Raise your paw if you can remember that sweet, sublime time during which this newsletter arrived in your inbox on a weekly basis. Heck, raise your paw if you can remember a time when this newsletter arrived in your inbox on a monthly basis. (We can, dear bear friends, and we apologize for the lack of bear news these past few months). In case you've been hibernating early this year -- and some of you might be, we get it -- there's been a lot of regular, relatively bear-free, normal news in the world since our last issue, and your humble bear newscub has had a lot of other newsgathering responsibilities to focus on since last we met. And to be sure, that has not stopped! But neither have the bears. We've had a lot of bears out and about -- and down and out, as you'll soon see -- and we've been tracking them as diligently as ever. What will 2017 bring for the bears? Only time will tell. We're lucky, of course, that time begins anew in little more than 30 hours. Here's to another thrilling year of bears, news and the important bits that connect us all together. As always and ever -- TO THE BEARS. (Special thanks this issue to our national IMPORTANT BEAR NEWS correspondents J. Carlise Larsen, Casey Morell and David Turturo for their IMPORTANT BEAR contributions. Tweet @importbearnews or write us a note -- you could be IMPORTANT, too!)

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Live And Let Bears Love, Friends
The Answer Here Will Always Be YES
Local Bear Says, 'Oh HAY'
Reintroduce Bears, California, Don't Be Difficult 
Is There Some Kind of Issue with Shopping While Bear?
Florida Man Manages To Not Be Awful
Bear Eats Bento Lunch, Captures Hearts
New Jersey Makes Valiant Effort To Not Be Florida
After Initial Effort, New Jersey Fails
Seriously, New Jersey, You Had ONE Chance Here
Even Your Activists Suck, New Jersey 
Obvious Thing Stated Obviously, In Florida
First They Came For The Polar Bears, And I Said Nothing
Free The Bears! FREE. THE. BEARS.
Bear Butts
Important Baseball Tweet
It's Not About Bears, Per Se
This Headline Won't Stop Showing Up Any Time Soon, We Assume
DEPRESSING BEAR TWEET
Look, Maul Doesn't ALWAYS Mean Murder 
Coordination Is Key To Having Bear Friends
Any Headline That Begins With "World's Oldest" Isn't Going To End Well
Additionally, All "World's Saddest Bear" Headlines Can GTFO
Bears Bolster Brexit
Area Koalas Ask For A Little Tender Love And DST
Like This. This Is Good For Koalas. More Of This.
This Is Probably A Little Much, Though
Spoiler Alert: The Dog Will Be Killed Later
You, Too, Can Have A Bear Omelette Like This 
REST IN PEACE, HANA YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL
Thank You, Romania. You Can Sit With Us.
Florida Continues To At Least Try? Or Something
Keep Trying, Florida, Keep Trying.
We Are All Mason, TBQH
SAVE BAO BAO SAVE THS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Can A Bear Sleep?
We've Got Three Words For You: Sultry. Pole. Dances.
We Miss You, Darth.
Maybe Todd Should Have Let The Bear Alone? Just Our Thoughts
Seriously, Todd, This Seems Like You Were At Fault
The Only Problem Here Is You, Western Nevada
The Government Can Be Good Sometimes
Baby Koalas Know What's Good 
Again, Baby. Koalas. Know. What's. Good.

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Pedals The Bear (Ursus americanus pedālis), murdered political candidate, handicapped citizen and national bear icon, Pedals was an American black bear who lived in the northern New Jersey highlands. Due to a perceived but as-of-yet undefined injury to his front paws, Pedals was often seen wandering about his neighborhood on his hind legs, leading to his nickname, a derivative of "Bipedal." 

food: Though classified as a carnivore, Pedals the bear had an omnivorous diet. In spring he consumed emerging plants and carcasses of animals that died during the winter. Fruits dominated his diet in summer, and both fruit and mast, especially acorns and beechnuts, constituted most of his fall diet. As an opportunistic feeder, Pedals also ate pine cones, roots, ants, and honey from wild or domestic bees Additionally, Pedals was known to eat the garbage of area residents.

habitat: Pedals was first seen in Oak Ridge, New Jersey in the summer of 2014. He continued to be spotted, always on his hind legs, in the greater Rockaway County area for the next two years. In October 2016, during the state of New Jersey's first bow hunt in more than 40 years, Pedals was shot and killed in Rockaway Township by an as-of-yet unidentified local hunter. New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) filed a bill soon after the October 10-15 hunting period calling for a five year moratorium on bear hunting in the Garden State in honor of the slain bipedal bear. 

(via Wikipedia / New York Times / North Jersey.com)

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NICE THINGS 
Garbage Things
Exciting Feminist Challenge Things You Should Sign Up For!
Sad, But Important George Michael Things
Take Me, Take Me To the Riot
Just Mega Mall Things 
I Used To Not Love Ina Garten, But I Do Now