio (San Francisco), Pat Fergus (Albany), Brian Friedman (Des Moines), Sally Hale (Dallas), Jill Lawrence (Harrisburg), Warren Levinson (New York), Barry Massey (Kansas City), Phillip Rawls (Nashville), John Rice (Carson City), Linda Sargent (Little Rock), Joel Stashenko (Albany), Robert Wielaard (Brussels)

1980 – Alan Adler (Cleveland), Christopher Bacey (New York), Jeff Barnard (Providence), Mark Duncan (Cleveland), Bill Kaczor (Tallahassee), Mitchell Landsberg (Reno), Kevin Noblet (New Orleans), Jim Rowley (Baltimore), David Speer (Jackson), Hal Spencer (Providence), Carol J. Williams (Seattle)

1981 – Paul Davenport (Phoenix), Dan Day (Milwaukee), John Flesher (Raleigh), Len Iwanski (Bismarck), Ed McCullough (Albany), Drusilla Menaker (Philadelphia), Kim Mills (New York), Mark Mittelstadt (Des Moines), Roland Rochet (New York), Lee Siegel (Seattle), Marty Steinberg (Baltimore), Bill Vogrin (Kansas City)

1982 – Dorothy Abernathy (Little Rock), Al Behrman (Cincinnati), Tom Cohen (Jefferson City), John Epperson (Chicago), Ric Feld (Atlanta), Nick Geranios (Helena), Howard Gros (New Orleans), Robert Kimball (New York), Rob Kozloff (Detroit), Bill Menezes (Kansas City), David Ochs (New York), Cecilia White (Los Angeles)

1983 – Donna Cassata (Albany), Scott Charton (Little Rock), Sue Cross (Columbus), Mark Elias (Chicago), David Ginsburg (Washington), Diana Heidgerd (Miami), Sheila Norman-Culp (New York), Carol Esler Ochs (New York), Jim Reindl (Detroit), Amy Sancetta (Philadelphia), Rande Simpson (New York), Dave Skidmore (Milwaukee)

1984 – Owen Canfield (Oklahoma City), Wayne Chin (Washington), Jack Elliott (Oklahoma City), Kelly P. Kissel (New Orleans), Joe Macenka (Richmond), Eva Parziale (San Francisco), Walt Rastetter (New York), Keith Robinson (Columbus), Cliff Schiappa (Kansas City), David Sedeño (Dallas), Andrew Selsky (Cheyenne), Patty Woodrow (Washington)

1985 – Beth Grace (Columbus), Betty Kumpf Pizac (Los Angeles)

1986 – Joni Baluh Beall (Richmond), David Beard (Jackson), Tom Coyne (Columbia, SC), Dave DeGrace (Milwaukee), Alan Flippen (Louisville), Jim Gerberich (San Francisco), Howard Goldberg (New York), Mark Hamrick (Dallas), Sandy Kozel (Washington), Arlene Levinson (Boston), Robert Meyers (London), David Morris (Harrisburg)

1987 – Donna Abu-Nasr (Beirut), Dave Bauder (Albany), Chuck Burton (Charlotte), Beth Harris (Indianapolis), Lynne Harris (New York), Steven L. Herman (Charleston, WVa), Elaine Kurtenbach (Tokyo), Rosemarie Mileto (New York), John Rogers (Los Angeles)

1988 – Chris Carola (Albany), Peg Coughlin (Pierre), Kathy Gannon (Islamabad), Steve Hart (Washington), Melissa Jordan (Sioux Falls), Bill Pilc (New York), Kelley Shannon (Dallas)

1989 – Ted Bridis (Oklahoma City), Charlie Arbogast (Trenton), Ron Fournier (Little Rock)

1990 – Frank Fisher (Jackson), Dan Perry (Bucharest), Steve Sakson (Baltimore), Sean Thompson (New York)

1991 – Amanda Kell (Richmond), Santiago Lyon (Cairo), Lisa Pane (Hartford), Ricardo Reif (Caracas), Bill Sikes (Buffalo)

1992 – Kerry Huggard (New York)

1993 – Jim Salter (St. Louis)

1995 – Elaine Thompson (Houston), Donna Tommelleo (Hartford)

1996 – Patricia N. Casillo (New York)

1997 – J. David Ake (Chicago), Pamela Collins (Dallas), Madhu Krishnappa Maron (New York), Jim Suhr (Detroit), Jennifer Yates (Baltimore)

1998 – Alan Clendenning (New Orleans), Guthrie Collin (Albany)

1999 – Melinda Deslatte (Raleigh)

2000 – Gary Gentile (Los Angeles)

2006 – Jon Gambrell (Little Rock)

Today in History – July 30, 2024

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, July 30, the 212th day of 2024. There are 154 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 30, 1976, Bruce Jenner, now known as Caitlyn Jenner, set a world record of 8,618 points and won the gold medal in the Olympic decathlon at the Montreal Summer Games.

Also on this date:

In 1619, the first representative assembly in Colonial America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Petersburg, Virginia, by exploding a gunpowder-laden mine shaft beneath Confederate defense lines; the attack failed.

In 1916, German saboteurs blew up a munitions plant on Black Tom, an island near Jersey City, New Jersey, killing about a dozen people.

In 1930, Uruguay won the first FIFA World Cup, defeating Argentina 4-2.

In 1945, the Portland class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, having just delivered components of the atomic bomb to Tinian in the Mariana Islands during World War II, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 316 out of nearly 1,200 service members survived.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure making “In God We Trust” the national motto, replacing “E Pluribus Unum.”

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965, which led to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.

In 2008, ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (RA’-doh-van KA’-ra-jich) was extradited to The Hague to face genocide charges after nearly 13 years on the run. (He was sentenced by a U.N. court in 2019 to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.)

In 2012, three electric grids in India collapsed in a cascade, cutting power to 620 million people in the world’s biggest blackout.

In 2013, U.S. Army Pfc. Chelsea Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge she faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges at Fort Meade, Maryland, more than three years after she’d spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. (The former intelligence analyst was later sentenced to up to 35 years in prison, but the sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama in his final days in office.)

In 2016, 16 people died when a hot air balloon caught fire and exploded after hitting high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, about 70 miles northeast of San Antonio.

Today’s Birthdays: Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is 90. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 88. Singer Paul Anka is 83. Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 77. Actor Jean Reno is 76. Actor Ken Olin is 70. Actor Delta Burke is 68. Law professor Anita Hill is 68. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 66. Film director Richard Linklater is 64. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 63. TV personality Alton Brown is 62. Actor Lisa Kudrow is 61. Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Mullin is 61. Actor Vivica A. Fox is 60. Actor Terry Crews is 56. Actor Simon Baker is 55. Film director Christopher Nolan is 54. Actor Tom Green is 53. Actor Christine Taylor is 53. Actor Hilary Swank is 50. Olympic gold medal beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor is 47. Actor Jaime Pressly is 47. Alt-country singer-musician Seth Avett (AY’-veht) is 44. Former soccer player Hope Solo is 43. Actor Yvonne Strahovski is 42. Actor Martin Starr is 42. Actor Gina Rodriguez is 40. Actor Nico Tortorella is 35. Actor Joey King is 25.

Got a photo or story to share?

Connecting is a daily newsletter published Monday through Friday that reaches more than 1,800 retired and former Associated Press employees, present-day employees, and news industry and journalism school colleagues. It began in 2013. Past issues can be found by clicking Connecting Archive in the masthead. Its author, Paul Stevens, retired from the AP in 2009 after a 36-year career as a newsman in Albany and St. Louis, correspondent in Wichita, chief of bureau in Albuquerque, Indianapolis and Kansas City, and Central Region vice president based in Kansas City.

Got a story to share? A favorite memory of your AP days? Don't keep them to yourself. Share with your colleagues by sending to Ye Olde Connecting Editor. And don't forget to include photos!

Here are some suggestions:

- Connecting "selfies" - a word and photo self-profile of you and your career, and what you are doing today. Both for new members and those who have been with us a while.

- Second chapters - You finished a great career. Now tell us about your second (and third and fourth?) chapters of life.

- Spousal support - How your spouse helped in supporting your work during your AP career.

- My most unusual story - tell us about an unusual, off the wall story that you covered.

- "A silly mistake that you make"- a chance to 'fess up with a memorable mistake in your journalistic career.

- Multigenerational AP families - profiles of families whose service spanned two or more generations.

- Volunteering - benefit your colleagues by sharing volunteer stories - with ideas on such work they can do themselves.

- First job - How did you get your first job in journalism?

- Most unusual place a story assignment took you.

Paul Stevens

Editor, Connecting newsletter

paulstevens46@gmail.com