Hello, everybody. I know it continues to be very, very hot in many parts of the country, so consider this to be a cool-off.

We begin first up with the controversial acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Marton, which went down last Saturday and resulted in some supposedly peaceful protests turning more than that...at least in California. Jurors found Zimmerman, an Hispanic, not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter while acting in self-defense when he shot the unarmed 17-year-old Martin.

In Los Angeles, 13 people were arrested, while upwards to 150 people jumped on cars and even vandalized convenience stores. Up the coast in Oakland, nine arrests were made and demonstrators blocked off Interstate 880 for several minutes during rush hour traffic. And one on Thursday in San Bernardino resulted in six more arrests after protestors hurled bottles and rocks at vehicles' direction.

President Obama on Friday wanted the nation to move forward after the trial in a more civilized manner, saying that Martin "could have been me 35 years ago" and that state and local laws such as Florida's "stand your ground" law should be X-rayed even further. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has noted that the Justice Department is looking into the case, seeing whether or not Zimmerman violated Martin's civil rights.

I think just like Rodney King's which ignited the L.A. riots over 20 years ago, the Zimmerman verdict has torn many of us apart. Race didn't play any key role in the trial whatsoever, but one thing was clear: It has been the first time in 45 years that somebody with a "Martin" in his name was slain, only this time, valuable lessons were learned after Memphis and Florida.

"Rolling Stone" has been home to the most provocative covers in history, but the latest one of surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev isn't likely to become a hit at newsstands. Several chain stores opted not to sell the issue out of respect. 

And now comes new photos of a bloodied Tsarnaev from his capture, taken by Sgt. Sean Murphy of the Massachusetts State Police and appearing in "Boston" magazine. But back to the "Rolling Stone" cover for a bit: Is it just me or does Tsarnaev look like he's the Brad Pitt of terrorism?

Anyway, he's not alone. There were other magazine covers that have crossed the line for as long as we can remember, like "Time's" (the darkened mugshot of O.J. Simpson, the red X on Adolf Hitler, "Is God Dead?"), "National Lampoon" ("If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog") "Vanity Fair" (a nude and pregnant Demi Moore, a swimsuit-clad Cindy Crawford shaving k.d. lang's face), and "Newsweek" with a wonky-eyed Michele Bachmann.

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show sang it best in 1972: "We're big rock singers, we've got golden fingers and we're loved everywhere we go. We sing about beauty and we sing about truth, at $10,000 a show. We take all kinds of pills to give us all kinds of thrills, but the thrill we've never known is the thrill that'll getcha when you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone."

Among those who also landed on the cover of the Rolling Stone over the years is the cast of "Glee", who is still suffering the loss of star Cory Monteith from an overdose of alcohol and heroin in a Vancouver hotel room also last Saturday.

At first, Monteith was sober here in the States, but appeared to have left the demons in his native Canada. Celebrity hotel deaths have become common over the last 30 years; cases in point: John Belushi, Chris Farley, Anna Nicole Smith, Whitney Houston, and just a few weeks ago, James Gandolfini. Cory's death from heroin, meanwhile, comes almost 20 years since River Phoenix and later Kurt Cobain fell victim to the drug. It's so sad that someone from a hit TV show would be the latest to go just too soon.

And last but not least: The second time I moved back to Fairbanks, it was in 1985 when we were still riding high. The following year, oil prices plummeted like a stone, moving many Alaskans to the Lower 48 while others like myself soldered on for as long as we can.

At the same time, Detroit was still coming on strong like never before. But now, the Motor City has become the Broke City as Detroit becomes the largest U.S. city to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy (replacing Stockton, California) with an $18 billion debt. 

So...what happened? During the first half of the 20th Century, Detroit as the automobile capital of the world rode high as a kite. But then sometime in the '70s and the first gas shortage, the Japanese and European auto industries began making cheaper, fuel-efficient cars that wouldn't bust everyone's budgets, and Detroit would start falling further behind. The final blow came when General Motors lost their longtime dominance of the market to Toyota and went bankrupt.

But that's not the only problem. The average wait time for police is close to an hour, 50% of all city parks have been closed over the last five years, the city's population is now down to 700,000 (triple than Anchorage's), over 78,000 abandoned buildings have transformed Detroit from a metropolis into a war zone, and the unemployment rate is at its highest ever.

Seattle -- which will be my new home this fall -- is no Detroit by a longshot, but as the home of Starbucks, Boeing, Microsoft, and game show contestant extraordinaire Ken Jennings, their economy...nah, I won't go there. And you thought Eminem's Chrysler Super Bowl commercial would help get Detroit out of their mess! So long and stay strong.