But first, our top story today
Steve Martaindale

Steve Martaindale is a self-syndicated columnist. Write him at penmanmailsteve@ yahoo.com.

While at work, I keep certain searches running of incoming Associated Press stories. When a new story causes a hit on one of those searches, an icon flashes on my computer screen.

One search is for any "urgent" bulletins from the AP. One- or two-sentence bulletins are sent out when there are major breaking stories to alert subscribers something is coming. This is helpful in our business, especially as deadline approaches and we're busy and perhaps not monitoring the wire.

In the "old days," when our wire stories were printed out on paper, the machine actually had a bell on it that would ring when something deemed important was transmitted. I sort of miss that.

Monday, my urgent search icon beeped and flashed. When I opened it, a bulletin had been transmitted simultaneously in four different news categories ... wow, something big.

Yep, Cynthia Rodriguez had filed for divorce.

Unless you've been on vacation from the world, you know who that is: The wife -- currently, anyway -- of New York Yankee superstar baseball player Alex Rodriguez.

OK, maybe if you have a shred of discernment about what you consider news, you wouldn't know, but the story had been developing over the previous several days because ... drum roll, please ... rumors had it that A-Rod had been seeing Madonna, the singing shocker who just won't go away.

So, we've got a sports star sneaking around on his wife to see a recording star who's sneaking around on her husband.

Now do you see why this is bell-worthy news?

Earlier that same morning, I received another bulletin.

It seems that actress Nicole Kidman had given birth to a baby girl. The news came from the publicist of Keith Urban. Someone in the newsroom told me that he is married to Kidman. I think he's a singer, too.

Ding, ding, ding ... stop the presses.

Why is it so fascinating that celebrities - those people piled atop pedestals because they can act, sing or run fast - are capable of fathering and bearing children? Does it matter to us that the newborn was named Sunday Rose Kidman Urban? Why should we care who they're running around with?

But it's not just celebrities that are blown out of proportion.

When the National Hurricane Center designated Tropical Storm Bertha just prior to the Fourth of July weekend, I commented, "Good, that will give the TV weathermen something to talk about for the next week or two."

Indeed, every 10 minutes during the morning news show, they would restate that the storm was out there, a few thousand miles away, and should pose no threat to land, much less the United States, much much less our area.

However, they wanted to keep us informed because talking about a tropical storm or hurricane a quarter of a world away is much more exciting than repeating that today would be hot and humid with a 20 percent chance of rain.

So, I can understand the weather folks getting excited about being able to track and project a hurricane, but I still have trouble with celebrity watching.

Maybe it's like tracking a storm. A ball player breaks into the majors, wins fans, improves skills, starts receiving unreal amounts of money, demands more, demands trade, underperforms, demands another trade, begins to blossom again, starts fooling around, marriage hits the rocks, performance fades, seeks solace in a bottle, enters rehab, starts dating a younger celebrity.

Devastating hurricanes are depressing enough ... I don't need to track superstars.