Recession Puts Damper on July 4th Fireworks

Network showed images that couldn't really exist

(NEWSER) - Something was off about the broadcast of Boston's Fourth of July celebration—a few miles off. CBS aired footage of fireworks exploding behind the State House, Quincy Market, and Fenway Stadium, but astute viewers soon realized such views would have been physically impossible from where the fireworks were launched. Turns out the footage of the locations was shot in May and superimposed below images of the fireworks show, reports the Boston Globe . More»

Spy cam gives rocket-eye view in this viral video

(NEWSER) - Ever wondered what July 4 looks like from a firework's perspective? Well wonder no longer. Just watch this clip from 19-year-old videographer Jeremiah Warren, who strapped a tiny spy camera onto a series of fireworks. The little 808 #11 camera miraculously survived multiple flights, and provided some pretty high-quality video—though it might make you a bit dizzy. More»

Bellevue, Iowa, 4th of July celebration ends in bloodshed

(NEWSER) - Two horses pulling a buggy in the Fourth of July parade through the streets of Bellevue, Iowa, got loose and rampaged through the crowd yesterday morning, injuring 23 people and killing the 60-year-old wife of the carriage driver. Thirteen of the victims are children, reports the Telegraph Herald of Dubuque. One of the horses apparently rubbed the bridle off the other, which left the driver unable to control them. More»

Tourism crisis, danger of fire dampen celebrations

(NEWSER) - Fourth of July celebrations will be scaled down in many Gulf Coast towns, where the BP oil spill and cleanup effort are taking a big bite out of holiday fun. Cash-strapped governments dealing with the tourism bust have canceled fireworks displays, and some have moved their pyrotechnics inland because of fears the oily water could catch fire, reports the Miami Herald . Meanwhile, some fireworks barges are busy with the cleanup. More»

(NEWSER) - Talk show legend Dick Cavett didn’t just like fireworks as a kid. “I loved them,” he writes in the New York Times. Not the pro displays, and definitely not “the despised ‘safe & sane’ fountains, sprinklers and snakes” that “girls and sissies liked.” No, he liked “the big stuff. The heavy ordnance." Think cherry bombs. And when he was a Nebraska kid in the '40s, you could buy as much as you pleased. More»