Urinal Report Upstaged by Former TV Weatherman

In a recent post, we told you that popular WCCO-TV meteorologist Paul Douglas was let go by its parent company CBS in a cost-cutting move. Everyone was baffled by the silence coming from all parties, and concern was expressed for Douglas' welfare.

On the first night of sweeps Thursday, Douglas turned up on his first Twin Cities TV station --KARE (NBC) --to discuss his reaction to the ouster, and to tell the folks watching that he's doing just fine with his new business venture, and that he might pop up on another station in the near future. (You can find the interview on kare11.com)

At about the same time on Douglas' former station, anchor Don Shelby did an I-Team report on waterless urinals, and why they are banned in Minnesota. That's right, folks. Waterless urinals. It seems that the devices save an estimated 40 thousand gallons of water a year, and is available everywhere except here. Shelby wanted to know why.

It turns out, according to the report (available on wcco.com), that the plumbers' union raised concerns about the amount of jobs that might be lost due to waterless urinals, and also how inefficient they really are. A Legislator from St. Paul, who just happens to be a plumber, wrote a bill that became part of another bill that got passed.

Later in the newscast, Shelby got a little off base in his commentary segment, whining about how he claimed to have spent six months researching the story on waterless urinals, only to have his old colleague Douglas steal his thunder (and probably ratings) on another station. That's what we call competition, Don.

After Douglas' departure, people are speculating on who is the next big name to face the CBS chopping block. Some say it could be Shelby, whose contract is up in 2010. If that happens, WCCO's ratings will really go into the toilet.

One more thing: There's a big difference between watching video on KARE's web site and WCCO's. KARE has the only news broadcast locally in high definition, which might explain the clarity of the images. Watching WCCO's video is like watching a moving postage stamp.