We Totally Need One Of These In Philadelphia

Approximately seven hours away across the state in Erie, they’re having some trouble funding the International Magic Hall of Fame and Museum. Wow, really? Considering the only recent time I can think of a magician in the news is David Blaine failing to hold his breath for an hour or whatever after spending all that time in a bubble — seriously, did that actually happen, or did I dream it? — I guess the public just isn’t all that into magic.

But whatever. Further down in the article about the lack of a magic museum, there’s this line:

The county gave $25,000 to help start a School of Conjuring, which opened earlier this year.

Yeah, we totally need a school of conjuring in Philadelphia. Although here, instead of regular card tricks or whatever, they’d probably teach three card monte.

Plans For Pa. Magic Museum Stalling [CBS 3]
Related: Magician Ricky Jay on Arsenio in 1988

Erie Woman Loses Home Run Baby Derby

Things continue to be pretty depressing and wacky out there in Western Pennsylvania. At a preliminary hearing yesterday for Chytoria Graham, a paramedic testified that — after an October domestic violence incident with her boyfriend — Graham told her “I swung him. I swung him like a bat.”

The ‘him’ in question here was her four-month old son. Graham said that during an argument with her boyfriend, 20-year-old Deangelo Troop, she began throwing things at him — and then she allegedly wacked him with the baby, fracturing his skull. (The kid made a full recovery.) After she the put the kid down, Troop returned the favor without a human weapon, punching Graham in the eye. (He’s not facing charges.)

Graham’s lawyer alleges the baby didn’t get a fractured skull from being swung as a weapon, but instead the child was just injured during the domestic dispute.

Anyway, there are some questions regarding the case: When one swings a baby like a bat, are you supposed to choke up on it like a regular baseball bat? Or do you just hold by the feet and wail? And do you let go of your dominant hand on the follow through? If you didn’t, that’d be more like swinging a baby like a golf club, wouldn’t it? So many questions!

Northwestern Pa. Woman Tells Paramedic She Swung Infant ‘Like A Bat’ At Boyfriend [AP/NBC 10]