Iran Supports Occupy Wall Street, BlackBerry Outages Hit the U.S., and More in Chad’s Steaming Pile

Here are just a few things in Chad’s Pile that you will hear on Lubbock’s First News this morning. Give Chad your feedback on the steaming topics.

1. Occupy Wall Street protesters have a new friend! (link)

Just a wild guess here. If you are trying to win over people to your side to show how evil the rich are, you probably don't want Iran siding with you.

Iran's top leader said Wednesday that the wave of protests spreading from New York's Wall Street to other U.S. cities reflects a serious crisis that will ultimately topple capitalism in America.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed the United States is now in a full-blown crisis because its "corrupt foundation has been exposed to the American people."

Khamenei made the remarks during a rally Wednesday in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah that drew tens of thousands of people. His speech was broadcast live on state TV.

Well, I'm sure the kids protesting are just fine with Iran.

2. BlackBerry users aren't happy (link)

BlackBerry users across the world, including in the United States were unhappy on Wednesday when their phones became basically useless. According to the AP:

BlackBerry users across the world were exasperated Wednesday as an outage of email, messaging and Internet services on the phones spread to the U.S. and Canada and stretched into the third day for Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

It was the biggest outage in years for BlackBerry users, and strained their relationship with an already tarnished brand. It came on the eve of the launch of a mighty competitor — a new iPhone model.

Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian company that makes the phones, said a crucial link in its European infrastructure failed Monday, and a backup didn't work either. The underlying problem has been fixed, but a backlog of emails and messages has built up that the company has yet to work down.

While BlackBerry users were unable to use their phones, I was downloading the new iOS 5 for my iPhone. Sweet.

3. Lubbock is dangerous, but awesome (link)

Just a couple weeks after being named one of the most dangerous communities in the United States, Lubbock has been named one of the top communities to live in for young people. According to KFYO News:

The competition recognizes communities across the country that focus on reducing high school dropout rates and providing services and support to their youth.

All communities submitting an application were required to provide details on how their existing initiatives and programs helped to deliver the “Five Promises”, resources which the Alliance deems necessary to healthy development. Those include: caring adults, safe places, healthy start, effective education, and opportunities to help others.

More than 300 communities from the United States and Puerto Rico were nominated, and winners were chosen by a 20-judge panel of distinguished judges.

Safe and dangerous, that's Lubbock!

These and many more topics coming up on Thursday’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App.