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Monday, April 30, 2007
· Inmates Take Swipe at Toilet Paper Cuts. Toilet paper is becoming a sought after commodity at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility after officials began limiting inmates to one roll at a time to trim costs. Officials say the prison has long had a limit, but they learned recently that it hadn't been enforced. Increased enforcement began this month. 
· N.J. governor says he set 'very poor example' by not wearing seat belt. An emotional Gov. Jon S. Corzine was discharged from a hospital Monday and begged forgiveness for not wearing a seat belt during a crash 18 days earlier in which he was critically injured. “I understand that I set a very poor example for a lot of young people, a lot of people in general,” a teary-eyed Corzine said.
» N.J. governor caught speeding on return to mansion. Gov. Jon S. Corzine left the hospital today where his motorcade was caught driving 70 miles per hour on Interstate 295 where the posted speed limit is 55.
· Spector trial delayed after defense lawyer falls ill. The murder trial of Phil Spector hit a fresh snag on Monday after a defense attorney representing the legendary music producer fell ill, court officials said. The trial will now resume on Wednesday after Spector's flamboyant lawyer Bruce Cutler was forced to seek medical treatment for an undisclosed illness.
· Woman hit, killed by Legoland coaster. A 21-year-old employee at the Legoland amusement park was killed in a roller coaster accident, police and park officials said Monday. The woman, who was not identified, died immediately Sunday after being hit by a coaster car, police said. She had apparently jumped over a security fence to pick up a wallet that a passenger had lost near the track when the accident happened. "We're shocked," Legoland manager Henrik Hoehrman said. Nothing like this has happened before."
· Carson's Foil Tommy Newsom Dies at 78. Tommy Newsom, the former backup bandleader on "The Tonight Show" whose "Mr. Excitement" nickname was a running joke for Johnny Carson, has died.
· Police say man may have "stumbled" in front of squad vehicle. An unidentified man is dead after being struck by a Lafayette police cruiser. Sgt. Mark Francis said the victim may have "stumbled" in front of the police car, which resulted in him being struck by the right front panel of a squad vehicle. It is unknown how fast the police cars were traveling at the time of the fatality, but Francis said they may have exceeded the speed limit.
· ABC News to name names in DC Madam scandal during sweeps. "As the old saying goes, 'I need to dance with the guy who brung me,' " Deborah Jeane Palfrey wrote in an e-mail to a Washington Post reporter. "I have promised ABC News that the '20/20' interview will be an exclusive one." ABC is expected to air a report on Palfrey and her clients on "20/20" on May 4, during sweeps.
· Trembling Spector, shrunken shadow of former genius. Pale, gaunt, his hands trembling, Phil Spector sits silently in a Los Angeles courtroom, a shrunken shadow of the man who revolutionized pop music 40 years ago.
· FDA Approves Beef-Flavored Prozac for Dogs. Millions of Americans take Prozac to treat depression, but now a new pooch-friendly version of the antidepressant is available for dogs who suffer from separation anxiety. The FDA has approved a chewable, beef-flavored tablet called Reconcile. It's designed to minimize a dog's distress from being left alone.
· Swimmer drowns in posted 'no-swimming' area. Police say a man who drowned Sunday afternoon at Eagle Creek Park went under in 10 to 12 feet of water after moving from a shallow area. Authorities were treating the death as an accident and looking into whether alcohol might have been involved. The sanctuary is posted as a no-swimming area.
· Do you take this drunk guy’s brother? Villagers at a wedding in eastern India decided the groom had arrived too drunk to get married, and so the bride married the groom's more sober brother instead, police said Monday.
· Salvation: Just click and confess. Confession websites have become popular places to post your sins - or to read about the transgressions of others. Lust, pornography and a litany of sexual transgressions top the sinners' hit parade. Theft, lying and alcohol abuse also make frequent appearances. One person confesses: "I have done enough drugs to make Keith Richards envious!!" Another admits wishing death on her enemies.
· NAACP to Bury "N" Word. The NAACP is going to hold a symbolic funeral for the "N" word, the Rev. Wendell Anthony said Sunday. Anthony, president of the civil rights organization's Detroit branch, said members and supporters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will conduct services and a "eulogy" for the racial slur. The mock funeral will be held during the NAACP national convention July 7-12 in Detroit.
· Vegas ‘flipping’ boom ends up like most bets. The foreclosure rate in Nevada leads the nation as owners unable to sell became saddled with unbearable debt payments. In Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas, one of every 30 homes began the process toward foreclosure last year.
· Hillary drops her maiden name. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has dropped the use of her maiden name "Rodham" in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton identifies herself as "Hillary Clinton" in her campaign press releases and on her campaign website. The lone mention of her maiden name is in a campaign biography that says "Hillary's father, Hugh Rodham, was the son of a factory worker from Scranton."
· 4 dead after violence in Kansas City. The chaos began with police finding an elderly woman dead and her car missing. It ended when officers fatally shot the man driving the car — but only after he fired on a police officer and later people at a shopping center, killing two of them.
· Law Will Force Teams Playing in New Jersey to Take 'New York' Out of Names. Normally it is Jersey fans who gripe that they don't get any respect from pro sports teams that play at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford but have "New York" in their names. But three New York assemblymen recently sponsored a bill to stop football's Giants and Jets and soccer's Red Bulls from using the Empire State's name or abbreviation because they don't play their home games in New York.
· Blind pilot flies halfway round world. A blind British pilot landed his microlight aircraft in Sydney Monday to complete a record-breaking flight halfway around the world. Miles Hilton-Barber left London on March 7 and flew more than 21,000 kilometres (13,500 miles) to raise funds to fight blindness in developing countries.
· Ex-'Idol' Finalist Charged With Battery. Former "American Idol" finalist Jessica Sierra was arrested early Sunday on felony battery charges for allegedly hitting a man on the head with a heavy glass at a cafe, police said. Sierra, 21, was booked in the Hillsborough County Jail on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She was also charged with possession of cocaine and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility after officers found a small amount of the drug while searching her.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
· Minorities fare worse in traffic stops. Black, Hispanic and white drivers are equally likely to be pulled over by police, but blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched and arrested, a federal study found.
· Tenet Faces Backlash Over Memoir. The backlash has built up even before the official release of former CIA Director George Tenet's memoir, with criticism about his version of the run-up to the Iraq war, interrogation techniques and other events.
· Edwards: Roll back tax cuts, increase taxes on rich. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said on Sunday he would consider raising taxes on the wealthy in addition to his earlier proposal to roll back tax cuts ushered in by President George W. Bush.
· Tanker truck explodes, melts Bay Bridge. A section of freeway that funnels traffic off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed early Sunday after a gasoline tanker truck overturned and caught fire, authorities said. The heat from the fire was intense enough to melt part of the freeway and cause the collapse, but the truck's driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns.
· French outpace Americans in French-bashing. The French dislike themselves even more than the Americans dislike them, according to an opinion poll published on Friday. The survey of six nations, carried out for the International Herald Tribune daily and France 24 TV station, said 44 percent of French people thought badly of themselves against 38 percent of U.S. respondents who had a negative view of the French.
· 82 inmates cleared but still held at Guantanamo. More than a fifth of the approximately 385 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been cleared for release but may have to wait months or years for their freedom because U.S. officials are finding it increasingly difficult to line up places to send them. In many cases, the prisoners' countries do not want them back.
· Prostitution scandal has Washington in new 'shock and awe.' The demise of a call-girl ring and pending trial of an alleged madam claiming thousands of clients has the capital riveted by the chance powerful men may now be caught with their trousers down. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 50, dubbed the DC Madam, has a list of 10,000 to 15,000 customers from 2002 to 2006.
· Senator aide's gun charge dropped by prosecutor. Authorities dropped charges yesterday against an aide to Virginia Sen. Jim Webb who carried a loaded gun into the U.S. Capitol complex.
· Box of condoms leads to evacuation. Several classrooms at Des Moines Area Community College were evacuated after college officials became nervous about a suspicious package. College officials called police and postal inspectors after the box was delivered Thursday. What they found inside wasn't a bomb — it was a box containing 500 condoms.
· Lawyer rebuked for delaying case to go shopping. A lawyer has been disciplined by the Virginia State Bar for telling a judge she had to postpone a case because of a commitment in another court when in fact she went shopping instead.
· Joey Buttafuoco ends Calif. jail term. Joey Buttafuoco, whose 17-year-old lover shot his wife in the face more than a decade ago, was released from jail after serving three months for illegally possessing ammunition, authorities said.
· Several Cars Hit Pedestrian, None Stop. Authorities in Orange County, Fla., are searching for a hit-and-run driver who killed a man crossing a road Saturday night, according to police. Florida Highway Patrol officers said several other vehicles possibly hit the man and did not stop.
· Trump gives donation to Schwarzenegger. Billionaire Donald Trump gave $10,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help pay off his campaign debts, a little more than a month after the governor guest-starred on Trump's TV show "The Apprentice: Los Angeles," according to a campaign filing. "He's clearly using his personal friendships and his celebrity to pay off his campaign debt, and that's just wrong," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a group that tracks campaign donations.
· Man arrested for allegedly stealing 26 cars to see girlfriend. Whenever Antonio Moreno wanted to see his girlfriend, police say, he'd jump in a car and drive right over. But there was a problem. The 26 cars Moreno jumped into all belonged to someone else, according to authorities who arrested the 31-year-old Inglewood man near his home.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
· Man finally arrested in mugging of elderly New York woman. She was brutally mugged in a crime that outraged New Yorkers, but the 101-year-old victim said the attack hasn't intimidated her. "I'm not fearful at all," Rose Morat said Friday as police made an arrest in the case. "Whatever is going to happen is going to happen." Jack Rhodes, 44, was arrested on charges of robbery, grand larceny, burglary and assault, police said.
· Ex-Jersey gov talks marriage to boyfriend after winning joint custody of daughter. It's divorce, gay American style. Fresh from winning Round 1 of an already ugly divorce fight, Jim McGreevey, the gay former governor of New Jersey, gushed yesterday about plans for a civil union to live-in lover Mark O'Donnell.
· N.J. gov. crash shows travel practices. The high-speed automobile accident that critically injured Gov. Jon S. Corzine has focused attention on the practices of governors' official drivers across the nation. According to an Associated Press survey of travel policies nationwide, governors' drivers — who are state law enforcement officers — are expected to obey traffic and safety laws and not to speed or use warning lights just because their bosses are running late or want to get somewhere quicker.
· Former Mets employee admits selling steroids to "dozens" of players. In a new steroids bombshell, a former New York Mets clubhouse employee has admitted distributing various performance-enhancing drugs to "dozens of current and former Major League Baseball players." Kirk Radomski, 37, pleaded guilty today to distributing anabolic steroids and laundering the proceeds of the illicit business, which operated from his New York home.
· Ashes of Star Trek's Scotty finally fly to space. The cremated remains of actor James Doohan, who portrayed engineer "Scotty" on "Star Trek," and of Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper soared into suborbital space Saturday aboard a rocket. It was the first successful launch from Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport being developed in the southern New Mexico desert.
· Deputy secretary of state resigns after name found on D.C. madam list. Randall Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned Friday after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced call-girl ring, U.S. government sources said. His name was on a long list provided by the alleged prostitution service run by the so-called D.C. Madam. Tobias, 65, who is married, told ABC News there had been "no sex" during the women's visits to his condo.
· Spector's ex tells of gun threats. A former girlfriend of music producer Phil Spector has told his murder trial that she was threatened with two guns after he became drunk. Dorothy Melvin told the Los Angeles court she fled Mr Spector's house when he brandished a pistol and shotgun after a night's drinking.
· Boyfriend charged in killings of 2 boys. A man who told police he was disciplining his girlfriend's sons over chores when the situation escalated pleaded not guilty Friday to fatally stabbing the boys and sexually assaulting their 13-year-old sister.
Friday, April 27, 2007
· Video Exposes Woman Who Claimed She Was Paralyzed. A Florida woman who sued a hospital for malpractice after she claimed a medical mistake left her paralyzed was caught walking on camera. Wanda Davis Johnson claimed her life was forever altered following surgery at Mercy Hospital when she was allegedly left paralyzed from the waste down, unable to walk or stand. After viewing the tape, the judge threw Johnson's lawsuit against the hospital and the doctors out of court.
· Chicago officer faces new charges in bartender beating. Prosecutors announced 14 additional felony charges Friday against a Chicago police officer whose videotaped beating of a female bartender made international headlines. Anthony Abbate, a 12-year department veteran, was charged with seven counts of official misconduct, one count of communicating with a witness, three counts of intimidation and three counts of conspiracy.
» Above The Law: Chicago Cops Out Of Control. CBS2 reporters obtained an Internal Affairs document that shows 7,175 complaints filed against the Chicago police last year. Confidential records and sources reveal in 99 percent of cases no officers were suspended. That raises questions about how Internal Affairs handles abuse complaints. Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor, said "They can abuse civilians with absolute impunity.” “A brutality complaint is 94 percent less likely to be sustained in Chicago than anywhere else in the nation, unless the crime is caught on tape," Futterman added.
· Clinton says her southern twang a virtue, "America is ready for a multilingual president." Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she sees her sometimes Southern accent as a virtue. "I think America is ready for a multilingual president," Clinton said during a campaign stop at a charter school in Greenville, S.C.
· Gay N.H. bishop to make union official. The Rev. V. Gene Robinson became the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop. Now, he and his partner want to be among the first gay couples in New Hampshire to officially unite under a soon-to-be-signed civil unions law.
· N.J. governor will pay for medical costs of crash. Multimillionaire Gov. Jon S. Corzine will forgo his state health insurance and spend hundreds of thousands of his own money to pay for his medical care from a serious car accident, a spokesman said Friday.
· Detroit cop accused of forcing couples to have sex. A police sergeant is accused of pulling couples over with his cruiser and forcing them to engage in sex acts while he watched, threatening them with penalties if they refused. Detroit Sgt. Roosevelt Tidwell, 39, pleaded not guilty Thursday and has been suspended from his job with pay.
· TV producer accused of racism, sexism. A Hollywood union has accused an executive producer of "Law & Order: SVU" of making racist and sexist remarks, claiming he often refers to Asian-Americans as "Chinamen."
· AT&T announces $158.5 million going away present. AT&T Chief Executive Edward Whitacre, whose contract was set to expire next year, unexpectedly announced today that he will retire in less than two months. According to the Wall Street Journal, Whitacre is looking at a sweet retirement package valued at $158.5 million.
· Man Charged for Spending Money Deposited By Mistake. A Nebraska man has been charged with felony theft after he spent $80,000 his bank deposited by mistake in his account. George J. Costa, 45, was charged with theft of lost or mislaid property.
· Woman Slain at Funeral for Shooting Victim. A woman linked to a weekend shooting death was gunned down Thursday afternoon outside a local mortuary while attending the first victim's funeral, police said.
· Pit Bull Attacks Man Walking His Chihuahua. A man is in stable condition at Baptist Hospital of Miami after he was attacked by a pit bull while walking his Chihuahua on Thursday night.
· '$100 Laptop' to Cost $175. The founder of the ambitious "$100 laptop" project, which plans to give inexpensive computers to schoolchildren in developing countries, revealed Thursday that the machine actually costs $175, but it will be able to run Windows in addition to its homegrown, open-source interface.
· Economy weakest in 4 years. Economic growth slowed to the slowest pace in four years in the first quarter, as the government's key measure of the U.S. economy came in far weaker than expectations. Among the biggest factors in the weak growth was a slumping U.S. housing market, which subtracted almost a percentage point from growth.
· LA Times sports writer says he is transsexual. A veteran sports writer for the Los Angeles Times said in his column Thursday that he is a transsexual. Mike Penner told readers of his struggle to embrace his gender, and said when he returns from vacation in a few weeks he will be known as Christine Daniels. He did not say whether he was having surgery or why he's changing his last name.
· Saudi Arabia arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep. Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, storm its prisons to free the inmates and use aircraft in their attacks, the Interior Ministry said Friday. The militants planned to carry out suicide attacks against “public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that some of the military targets were outside the kingdom, but it did not elaborate
· Man On Crusade To See Corzine Pay For Belt Flap. Gov. Jon Corzine was riding in the front passenger seat of a chauffeured SUV without a seat belt. Now, Larry Angel has made it his mission to make sure Corzine pays for violating the law. At worst, Angel's lawsuit could lead to a $46 fine. But it shows that some residents aren't totally sympathetic to the governor's plight. And it highlights the fact that the state police have yet to file their own complaint against Corzine.
· Sandra Bullock's husband attacked by stalker. An obsessed fan tried to run over the husband of Sandra Bullock in an attack at the couple's home in California, police said Thursday. Police said that a woman, Marcia Valentine, attempted to mow down Jesse James during the incident at the couple's home as Bullock and James' 10-year-old son Jesse Jr looked on.
· Explosive found at Austin women's clinic. A package left at a women's clinic that performs abortions contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death, investigators said today. "It was in fact an explosive device," said David Carter, assistant chief of the Austin Police Department. "It was configured in such a way to cause serious bodily injury or death."
· Spector to rely on 'invisible witness.' Phil Spector's defense will rely on an "invisible witness" to prove that he did not shoot actress Lana Clarkson, one of his lawyers said yesterday: science. Science will show that Clarkson shot herself, that Spector was not standing close enough to shoot her, that his DNA was not on the gun and that his clothing bore no trace evidence to prove guilt, the defense told jurors.
· Baldwin makes TV apology, consults with Dr. Phil. Actor Alec Baldwin will apologize to his daughter on national television on Friday for calling her a "thoughtless little pig," according to excerpts from a pre-taped ABC interview released on Thursday.
· Plaintiff claims $69k in damages for $6,300 bad check. Debbie Herzog filed suit against Rhino Solutions Group of Alton and its owners in Madison County Circuit Court April 18, seeking to collect damages in excess of $69,000 for a $6,300 bad check.
· Immigration-related cases swamp courts. Immigration-related felony cases are swamping federal courts along the Southwest border, forcing judges to handle hundreds more cases than their peers elsewhere. Judges in the five judicial districts on the border carry the heaviest felony caseloads in the nation. Each judge in New Mexico, which ranked first, handled an average of 397 felony cases last year, compared with the national average of 84.
· Dems Fault Bush Over Iraq in 1st Debate. Democratic presidential hopefuls flashed their anti-war credentials Thursday night, heaping criticism on President Bush's Iraq policy in the first debate of the 2008 campaign. "The first day I would get us out of Iraq by diplomacy," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, one of eight rivals on the debate stage. "If this president does not get us out of Iraq, when I am president, I will," pledged Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
» 2008 Democratic Candidates Rely on Private Jets. A flock of small jets took flight from Washington Thursday, each carrying one of the eight Democratic presidential candidates to South Carolina for the first debate of the political season. For Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, it was wheels up shortly after they voted in favor of legislation requiring that U.S. troops begin returning home from Iraq in the fall. No one jet pooled, no one took commercial flights to save money, fuel or emissions. The campaign expense for each candidate was between $7,500 and $9,000.
· Film Lobbyist Jack Valenti Dies at 85. Jack Valenti was not just Hollywood's top lobbyist. He was one of its biggest stars. The 85-year-old Valenti, who died Thursday of complications from a stroke in March, led the movie industry out of the prudishness of old Hollywood and into an age of freer expression with the creation of the film rating system that has endured nearly 40 years.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
· MIT dean quits in resume padding scandal. The dean of admissions at MIT, a vocal critic of students who pump air into their college applications, has been forced to quit after she was busted for lying on her own resume.
· Two police officers plead guilty in 92-year-old woman's killing. Two police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid. A third officer still faces charges in the woman's death.
· Baldwin: 'If I never acted again I couldn't care less.' Divorced dad Alec Baldwin, caught yelling at his daughter on a voicemail message, said Wednesday he asked NBC to let him out of his "30 Rock" contract so he can devote his time to the issue of "parental alienation." "If I never acted again I couldn't care less," Baldwin said in a pre-taped appearance for ABC's "The View."
· Heinz plays ketchup with green gang. Teresa Heinz has a $35 million Gulfstream V, speed boats - including hubby John Kerry’s 42-foot-long Scaramouche that gets less than one mile per gallon - and a fleet of fuel-sucking SUVs. Ta-raaaaay-za’s now the covergirl for N magazine’s upcoming green issue where she lectures about how the rest of us can save Mother Earth. And even though the ketchup heiress and her spouse jet between five energy-sucking megamansions, Heinz puts her foot down when it comes to the environmentally safe chemicals she insists be placed on her Nantucket lawn.
· Lawyer's Price For Missing Pants: $65 Million. When the neighborhood dry cleaner misplaced Roy Pearson's pants, he took action. He complained. He demanded compensation. And then he sued. Man, did he sue. Two years, thousands of pages of legal documents and many hundreds of hours of investigative work later, Pearson is seeking to make Custom Cleaners pay a whopping $65,462,500.
· India court orders Gere's arrest for "obscene" kiss. An Indian court ordered the arrest of Hollywood star Richard Gere on Thursday for kissing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS campaign event this month saying it was an obscene act committed in public.
· Men get lost trying to steal copper in mine. Emergency crews say they believe two men went into a Massey mine in Hughes Creek on Tuseday and now may be lost. Deputies say they're told several men actually went into the mine to steal copper - two never came out. Massey has sent a mine rescue team in to see if they can locate them.
· Man sues railway company after truck hit by train. A Colchester County man whose truck collided with a passenger train in March 2005 is suing Via Rail Canada Inc. and Canadian National Railway Co. for alleged negligence and improper conduct. His lawyer, Gerard Scanlan of Truro, said in a telephone interview Wednesday his client is claiming he was not given sufficient warning of the approaching train.
· Snoop Dogg Denied Entry Into Australia. Snoop Dogg has been refused entry into Australia because of his extensive criminal record, the immigration minister said, the second time this year the rapper has been barred from entering another country.
· Man arrested with 68 driver's licenses. A Kansas man faces arraignment next month on charges stemming from the discovery of 68 driver's licenses in the car he was driving when he was stopped on a suspected traffic violation. Asked for his license, the Kansas City, Kan., man produced three of them, along with two Social Security cards, the patrol said. The trooper became suspicious, and a search of Fletcher turned up nine more driver's licenses.
· Hugh Grant arrested over "baked beans attack." Hugh Grant has been arrested and questioned by police after a photographer accused the actor of attacking him with a tub of baked beans.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
· Alec Baldwin leaving the country - again. Actor Alec Baldwin, who has been heavily criticized for leaving his 11-year-old daughter an insult-laced voicemail message, has reportedly decided to leave the country - and the TV business for good.
· Federal raid triggers Chicago protest. Residents of a predominately Hispanic Chicago neighborhood took to the streets in protest after heavily armed U.S. immigration agents raided businesses. "Soldiers bombarded our neighborhood," Baltazar Enriquez told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It looked like they were marching into Iraq."
· "Girls Gone Wild" founder charged with sexual battery. "Girls Gone Wild" video mogul Joe Francis was charged with sexual battery in Los Angeles on Wednesday, two days after being jailed in Florida in the fallout of another sexually-charged case. Francis, 34, has built a $100 million empire selling videos of young women baring their breasts in public and engaging in alcohol-fueled sex acts.
· What happens in Vegas, doesn't stay in Vegas. San Mateo County, California's two "top cops" — Sheriff Greg Munks and Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos — were detained by Las Vegas police Saturday night during a raid at a suspected brothel off the Las Vegas strip. The cops said they thought they were at a legitimate massage parlor, and shocked to learn they had actually visited an alleged brothel.
· Woman Attacked By Dogs Wants Breed 'Exterminated.' A woman who was a victim of a pit bull attack on Monday has said enough of the attacks and enough of the dogs. Joann Jungmann is in the hospital after two pit bulls jumped her. Jungmann's arm is bitten to the bone and her legs are punctured. The dogs' owner said he's sorry about the attack.
· Girl Hit By Car While Running From Pit Bull. Police said a car hit a 13-year-old girl after she ran into traffic while running from a pit bull Tuesday night. Witnesses said friends of Shalika Scott were taunting her and threatening to sick the pit bull on her. Pernell Taylor said she ran, but the dog bit her on her neck and stomach.
· Homeland security officer arrested after raid. When federal agents raided Buffalo, New York massage parlors last month, they were shocked to find a Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officer’s gun and uniform in an apartment linked to one of the parlors. Officer David J. Wolkiewicz, 51, appeared before a federal magistrate judge Tuesday, where court papers indicate he has admitted that he helped run a parlor where prostitution allegedly took place.
· Roseville, Ca. to get $115 million school thanks to 11 voters. A $115 million bond measure for a new high school in Roseville, California was passed Tuesday in an election involving only 12 voters. Eleven of the 12 voters cast ballots in favor of the new high school. Only a dozen voters were eligible because they are the only ones who live in the westside neighborhood where the school will be built.
· O'Donnell Leaving 'The View.' ABC has been unable to come to a contractual agreement with Rosie O'Donnell. As a result, her hosting duties on "The View" will come to an end mid-June. Despite controversy — or maybe because of it — O'Donnell was good business for ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co. Ratings for "The View" during February sweeps were up 15 percent in key women demographics over the same time in 2006.
· Threatening notes complain of cheerleader coverage. The FBI offered a $5,000 reward Tuesday for help tracking down whoever mailed dozens of threatening letters - including some containing a potentially harmful insecticide - complaining about too much TV coverage of college cheerleaders.
· Teacher has sex with 16-year-old at church. School officials placed a Jackson Middle School teacher on paid administrative leave on Tuesday after she was found in a van with a 16-year-old student. Janet Lea Hughes, 32, of Viera, was arrested Monday night after two undercover Titusville police officers found her with a student in a van parked at First Presbyterian Church.
· Opening Statements Begin in Spector Case. More than four years after a beautiful actress was shot to death at Phil Spector's hilltop castle, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that at times the music producer is "sinister and deadly." Spector appeared tense during the televised proceeding as the prosecution laid out the murder case against him in opening statements. Prosecutor Alan Jackson said Spector is someone "who, when he's confronted with the right circumstances, when he's confronted with the right situations, turns sinister and deadly."
· Mexico City lawmakers legalize abortion. Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, a landmark decision likely to heighten church-state tensions in the Roman Catholic country and lead to a bitter court battle.
· 'Dancing With the Stars' Loses Mills. With a farewell speech tucked into the top of her sparkly costume, Heather Mills came prepared to be eliminated from "Dancing With the Stars" Tuesday. "We knew we were going out," said the estranged Mrs. Paul McCartney when she learned her fate. "We were in the bottom two last week. We're not surprised."
· Alec Baldwin Leaves Talent Agency. Alec Baldwin has parted ways with his agents at a major Hollywood talent agency, his spokesman said Monday. Baldwin left Creative Artists Agency for personal reasons, said spokesman Matthew Hiltzik. He did not elaborate.
· Miss America Helps Cops in Sex Sting. Miss America can add crime fighter to her resume. Lauren Nelson recently went undercover with police in New York for a sting targeting sexual predators. Officers with Suffolk County's computer crimes unit created an online profile of a 14-year-old girl that included photographs of Nelson as a teenager.
· Hogs quarantined after eating tainted pet food. Salvaged pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical was sent to hog farms in as many as six states, federal health officials said Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if any hogs that ate the tainted feed then entered the food supply for humans.
· Lawmaker leaves panels after FBI raid. An Arizona congressman temporarily stepped down from two more House committees on Tuesday and got caught up in the probe of the firings of U.S. attorneys, less than a week after the FBI raided his wife's insurance business.
· CBS rejects ad showing Daly and beer. A television commercial featuring golfer John Daly singing in a honky-tonk bar amid reveling beer drinkers and later shown grabbing a beer from a friend while driving a golf cart has been rejected by CBS. "It did not meet the standards of the CBS network," spokeswoman LeslieAnn Wade said Tuesday.
· Apple’s Jobs ‘was warned’ on options. Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, was warned in 2001 about the accounting implications of backdating stock options for top executives at the company, Apple’s former chief financial officer said on Tuesday.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
· Kid takes "Show & Tell" to new heights. A Southlake elementary school was evacuated for more than an hour on Tuesday after a fourth-grader showed up with a hand grenade, authorities said. "The boy wasn't mad at anyone," Cpl. Mike Bedrichsaid, "He just thought it would be cool to bring it to school."
· Vatican: Gay marriage evil, abortion is terrorism. The Vatican's second-highest ranking doctrinal official forcefully branded homosexual marriage an evil and denounced abortion and euthanasia as forms of "terrorism with a human face."
· 'Batman' Filming Site Catches Fire. Fire broke out on the roof of Chicago's vacant former post office Tuesday where a movie crew had been filming scenes for an upcoming "Batman" sequel.
· Knoxville father makes boy wear sign as punishment for using drugs. A father took extreme measures to discipline his 14-year-old son, who he claims was abusing drugs. The boy was forced to wear a large sandwich board sign that said "I abused & sold drugs," while standing in front of Cedar Bluff Middle School.
· Mexico's health czar seeks better care for Mexicans in California. Mexico's new secretary of health visited San Francisco on Monday to learn about the health needs of the millions of Mexican immigrants living in California. "Californians should care about the health of immigrant workers because the state's economy relies on their labor," said Mario Gutierrez. Almost 6 million of the estimated 11 million Mexican immigrants in the United States are uninsured.
· Lynch: Truth more heroic than hype. Former Pfc. Jessica Lynch today told a House panel how she was distraught at her hero status after returning from Iraq where two comrades died fighting. It added insult to injury, literally, to hear "the little girl 'Rambo'" version of events being portrayed in the media, she said. Lynch added: "The truth is always more heroic than the hype."
· Fat Workers Cost Employers More. Overweight workers cost their bosses more in injury claims than their lean colleagues, suggests a study that found the heaviest employees had twice the rate of workers' compensation claims as their fit co-workers.
· Machine guns stolen from SWAT van. Memphis police were looking Monday night for the thieves who stole seven weapons from a SWAT team van parked in South Memphis. Taken were three machine guns, two semi-automatic handguns, and two 12-gauge shot guns, Lt. Jerry Gwyn said.
· Teacher Caught Stripping at Club. Chattanooga detectives who busted an adult entertainment club for having an underage dancer found another surprise - a dancer who is also a teacher in Kennesaw. According to police, one of the dancers at Club Coffee was a 15-year-old runaway from Florida. They also arrested stripper Marquita Jett, after finding her with a gun. Then they found out that Jett is a teacher in Kennesaw.
· CBS Radio Show Hosts Suspended After Prank Call. CBS Radio suspended two hosts from a New York radio station today after an Asian-American advocacy organization complained about the broadcast of a prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant that was peppered with ethnic and sexual slurs. In the skit, the caller attempts to order “flied lice,” brags of his prowess in kung fu and repeatedly curses at several employees. The Organization of Chinese Americans, an advocacy group, demanded an apology from the show’s two hosts and from CBS Radio, and called for the firing of the hosts and their producer.
· Rosie to Sheryl Crow: "Have You Seen My Ass?" The answer, presumably, is no - but Rosie O'Donnell made her point, pooh-poohing Sheryl Crow on "The View" for suggesting that we all use just one square of toilet paper per trip to the loo.
· Judge and prosecutor admit sexual relationship. A Douglas County judge and a female prosecutor admitted having sex in his chambers, and on more than one occasion he slipped into the women's showers at the courthouse so they could be together.
· Captain America Arrested With Burrito In Pants. A Brevard County doctor dressed up in a Captain America outfit was arrested with a burrito in his tights. What he allegedly did at the police station got him into more trouble. Doctor Raymond Adamcik, 54, would probably rather forget about the weekend when he was arrested on charges of battery, disorderly conduct, drug possession and trying to destroy evidence. It's not what you would expect from a doctor or Captain America.
· Legal loophole gives mentally ill access to guns. When a judge deemed Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho a danger to himself due to mental illness in 2005, that ruling should have disqualified him from buying a handgun under federal law. It didn't. And his slaughter of 32 people last week has raised questions about the efficacy of instant background checks for firearms purchases by the mentally ill.
Monday, April 23, 2007
· Virginia Tech killer "creeps out" escort. Chastity Frye, who works for an escort service, says she spent an hour, all alone, with Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui last month. FBI agents questioned her this weekend. "Well, they asked me what happened, and then they asked me if anything stuck out," Frye said.
· Girls Gone Wild founder cries as he's sentenced to jail for contempt. Blowing his nose and wiping away tears, the multimillionaire founder of the ''Girls Gone Wild'' video empire pleaded guilty to contempt of court Monday and received a jail sentence of 35 days. Joe Francis, 34, is facing state charges for allegedly offering a jail guard $100 for a bottled water and having prescription sleeping pills in his Bay County Jail cell.
· Nurse convicted in suitcase murder case. A jury convicted a nurse Monday of killing her husband and placing his body parts in three suitcases she tossed into Chesapeake Bay. Melanie McGuire, who sobbed as she heard the verdict, was convicted of murder, desecration of a corpse, perjury and a weapons offense.
· Rapper killed during robbery attempt. Aspiring rapper Allen Hicks, 22, was killed by the owner of a popular Oakland pizzeria after Hicks armed with a pistol and accompanied by two other men, tried to rob store owner Catarino Piedra. "I was scared," Piedra told The Chronicle. "I had to defend my family. I was in fear for me and my kids." "The shooting has left two families traumatized," Officer Roland Holmgren, a department spokesman said. "This thing had potential - who knows where the suspects were going to take the situation? But by no stretch of the imagination are we agreeing with or justifying what the owner did."
· Did trooper's affair cause Corzine crash? A police officer says he sent a message confronting the trooper over an extra-marital affair just before the April 12 crash. New Jersey State Police are investigating an allegation that the trooper who was driving Gov. Corzine's SUV two weeks ago when it crashed going 91 m.p.h. may have been distracted by e-mails sent to his mobile phone.
· Fat models stay in Africa as West wants Size Zero. Skinny African girls may get to strut on Western catwalks but the fat ones have to stay at home. This is the message being delivered to the 500 or so Ghanaians who have registered with the country's only international modeling agency, Exopa. "A lot of them want to go. But not everyone has the chance to go because of the size the Europeans want them to be," said Exopa's director Sima Ibrahim.
· Professor fired over Va. Tech discussion. An adjunct professor was fired after leading a classroom discussion about the Virginia Tech shootings in which he pointed a marker at some students and said "pow."
· NYPD Sergeant Investigated For Imus-Like Slur. Taking his cue from fired radio host Don Imus, a police sergeant insulted three police officers by calling them "hos" during a recent roll call at a Brooklyn stationhouse, the women claimed Monday. "We felt violated and humiliated," Officer Tronnette Jackson said at a news conference.
· Wis. Man Pays Wrong Woman For Lap Dance, Calls 911. According to the Dodge County Sheriff's Department log, a man called the emergency 911 number early Saturday after he gave $20 to a woman at a Clyman, Wis. club. The woman did not work at the club and left with his money. Failing to get a lap dance, the man called the sheriff's department. Officers are trying to locate the woman.
· Couric an expensive, unfixable mistake. CBS executives deny it, but there's a growing feeling within the network that Katie Couric is an expensive, unfixable mistake. Despite her A-list celebrity, her $15 million salary, and a promotional blitz worthy of a Super Bowl, the former star of NBC's Today has failed to move the Nielsen needle on No. 3 Evening News since her debut seven months ago.
· Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead. An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in Iraq.
· Sheryl Crow: Wipe out global warming by limiting toilet paper usage. Singer Sheryl Crow intends to wipe out global warming by limiting the use of toilet paper. Crow recently said "One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting." "One square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required," Crow added.
» Crow's concert rider for parking her entourage. Sheryl Crow's contract for concert venues require amble parking for her touring entourage which includes sufficient room for three tractor trailers, four buses, and six cars.
· Mayor pledges to make San Francisco a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. Mayor Gavin Newsom vowed Sunday to maintain San Francisco as a sanctuary for immigrants and do everything he can to discourage federal authorities from conducting immigration raids. The mayor cannot stop federal authorities from making arrests, Newsom told about 300 mostly Latino members of St. Peter's Church, but no San Francisco employee will help with immigration enforcement.
· Camel Tramples Florida Woman To Death. A Florida woman died after being trampled by a camel, according to authorities. Cathie Ake was the owner of Mini Acres Exotic Animal Farm.
· McGreevey's Wife Tells All in New Book. The wife of former Gov. James E. McGreevey describes him in her upcoming memoir as self-absorbed and controlling and says that, among other demands, he insisted she move out of the governor's mansion before his official resignation or it would make her "look like white trash."
· Crook wins damages for injury during theft. A Canadian man who admitted shoplifting C$106 in razor blades has been awarded C$12,000 ($10,645) for injuries he suffered when he was tackled by store security guards.
· Teacher pleads not guilty to rape of 13-year-old boy. A former Blackstone teacher accused of having sex with her student had a previous sexual relationship with a former student at another job and has a history of "grooming" young men to be her lovers, prosecutors said in court yesterday. Prosecutors allege the sexual relationship began when Giguere befriended a 13-year-old boy in her eighth-grade English class.
· Man Gets 5,000 Calls for YouTube Posting. Ryan Fitzgerald is unemployed, lives with his father and has a little bit of time on his hands. So, he decided to offer his ear, to anyone who wants to call. After posting a video with his cell phone number on YouTube on Friday, the 20-year-old told The Boston Globe he has received more than 5,000 calls and text messages. Fitzgerald said he wanted to "be there," for anyone who needed to talk. "I never met you, but I do care," a spiky-haired Fitzgerald said into the camera on his YouTube posting.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
· Illegal Mexican kills St. Louis woman, is charged with involuntary manslaughter. A suspected drunken driver was charged Saturday with involuntary manslaughter after his car plowed into the back of another vehicle, killing a young woman. The suspect, Pedro Santos, 27, was arrested about 3 a.m. Saturday, about three hours after the crash, hiding in woods not far from the scene. Santos admitted to police that he had entered the country from Mexico illegally.
· California's Mortgage delinquencies at 78% for prime loans. Investment bank Goldman Sachs is increasingly concerned about the health of California's real estate market. Delinquencies on prime and subprime adjustable-rate mortgages in California soared by 78% and 60% respectively, vs. 33% and 24% across the U.S.
· Cops: "We didn't know he was deaf." Harry Tessien, a pizza deliveryman who has been deaf for 25 years, saw flashing police lights. After pulling over, he was pelted with nylon beanbags, which contain 40 grams of lead shot and are meant to stun a suspect. Officer Michael Hicks deployed his Taser as well. "The police opened fire on me," said Tessien, 45, who was heading home after a few beers at a club. "I was unarmed and I put my hands out in front, saying over and over, 'I'm deaf, stop shooting.'"
· Imus Fallout Claims Show Producer. Don Imus' right-hand man is following his former boss into the radio ether. Longtime Imus in the Morning executive producer Bernard McGuirk was fired Thursday for what theoretically could be characterized as conspiracy to emit racist and misogynistic remarks.
· Prison releases felon after getting phony fax. Officials released a prisoner from a state facility after receiving a phony fax that ordered the man be freed, and didn’t catch the mistake for nearly two weeks. It contained grammatical errors, was not typed on letterhead and was faxed from a local grocery store. The fax falsely claimed that the Kentucky Supreme Court “demanded” Rouse be released.
· Student Candidate Lies About Va. Tech Cousin For Votes. A candidate for Southern Oregon University student body president has admitted she was lying when she claimed she had a cousin who was killed in the Virginia Tech shootings. Brandi Freeman spoke at a candlelight vigil with tears streaming down her face, claiming she had lost her cousin in the shootings that left 32 dead at Virginia Tech. By Friday, Freeman admitted to making up the story to appeal to voters for the student body election next week. She also said she suffers from bipolar disorder.
· Dad Wants $20K, Says Lesbian Book Disturbed Teens. A Bentonville, Ark., man is seeking $20,000 from the city after his two teenage sons found a book on lesbian sex on a public library bookshelf. He also wants the library director fired. Earl Adams said his 14- and 16-year-old sons were "greatly disturbed" after finding the book, titled "The Whole Lesbian Sex Book." Adams said the book caused "many sleepless nights in our house."
· Gore Team Told To 'Stand By' For Presidential Run. The more time that passes, the more it seems that former vice president Al Gore may indeed run for the White House next year. According to the Daily Telegraph, staff members who worked on Gore’s unsuccessful presidential bid in 2000 have been approached to work on a possible campaign for 2008. “I was asked whether I would be available towards the end of the year if I am needed,” one of Gore’s former campaign workers said.
· Virginia Tech Gunman Purchased Magazines on eBay. The Internet activities of the Virginia Tech gunman provided more insight Saturday into how he may have plotted for the rampage, with revelations that he bought two ammunition magazines on eBay.
· Texas jury awards $9 million to beating victim. A jury awarded $9 million to a black man who suffered permanent brain damage after being beaten and dumped in a field by four men in 2003. Billy Ray Johnson, 46, lives in a nursing home because of the injuries he suffered in the beating. In the criminal case, the men accused of assaulting him were fined and sentenced to probation and jail time, but none served more than 60 days behind bars.
· Man Drowns In Casino Moat. A man fleeing security drowned early Saturday after leaping over a railing into a moat surrounding a casino, authorities said. Police said the man, identified as Anthony D. Swopes, 21, of Kansas City, fled while being questioned about his identification at the Isle of Capri casino.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
· Jihadist Video Shows Boy Beheading Man. The boy with the knife looks barely 12. In a high-pitched voice, he denounces the bound, blindfolded man before him as an American spy. Then he hacks off the captive's head to cries of "God is great!" and hoists it in triumph by the hair.
· Soup-Poisoning Father Gets 5 Years. A Georgia man who admitted that he poisoned his children's soup in an attemt to get money from the Campbell Soup Co. was sentenced Thursday to five years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes also ordered William Allen Cunningham, 41, of Stockbridge to have no further contact with the children or his ex-wife.
· Waiters indicted in $3 million credit card fraud. The diners didn't know it, but their credit cards were going to pay for more than their meals, prosecutors said. Waiters in about 40 restaurants, in New York and elsewhere, quietly recorded customers' credit card information and passed it on to people who used the information to make more than $3 million worth of worth of illegal purchases, according to prosecutors.
· Calif. Station Sued for Imus Reruns. CBS Radio is suing a small radio station for airing reruns of Don Imus' program since his firing for sexist and racist comments about the Rutgers University women's college basketball team.
· Man who set himself ablaze may face arson charges. Authorities have recommended that arson charges be filed against a 50-year-old Fountain Valley man who doused himself with gasoline, said he wanted to die and then set himself on fire in Long Beach City Hall Thursday. A security guard tackled Haouy Nguyen and doused the flames.
· Wisconsin teen 'freaked out,' didn't intend to kill. A teenager accused of gunning down his principal told detectives in a videotaped interview that he didn't mean to kill him but "freaked out" when the principal tackled him in a school hallway.
· U.S. posted 63,000 Social Security numbers on Web. The Social Security numbers of 63,000 people who received Agriculture Department grants have been posted on a government website since 1996, but they were taken down last week.
· Corzine's driver faces police review. An internal state police panel of accident experts will decide if Governor Corzine's driver was at fault in last week's crash. At first, state police said it was the driver of a red pickup truck that caused last week's crash and that speed played no part in the wreck. Then came word that trooper Rasinski was using the SUV's emergency lights to move traffic out of the way as Corzine headed to Princeton to broker a meeting between disgraced radio star Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team. Crash data showed Rasinski was going at least 91 mph seconds before the crash. Now police believe that the driver of the red pickup was trying to avoid Corzine's car, believing there was an accident or other emergency.
· 'Transgender' candidate on prom king ballot. When school officials announce the name of the Fresno High School prom king on Saturday, Cinthia Covarrubias will be wearing a tuxedo just like the six boys vying for the honor. Gay youth advocates called it a landmark victory for campus gender expression and said they believe it's the first time in the United States that an openly transgender student has run for prom royalty.
· Professor axed for VT stunt: Re-enacted tragedy to tout pro-gun perspective. An Emmanuel College professor has been fired after re-enacting the Virginia Tech massacre in his classroom in order to air a pro-gun viewpoint that offended students at the Catholic liberal arts school, the professor charged yesterday. Nicholas Winset said he was terminated and permanently barred from campus following a Wednesday lecture in which he dramatized the massacre to show that deranged gunman Cho Seung-Hui could have been stopped if another student had been carrying a gun.
· BA Cuts Branson From In-Flight Bond Film. British Airways cut a cameo by Richard Branson from its in-flight version of the latest James Bond film and blurred out the tail fin of a Virgin Atlantic plane seen in the movie. BA's entertainment team cut a cameo appearance by Branson, chairman of the rival airline Virgin Atlantic, that appears in the original version of "Casino Royale," a spokesman confirmed Saturday. In the original film, Branson can be seen turning around after walking through a metal detector at Miami Airport.
· Drivers To Be Charged $8 To Enter Midtown New York City. A controversial new plan is about to be implemented to improve the quality of life in New York City. This weekend Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to introduce an $8 congestion fee for drivers who enter Manhattan below 86th Street.
· Alec Baldwin Explains Himself on the Web. As Alec Baldwin's angry words to his daughter were being broadcast around the world, the 49-year-old actor explained himself Friday on his Web site. "Although I have been told by numerous people not to worry too much, as all parents lose their patience with their kids, I am most saddened that this was released to the media because of what it does to a child," he wrote. "I'm sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child."
· Clerk Wins $200,000 by Mistake. A store clerk's slip-up at the cash register has paid off big time. Wayburn Allen on Tuesday accidentally rang up two duplicate Powerball tickets for a customer in this western North Carolina town. At the end of the day, after she was unable to sell the second ticket, Allen paid for it herself. The next day, Allen returned to the store and found the ticket matched all five numbers , earning her a $200,000 jackpot.
· Gadget Is Parolees' Last Call. The judge gave Steven Williams a choice: Go to jail awaiting trial for reckless driving, or stay out on bail and wear a new kind of ankle bracelet that can detect any signs of drinking alcohol. Williams chose the bracelet.
· 25 handguns missing from sheriff's department. The state attorney general is sending an investigator to the Washington County Sheriff's Department, which says about 25 handguns are missing from its evidence room.
Friday, April 20, 2007
· Scientologists provide "grief counseling" to Virginia Tech students. The Church of Scientology has dispatched "ministers" to provide "grief counseling" for shell-shocked youth at Virginia Tech - but critics suspect the sect hopes to convert the vulnerable students. "They did this at Ground Zero [after 9/11]," says Rick Ross. "They did this in New Orleans [after Hurricane Katrina]. They look for very high-profile disaster that can be milked for photo ops to promote the Church."
· Va. Gunman's Family Feels Hopeless, Lost. The family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho told The Associated Press on Friday that they feel "hopeless, helpless and lost," and "never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence." "Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us," the family said.
· Update: Two die in NASA standoff. A gunman killed himself and a male hostage while holed up in a barricaded building at NASA's Johnson Space Center, police say. Houston Police spokesman Capt. Dwayne Ready said a female hostage survived the ordeal. It is not know what, if any, relationship the killer had with his hostages.
· Judge Won't Drop Charge In Political Dog-Doo Fight. A Democratic volunteer facing a criminal charge for leaving dog poop at the office of Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave lost a bid Wednesday to have the case dropped. Prosecutors say Kathleen Ensz left dog poop wrapped in one of Musgrave's mailings at the congresswoman's Greeley office last June because she was angry over repeatedly getting such mailings.
· 150-story skyscraper could become tallest in U.S. Chicago's planning board has endorsed a proposal for a twisting lakefront tower that would become the nation's tallest building. With Thursday's approval from the Chicago Plan Commission, the design and site plan for the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire goes to the city zoning committee next week.
· Busted ex-officer crocked & loaded. A former policewoman busted for drunken driving had a blood-alcohol level of 0.47 - six times over the legal limit and the highest ever recorded in Washington State, cops said yesterday.
· Pet food tainted on purpose? Imported ingredients used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally spiked with an industrial chemical to boost their apparent protein content, federal officials said Thursday.
· Alec Baldwin calls daughter, 11, 'rude ... little pig.' On the recording, Alec Baldwin can be heard admonishing his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, "You are a rude, thoughtless little pig." "You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being," he says, apparently upset that she did not answer her phone for a planned call. "I don't give a damn that you're 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you're a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do." The recording was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com, which said the call was placed on April 11.
· Computer blamed for racial slur on sofa label. Doris Moore was shocked when her new couch was delivered to her home with a label that used a racial slur to describe the dark brown shade of the upholstery. The situation was even more alarming for Moore because it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out the tag. A Chinese software company acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error. Huang Luoyi explained that when the Chinese characters for "dark brown" are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive N-word description comes up.
· Tough Love from Britney's Dad. Britney Spears has been to rehab. Now it looks like she may be headed for family therapy. The pop princess received a public tongue lashing from her father, Jamie Spears, on Friday in the form of an email sent to the New York Post calling her out for bad behavior.
· Victim played dead as Cho shot himself. Colin Goddard was mere inches from killer Cho Seung-Hui during Monday's massacre, and he heard the gunman end his own life after killing at least 30 people, Goddard's mother said. After bullets had been fired all around him inside a classroom at Norris Hall, Goddard, a 21-year-old international studies major, played dead as the killer stood over him.
· Rules should have barred weapon purchase. A judge's ruling on Cho Seung-Hui's mental health should have barred him from purchasing the handguns he used in the Virginia Tech massacre, according to federal regulations.
· Va. Tech Shooter Was Picked on in School. Long before he boiled over, Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was pushed around and laughed at as a schoolboy in suburban Washington because of his shyness and the strange, mumbly way he talked, former classmates say.
· Jury chosen for murder trial of music legend Phil Spector. A 12-member jury was on Thursday chosen to hear the murder trial of legendary music producer Phil Spector, which is expected to get underway in earnest next week. Nine men and three women will sit on the jury panel, which was selected after four days of questioning by prosecution and defense lawyers at the Los Angeles Superior Court.
· Bill Clinton: "Vice president Gore might run for president." Bill Clinton said on Larry King last night that the Democrats running for president "are gifted people and they deserve to be seriously listened to," and "you have got the prospect that vice president Gore might run."
· 'Ghost ship' puzzles rescuers. Australian rescuers were on Friday trying to solve the "Mary Celeste" style mystery of a yacht found floating off the coast with its engine running, food on its table ready to eat, but no crew.
· Bar of soap gives caffeine kick in the shower. Inventors have created a soap infused with caffeine which helps users wake up in the morning. The soap, called Shower Shock, supplies the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee per wash, with the stimulant absorbed naturally through the skin, manufacturers say.
· Suspect arrested in Edmonds college bomb threats. Lynnwood police have arrested a 16-year-old Edmonds Community College student suspected of making several bomb threats this morning as a ploy to skip class. "In the calls, he referenced Virginia Tech. He said the bomb would go off at 11 a.m. in the library," she said. The caller didn't "come across as credible," she said, but police treated it seriously in light of Monday's massacre. The teen was arrested at his home in Lynnwood, where he lives with his parents, police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions said.
· Asian tycoon left legacy to fortune-teller. Asia's richest woman left her wealth to her fortune-teller in her last known will, Hong Kong media reported Thursday, predicting a costly legal battle to control her multi-billion-dollar estate. Nina Wang, who died aged 69 earlier this month and had no children, left a legacy estimated as worth at least 4.2 billion US dollars after transforming her company Chinachem into a real estate empire.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
· Preacher’s wife found guilty of manslaughter. A preacher's wife showed no emotion when a judge announced late this afternoon that she had been found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her husband. Mary Winkler, 33, told jurors Wednesday that her husband, Matthew, abused her physically and sexually, but she said the shotgun went off accidentally as she pointed it at him.
· Rapper Cam'ron: Snitching on killer would hurt "Code Of Ethics." Rap star Cam'ron says there's no situation — including a serial killer living next door — that would cause him to help police in any way, because to do so would hurt his music sales and violate his "code of ethics," he says in this Sunday's 60 Minutes broadcast.
· Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Va. Tech Funerals. The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church announced plans to protest at victims’ funerals only hours after 32 people were killed in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. They also may protest at other events on the Virginia Tech campus. The anti-gay religious group is best known for protesting at the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq.
· Update: Edwards' $400 haircuts a "mistake." Democrat John Edwards is trying to get out of a hairy situation, reimbursing his presidential campaign $800 for two visits with a Beverly Hills stylist. Two $400 cuts by stylist Joseph Torrenueva, who told The Associated Press that the former North Carolina senator is a longtime client, showed up on Edwards' campaign spending reports filed this weekend. Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said it never should have been there. "The bill was sent to the campaign. It was inadvertently paid," Schultz said. "John Edwards will be reimbursing the campaign."
· When is it OK to put a student away? Cho Seung-Hui's behavior raised red flags long before he slaughtered at least 30 people on the Virginia Tech campus and killed himself, and many people now wonder what, if anything, could have been done to head off the atrocity. Officials said that despite the warning signs, there was nothing that could, or should have led them to put him in jail or commit him.
· Democratic majority leader: "Iraq war is lost." The war in Iraq "is lost" and a US troop surge is failing to bring peace to the country, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, said Thursday. "I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.
· Disgraced former New Jersey gay governor teaching ethics at university. Former Gov. James E. McGreevey is teaching ethics, law and leadership at Kean University. "It seems to me, Jim McGreevey teaching law and ethics is a little bit like Doctor Kevorkian teaching health maintenance," state chairman Tom Wilson said.
· "Nappy by Nature" salon owner not offended by Imus' statement. Tina Beatty admits most of her customers have nappy - or naturally funky - hair. Her salon on Charleston's West Side is even called Nappy By Nature. So when she heard radio host Don Imus' controversial remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team ("that's some nappy-headed ho's there"), she wasn't particularly offended by the "nappy" reference.
· Families cancel NBC appearances over gunman video. Some family members of the victims killed at Virginia Tech university canceled interviews with NBC on Thursday because the television network aired video and photographs of the killer it received in the mail. Police handling the investigation into the shooting also expressed disappointment at the airing of the images and rants by Cho Seung-Hui, who killed 32 people and then himself in the worst shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.
· Psychiatrist: Showing Video Is 'Social Catastrophe.' The videos of Seung-hui Cho, the man who fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech and then killed himself, shouldn't have been released because they don't offer the public any greater understanding of the gruesome crime, said Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist. "If you can take [talk show host Don] Imus off the air, you can certainly keep [Cho] from having his own morning show."
· Mother Shoots Toy Gun at Kindergarten Class. The mother of a kindergarten student was banned from a school after officials said she walked into a classroom, pointed a toy gun at students and pulled the trigger several times.
· Lesbian wolf pack guilty. In an instant, four tough lesbians from New Jersey were transformed into crying convicts yesterday after being found guilty of pummeling a filmmaker in Greenwich Village last summer.
· Student Arrested Over Va. Tech Remarks. A University of Colorado student was arrested after making comments that classmates deemed sympathetic toward the gunman blamed for killing 32 students and himself at Virginia Tech, authorities said. During a class discussion of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech, the student "made comments about understanding how someone could kill 32 people," university police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley said.
· Update: Iowa barbers call Edwards' $400 haircut 'impossible.' Iowa barbers put down their shears and sputtered words like “preposterous” and “impossible” Wednesday when they heard of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards spending $400 for a haircut. In the Quad-Cities, $10 or $12 is about average. “If I charged $400 for a haircut, they’d come after me with white coats,” said Leo Fier, who has been cutting hair for 49 years at his shop in DeWitt, Iowa.
· Update: Airport Hits Cabbies for Refusing Fares. Taxi drivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport face tougher penalties despite protests from Muslim cabbies who sought a compromise for religious reasons, officials said Monday. The Metropolitan Airports Commission said new penalties were needed to ensure customers get safe and reliable taxi service, and voted to suspend a driver's airport taxi license for 30 days for the first offense and revoke it for two years for a second offense.
· Va. Tech Gunman: 'I Had To Do It.' A gunman's final tirade is the focus of video and other materials mailed by the Virginia Tech shooter to NBC headquarters in New York. NBC said the package contained a rambling and often-incoherent, 1,800-word video manifesto on CD, plus 43 photos, 11 showing him aiming handguns at the camera.
· Killer's Image Tied to Dark Movie. The inspiration for perhaps the most inexplicable image in the set that Cho Seung-Hui mailed to NBC news on Monday may be a movie from South Korea that won the Gran Prix prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2004.
· Radio Station's Free Breast Implant Contest Sparks Controversy. A Florida radio station's contest offering a free breast implant to the woman who "parties the hardest" is drawing controversy over the surgeon who will be performing the operation. The man chosen to perform the surgery, Dr. Barry Kaplan, was investigated by the Problem Solvers last year after he was put on probation and fined after some of his patients said he botched their surgeries.
· Horses may be drugged for Rolling Stones gig. Preparations to sedate as many as 300 horses stabled at Belgrade's racecourse to keep them calm during a Rolling Stones concert have enraged Serb animal lovers who are lobbying to have the gig moved to another venue.
· Bullet in heart removed after 39 years. A Vietnamese soldier who was shot by U.S. troops in 1968 and has lived with a bullet lodged in his heart for nearly four decades underwent surgery and the slug was successfully removed, doctors said.
· Survey Reveals Most Satisfying Jobs. Firefighters, the clergy and others with professional jobs that involve helping or serving people are more satisfied with their work and overall are happier than those in other professions, according to results from a national survey.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
· Gunman contacted NBC News during massacre. Sometime after he killed two people in a dormitory but before he slaughtered 30 more in a classroom building Monday morning, Cho Seung-Hui sent NBC News a rambling communication and videos about his grievances, the network said Wednesday. Among the materials are 23 QuickTime video files showing Cho talking directly to the camera, Capus said. He does not name anyone specifically, but he talks at length about religion and his hatred of the wealthy.
· Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit. A Virginia court found Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho was "mentally ill" and dangerous. Then the state let him go.
· Mother sues utility over son's fall from electric tower. The mother of a boy who was shocked by a 19,700-volt power line and fell 35 feet after climbing an Illinois electric tower on a $5 bet is suing the utility for allegedly failing to properly warn of the tower's dangers.
· Slain preacher's wife denies pulling trigger. Mary Winkler told a Tennessee jury on Wednesday about her volatile marriage to a preacher she said berated her, forced her to watch pornography and to wear "slutty" costumes for sex.
· Bus Crash Passengers Here Illegally. More than half of the passengers on a bus that nearly plunged over a bridge on Interstate 80 Monday are in this country illegally. A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs enforcement said 13 men and 11 woman, all but one from China, are illegal immigrants.
· Woman sues town, funeral home after falling into grave. An elderly Georgia woman who broke her hip when she fell into an open grave during her friend's funeral is going forward with a lawsuit. Marian May, of Marietta, Ga., slipped when she was trying to place flowers on the casket. "It is not much fun being down there, where it's nice and black, and you are looking up and I am saying 'Jean, I don't want to go with you,'" May said.
· IRS commissioner to lead Red Cross. American Red Cross selected Mark Everson, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, to be its new president Wednesday, filling the post as the charity restructures itself after intense criticism over its response to Hurricane Katrina.
· Birkhead and Stern are unlikely friends. Larry Birkhead has only kind words to say about Howard K. Stern, his former adversary in the Anna Nicole Smith paternity case. Birkhead isn't as generous with his comments on Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, who is seeking visitation rights. "It's puzzling for her to display affection to me and then for the attorneys to say she's going for custody and Larry was just a sperm donor and a one-night stand," he says. "Then they all come and shake my hand. You've gotta scratch your head and say, 'What's going on here?'"
· Man shows up to court drunker than when he was arrested for DUI. David Milam was jailed for contempt of court after he allegedly showed up intoxicated at his DUI trial. Milam had a blood alcohol content of .27, more than three times the legal limit of .08. When he was charged with DUI about five weeks ago, his blood alcohol content was .22, court records show.
· Driver's Fondling May Have Caused 8 Traffic Deaths. The driver of a sport utility vehicle that rolled and killed eight of 14 passengers was charged Tuesday with transporting illegal immigrants resulting in death. Survivors told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Rigoberto Salas-Lopez was fondling a woman while driving, contradicting the driver's claim that he was trying to avoid an animal when the vehicle went off the road and rolled at least five times early Monday.
· Court Backs Ban on Abortion Procedure. The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.
· Rutgers Coach Parlays Don Imus Flap Into Book Deal. Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer, in the public eye for much of the last two weeks after Don Imus called her players "nappy-headed hos," has signed a contract to write her autobiography.
· Actress Kitty Carlisle Hart Dies at 96. Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, including the classic Marx Brothers movie "A Night at the Opera," has died at age 96, her son said Wednesday. Hart had appeared for years on the popular game show "To Tell the Truth" as a celebrity panelist.
· Killer's Roommates: Cho Had Imaginary Supermodel Girlfriend. His dormitory roommates, Joseph Aust and Karan Grewal, steered clear of Cho when they lived with him. They said Cho was quiet and didn't interact with them. Though Cho's behavior was always strange, Aust said he noticed some changes in recent weeks. Cho also had an imaginary girlfriend named "Jelly," who was a supermodel, his roommates said.
· Edwards contributors paying for $400 haircuts. Democratic White House hopeful John Edwards insists on first-class pampering - enjoying $400 haircuts on the road and plunking down nearly $500 for swank spa treatments, according to campaign records. Edwards, who touts himself as the poor man's champion, tucked the vanity treatments into his 5,236-page first-quarter Federal Election Commission filing under "consulting" expenses.
· Teen wasn't faking his death, school staff charged. A Carroll County grand jury has indicted six former staff members at Bowling Brook Preparatory School on charges of reckless endangerment in the death of an East Baltimore teenager who lost consciousness while being restrained at the school for juvenile offenders. Asked what the staff did during the 41 minute delay, Barnes responded, "Nothing. ... They thought he was faking."
· Secret Service officer accidentally shoots another officer at White House. Two Secret Service officers were injured on Tuesday after a gun held by another Secret Service officer accidentally fired inside the White House gate, according to a spokesman, Darrin Blackford.
· Killer's parents hospitalized 'with shock.' The parents of mass killer Cho Seung-hi were hospitalized with shock and had not attempted suicide, contrary to reports in Korean media. Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Cho's parents, who ran a dry cleaning shop in Centerville, Virginia, had been hospitalized after learning of ther son's killing rampage at Virginia Tech University. Rumors earlier spread through Korean media sources that Cho's parents had attempted suicide.
· Pet Food Recall Expanded on New Finding. An industrial chemical that led to a nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog foods has been found to contaminate a second pet food ingredient, expanding the recall further. The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
· Woman's eBay sale for Buddism doesn't go too well. Things didn't work out as planned for a St. Paul woman who wanted to sell nearly all her possessions on eBay. Lisa Perry, 45, had hoped to sell everything in one huge auction. She had said she wanted a fresh start, and was embracing the Buddist principles of "releasing attachment to things." Bidding this week on eBay topped out at $880, well under her $2,000 reserve.
· Gere, Shetty accused of obscenity over kiss. Hollywood star Richard Gere and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty have landed in legal trouble after a light-hearted hug and kiss at an AIDS awareness event last weekend, a press report said. Gere
· Bermuda cut from O'Donnell's gay cruise. A summer cruise for gay and lesbian families organized by Rosie O'Donnell has cut Bermuda from its planned itinerary because of possible protests by church groups in the British island territory.
· Man jailed for shooting at firefighters. A man who shot at firefighters after they refused to get his cat out of a tree has been sentenced to five months in jail.
· State Senate approves free beer samples. The Senate approved a bill on an unanimous voice vote Tuesday that allows grocery and liquor stores to hand out samples of up to 6 ounces of free beer per day to people of legal drinking age.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
· N.J. gov.'s SUV going 91 mph before crash. The SUV carrying Gov. Jon S. Corzine was traveling about 91 mph moments before it crashed, Superintendent of State Police Col. Rick Fuentes said Tuesday. The speed limit along that stretch of the parkway is 65 mph. Corzine also was not wearing his seat belt as he rode in the front passenger's seat.
· Professor: Shooter's writing dripped with anger. The former chairwoman of Virginia Tech's English department was so concerned about Cho Seung-Hui's anger in the fall of 2005 that she took him out of a creative writing class and taught him one-on-one. Lucinda Roy said Tuesday that police had asked her not to discuss details of the Virginia Tech shooter's writings because of the ongoing investigation, but she said the anger he expressed was palpable.
· Massacre Gun: $571 for 9 mm Glock and 50 Bullets at Roanoke Store. Seung-Hui Cho bought his first gun, a 9mm handgun, on March 13 at a Roanoke, Va. gun store. John Markell said Cho's gun and a box of 50 bullets cost $571. He said Cho paid by credit card and left the store with the gun. Markell said Cho was "a clean-cut college kid," and the transaction was entirely legal under Virginia law.
· Roommates Describe Gunman as Loner. He was a stranger in a crowd of 26,000. Cho Seung-Hui was even unknown to the young man who for nearly a year slept just feet away from him. “He was my roommate,” said Joe Aust, a 19-year-old sophomore. “I didn’t know him that well, though.” Mr. Aust, who was an engineering major, and another student who shared their suite, Karan Grewal, 21, painted a picture of a loner who ate his meals alone in the dining hall and shunned any attempts at friendship.
· Was gunman crazed over Emily? Eighteen-year-old Emily Jane Hilscher was one of the first two victims to be identified in the Virginia Tech massacre, along with 22-year-old Ryan Clark. [photo]
· Killer's Note: 'You Caused Me to Do This.' Cho Seung-Hui, the student who killed 32 people and then himself yesterday, left a long and "disturbing" note in his dorm room at Virginia Tech, say law enforcement sources. Sources have now described the note, which runs several pages, as beginning in the present tense and then shifting to the past tense. It contains rhetoric explaining Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this," sources said.
· Contents of note signed by "Ismail Ax." The note included a rambling list of grievances, according to sources. They said Cho also died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on the inside of one of his arms. Cho Seung-Hui had shown recent signs of violent, aberrant behavior, according to an investigative source, including setting a fire in a dorm room and allegedly stalking some women. A note believed to have been written by Cho was found in his dorm room that railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus. [Tribune article may require registration]
· "Disturbing note" left by killer. Sources say Cho killed two people in a dorm room, returned to his own dorm room where he re-armed and left a "disturbing note" before entering a classroom building on the other side of campus to continue his rampage.
· UPDATE: VA Tech Gunman Identified. The Virginia Tech Police Department has confirmed the identification of the gunman responsible for the multiple fatalities at Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus. The individual has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23. Cho was enrolled as an undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major at Virginia Tech. Cho, a South Korean native, was in the U.S. as a resident alien with a residence established in Centerville, Va.
· Internet radio broadcasters dealt setback. Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a panel of copyright judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that hiked the royalties they must pay to record companies and artists.
· Police Cite Person of Interest in Va. Tech Dorm Killing; Dead Gunman Yet to Be ID'd. A tranquil college campus in Virginia became a killing field Monday morning. At least 33 people are dead in the worst mass shooting in modern American history. In a Tuesday morning interview with "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer, Virginia Tech president Charles Steger said the shooter who killed himself was a student of Asian descent who resided in a Virginia Tech dormitory. He referred to the man as "the second shooter" and said they are still investigating the possibility of two shooters.
· Parents Demand Firing of Virginia Tech President, Police Chief. Parents of a Virginia Tech student expressed outrage Monday at what they call an inadequate response by college brass to the worst mass-murder shooting in American history. John and Jennifer Shourds of Lovettsville, Va. demanded the immediate firings of University President Charles Steger and Virginia Tech Campus Police Chief W.R. Flinchum who he said "screwed up" the handling of separate shooting incidents that left 33 students dead, including the shooter.
· Woman: Bowel caused alleged shoplifting. A woman arrested for shoplifting has blamed the crime on irritable bowel syndrome, authorities said. Helen Gallo, 61, of Clearwater, was arrested Sunday after allegedly shoplifting from a Cape Coral grocery store, The Daily Breeze reported. Gallo reportedly told authorities that she could not wait in line because she has irritable bowel syndrome.
· Gibb to rebuild near burned Cash home. Barry Gibb, the former Bee Gee who bought the house that Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived in for decades before their deaths in 2003, said on Monday he plans to build a new home near where the house stood before burning down last week.
· For Illegal Immigrants, Housing Slump Takes Toll. From Fresno to Sacramento, big tangles of wire and PVC pipes clutter vacant lots in silent subdivisions, waiting for houses to be built — some day. Dozens of “For Sale” signs already dot the lawns across new residential communities. And right next to the ubiquitous billboards from builders are fresh signs offering homeowners help to avoid foreclosure. But another set of losers is less visible: the immigrant workers, mostly illegal, who rode the construction boom while it lasted and now find jobs on building sites few and far between.
· Juror free to go after judge fury. A Manhattan man was freed yesterday from jury purgatory - ending a four-day "imprisonment" that began when he begged off a high-profile trial of alleged lesbian thugs. Bruce Nussbaum, assistant managing editor of Business Week magazine, had been chosen as a juror in the case. But he angered Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin when he suddenly asked the judge if his family would be in any danger from the accused lesbian marauders.
· Ticket taxes fund corporate jets. The federal government has taken billions of dollars from the taxes and fees paid by airline passengers every time they fly and awarded it to small airports used mainly by private pilots and globe-trotting corporate executives.
· 24-year-old Chinese man on visa believed to be shooter. Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa. The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said. Police believe three bomb threats on the campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus’ security response, the source said.
· "I Want to Clear My Name." He is Asian, he lived in the dorm where the first shooting occurred and he recently broke up with his girlfriend - he also happens to have a web blog packed with pictures in which he poses with firearms. On the Internet, Wayne Chiang is as good as convicted. He has received 37,000 hits on his Web site over the past several hours, many containing death threats, he says.
· Utah nanny admits to sex with youth. The ex-nanny of a 13-year-old Salt Lake City boy admitted Monday to having sex with the youth. David Michael Busby, 28, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree felony sodomy on a child. As part of a plea agreement, 31 other charges were dismissed.
Monday, April 16, 2007
· Taser used on dad leaving Houston hospital with baby. A Houston couple said both the Houston Police Department and the Woman's Hospital of Texas are responsible for endangering their newborn when the husband who held the baby in his arms was hit by a taser as an off-duty police officer as he attempted to leave the hospital early Thursday morning. "He was holding the baby when [the officer] tasered him. My baby hit the concrete floor," said William Lewis' wife.
· 'Everyone Started Panicking and Jumping Out the Window.' Student Accounts: "Heard screaming through the walls and everyone started to panic. Heard shots down the hallways, everyone started to panic and jumping out of the window. We heard almost 40 or 50 shots. They were going on from the time we heard them and jumped out the window to almost two minutes later. Window was two or three stories. When I landed I was in a daze, standing outside of the building."
· Gunman Kills 32, Deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, in a classroom across campus Monday, killing at least 32 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, government officials told The Associated Press. The gunman was killed, bringing the death toll to 33. [Developing]
· Rappers get free pass following Imus controversy. While most people found radio host Don Imus' comments about the Rutger's women's basketball team offensive, people at South Carolina State University were lining up to hear similar words from rap artists. In one song from a performer at Friday's concert, the n-word is used more than 100 times. When students were asked about the concert and the lyrics, one student, Kendra Johnson, says, "The radio host was out of line when he said it. Some rap artists may be out of line, but they don't mean no harm."
· $1 billion 'don't have sex' campaign a flop. More than $1 billion of federal money has been spent on promoting abstinence since 1998 - posters printed, television adverts broadcast and entire education programmes devised for hundreds of thousands of girls and boys. The trouble is, new research suggests that it hasn't worked. At all.
· Firefighters leave stove on, burn fire station. Jacksonville firefighters returned from an emergency call on Saturday to find a blaze in their own station, according to authorities. District Fire Chief Randy Wyse said the firefighters left a stove on in Station 17 when they rushed out to answer a call Saturday night.
· Congressional junkets picking up steam. Congress is keeping Andrews Air Force base plenty busy this year ferrying lawmakers all over the globe at taxpayers’ expense. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi took his wife, nine Democrats and two Republicans - Reps. Dan Lungren of California and Mike Rogers of Alabama - on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean last week. After stops in Honduras and Mexico, they stopped in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the delegation stayed at the five-star Caneel Bay resort.
· $204,000 not enough to buy Pope's VW. A 1999 metallic gray Volkswagen Golf believed to once belong to the pope went up for sale on eBay, but the auction ended Saturday without a winner. For the second time in two years, eBay hosted an auction for a car said to be Pope Benedict XVI's old hatchback. Though bids surpassed $204,000, the reserve price wasn't met.
· Smith diaries: 'We have a buy-it-now situation.' Two diaries written by Anna Nicole Smith in the early 1990s failed to sell at an auction this weekend, but are now available for a minimum bid of $25,000 each, an the auction house said Sunday.
· Artist jailed over bomb hoax. A frustrated artist who planted a fake bomb outside the National Gallery of Victoria will spend three months behind bars. Colin Douglas Barnett, 46, of Cranbourne North in Melbourne's southeast, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to one count each of creating a bomb hoax and causing a public nuisance, and two counts of making a false report to police.
· Prisoner flees in hijacked helicopter. Two men hijacked a helicopter Sunday and forced the pilot to land in a prison courtyard, where they picked up an inmate in a dramatic jailbreak, the pilot told Belgian television.
· Louisiana Teen, 16, Accused of Paying Another Teen $5 to Kill Dad. Police have arrested a 16-year-old from Shreveport who is accused of paying another teen $5 to kill his father. Cops are still looking for the youth allegedly hired for the hit.
· Man falls when Aspen chairlift breaks. A man fell ten feet when a chairlift on Aspen Mountain broke and tilted towards the ground because of metal fatigue, but was not hurt. Aspen spokesman Jeff Hanle said the unidentified man skied away and did not require treatment Saturday.
· Home pot farm goes up in smoke. Authorities say Juan Carlos Fernandez, 44, who walked his bulldog daily and waved at kids on Julie Lane, was running a marijuana farm undetected inside a 2,200-square-foot home in a neighborhood where peonies grow from window boxes and American flags hang from front porches.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
· Northwest Pilot Arrested With Cocaine After Border Chase. A Northwest Airlines pilot made a U-turn at a U.S.-Canada border crossing, then led deputies on a chase in his Hummer before being subdued and found to be holding cocaine, a sheriff's officer said Sunday.
· Homeless Man Runs For Mayor Of Naperville. Often seen sitting by the parking garage next to a Barnes and Noble, 56-year-old Scott Huber is homeless and has been since February 1999, when he said he was evicted from his Naperville, Illinois home. Huber said he wants to be mayor to right a local political and judicial system that is corrupt and caused him to be in his situation.
· NASA paid $26.6 million to Columbia astronauts' families. Documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel through a federal Freedom of Information Act request show that former FBI Director William Webster helped negotiate out-of-court settlements with the seven families.
· Church leader plans museum, tabernacle for Branch Davidian site. A new religious community is rising from the ashes of the Branch Davidian compound, 14 years after nearly 80 people died in a blaze that ended an armed standoff with federal authorities. About a dozen believers gather each weekend in a chapel for services led by Charles J. Pace, leader of The Branch, The Lord Our Righteousness.
· Owner of cheerleading school convicted of sex with 16-year-old. The owner of an Oxnard cheerleading school has been sentenced to three years in prison for having sexual relations with a 16-year-old student and giving her the drug Ecstasy.
· 'Grey's Anatomy' Wins GLAAD Award. "Grey's Anatomy," the ABC hit show whose lead actor was criticized for using an anti-gay slur, was awarded outstanding individual episode Saturday by an organization that monitors depictions of gays and lesbians in the media. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation awarded "Grey's Anatomy" for the episode "Where the Boys Are." The show got unwanted attention last year when actor Isaiah Washington used a slur to talk about a castmate in an on-set dustup. He later apologized and sought counseling.
· Lawyer: Rove Didn't Mean to Delete Email. Karl Rove's lawyer on Friday dismissed the notion that President Bush's chief political adviser intentionally deleted his own e-mails from a Republican-sponsored server, saying Rove believed the communications were being preserved in accordance with the law.
· Police: Man who caused Corzine crash inexperienced, not erratic. After Gov. Jon S. Corzine was critically injured in a car accident this week, state police set out to find the person who caused it: the driver of a red Ford pickup seen driving erratically. A day later, they found the truck and its 20-year-old driver. But instead of an out-of-control or reckless person behind the wheel, what they found was an inexperienced and frightened one.
· Charlie Sheen, Woman Settle Lawsuit. Charlie Sheen has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who claimed a character used on his hit TV show "Two and a Half Men" was based on her. Ursula Auburn sued Sheen last year, claiming the "wacky neighbor and female stalker Rose" on the show was based on her.
· Banker accuses slain preacher's wife of fraud. The day before a Tennessee preacher was shot to death, a banker tried to reach his wife several times about an account in her name that was nearly $5,000 overdrawn, a corporate fraud investigator testified Saturday. Mary Winkler, Prosecutor Walt Freeland said, had been cashing fraudulent checks sent to her by con artists overseas. She had set up accounts in various banks and was creating false balances by juggling funds between them, he added.
· Preacher's Wife on Trial: 'My Ugly Came Out.' A preacher's wife told authorities she shot her husband after a long buildup of domestic problems, according to an audiotape that prosecutors played Friday at her murder trial.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
· 911 operator: "Another one bites the dust." When 911 operator Jenny Montanino needed help with a woman who was choking, 911 supervisor Dave Cook said "I am not getting on with a hysterical caller." By the time help arrived, Nancy McGhee was dead. The investigation shows Cook laughing after the woman died, saying "Another one bites the dust," and "I guess she bit off more than she can chew."
· Entertainer Don Ho dead at 76. Entertainer Don Ho died Saturday morning in Hawaii, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann told local media. The singer suffered a heart attack, Hannemann told The Honolulu Advertiser.
· Lawmaker Under Fire For 'Illegal Alien' E-Mail. A Florida lawmaker is coming under fire for sending what he thought was a funny e-mail message to his colleagues. Rep. Don Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, sent a message from his state e-mail account that said, "Don't forget to pay your taxes - 12 million illegal aliens are depending on you!"
· Future of Imus charity ranch questioned. Don Imus's banishment from the public airwaves also deprives him of a critical platform to raise money for the sprawling Imus Ranch, where children with cancer and other illnesses get a taste of the cowboy life. It's an expensive operation. The ranch hosted 90 children from March 2005 through February 2006 and spent $2.5 million — or about $28,000 a child — at least 10 times what the Make-A-Wish spend on kids.
· Forbes: Jordan divorce most costly ever. Divorce has its price — and no celeb, it appears, knows that better than Michael Jordan. The basketball superstar's split last December from his wife of 17 years, Juanita, is No. 1 on Forbes.com's list of "The 10 Most Expensive Celebrity Divorces." Juanita Jordan could possibly "get more than $150 million in a settlement, making the Jordan divorce the most expensive in entertainment history," Forbes said.
· Sharpton Gets More Security After Death Threats. The National Action Network has increased the Rev. Al Sharpton's security due to a number of death threats in the wake of the firing of radio host Don Imus by MSNBC and CBS Radio. There will also be added security at the National Action Network's headquarters in Harlem. “We have no way of knowing the seriousness of these threats, but they have intensified greatly in the last two days as Rev. Sharpton was figured prominently in the firing of Don Imus," Attorney Charlie King said.
· O.J. Book Auction Postponed; Nicole's Family Wants In. Yet another method has been discovered to keep the Goldman family from pocketing any money. An auction scheduled for Tuesday during which the rights to O.J. Simpson's failed publishing venture, If I Did It, were to be sold to the highest bidder was postponed after Lorraine Brooke Associates, the company that struck the deal for the ex-NFL star, filed for bankruptcy Friday.
· Tennessee officer claims racial bias in firing. Police Sgt. Patrick Welles got a call for backup and told the dispatcher he was busy but would be there shortly. It turned out he was busy having sex with a woman in his patrol car, investigators say. The 12-year veteran was fired for conduct unbecoming an officer and other departmental violations, including misuse of city property. But now the black officer has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit, claiming white colleagues on the Chattanooga force did similar things - or worse - and were allowed to keep their jobs.
· With Imus Gone, Critics Turning to Rap. Fighting in vain to keep his job, radio host Don Imus claimed that rappers routinely "defame and demean black women" and call them "worse names than I ever did." Some critics are moving down the radio dial to take on hip-hop, boosting the growing movement against harmful themes in rap. "We all know where the real battleground is," wrote Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock. "We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show."
· State Bar panel denies Nifong's request to dismiss. A State Bar panel on Friday denied Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong's request for dismissal of the most serious allegation against him - that he withheld DNA evidence favorable to three defendants in the Duke lacrosse case.
· Original James Bond actor dies. Barry Nelson, an MGM contract player during the 1940s who later had a prolific theater career and was the first actor to play James Bond on screen, has died. He was 89.
· Teens Shrink Wrap Highway, Cop Runs Into It. Three teenagers could find themselves in big trouble after a pulling a prank that could have killed somebody. The teens strung plastic shrink wrap across a county highway in Mt. Pleasant. They sat at a nearby intersection and waited for a car to plow through it. Their first victim: A Mt. Pleasant police officer.
· 46-year-old may be tried as juvenile. Will a 46-year-old man accused of committing a murder more than 30 years ago be tried as a juvenile or adult? Cook County Juvenile Judge Paul Stralka will hear evidence next month to decide what course the case against Fred Rogers will take.
· Happy Valley not so happy. Investigators said Friday they think a man shot five family members to death before setting fire to their rural Happy Valley, California house, where he died of burns and smoke inhalation. All but one of the six people found dead in the Happy Valley home died of gunshots to their heads, said Wayne Booker, a deputy sheriff and deputy coroner.
Friday, April 13, 2007
· Taxpayers may bail out subprime mortgage borrowers. Want to pick up the check for every homeowner who buried themselves with a risky mortgage? It's a big one - on the order of $120 billion. Lawmakers and consumer groups in recent weeks have been calling for federal government assistance for those at risk of defaulting on their mortgage.
· Man jumps from Empire State Building. A man jumped to his death Friday out the window of a 69th-floor law office in the Empire State Building.
· Cleveland Principal Sex Offender Status Debated. A former principal of a Cleveland elementary school convicted of statutory rape for carrying on a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old student will soon be released from prison. The sex offender label she will carry is being debated. A status hearing will determine wether Dr. Nancy Marks, 62, is a sexual predator, a habitual sex offender or a sexually oriented offender.
· Illinois Principal Shown Having Sex With Teacher On Video. An elementary school has been rocked by scandal after an X-rated DVD showing the principal and a teacher was leaked to parents. The video reportedly shows the principal, Leroy Coleman, in his office having sex with a science teacher, Janet Lofton, at Sandridge Elementary School in Lynwood, Illinois. The DVD goes on for two hours. Another woman, also a teacher, appears on the video as well.
· ABC News Reporter: "Don't feel too sorry for the Dukies." ABC reporter Terry Moran says "The outpouring of sympathy for Reade Seligman, Collin Finnerty and David Evans is just a bit misplaced. They got special treatment in the justice system - both negative and positive. The conduct of the lacrosse team of which they were members was not admirable on the night of the incident, to say the least. And there are so many other victims of prosecutorial misconduct in this country who never get the high-priced legal representation and the high-profile, high-minded vindication that it strikes me as just a bit unseemly to heap praise and sympathy on these particular men."
· After Imus, DeLay Calls for Rosie to Be Fired. Fanning the flames of discontent sparked by the Imus controversy, former congressman Tom DeLay is making a plea for his fellow conservatives to get Rosie O'Donnell fired for her recent remarks. O'Donnell's spurned controversy by questioning the cause of who was really behind the collapse of World Trade Center tower 7.
· Titanic resurfaces as luxury watch. Steel and coal from the Titanic have been transformed into a new line of luxury wristwatches that claim to capture the essence of the legendary ocean liner which sank in 1912. To make the watches, which were offered for sale for the first time in Basel for between $7,800 and $173,100, the Swiss company created an alloy using the slab from the Titanic with steel being used in a Harland and Wolff replica of the vessel.
· Diner scarred for life after sausage explodes in her face. A woman diner was left with horrific burns after a Portuguese sausage dish exploded in her face. The victim was eating with friends when the accident took place at the Sporting Clube de Londres in west London. [with disturbing photos]
· Eddie Murphy Named Spice Baby Daddy. When it comes to the birth certificate for Melanie Brown's newborn daughter, there's a big blank spot where the child's moniker should be. But the former Scary Spice has had no trouble listing the baby-daddy's name: Eddie Murphy.
· Corzine not belted in during crash. Gov. Jon S. Corzine was apparently not wearing his seat belt as required by law when his official SUV crashed into a guardrail, leaving the governor hospitalized in critical condition, a spokesman said Friday.
· Delaware Co. Priest Defrocked For Alleged Assaults. The Vatican has defrocked a former priest accused of sexually assaulting and whipping boys as they enacted the Passion play, the Philadelphia archdiocese announced Thursday. The Rev. Thomas J. Smith "engaged in depraved and sadistic behavior" that included putting pins in his mouth and pricking the boys until they bled, whipping boys playing Jesus until they had welts, and coercing them to get naked with him in a hot tub.
· Comic's language a problem for leaders of campaign to end violence against women. Leaders of Chicago's effort to halt violence against women don't find it funny that the Chicago Foundation for Women has tapped for participation in its $250,000 campaign a comedian who often uses the words "bitch" and "ho" in his act. Comedian Jay Deep appears in televised and print ads, as well as ads on the backs of CTA buses, on billboards and bus shelters, all part of the initiative called "What Will It Take? Building the Safest State for All Women and Girls."
· Cleared Duke players consider suing DA. Despite an apology from the prosecutor who pursued rape charges against their clients, the lawyers for three exonerated former Duke lacrosse players were weighing a lawsuit against him, and legal experts said their case could have merit.
· Hot-to-trot travelers make most of layovers. The online community Web site Craigslist is being used as a matchmaker by computer-savvy travelers trolling for casual sex in Logan's concourse as a last-minute souvenir of their trip to Boston. “Looking for a quick airport encounter now at gate d, airtran,” one man broadcast Sunday at 7:06 a.m. on the popular online classifieds site. Last Friday, at Terminal B, shortly before 7 p.m., “Horny married guy looking (for sex) with another discreet dude,” was posted.
· Friday The 13th: What Are the Odds? Friday the 13th brings out the scaredy cat in all of us, but fortunately, our imaginations are almost always worse than the reality. The chances of anything really bad happening are minuscule. And even those small odds can be lengthened with a little knowledge. Take a look at these scenarios and their odds.
· Newly fired Imus meets with Rutgers players. Hours after he was fired by CBS, radio host Don Imus met Thursday night with the Rutgers women athletes whom he had ridiculed with racist and sexist comments. The Rutgers women's basketball coach called the meeting with Imus "productive."
· Sheriff's SUV Stolen In Central Florida With Weapons Inside. Authorities in Orange County, Fla., are searching for one of two men who jumped inside a sheriff's sport utility vehicle with weapons inside and sped off. Investigators said an Orange County sheriff's deputy was working a call outside a pawn shop Thursday night when two men jumped into his SUV.
· Cops Angry Councilman Rallied With Hells Angels. Chandler's police union is taking shots at Vice Mayor Lowell Huggins over the councilman's biker-garbed presence at a Hell's Angels rally in Cave Creek Easter Sunday. "The vice mayor of a city that is dealing with its own gang violence problems is out celebrating the anniversary of one of the pre-eminent gangs in the country," said Joseph McAuliffe, a patrolman and treasurer of the Chandler Law Enforcement Association.
· N.J. governor critical after SUV crash. New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine was in critical condition Friday but expected to recover after his motorcade was hit on the Garden State Parkway and crashed into a guardrail, breaking his leg, six ribs, his sternum and fracturing a vertebrae.
· Teen Mother Accused Of Stabbing Newborn 135 Times. A 17-year-old stabbed her newborn baby 135 times and disposed of her body in a garbage can outside her home in Oakdale, authorities alleged Thursday.
· Jailed preacher of hate in court battle to stay in Britain. A hate preacher blamed for indoctrinating one of the July 7 bombers is using human rights law to fight deportation from Britain, it emerged today. Sheikh Abdullah El-Faisal - a Jamaican-born Muslim convert who urged followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Americans - is due to be freed from prison within weeks after serving two thirds of a seven-year sentence for inciting murder. The Home Office has begun legal moves to deport the fanatic, who Ministers say is a continuing threat to national security.
· Millions of illegal immigrants follow law on filing returns. Carlos Diaz broke the law when he crossed the border and took a job as an office janitor. But he's not about to break another by failing to pay his income tax. "I've been talking to other people who've done it, and I want to follow the law," said Diaz, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who squirmed in his seat at a neighborhood tax preparer's office.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
· Flights Delayed When Controller Goes To Bathroom. An air traffic controller's bathroom break delayed the takeoff and landing of four planes at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport last week. Two Southwest Airlines flights had to circle the airport for 18 minutes before landing.
· Mexican traffickers wage publicity war. Drug traffickers are waging a highly effective publicity campaign in Mexico that began with a chilling show of brutality in Acapulco: two police officers' heads, streaming with blood, were stuck on metal spikes outside a downtown building with a fluorescent cardboard sign. "So that you learn to respect," it read in thick black letters.
· White House: 'We screwed up' on deleted e-mails. The White House "screwed up" by not requiring e-mails from Republican Party and campaign accounts to be saved and is trying to recover any documents that may have been deleted, a spokeswoman said Thursday. The admission came after the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused the White House of trying to hide messages related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, which has stirred up a hornet's nest on Capitol Hill.
· CBS fires Don Imus from radio show. CBS fired Don Imus from his radio show Thursday, the finale to a stunning fall for one of the nation's most prominent broadcasters. Imus initially was suspended for two weeks for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week, but outrage continued to grow and advertisers bolted from his programs.
· D.A. apologizes to Duke lacrosse players. The local prosecutor who charged three Duke lacrosse players with raping a stripper apologized to the athletes Thursday, acknowledging that the North Carolina attorney general's decision to drop the case was correct. "To the extent that I made judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect, I apologize to the three students that were wrongly accused," Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong said in a statement.
· Wolfowitz sorry for hiring 'mistake.' World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz acknowledged Thursday that he erred in helping a close female friend get transferred to a high-paying job. "I made a mistake for which I am sorry," he said. At issue is the generous compensation of $193,590 for bank employee Shaha Riza, who has dated Wolfowitz.
· Imus: 'I've apologized enough.' Amid the outcry over his on-air racial slur last week, shock jock Don Imus said Thursday that he had "apologized enough" and that he will not go on "some talk show tour." "I'm not going to go talk to Larry King or Barbara Walters or anyone else," Imus said on his radio show, which originates from WFAN-AM in New York and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of which are managed by CBS. "The only other people I want to talk to are these young women at the team, and then that's it," Imus said.
· Rutgers Players to Appear on 'Oprah.' The Rutgers' women's basketball team and coach C. Vivian Stringer were scheduled to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Thursday as furor continues over remarks made about the team by radio host Don Imus.
· Best Buy Geek Sued For Peeking At Woman In Shower Via Video. A woman and her mother Wednesday sued Best Buy Stores after a Geek Squad technician allegedly recommended by an employee of the electronics firm videotaped the woman taking a shower.
· Man attacked by lesbian gang, claims hate crime against straight man. A man who was beaten and stabbed after a street fight with seven avowed lesbians testified Wednesday that he thought he was going to die after they jumped him last year. "I remember being surrounded, my hands up in my face," Dwayne Buckle testified at the trial of four of the women.
· Imus Fundraiser Goes on Despite Furor. Embattled broadcaster Don Imus pushed ahead with his annual on-air charity fundraiser Thursday, a day after MSNBC pulled the plug on his TV show because of his latest racial slur. "This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," Imus said at the start of the event, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990.
· E-mails may aid Katrina homeowners' case. Attorneys for homeowners suing State Farm Insurance Cos. after Hurricane Katrina have long accused the insurer of pressuring engineers to alter reports on storm-damaged homes so that policyholders' claims could be denied. Now, some of these lawyers claim they have evidence to prove their allegation — internal e-mails from an engineering firm that helped State Farm adjust claims after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane destroyed thousands of homes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
· Vet Jailed 71 Days For Not Stealing Hot Dogs. Thomas M. Wimberly, an elderly veteran living on social security, spent 71 days in jail because he forgot to pay for two hot dogs at a convenience store. The 75-year-old from Wichita, Kansas is the latest in a long line of farcical cases which illustrate how poorer citizens get lost in the illogical inconsistencies of our criminal justice system.
· Man loses leg trying to swipe cash machine. A man accused of using a chain and pickup truck to yank a 1,500-pound ATM from a market failed to escape police when his prosthetic leg fell off during the getaway. Gregory Daniels, 48, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of burglary for the attempted heist from Pomona Ranch Market, police said.
· Pittsburgh Councilwoman Carlisle charged with theft. Pittsburgh Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle was arraigned this morning on three charges of theft by deception, three charges of criminal conspiracy, three charges of violation of the state Ethics Act, five Election Code violations, and three charges of failing to file required financial disclosures. The complaint says she "diverted" $43,160 through consultants.
· PETA calls for ban on carriage rides. An animal rights group today urged a ban on horse-drawn carriages Downtown after an allegedly drunk driver earlier this month hit a carriage, throwing the driver to the ground. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says similar crashes - most involving sober drivers - have taken place in many cities where the rides are offered.
· Ex-Grateful Dead Manager Sentenced. A former manager for the Grateful Dead has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for tax evasion, prosecutors said. Ronald Leon Rakow, 69, was ordered to begin his prison term in June for evading payment of $2.2 million in taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday.
· Pa. DJ Fired for Repeating Imus Comments. A radio station fired its longtime morning DJ Wednesday after he encouraged listeners to repeat talk-show host Don Imus' racially charged comments in an on-air contest. Gary Smith told WSBG-FM listeners to call and say "I'm a nappy-headed ho" for Tuesday's "Phrase that Pays" contest.
· Update: Snoop Pleads No Contest in Gun, Pot Case. A stone-faced Snoop Dogg pleaded no contest to felony gun and drug charges Wednesday and avoided what could have been a yearslong prison sentence. The 35-year-old rapper, born Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., agreed to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service. He faced charges of gun possession by a felon and sale or transportation of marijuana.
· Police notify wrong family of woman's death. For a brief but grueling few hours Saturday morning, Debbie Clark thought her daughter, Jennifer Jordan, 23, had died in a car accident in Sheridan. She hadn't spoken to her daughter in two years, and thoughts of missed opportunities engulfed her as the Mills police officer informed her of the death at 2:30 in the morning Saturday.
· Brad, Angelina float for $268 million. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are treating themselves to an Italian luxury yacht fitted with a swimming pool, a heliport and a submarine. The yacht will be built in the shipyard of Civitavecchia, a port town north of Rome, by luxury shipbuilder Privilege Yard SpA, which said today that the couple has commissioned an 85-metre-long yacht for $US268 million. Delivery is set for July 2009.
· Airboat flips, dumps tourists in alligator-infested waters. A group of American tourists got a little more adventure than they wanted during an airboat ride in the south Florida Everglades. A commercial airboat carrying five adults and four children flipped to its side yesterday in the alligator-infested waters.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
· MSNBC pulls plug on 'Imus in the Morning.' MSNBC has canceled its "Imus in the Morning" simulcast, the network announced Wednesday. The decision comes following remarks deemed racist and sexist that radio talk-show host Don Imus made last week about the Rutgers women's basketball team that prompted a number of advertisers to drop the program. The television cable channel had previously just suspended Imus for two weeks.
· New indictment: Federal Tax Rap for "Girls Gone Wild" Boss. Joe Francis, the "Girls Gone Wild" founder, was indicted today on federal tax evasion charges for illegally deducting more than $20 million in phony business expenses from his 2002 and 2003 corporate tax returns. According to a two count indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada, Francis, 34, sought to conceal income through the use of offshore companies and nominees.
· Muslims on alert after hate crime. Two hours before the Islamic Center of Clarksville, Tennessee held its prayer service, called Jummah, a Quran was found vandalized on the front steps. The front of the Quran, Islam's holy book, read "Mohammad pedophile" while an expletive was written inside, smeared under two strips of bacon, according to a Clarksville Police report. The report labeled the incident a hate crime. The bacon strips are offensive to Muslims because they are forbidden from eating pork.
· CFO of Menu Foods sold half his shares weeks before massive pet food recall. The chief financial officer of Menu Foods sold about half his shares in the company just three weeks before a massive recall of its pet food products, trading reports show.
· California diocese threatened with contempt. A federal bankruptcy judge is threatening the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego with contempt for allegedly attempting to hide assets to avoid payment to clergy sexual abuse victims.
· ABC: Duke Lacrosse Case Charges Dropped. The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case. Defense attorneys released documents showing the accuser changed key details of her story in the weeks and months after the alleged assault.
· Lawyer: Woman Thought She Was Constipated, Not Pregnant. A 25-year-old woman arrested in the death of her newborn daughter didn't know she was pregnant. Defense lawyer Thomas Cascione says Laura Sergio of Brooklyn thought she was constipated at the time. He says her parents she was pregnant and gave her prune juice and a laxative for the constipation.
· Slavery comment prompts apology. Facing a controversy that has mushroomed beyond its borders, the St. Louis County Board is apologizing. During a heated debate over a proposed countywide smoking ban, Bill Kron had asked Keith Nelson if he would have supported slavery if his constituents had supported it. Nelson replied that he would — if the vast majority of his constituents had voted for it.
· Astronaut's Bondage Photos Found. A police search of former astronaut Lisa Nowak's car turned up bondage photos on a computer disk. She is accused of trying to kidnap a rival for a space shuttle pilot's affections in February. NASA fired Nowak after police say she drove from Houston to Florida to confront the other woman and then pepper-sprayed her.
· Don Imus Loses 2 Advertisers. Staples Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. have pulled their advertising from Don Imus' radio show in the wake of the furor caused by his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. The two companies on Tuesday added to the fallout that began when the now-suspended radio show host called the players "nappy-headed hos" on his April 4 show.
· Update: Sen. John Edwards wife calls neighboring property "slummy." When Sen. John Edwards ran for president four years ago, the North Carolina Democrat declared that President Bush had divided the nation into "two Americas ... one America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward." Turns out that the other America lives right next door to the 28,000-square-foot, $5.3 million mansion Mr. Edwards has built near Chapel Hill, N.C. The Edwards' neighbor, Monty Johnson, lives on 42 acres that the Johnson family has owned for decades. Mr. Johnson, 55, has been known to brandish firearms to chase away trespassers, which frightens the former senator's wife, who called the Johnson property "slummy" and condemned its owner as a "rabid Republican."
· Snoop Dogg Hit With Gun and Drug Charges. Snoop Dogg was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Pasadena on felony gun and drug charges, Los Angeles County prosecutors said. The 35-year-old rap star faces charges of gun possession by a felon and sale or transportation of marijuana.
· Proposed House Bill Affects All Pa. Gun Owners. If House Bill 760 is passed, the bill would require owners to register their guns yearly, like car owners register their cars. Under the bill, gun owners would have to pay $10 for each gun they own unless it is an antique. Owners would have to pay the fee each year.
· Driver Calls OnStar after Stolen Vehicle Breaks Down. According to Indiana State Police, two people are under arrest Wednesday morning after their car broke down on I-69 north of State Road 35. A trooper was sent to assist a stranded vehicle Tuesday after the occupants called OnStar for help. When police ran their Michigan license plate, they say the 2007 black Cadillac came back as a possible stolen vehicle out of Detroit, Michigan.
· CBS News Fires Producer for Plagiarism. A CBS News producer was fired and the network apologized after a Katie Couric video essay on libraries was found to be plagiarized from The Wall Street Journal.
· Hurley-Nayar Wedding Criticized. A Hindu religious activist has filed a complaint in a western Indian court saying that Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar's Hindu wedding made a "mockery of Hindu customs," a news report said Wednesday. The complaint goes on to say that Hurley did not remove her footwear while walking around the sacred fire at the ceremony and wore revealing clothes.
· Judge Tosses Date-Dissing Web Suit. A Florida-based Web site that invites women to warn others about men they've dated cannot be sued in a Pennsylvania court by an attorney who said its postings falsely claimed he was unfaithful and had sexually transmitted diseases.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
· Johnny Cash Home Burns To The Ground. According to Fire Chief Jamie H. Steele, Johnny Cash’s former home burned to the ground on Tuesday during a large renovation. Sealant caught fire, causing the blaze to burn throughout the home, according to officials. Cash and his wife June Carter Cash lived at the home until their deaths in 2003. Barry Gibb, a member of the Bee Gees, bought the lakefront property in January 2006.
· Woman Stumbles Upon 'Oprah' Sweepstakes Scam. Oprah Winfrey is known for her generous giveaways on her popular talk show, so when Mable Bailey received "The Oprah Show" summer sweepstakes letter in the mail, she believed it. "When I first got it, I just knew I was a winner," Bailey said. The blue letter with Winfrey's face in the upper left-hand corner claimed Bailey had won $81,000 as part of the sweepstakes. Included in the letter was an advance check in the amount of $2,800.50.
· AG expected to drop all charges against Duke players tomorrow. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is expected to hold a press conference [Wednesday] to announce the outcome of the Duke lacrosse case. It is widely expected that at he will announce he is dropping all remaining charges still pending against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans.
· Fired employee fires back. An accounting-firm employee who was fired last week shot and killed a woman and wounded two men at the suburban Detroit building where he worked, then led officers on a 120 mph chase, police said.
· Anna Nicole judge goes on leave after marijuana citation. A judge charged with smoking marijuana in a city park - and perhaps best known for his bit role in the Anna Nicole Smith case - will take a leave of absence beginning Wednesday.
· Birkhead: 'I Told You So!' Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead said Tuesday that DNA tests have proven he is the father of her infant daughter. Birkhead emerged from a closed court hearing to announce the results. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, has been caring for the girl, Dannielynn, who could inherit a fortune in the wake of her mother's February death. After the hearing, Stern said he would not fight for custody. An expert in genetic evidence said the DNA analysis has proven Birkhead is Dannielynn's father.
· Illegal accused of raping 11-year-old girl. Syracuse police say they have enough evidence to charge Benito Martinez with first-degree rape, but they have to find him. The suspect has been missing since the incident happened early Saturday morning. Police say Martinez is in the country illegally, and are concerned he may try to escape charges in Mexico.
· Immigration Activists Call for Boycott. Immigration activists are calling for a repeat of last year's boycott and massive marches for immigrants' rights that drew more than 1 million people to the streets in dozens of cities nationwide. The so-called "Great American Boycott II" is being planned for May 1, organizers for the March 25 Coalition said Monday. The group is made up of immigrant rights organizations and others who frequently plan rallies around the country.
· "Girls Gone Wild" Creator Arrested at Airport. Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis was arrested Tuesday in Florida. The U.S. Marshal's Office in Panama City, Fla., tells PEOPLE Magazine that Francis, 34, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at the Panama City airport on a warrant seeking his arrest for criminal contempt of court. He is currently being held at the Bay County jail, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshal's Office says.
· Man Charged With DUI After Hitting Horse. A man was charged with drunken-driving after hitting a horse-drawn carriage in downtown Indianapolis Sunday, knocking the driver of the carriage to the ground.
· Coffee and cigarettes may protect against Parkinson's. People with Parkinson's disease are less likely to be smokers and coffee drinkers than their healthy siblings, according to a study of family members. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that some substance in tobacco might protect the brain against this devastating neurological disorder and sheds new light on coffee's effects on the disease.
· Man loses $32,000 he gave a psychic to bless. A man who gave a psychic $32,000 to bless returned the next day to find she and the money have disappeared, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office reports. The strange case began when Manuel Lanaverde, 29, of Arcadia heard ads the psychic ran on two local radio stations, promising she could change your luck.
· Female Prison Guards Are More Likely Than Males to Have Sex With Inmates. According to government statistics, most sexual contact between corrections staff and inmates occurs between female employees and male prisoners. "One misconception about staff sexual abuse of inmates is that it only involves male staff engaging in sexual relations with female inmates. As the statistics indicate, the scope of the problem also includes female staff with male inmates, male staff with male inmates and female staff with female inmates," wrote the Department of Justice in a report by its Office of the Inspector General.
· Apologetic Imus Suspended; Critics Not Satisfied. Don Imus gets paid a bundle for opening his big mouth on a daily basis. Now, he's desperately trying to extricate his foot from said orifice to save his job. So far it's working. Following a flurry of onair apologies from the shock jock Monday, CBS Radio and MSNBC announced they were suspending Imus for two weeks effective Apr. 16 for his comments last week referring to Rutgers University's predominantly African-American women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."
· Al Roker: Time for him to go. The “I’m a good person who said a bad thing” apology doesn’t cut it, says Roker. At least he didn’t try to weasel out of this by hiding behind alcohol or drug abuse. Still, he said it and a two-week suspension doesn’t cut it. It is, at best, a slap on the wrist. A vacation. Nothing.
· ‘Sanctuary’ cities stick up for illegal immigrants. There's now a growing number of "sanctuary" cities and towns - from Seattle to Cambridge, Mass. - where local authorities are effectively rejecting the federal government's call for tougher enforcement and instead bestowing a measure of local acceptance. In New Haven, Conn., for example, officials have prohibited police from asking about an immigrant's legal status, and in July the city will introduce municipal identification cards, providing undocumented immigrants with a "locally legal" form of ID that will make it easier for them to apply for bank accounts and sign rental leases. Overall, at least 20 cities and towns have approved pro-immigration measures over the past three years.
· Birmingham City Councilman Arrested For Public Intoxication. Birmingham City Councilman Joel Lynn Montgomery was arrested for public intoxication early Saturday morning according to the Birmingham Police Department. [with disturbing photo]
· Howard K. Stern hires Ramsey parents' lawyer. Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer-turned-partner has hired a prominent Atlanta attorney to represent him in possible litigation against media companies he believes are falsely implicating him in the death of the former Playboy Playmate and her son, Daniel. Lin Wood said he had been retained by Howard K. Stern, who is one of three men claiming to be the father of the starlet's infant daughter.
· Beer truck, bus collide killing 20. Twenty people burned to death and about 40 were injured when a beer truck and a passenger bus collided and caught fire in southern Sri Lanka, police and the government said on Tuesday. "It was a head-on clash in a bend. Both vehicles caught fire," said Jayantha Gamage, deputy inspector general for the Southern Province.
· Study on cruise ships' waste will continue. With the official blessing of the King County Council, work will continue on a study of whether it is feasible and desirable for the 150 Alaska-bound cruise ships that visit Seattle's waterfront every summer to pump their wastewater ashore rather than dumping it in the ocean.
Monday, April 9, 2007
· Doctor sues hospital he says kicked him out after Muslim ritual. A radiologist who was kicked out of the University of Maryland Medical Center after he performed a Muslim ritual has filed a $30 million lawsuit against the hospital. According to the lawsuit, Hussain, 61, was washing his hands and feet in a bathroom sink as part of a ritual called Wuduh when a security guard came into the bathroom and ordered him to get out "immediately or else."
· Elizabeth Edwards: scared of "rabid Republican" neighbor. Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the property owner across the street from her Orange County home - and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor. Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, views neighbor Monty Johnson as a "rabid, rabid Republican" who refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres. The Edwards' property and home, which includes an indoor basketball court, an indoor handball court and an indoor pool, is valued at $5.3 million. "I have to budget. I have to leave within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place."
· Update: Imus To Be Suspended From MSNBC. Don Imus will be punished for his controversial comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. NBC News has decided to suspend him, allowing him to finish the week on MSNBC, but suspend the simulcast of his radio show for the two weeks after that.
· 114-mph driver threatened to hit 'next oncoming vehicle' during police chase. A 22-year-old man who reportedly led police on a 114-mph chase and threatened to crash into another vehicle if officers didn't back off has been charged with two felonies in connection with the incident.
· Minister Found Beaten to Death in Virginia Parsonage. Investigators were working to learn more about Nancy Copin's background and associates in Snow Creek on Saturday, two days after the minister of a tiny, rural congregation was found beaten to death in her parsonage home.
· 13th DNA exoneration expected in Dallas. James Curtis Giles spent 10 years in prison for a gang rape he has long said he did not commit. On Monday, more than a decade after his release and after several years of living as a registered sex offender, he was expected to become the 13th Dallas County man to be exonerated since 2001 with the help of DNA evidence.
· Gays arrested at Kentucky seminary sit-in. Members of a gay rights group were arrested after staging a sit-in at a Baptist seminary whose president is drawing criticism for his comments on prenatal treatments that would influence a child's sexual orientation.
· NYC couple hail cab for 2,400-mile ride. Betty and Bob Matas have retired and are moving to Arizona, but like many New Yorkers they don't drive, and they don't want their cats to travel all that way in an airliner cargo hold. Their solution: "Hey, cabbie." They plan to leave Tuesday on the 2,400-mile trip to Sedona, Ariz., with Douglas Guldeniz driving his yellow SUV cab 10 hours a day for a flat fee of $3,000, plus gas, meals and lodging.
· Cell phones are becoming increasingly important to people living on the street. There are days like the one last week when John Marzette is low. The 41-year-old homeless man is low on job prospects, low on cash and low on minutes for his cell phone. Though it may seem strange to own a cell phone when you don't have a roof over your head, homeless advocates say the phones are becoming increasingly important to people living on the street. They offer the best chance homeless people have at getting a call back from a potential employer.
· 93-year-old bartender celebrates 75th year in business. For Angelo Cammarata, a drink a day keeps the doctor away. Meanwhile, a few brews and a lot of memories have kept the customers nearby for three-quarters of a century. So it goes for America's longest-serving bartender, who Saturday began his 75th year pouring beers for customers and friends alike - since the end of Prohibition in 1933.
· MIT Professor: Global warming not a concern. MIT scientist and meteorology professor explains there is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe. "Much of the alarm over climate change is based on ignorance of what is normal for weather and climate."
· Taliban behead Afghan translator. The kidnapped translator for an Italian journalist was beheaded in southern Afghanistan, Afghan authorities and a purported spokesman for the Taliban said. Ajmal Naqshbandi, a freelance journalist and translator, was kidnapped along with a driver and Daniele Mastrogiacomo of the Italian daily La Repubblica, in southern Helmand province on March 5. The driver, Sayed Agha, was beheaded, and Mastrogiacomo was released March 19 in a much criticized swap for five Taliban militants.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
· Mall's Easter Bunny Arrested, Charged With Stealing. Police said an 18-year-old who worked as the Easter Bunny at a Columbus, Ohio mall allegedly stole a woman's credit card and used it while on the job.
· School Renames Easter Bunny 'Peter Rabbit.' A Rhode Island public school has decided the Easter bunny is too Christian and renamed him Peter Rabbit, and a state legislator is so hopping mad he has introduced an "Easter Bunny Act" to save the bunny's good name.
· Sheehan's Peace Group Fights Over Money. With allegations of money mismanagement, threats of court action and members leaving, a group that has sponsored war protests in President Bush's adopted hometown has been anything but peaceful. The Crawford Peace House recently lost its corporate charter with the state, and tens of thousands donated during Cindy Sheehan's 2005 war protest are unaccounted for, according to members.
· Flight canceled after pilot's foul language. Northwest Airlines canceled a flight set to leave from Las Vegas to Detroit after the captain cursed on a cell phone in a bathroom, then swore at one of the 180 passengers on the plane, officials said on Saturday.
· Easter Services Canceled After Pastor Finds Church Locked, Sold. A church in Brevard County, Fla., was forced to cancel Easter services Sunday after a pastor discovered the church locked up and sold to the highest bidder.
· Coldest April Easter in 57 years. Minnesota is seeing the coldest Easter Sunday in 57 years. Other parts of the country are freezing, too. Friday's Twins game is canceled in Chicago, and Atlanta could see its coldest Easter Sunday in 120 years.
· Captain Charged in Cruise Ship Sinking. The captain of a cruise ship that sank in the Aegean Sea was charged Saturday with negligence, a government official said. Two French passengers are missing after the Sea Diamond hit rocks and foundered Thursday near Santorini island. The rest of the 1,154 passengers and 391 crew were safely evacuated.
· Ark. teacher accused of using trash can to punish student. A former Norfork teacher accused of using a trash can to punish a learning disabled student is to go on trial in May on a misdemeanor charge. Loretta DiAnne Cruse, 59, of Gassville pleaded not guilty Thursday to a charge of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor.
· High School teacher charged indecent sexual assault. A Beaver County, PA high school teacher was charged yesterday with indecent sexual assault involving a 15-year-old girl. David M. Costanza, 28, was being held last night on $50,000 bond in the Beaver County Jail.
· Roseville Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With Minor. Roseville Police arrested a Silverado Middle School teacher for allegedly engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Twenty-eight-year-old Christine Spaich was arrested at her Roseville home Saturday and booked into the Roseville Police Department Jail on suspicion of having sex with the 16-year-old male.
· Occidental CEO got more than $400 million in 2006. Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s chairman and chief executive took in more than $400 million in compensation last year, the company said in a filing, one of the biggest single-year payouts in U.S. corporate history.
· Huckabee questions Romney hunting claim. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was wrong to suggest he was a lifelong hunter even though he never took out a license, campaign rival Mike Huckabee said Sunday. "I think it was a major mistake," said Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor. "It would be like me saying I've been a lifelong golfer because I played putt-putt when I was 9 years old and I rode in a golf cart a couple of times."
· Forget the lemonade stand, kids finds unique way to make money. There's a bear up a tree in your yard. What do you do? For 10-year-old friends Drake Harp and Britt Wade, the answer was easy: put up a sign and charge $2 to check it out.
· Tough day leaves Tiger 1 shot off lead. Tiger Woods getting into the final group at the Masters made it feel like a typical Saturday at Augusta National. Nothing else did. Not Woods finishing bogey-bogey, only to charge up the leaderboard while on the practice range. Not a scoreboard that showed no survivors to par for the first time in history. And certainly not a wind chill factor that never climbed higher than 47 degrees. They might hand out a green parka, not a green jacket.
· Elsie McLean, 102, oldest golfer to ace hole. Elsie McLean thought she might have lost her ball on the par-3, 100-yard fourth hole at Bidwell Park. Instead, the 102-year-old woman became the oldest golfer ever to make a hole-in-one on a regulation course.
· Japanese Yahoo loses millions of e-mails. Nearly 4.5 million e-mails were erased accidentally by Yahoo because of a glitch in the company's communications program, a report says.
· At least 80 immigrants found in home near Phoenix. Authorities found at least 80 suspected illegal immigrants in a house west of Phoenix and arrested two suspected smugglers, a police official said.
· 'Onion Field' Killer Dead at 76. Jimmy Lee Smith, the lifelong criminal whose role in the 1963 kidnapping and killing of a police officer inspired Joseph Wambaugh's true-life crime novel "The Onion Field," has died in jail at age 76, a state prisons official said. Smith was once sentenced to death for the killing of Officer Ian Campbell, and his parole after 19 years in prison drew public outrage when he was released in 1982.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
· No screaming allowed on roller coaster ride. No screaming on the Screamer! A suburban amusement park has gotten so many complaints from neighbors about bloodcurdling screams that it has instituted a no-shrieking rule for its scary new thrill ride, the Scandia Screamer, a gigantic, windmill-like contraption that sends people plunging 16 stories to Earth at nearly 60 mph. Riders who let out a screech - or just about any other noise - are pulled off and sent to the back of the line.
· Principal Sues Youths Over MySpace Fakes. A school principal sued four former students who he claims posted parody MySpace.com profiles saying he smoked pot, kept beer at school and liked having sex with students.
· Karate Kid Fends Off 4 Muggers Over Gold Chain. A 17-year-old brown belt, John Benedict Jr.'s dedication to martial arts has paid off after he helped fend off would-be muggers during a robbery attempt outside a local mall.
· ‘Just shoot me,’ suspect in fatal bank heist begs. When a third suspect was caught Friday in a bank robbery investigation that led to the fatal shooting of an FBI agent, he had a request for officers: "Just shoot me." Francisco Herrera-Genao, 22, was tired and cold, half-naked, and caked with mud and twigs after a night in the woods.
· Sex offender gets 11-year sentence on new charge. A registered sex offender from Granite City who offered a woman prescription drugs and as much as $200 for nude pictures of her 9-year-old daughter was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison. Ronald Atwood, 57, could have faced up to 14 years behind bars under a plea agreement with Madison County prosecutors.
· Pranksters Glue Doors Shut at California High School. Students could not get into a California high school Friday after vandals plugged locks on all exterior gates and doors with super-strength glue. "A teacher who always gets there early called me on my cell phone and said, 'Guess what?"' said Carlsbad High School principal Margaret Stanchi. "But I didn't guess this." Roughly 100 doors were sealed shut sometime before the first staff arrived, Stanchi said.
· Britney says K-Fed her ‘biggest mistake.’ Britney Spears and Kevin Federline have hammered out the details of their split, and it’s reportedly going to cost the “Toxic” singer $13 million. What’s more, Star magazine says that Spears was reluctant to finalize the split. Among the details, according to the tab: A 2004 prenup called for K-Fed to get $250,000 for each year of their marriage, but Spears upped that figure to $500,000 to speed up the negotiations. He receives half the proceeds from their Malibu mansion, which is on the market for $13.5 million, and $25,000 a month in child support.
· Spector Prosecution Files New Motions. Prosecutors in the Phil Spector slaying case asked a judge Friday to limit the defense from suggesting shooting victim Lana Clarkson was suicidal because of a declining career.
Friday, April 6, 2007
· 98% of illegal border-crossers never prosecuted. For all the tough talk out of Washington on immigration, illegal immigrants caught along the Mexican border have almost no reason to fear they will be prosecuted. Ninety-eight percent of those arrested between Oct. 1, 2000, and Sept. 30, 2005, were never prosecuted for illegally entering the country, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Those 5.2 million immigrants were simply escorted back across the Rio Grande and turned loose.
· Imus sorry for comment on women's team. Radio host Don Imus apologized Friday for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy headed hos" on his nationally syndicated program.
· Child psychiatrist accused of molesting. A child psychiatrist who once headed the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry was arrested amid allegations he had molested male patients dating back to the 1960s.
· Powerball Winner Says He's Cursed by His Jackpot. Jack Whittaker Won $315 Million, Lost Friends, Family and the 'Shining Star' of His Life.
· Vonage lawyer: Ruling a 'bullet to the head.' Vonage Holdings Corp. cannot service new customers while it appeals a finding that it infringed Verizon Communications Inc. patents for making phone calls over the Internet, a federal judge ruled Friday.
· Cruise Ship Sinks on Mediterranean Reef. A Greek cruise ship that struck a volcanic reef and forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists sank on Friday, 15 hours after it began taking on water off the coast of a Mediterranean island. A Frenchman and his daughter were missing, officials said. The Merchant Marine Ministry said 1,195 passengers and 391 crew members were on board.
· Update: 'Girls Gone Wild' Boss Won't Surrender. The founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos defied a federal judge Thursday, calling him a "judge gone wild" and refusing to surrender to U.S. marshals on a contempt citation. The 34-year-old Joe Francis, who makes an estimated $29 million a year through the videos of girls exposing their breasts, drew the contempt order Wednesday after lawyers for the women said Francis threatened them during negotiations. Francis told The Associated Press late Thursday that U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak "had lost his mind."
· Teacher finds a new use for clothespins. A substitute teacher's tool for silencing chatty kindergartners - clothespins - doesn't wash with school officials. Four boys said spring-type clothespins were placed over their upper or lower lips for talking too much in class, Amanda-Clearcreek Primary School principal Mike Johnsen wrote in a letter to parents this week.
· 12-Year-Old Left Alone After Police Arrest Father. A northeast Baltimore mother said she's angry and frustrated after her 12-year-old child was left alone to sit on a curb while police arrested her father and took him to central booking.
· Federal Official in Student Loans Held Loan Stock. A senior official at the federal Education Department sold more than $100,000 in shares in a student loan company even as he was helping oversee lenders in the federal student loan program.
· Teen says he robbed elderly man for education. A Polk County teen is in jail, accused of robbing an elderly man to pay for his high school field trip and graduation fees.
· Florida housing sex offenders under bridge. The sparkling blue waters off Miami's Julia Tuttle Causeway look as if they were taken from a postcard. But the causeway's only inhabitants see little paradise in their surroundings. Five men - all registered sex offenders convicted of abusing children - live along the causeway because there is a housing shortage for Miami's least welcome residents.
· Playboy Editor Acquitted. The editor-in-chief of Playboy Indonesia was acquitted Thursday of charges that he violated the Muslim nation's indecency laws by publishing pictures of scantily clothed women.
· Disney opens Fairy Tale Weddings to gay couples. The Walt Disney Co. has changed its policy to allow same-sex couples to participate in a popular Fairy Tale Wedding program it runs mainly at its two U.S. resorts and cruise line, a Disney spokesman said on Thursday. Disney previously had allowed gay couples to organize their own weddings or commitment ceremonies at rented meeting rooms at the resorts, but had barred them from purchasing its Fairy Tale Wedding package and holding the event at locations at Disneyland and Walt Disney World that are set aside specifically for weddings.
· $17,000 found under old NJ slot machines. It's the casino equivalent of reaching under your couch cushions and finding a buck or so in loose change. Only the take at the former Sands Casino Hotel topped $17,000 worth of coins that fell under or around slot machines over the past three decades.
· Online Hoax Ad Strips Home of Everything. An online ad offering everything in the house for free left one landlord with quite a shock. By the time she realized what was going on, the house had been stripped of its light fixtures, hot water heater — even the kitchen sink. Laurie Raye said she traced the damage to a fake ad on craigslist, a San Francisco-based Internet site for classifieds.
· Anna Nicole Smith's private diaries revealed. Two diaries penned by Anna Nicole Smith in the early 1990s reveal a troubled young woman deeply in love with her octogenarian husband and often depressed and concerned about her weight. "I've been really stressed out lately and depressed and I can't quit eating. I feel like a pig," the former Playboy Playmate, who died February 8 in a Florida hotel from a drug overdose, wrote in an entry dated August 16, 1992.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
· Ford CEO paid $39.1 million for four months. Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Co.’s new president and chief executive officer, received compensation valued at $39.1 million during his four months on the job last year, according to an analysis of a federal regulatory filing made Thursday.
· Killer: "I’m not a prostitute!" During the weeks before he was brutally beaten to death, a 41-year-old Guatemalan man tried repeatedly to win the favor of the woman who killed him, Machelle Green admitted Wednesday. A jury on Thursday afternoon found Ms. Green guilty of second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. She earlier told the jury “He offered me $15 and $20 if I’d have sex with him,” Green said. “I told him I’m not a prostitute. This time he offered $200, so I said OK.”
· Keith Urban countersues Keith Urban. Keith D. Urban, the painter, has filed court documents claiming that the lawsuit filed by the famous singer Keith Urban about the painter’s Web site is baseless and a tool to intimidate him.
· Lesbian Couple in Wyo. Denied Communion. Leah Vader and Lynne Huskinson, a lesbian couple who got married in Canada last August, sent a letter recently to their state legislator decrying a Wyoming bill that would deny recognition of same-sex marriages. Soon after, the local paper interviewed the couple on Ash Wednesday and ran a story and pictures of them with ash on their foreheads, a mark of their Roman Catholic faith. It wasn't long after that that the couple received a notice from their parish church telling them they have been barred from receiving Communion.
· Ohio Firefighter Arrested In Wig and Bikini. A volunteer firefighter from southwest Ohio is due in court this morning on charges of drunken driving, public indecency and disorderly conduct after being arrested in a park wearing a woman's blond wig and bikini.
Steven Cole, 46, of Waynesville is to be arraigned in Mason Municipal Court.
· Illegal immigrant is charged with killing two Virginia Beach teenagers. When Alfredo Ramos - an illegal immigrant - allegedly drove drunk and crashed into a car in Virginia Beach killing two teenage girls - he had already been convicted of being drunk in public in Virginia Beach and chesapeake, and a DUI in chesapeake, but never received any jail time. Chesapeake Police say they never contacted immigration officials after his arrests in their city, even though they knew he has no social security number, no license, nothing but an illegal ID.
· Update: Girls Gone Wild Founder Ordered To Jail. Just days after narrowly avoiding jail time, the multimillionaire founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos was again ordered to jail Wednesday for contempt of court. Joe Francis, 34, has until noon Thursday to turn himself in to authorities.
· Rapist spared jail as judge agrees girl, 10, looked older. A man who raped a 10-year-old girl was spared a jail sentence yesterday after a High Court judge agreed that the victim looked older. Describing the case as "wholly exceptional", Mr Justice Roderick Evans said he understood why Liam Edgecombe, a 20-year-old painter, had thought that the child was 16 when they had sex last year. Judge Evans said "The prosecution accepts that you believed she was 16 and that that belief was reasonable. She was looking for a man and got what she wanted."
· VA Hospital Removes Wrong Testicle From Veteran. An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.
· Police: Man set girlfriend afire. An Indianapolis woman was in critical condition after her boyfriend set her on fire during an argument, police said. Michael Wilson, 33, was held today on preliminary charges of aggravated assault and arson. “Wilson, who is still in Wishard Hospital in good condition, is accused of pouring gasoline on his his girlfriend, Nupur Srivastava, and setting her on fire yesterday,” Lt. Doug Scheffel said.
· Greg Norman in nasty divorce. Golfer Greg Norman's divorce has turned nasty after a bitter row in which his estranged wife tossed out his sporting momentos from their home in Jupiter Island Florida. Norman's wife may have been jealous because Norman has been dating tennis legend Chris Evert.
· Teacher who threw feces at boy may keep job. A Toronto school principal who pleaded guilty to throwing human excrement at a 12-year-old boy may get her job back, officials said on Tuesday. "It's quite possible she'll end up back in her old position," said Grant Bowers, a lawyer for the Toronto District School Board.
· Special Ed Teacher Arrested For Sex With Boy, 16. A 53-year-old teacher's assistant in a special education program at Downey High School was arrested for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old boy, Downey police said.
· Man Charged With Raping 9-Year-Old Boy. A man is being charged with raping a 9-year-old boy who was trying to sell him magazine subscriptions and taunting the boy’s mother when he saw her months later.
· Rio's obese treated like horses. Rio de Janeiro hospitals have been sending obese people to share medical test equipment with horses at the local race track, drawing complaints from activists who say the practice is humiliating. "When people weigh more than the standard equipment can support they have to be directed to the Jockey Club, which is the only place in Rio where they have the appropriate equipment," a spokeswoman said.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
· American Taliban Seeks Reduced Sentence. The lawyer and parents of American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh asked President Bush on Wednesday to commute his 20-year prison term, citing the case of an Australian man who was sentenced to less than a year for aiding terrorism. Lindh, 26, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by American forces sent to topple the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
· NYC gives away 5 million official condoms in 1st month. The city's new official condom is a "sensation," according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, which announced Wednesday that City Hall gave away a record 5 million in the first month of a distribution program.
· Three Yale Students Arrested for Burning American Flag. Three Yale University students were arrested and charged with arson and other offenses after they allegedly set fire to an American flag hanging from the porch of a New Haven neighborhood home.
· Obama Bests Clinton in Primary Fundraising. ABC News has learned that the $23.5 million Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., raised for his presidential campaign for use in the primaries is more than that raised by the Democratic frontrunner, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
· 1 Doctor Prescribed Smith's Drugs. One doctor authorized all 11 prescription medications found in Anna Nicole Smith's hotel room, most of them in the name of the Playboy Playmate's companion, according to documents released by the medical examiner's office Wednesday. The medical examiner's office said psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich authorized all the medications found at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., where Smith was found unresponsive before her death Feb. 8.
· Smoking, Unruly Passenger Diverts Flight. A Honolulu-bound Delta jetliner was diverted on Tuesday when a female passenger who had smoked in the lavatory became unruly, officials said.
· Eighth-Grader Faces Terrorism Charge. A middle school student who allegedly confronted a girl with a knife and was later found with a backpack full of restraining devices and weapons faces a series of charges, including terrorism, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said.
· Another idiot paints his face. Michael Edward Thompson, of North Carolina, was busted Sunday by Hickory Police Department officers and charged with inhaling toxic vapors. Thompson, who was popped behind a Circuit City at 7 AM, was booked into the Catawba County jail.
· Richards Denies Snorting His Dad's Ashes. Keith Richards was joking when he claimed to have snorted his father's ashes along with cocaine, a spokesman said Wednesday. "It was an off-the-cuff remark, a joke, and it is not true.
· 15 British sailors "pardoned" by Iranian president. Iran is to free the 15 UK sailors and marines taken captive a fortnight ago as a "gift" to Britain. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said they would be released after a news conference currently being held in the capital Tehran.
· Woman dropped on head alleges 'negligent dancing.' A woman is suing her dance partner, claiming he dropped her on her head after flipping her into the air at an office party. Lacey Hindman, 22, was a victim of "negligent dancing," says her lawyer, David M. Baum. In the suit, Hindman claims that during a party at a Chicago bar and restaurant in April 2006, David Prange grabbed her by the forearms and tossed her in the air, and then she crashed to the wood floor.
· Would You Like Engines With Your Flight? Buying an airline ticket used to be simple, if not wildly variable in price. Now consumers have more options — and more fees — when they fly. Spirit Airlines recently announced that as of June 20 it will begin charging $10 each for checked bag — $5 if the fee is paid online. A third bag and each one after that will set you back $100. Cokes will be $1 each. Northwest Airlines is setting aside some exit row and aisle seats for customers willing to pay $15 extra.
· Cell phones in the sky: Not now, not ever. After two years of study and thousands of comments, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided to maintain its ban on the use of cell phones in flight. Reportedly, the reasoning behind the decision was that the agency is still uncertain as to whether or not cell phone signals interfere with cockpit operations and/or ground-based cellular networks.
· Prosecutors: Spector threatened ex-lover. Prosecutors in the Phil Spector murder case have asked a judge to allow testimony from a one-time girlfriend who said the record producer pointed a gun at her head in two separate incidents decades ago.
· Mariah Carey next in line to adopt an orphan. Mariah Carey is allegedly planning to adopt a Mexican orphan. The 'Hero' singer reportedly visited Mexico's Frank Gonzalez orphanage with her lawyer recently and rumours are now rife she is considering adopting a
child.
· Man tries to solve homeless problem - with pellet gun. A disturbing crime has some of Orlando's most vulnerable on edge. Police were investigating a series of drive-by shooting attacks on the homeless. It was a pellet gun, and while it may not be deadly force, some of the homeless worry they haven't seen the last of the attacks. "This guy leans over the seat and starts going pop, pop, pop, pop, shooting at us," said Bobby Shadley.
· Jackson Hewitt owner accused of fraud. Federal investigators on Tuesday accused a Jackson Hewitt franchisee with dozens of storefronts in metro Detroit of cheating the Internal Revenue Service out of nearly $18 million by writing tax returns with phony income and withholding forms, bogus deductions and false expenses.
· Accused Scammer Wins $2,100 On Lotto TV. A man awaiting trial on charges accusing him of bilking $135,000 from three people in a home-repair scam won $2,100 on the Ohio Lottery's television game show. Timothy Snyder, 44, of St. Louisville, had a winning scratch-off ticket that earned him an appearance "Make Me Famous, Make Me Rich," which aired Saturday night. Dan Huston, an assistant county prosecutor, said last week that he hoped Snyder fared well on the lottery show so, if convicted, he would have money to repay the victims. He could be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison if convicted.
· Student who "mooned" teacher sues school board. A high school senior and his parents sued the school board Tuesday, claiming he was denied due process and should not have have been transferred to another school for "mooning" a teacher.
· Pet owners making own dog and cat food. Some dog and cat owners frightened by a contamination scare are forsaking the pet-food aisle and grinding up meat in their own kitchens instead. Sales of pet food recipe books have also shot up since the nationwide pet-food recall began two weeks ago.
· Public housing kicks smoking habit. Tenants in some public housing complexes can no longer light up in the one place that seemed safe from smoking bans: their own homes. From California to Maine, at least 36 public housing authorities have made their apartments smoke-free, says Jim Bergman, director of the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project.
· Halle Berry gets star on Hollywood Walk. Halle Berry has an Emmy, a Golden Globe and an Oscar. Now she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A teary-eyed Berry received the 2,333rd Walk of Fame star in a ceremony Tuesday in front of the Kodak Theatre
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
· Journalist jailed for record time freed. A freelance videographer walked out of federal prison Tuesday after spending more time behind bars than any other journalist for refusing to testify to a grand jury.
· Ala. Woman on Horseback Charged With DUI. A woman who went for a horseback ride through town at midnight and allegedly used the horse to ram a police car was charged with driving under the influence and drug offenses, police said Tuesday. "Cars were passing by having to avoid it, and almost hitting the horse," said Police Chief Brad Gregg.
· Woman dead after CNN Center shooting. A woman has died according to Atlanta's Grady Hospital following a shooting Tuesday at the CNN complex, in what Atlanta police called a "domestic situation." The woman, who witnesses said appeared to be pregnant, was shot and the gunman was then shot by a Turner security guard.
· Keith Richards: `I Snorted My Father.' Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.
· Man with tuberculosis jailed for not wearing mask. Behind the county hospital's tall cinderblock walls, a 27-year-old tuberculosis patient sits in a Phoenix jail cell equipped with a ventilation system that keeps germs from escaping.
· No Charges in Water Intoxication Death. Prosecutors said Monday they will not file criminal charges in the death of a 28-year-old woman who participated in a radio station's water-drinking contest. At one point during the contest, a listener who identified herself as a nurse called "The Morning Rave" program to warn the disc jockeys that the stunt could be fatal, according to an audio tape of the broadcast. "Yeah, we're aware of that," one of the DJs responded. Another DJ laughed: "Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK."
· Slain woman had restraining order. A University of Washington researcher was shot to death in her office Monday morning by a former boyfriend who then turned the gun on himself, police said. The 26-year-old woman was granted a restraining order last month against Jonathan Rowan, according to court documents.
· Amendment to protect sued passengers has Democratic critics. Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.) proposed an amendment directed at a dangerous new threat to national security. His motion was in response to the "John Doe" lawsuit filed by six "Flying Imams" who were kicked off a plane and now plan to sue the passengers who turned them in. King said his amendment would protect anyone who makes a reasonable, good-faith report of suspicious activity from being the target of a lawsuit. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, took the floor to oppose King's motion - and to defend the lawsuit against John Does. "We should be tolerant," he argued; people shouldn't be singled out because they "look different." Many House members started booing Thompson. Finally, a member of the leadership realized how this would look to Americans watching on C-SPAN: Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was seen staring at Thompson and repeatedly drawing his hand across his throat - an urgent signal to get off the floor.
· Mexico City to be one, giant Wi-Fi hotspot by 2008: mayor. All of Mexico City will be one free, wireless Internet hotspot by 2008, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard announced Monday. The project "will accelerate the technological development of the city," Ebrard said after signing a contract with the Chinese telecoms and networking giant ZTE.
· Eight-graders charged with trying to poison teacher. Two eighth-graders were arrested on charges they tried to poison their science teacher by pouring a fabric freshener into her soda, authorities said Monday. The teacher, 51-year-old Jacqueline Hutchins, was not hurt, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. She noticed an odd taste when she sipped her Pepsi.
· Grandad builds his own 90-seat pub to beat the smoking ban. A grandfather was so outraged by a Wales-wide ban on smoking in public places he built his own private pub. Property developer Kerry Morgan, 50, feared the simple pleasure of smoking and drinking a pint was about to disappear forever.
· No drunk driving charge for Zamboni operator. Zamboni operator John Peragallo had been charged with drunken driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.12 percent. A judge ruled the four-ton ice rink-grooming machines aren’t motor vehicles because they aren’t useable on highways and can’t carry passengers. Peragallo, 64, did admit at his trial that he drank beer and vodka after grooming the ice, and had a shot of Sambuca with his breakfast coffee and two Valium pills before work.
· Pit bull dog owner bites policeman. The owner of a pit bull bit a policeman after his dog ran away during a confrontation with officers. Two policemen stopped the dog owner for walking the animal without a leash and a muzzle Sunday.
Monday, April 2, 2007
· Murderer seeks to collect on his wife's policy. A man argues that a $50,000 insurance claim on his wife is good as long as he continues to appeal his conviction for her murder in 2001.
· Anna Nicole's Partner Drops DNA Appeal. The lawyer-turned-partner of Anna Nicole Smith dropped his bid Monday to halt the use of DNA to prove the paternity of the former Playboy playmate's infant daughter when it appeared a Bahamas court was going to reject his appeal. In withdrawing the appeal, Howard K. Stern agreed to pay $10,000 in legal costs incurred by Birkhead and the Bahamian government department in charge of birth certificates.
· City Gives Homeless One-Way Bus Tickets. A one-way bus ticket might seem like a callous way to get rid of homeless people, but homeless advocates in Gainesville are giving it a try.
· Latest art controversy: Obama as Jesus. Some call it art. Other call it blasphemy. A new piece of art showing Senator Barack Obama as Jesus Christ is now on display at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
· Mom offers 7-year-old daughter for sex. A 33-year-old woman was arraigned Sunday on charges alleging she offered to let an undercover investigator take pornographic photos of her 7-year-old daughter and have sex with the girl, authorities said.
· 28 Men Arrested In Online Child-Sex Sting. The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested and charged 28 men, including a TV news employee and Disney employee, with soliciting sex from a minor after a weeklong undercover sting. Investigators said the men went to Polk County thinking they were going to have sex with a child but were instead met by police officers.
· Passing Bill That Keeps Drug Prices High. If you have ever wondered why the cost of prescription drugs in the United States are the highest in the world or why it's illegal to import cheaper drugs from Canada or Mexico, you need look no further than the pharmaceutical lobby and its influence in Washington, D.C.
· Martin Sheen cited at anti-nuke protest. Martin Sheen was among a group of peace activists cited during an anti-nuclear protest Sunday at the Nevada Test Site, authorities said.
· Bowlers busted for illegal steroids. It was just a matter of time before the nationwide steroid scandal hit home for Sault Ste. Marie residents, but most people probably thought it would be a football issue.
· Famous clown gets tiny bike back. Bello Nock, the daredevil clown, was all smiles Sunday when he was reunited with his lost little bike. The star of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus thanked Ricky Robinson, who found Bello's shiny foot-high, 6-inch-wide contraption Friday night outside a restaurant on Manhattan's West Side. Without the bike, the man once named "America's Best Clown" by Time magazine would have had to adjust his show.
· John Seigenthaler Leaves NBC Anchor Spot. "NBC Nightly News" weekend anchor John Seigenthaler signed off for good this weekend after the network decided not to renew his contract due to budget cuts.
· Twice-assaulted teacher calls it quits. A Baltimore middle school teacher who resigned two weeks ago after twice being physically assaulted by students learned Friday that the city school system is now moving to pull her state certification. “Teaching in a city school is the job I signed up for, and it’s not my intention to skip out before the end of the year,” said Waverly Elementary/Middle School art teacher Julia Gumminger. “But I got into this to teach, not to fear for my safety.”
· If you see Chris Hansen, it's trouble. Chris Hansen of NBC News has supplanted Mike Wallace as the TV journalist you'd least like to see emerge from behind a closed door. For dozens of men cornered on the "Dateline NBC" series "To Catch a Predator," the sight of Hansen dashes their warped dreams of sex with a child they'd "met" over the Internet. They'd be arrested and shamed on national television.
· 'Our worst fears': Missing brothers found dead. A volunteer search team found the bodies of two young brothers encased in ice in a lake on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota Sunday, more than four months after they disappeared, authorities said.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
· Jury awards $1.4 million to teacher who was punished for refusing to change failing grades. A Louisiana school system must pay more than $1.4 million to an English teacher who was suspended and demoted after refusing to change the Ds and Fs she gave to 70 percent of her students, a federal jury has found.
· Google brings web service through toilet. Presiding over a company with a market value of $143 billion apparently gives Silicon Valley's most famous billionaires a good sense of humor - and a case of corporate potty mouth. Senior executives at Google Inc. launched their annual April Fools' Day prank Sunday, posting a link on the company's home page to a site offering consumers free high-speed wireless Internet through their home plumbing systems.
· Community Sues To Oust 3-Year-Old. A Florida homeowners group wants 3-year-old Kimberly Broffman to take her Big Wheel and hit the road. They've banded together to oust the toddler from their Tampa-area community, which bans residents under 18. The child's grandparents, Judie and Jimmy Stottler, admit Kimberly's been living there in violation of homeowners' association rules for three years. They said her mother has a drug problem, and isn't capable of caring for the child.
· Strange tale of voyeurism. A 40-year-old man is in the county jail with no bond, accused in a strange case of voyeurism and burglary. Citrus County Florida Sheriff's detectives say an 11-year old victim woke up to feel her blanket being pulled from her body. The child saw a pole with a hook on the end sticking through her window screen. Investigators found semen on the exterior wall of the child's bedroom, indicating a man had been outside the child's window masturbating as he tried to pull off her covers.
· Pet Owners Likely to Get Little in Lawsuits. Pet owners are not likely to get much compensation if they individually sue pet food-maker Menu Foods over the death of a dog or cat, although they might fare better if they joined forces in a class action suit, legal experts say. "I would love to find an attorney to take on this company," said Brenda Hitchcock of Tampa, Fla. Hitchcock said she racked up $4,000 in veterinarian bills trying to save her 5-year-old cat "S.S." to no avail. She said she still has two pouches of the recalled food to prove her case.
· 'That Announcer Guy' finally gets due. Don LaFontaine has worked in Hollywood for decades, reached the top of his craft, earned plenty and won accolades. Yet, as he might say: In a world where exposure is everything, putting a face to the voice behind 5,000 movie trailers can give a guy a whole new perspective.
· Visitors flood Amsterdam's red-light district. Amsterdam's sex workers came to work early on Saturday to offer a free look at the city's famed red-light district. Organizers staged the open day to counter bad publicity surrounding the 800-year-old district after harrowing reports of forced prostitution, human trafficking and organized crime.
· Three teens injured in shooting at Nickelodeon awards after-party. Three young people were wounded when suspected gang members opened fire at a party after the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.
· Jail Employees Accused of Sex Assault. An internal investigation into the Monroe County jail has led to sex charges against seven people who worked there. It started with a tip made to a probation officer. The accusations at the Monroe County jail range from kissing a prisoner in the kitchen to having sex with inmates. Those accused of the sex crimes include six prison guards and a contracted kitchen worker.
· How Gitmo can cripple careers. Military lawyers appointed to defend terror suspects held at the Guantanamo prison have paid a steep price for doing their jobs well. In a world where the rule is get promoted or get out, being assigned to defend Al Qaeda suspects is a career killer.
· Girls Gone Wild Founder Faces Jail. The multimillionaire founder of the Girls Gone Wild videos waited to learn Saturday if he would go to jail for yelling obscenities at attorneys representing underaged girls featured in one his videos.
· Newt Gingrich Decries 'Ghetto' Nature of Bilingual Education. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto" and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages. "The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up" to vote," said Gingrich.
· Stewardess Busted For Hidden Handgun On Flight. A uniformed flight attendant was arrested at Dulles International Airport after she turned herself in for allegedly carrying a concealed handgun aboard a flight from Atlanta, authorities said Saturday. The TSA, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were investigating how the gun passed through security unnoticed in Atlanta.
· Artist seeks new home for Jesus. The chocolate sculpture of a nude Jesus is being held in a secret location, but it could have a new home soon. The artist who created "My Sweet Lord" said he's gotten offers from around the world to buy or exhibit the controversial figure booted from a Manhattan gallery.
· Update: Girl in prison for shove released. After spending a year behind bars for shoving a teacher's aide at her high school, Shaquanda Cotton walked out of a central Texas youth prison Saturday pretty much like many 15-year-olds would: eager for a hug from her mom and pining for a Big Mac.
· Cats may be more sensitive to pet food contaminant. Cats' greater sensitivity to a chemical found in plastics and pesticides could explain why they have died in larger numbers than have dogs after eating contaminated pet food that has been recalled in North America, experts said Saturday.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
· Debra Opri Bills Birkhead Kings Ransom. According to TMZ, Larry Birkhead got a Fed Ex on Saturday, and it was not good news. It was a bill for legal services from Debri Opri, the lawyer he fired two weeks ago. The total: $620,492.84. Opri billed her services out at $475 an hour. Opri billed $161.65 for an Outback Steakhouse dinner. The bill was for $111.65. Opri left a $50 tip and billed Birkhead - who wasn't even there. Opri billed Birkhead $4,265 for Cingular roaming service while she was in the Bahamas, and on October 23, Birkhead was billed $25.75. The item - "laundry service Zawacki." Zawacki is Opri's husband, who joined Opri on the trip.
· Students Sue Anti-Cheating Service. Two McLean High School students have launched a court challenge against a California company hired by their school to catch cheaters, claiming the anti-plagiarism service violates copyright laws. A company called Turnitin tries to root out cheaters by comparing student term papers and essays against a database of more than 22 million student papers as well as online sources and electronic archives of journals. In the process, the student papers are added to the database.
· Baptist Hospital Admits Employee Stole Patient IDs. South Florida's largest health care organization is trying to determine the scope of damage done by an employee who the Hospital now admits used his access to patients records to allegedly steal their identities and make credit card purchases of things like expensive watches and TVs.
· Pet food recall expanded to include some dry pet food. Federal testing of recalled pet foods turned up a chemical used to make plastics but failed to confirm the presence of a cancer drug also used as rat poison. The recall expanded Friday to include the first dry pet food such as cat kibble.
· Murder charge follows boy's death. Seeing the 4-year-old boy sucking his thumb, Christopher Montgomery grew angry. Then Montgomery hog-tied the boy with a drawstring of a hooded sweatshirt, police said. The boy’s mother revealed that information today after she learned an autopsy showed her son, Elijah Simpson, had died from a fractured skull.
· Drugs That Killed Anna Rx'ed to Howard Stern and Others. The Broward County Medical Examiner confirmed that none of the 11 drugs that were found in Anna Nicole Smith's hotel room were prescribed to Smith. FOX News anchor Greta Van Susteren obtained documents from Dr. Joshua Perper's office which shows that of the 11 drugs, eight were prescribed to Howard K. Stern, two were prescribed to Alex Katz and one was prescribed to Anna's personal shrink, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich. We don't know who Katz is, but Perper acknowledged one thing that was clear - Dr. Eroshevich wrote all 11 prescriptions.
· Muslim men now suing airline passengers. Six Muslim men removed from a plane after being accused of suspicious behavior are suing not only the airline but the passengers who complained — a move some fear could discourage travelers from speaking up when they see something unusual. "Airport signs say, `Report suspicious behavior,'" said Gerry Nolting. "There's no disclaimer that adds, `But beware if you do that, you might get sued.'"
· Gunmen kill two migrants on U.S.-Mexico border. Unknown gunmen fired on a truck packed with suspected illegal immigrants in southern Arizona early on Friday, killing two people and wounding a third, police said. Spokeswoman Dawn Barkman said two children were among at least 14 people packed into the extended-cab pickup truck.
· Fired teacher indicted in S.C. sex scandal. A former middle school teacher accused of having sex with five boys was indicted Friday by a grand jury, the Laurens County prosecutor said. Allenna Ward, 24, is due in court Monday on five counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and six counts of lewd acts on a minor, prosecutor Jerry Peace said. The married teacher is accused of having sexual encounters with the 14- and 15-year-old boys at the school, a motel, a park and behind a restaurant, according to arrest warrants.
· Cabbie says he was stiffed on $8,200 fare. A taxi driver told police he was stiffed on an $8,200 cross-country fare by a female passenger he shuttled from Beverly Hills, Calif. to North Carolina. The meter in Levon Mikayelyan's taxi cab hit the staggering fare after a 2,600-mile journey that ended at a Holiday Inn in Chapel Hill. Mikayelyan said the rider's family paid him only $800, Chapel Hill police spokeswoman Jane Cousins said Friday. "We do get reports of people who are not able to pay cab drivers, but certainly not with this amount," Cousins said.
· Cheerleading most dangerous "sport." Emergency room visits for cheerleading injuries nationwide have more than doubled since the early 1990s, and the rate of life-threatening injuries has startled researchers. Of 104 catastrophic injuries sustained by female high school and college athletes from 1982 to 2005 — head and spinal trauma that occasionally led to death — more than half resulted from cheerleading, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. All sports combined did not surpass cheerleading.
· Snoop SHOCKED about being denied visa. Snoop Dogg says he was shocked at being denied a British visa this week, although he remains hopeful authorities will allow him to share a "message of love and harmony."
· Singer Marie Osmond Getting Divorced. Marie Osmond and husband Brian Blosil are divorcing after 20 years of marriage, the pair announced Friday. Osmond, 47, and Blosil, a record producer, have eight children, some of whom are adopted. The two married in a Mormon ceremony in 1986, and briefly separated in 2000.
· Australian judge faces fraud over speeding ticket. A former Australian judge, who blamed a dead woman for a speeding offence in his car, has been charged by police and could face a hefty jail sentence over his attempts to avoid a $62 traffic fine.
· The ghostly Angel of the Vatican. When retired policeman Andy Key went on a trip to Rome, he was struck by the beauty of sunlight streaming through a window in the Vatican. As the Pope made an address nearby, he decided to capture the stunning image on his camera.
Friday, March 30, 2007
· Update: Chocolate Jesus Show Canceled. A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday amid a choir of complaints. The "My Sweet Lord" display was shut down by the hotel that houses the Lab Gallery in midtown Manhattan, said Matt Semler, the gallery's creative director. Semler said he submitted his resignation after officials at the Roger Smith Hotel shut down the show.
· Wife charged after husband shoots her lover. A husband who killed his wife's lover after finding them together escaped a murder charge from a grand jury, which instead indicted the wife for causing the shooting by claiming she was being raped.
· New Orleans judge orders suspects freed. A judge on Friday ordered the release of up to 42 criminal defendants, saying they aren't being adequately represented by the city's financially struggling indigent defenders office. A prosecutor said about half of the 42 are already out of jail. Among them are people accused of violent crimes.
· With five private jets, Travolta still lectures on global warming. The 53-year-old actor, a passionate pilot, encouraged his fans to "do their bit" to tackle global warming. But although he readily admitted: "I fly jets", he failed to mention he actually owns five, along with his own private runway. Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions – nearly 100 times the average consumption. [with photo of Travolta compound]
· Controversial chocolate Jesus outrages Catholics. A controversial artist outraged New York Catholics yesterday with plans to display a nude 6-foot chocolate Jesus during Holy Week. Cosimo Cavallaro's anatomically-correct candy Christ, titled "My Sweet Lord," was made from almost 200 pounds of dark chocolate. "It's an all-out war on Christianity," fumed Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. "They wouldn't show a depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. with genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn't show Muhammed depicted this way during Ramadan. It's always Christians, and the timing is deliberate."
· Pedestrian killed "dead as a door knob" by Lauderdale police car. A Fort Lauderdale police car, rushing to the scene of a reported shooting, struck and killed a pedestrian last night. A police spokesman wouldn't name either the officer or the pedestrian, or the circumstances of the accident, but one witness said "that man was dead as a doorknob."
· Blood Sprays Out of Sewer, On City Worker. A Minneapolis city worker is worried about blood in the sewer system because he said, while he was cleaning the system, blood sprayed out of a hole and got all over him. "We could tell it was blood, I mean large amount of blood," said Minneapolis Sewer Maintenance Worker Ron Huebner. It was a mix of human and animal blood used in medical testing at a nearby lab.
· ‘Gin and tonic bandit’ arrested for skipping bills. A scofflaw who came to be known as the gin and tonic bandit went to the same restaurant each Wednesday, ordered two drinks and a rib-eye steak, then skipped out on his $25.96 bill. His dining, drinking and dashing days may be over.
· Mexican ‘Ice’ becomes drug enforcement nightmare. Ice is a powerful form of the stimulant methamphetamine and is very addictive. Mexican drug traffickers, who are mass-producing ice in big labs south of the border, then smuggling it throughout the U.S. Drug agents raided a "superlab" near Guadalajara and in Mexico City seized $205 million in cash, but the Mexican traffickers are undeterred and are moving east, making Atlanta a major U.S. distribution hub.
· $1.75 million raised for black UCLA students. A private group led by several prominent UCLA alumni has raised $1.75 million to fund scholarships for black freshmen, hoping the additional financial aid will help increase black enrollment.
· Prosecutors: Revoke Hilton's probation. prosecutors said Thursday they will ask a judge to revoke Paris Hilton's probation in a reckless driving case, a move that could lead to a jail term. The decision followed an investigation into whether the hotel heiress and reality star violated terms of her probation by driving last month with a suspended license. Hilton could face up to 90 days in jail.
· Britney Spears, K-Fed Settle Divorce. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline reached a settlement in their divorce Thursday, a spokesman for Federline's attorney said. After a five-hour meeting with their attorneys present, Spears and Federline signed "a global settlement on all issues of their marriage," said Michael Sands, a spokesman for Federline's attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
· 10-Year-Olds Charged In Attack On Homeless Man. Two 10-year-olds in Daytona Beach, Fla., are accused of attacking a homeless man who was hospitalized after a piece of concrete was smashed into his face, according to police.
· "D.C. Madam" Seeks $500,000 Federal Handout. Citing "irreconcilable personal and professional differences" between herself and her court appointed public defender, former Washington, D.C. madam Deborah Palfrey is now asking the court to hand over $500,000 for her to hire a private attorney.
· Handcuffed Woman Steals Deputy's Car. A traffic stop turned into a high-speed chase when a woman detained in the back of a Travis County Sheriffs patrol car squeezed under the cage window into the driver's seat and drove away.
· Caretaker Beat, Dragged 84-Year-Old Woman. Columbia, South Carolina police are searching for a woman they say assualted an 84-year-old woman. Officers say they're searching for 41-year-old Tina Sumter. She will be charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, kidnapping and abuse of a vulnerable adult. Officers say Sumter tied a rope around the woman's neck, and began dragging her from room to room. At one point, officers say she doused the victim with hot water when she refused to give her money.
· Victoria choir's Samson a suicide bomber. The Victoria Philharmonic Choir is creating a stir with its version of Handel's Samson oratorio. The choir's version of the classic story turns the Biblical tale on its head by portraying Samson as a suicide bomber in 1946 Jerusalem. The change is the idea of artistic director Simon Capet, who said he wants to "get people talking about music."
· Miss America Loses TV Contract. The Miss America Pageant has been dropped by Country Music Television, leaving the 86-year-old pageant without a TV outlet for the second time in three years.
· Abandoned Grocery Store Stinks Up City. A fully-stocked grocery store was discovered abandoned in New York, with groceries left rotting on the shelves and a foul odor that disturbs residents and passersby. The old Bleecker Grocery was closed by New York City marshals almost two months ago. The problem is, nobody has bothered to clean up the place ever since.
· Woman's Home Set On Fire - For Third Time. Florida authorities are searching for answers after a Westside family said they've been terrorized by a string of fires that charred their home and yard almost claimed two lives. The State Fire Marshal's Office is calling the fires "suspicious."
· Fence execs sentenced for illegal hiring. Two executives at a company that once helped build a fence to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border were sentenced Wednesday to six months of home confinement for hiring undocumented workers.
· T.J. Maxx, Marshall's: At Least 45 Million Card Numbers Stolen. Discount retailer TJX Cos. has revealed that information from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards was stolen over an 18-month period. The data that was stolen covers transactions dating as far back as December 2002 at T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and other stores in North America and the United Kingdom.
· Teen's imprisonment highlights racial tensions. A teenager has been jailed for more than a year for shoving a teacher's aide at her high school, sparking anger and heightening racial tensions in rural Texas. Shaquandra Cotton, now 15, claims the teacher's aide pushed her first and would not let her enter school before the morning bell. A jury convicted her in March 2006 on a felony count of shoving a public servant, who was not seriously injured.
· Halle Berry talks about suicide attempt. Hollywood star Halle Berry attempted to commit suicide over a failed relationship but backed out at the last minute. "I was sitting in my car, and I knew the gas was coming, when I had an image of my mother finding me," she says.
· Circuit City: You're fired, but reapply for less pay. Circuit City announced layoffs aimed squarely at better-paid workers, implying that wages are as subject to discounts as flat-screen TVs. The electronics retailer said Wednesday it will lay off about 3,400 store workers immediately and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible.
· Severed limbs wash up in two locations in New York. Severed human legs were found washed up in two locations on the North Shore over the past two days, including on a private beach belonging to Cablevision Systems chief James Dolan, and police believe they may match a headless torso found almost a month ago across Long Island Sound. "The condition of the leg found in the bag indicates to us that it could be a possible homicide," said Det. Sgt. Richard Laursen of Nassau's Homicide Squad.
· Pilot Orders Coughing Student Off Flight. a Continental Airlines pilot ordered a 16-year-old student from Hawaii off an East Coast flight after a coughing fit.
· Acid attack on woman shocks Ethiopia. Kamilat Mehdi, 21, had a bright future ahead of her. She dreamed of getting her degree and becoming an air hostess. All that changed one night when she was walking home from work with her two sisters and a stalker threw sulphuric acid in her face. She is now lying in hospital disfigured beyond recognition. [photos]
· Factory struggles after immigration raid. Michael Bianco Inc. was a success story, a small leather factory in a struggling city that landed military contracts at such a rate that its work force more than quadrupled in the span of a few years.
· Iran: Britain Must Admit Navy Trespassed. Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that Britain must admit that its 15 sailors and marines entered Iranian waters in order to resolve a standoff over their capture by the Mideast nation.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
· Chicago police chief embarrassed, to take on thug cops. Anthony Abbate should have walked in and out of a Cook County courthouse like any other accused criminal, Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline said. Instead, the burly Chicago cop, who is accused of pummeling a petite female bartender during a drunken rage, was shielded from the media by on-duty Chicago officers, ticketing the cars of reporters trying to cover Abbate's hearing, and threatening them with arrest. Upon leaving, Abbate was then allowed to slip out a rear entrance, avoiding cameras and reporters.
· New defense tactic: Lacing food with rat poison "just a practical joke." An attorney for a 23-year-old man accused of lacing his ex-girlfriend's sub sandwich and drink with rat poison last year argued at trial Tuesday that the entire situation was nothing more than a practical joke. "It was an immature prank," Michael Hanna said as he awaits sentencing for the third-degree felony.
· "Racial taboos" cited in latest teachers accused of sex with boys. The arrest of two women teachers on charges of having sex with their male students has brought cries of lingering racism in one of South Carolina's most conservative counties and evoked some of the South's oldest and deepest-seated racial taboos. Both women are white. The boys - six in all - are black.
· Aide: U.S. attorneys fired over politics. Eight federal prosecutors were fired last year because they did not sufficiently support President Bush's priorities, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff says in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday to Congress.
· Man Pleads Guilty to Child Endangerment in Wife's Suicide Plunge. A man accused of helping his wife commit suicide by allowing her to drive the family minivan off a 300-foot cliff with their children inside pleaded guilty Wednesday to child endangerment in a deal that will likely spare him any prison time.
· Incriminating Videotape Leads Deputies to Burglary Suspect. An incriminating videotape led deputies to a burglary suspect and some unique stolen items. Orange County Florida deputies found the videotape left behind inside a stolen car.
· Border Patrol agent kills man who crossed from Mexico. A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man who threatened him with a softball-sized rock at the border, the agency said Tuesday. The agent fired an M-4 assault rifle after seeing the man's arm cocked back with a rock in his hand. Other people continued to throw rocks at the agents, spokesman David Kim said. A Molotov cocktail that had failed to explode was later found nearby.
· Mistake means tax cheat can keep $100 million. Poorly written Justice Department documents cost the federal government more than $100 million in what was supposed to have been the crowning moment of the biggest tax prosecution ever. Judge Paul Friedman said he couldn’t order Walter Anderson to repay the federal government $100 million to $175 million because the Justice Department’s binding plea agreement with Anderson listed the wrong statute.
· Ex-wife becomes a man; ex-husband seeks end to alimony. Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued in a Florida court Tuesday in an effort to end the payments.
· Judge pulls gun in Florida court. A Jacksonville, Florida judge drew his handgun when an accused child molester was attacked by the victim's father in court. "I didn't know if he was going after me or the bailiffs or the defendant," Circuit Judge John Merrett told The Times-Union. The father, who had not seen the defendant before the court appearance, hurdled a railing and landed several punches on the handcuffed and shackled man before bailiffs restored order.
· Urbina sentenced to 14 years in prison. Former Major League baseball pitcher Ugueth Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the attempted murder of five workers on his family's ranch, the Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday.
· The case of the missing sewage. About 15 million gallons of partially treated sewage water disappeared from a 250,000 square-foot storage lagoon into a sinkhole, but officials don't know where it went after that.
· San Francisco Leaders OK Plastic Grocery Bag Ban. City leaders approved a ban on plastic grocery bags after weeks of lobbying on both sides from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group. If Mayor Gavin Newsom signs the ban as expected, San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule.
· World's tallest man marries. The world's tallest man has married a woman who is more than 2 feet shorter than him, a Chinese newspaper reported Wednesday. Bao Xishun, a 7-foot-9 herdsman from Inner Mongolia, married 5-foot-6 saleswoman Xia Shujian.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
· Texas governor signs bill expanding deadly force rights. Gov. Rick Perry signed into law today a bill that gives Texans a stronger legal right to defend themselves with deadly force in their homes, cars and workplaces. The new law will also provide civil immunity for a person who lawfully uses deadly force in any of the circumstances spelled out in the bill.
· Wynonna Judd's Husband Arrested On Sex Charges. The husband of country singer Wynonna Judd was arrested in Texas and charged with sexual assault on a child under the age of 13, a Taylor County Jail spokesperson confirmed to CBS today. Daniel Roach (aka D.R. Roach) is being held on a $750,000 bond.
· Fifty percent of adults would not vote for Clinton. Half of voting-age Americans say they would not vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) if she became the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, according to a Harris Interactive poll released Tuesday. 69 percent of those 62 and older said that they would not vote for Clinton, and 45% of all respondents said that they dislike Clinton’s political opinions and Clinton as a person.
· Pastor admits taking church money for gambling. The pastor of a downtown Portland church has acknowledged taking church money intended for charity and gambling with it. The board of First Christian Church asked Rex Loy to resign after an audit determined that at least $30,000 was taken in 2006 from a fund designed to help struggling members with rent, bills and food. Loy told church members he is taking leave to go to rehab.
· Sewage 'tsunami' kills four in Gaza. At least four Palestinians drowned in a tsunami of raw sewage on Tuesday when a water treatment reservoir burst, flooding a village in the northern Gaza Strip.
· Subway Hero Sues Lawyer Over 'One-Sided' Contract. A quick-acting commuter who became an instant hero after saving a teenager who fell in front of an oncoming subway train has sued a lawyer he says manipulated him into signing an unfair, one-sided contract. Wesley Autrey Sr. said in court papers that he was induced to sign by "fraud" and that it gives the lion's share of everything he earns to his lawyer.
· Was Griffin's Crash a Hoax? Eddie Griffin's ultra-expensive crash in a $1.5 million Ferrari Enzo has been all over television and the Internet today, but could the pricey wipeout really be a brilliant marketing ploy? In the video obtained by CBS2 News in Los Angeles, it shows the car slamming into a concrete barricade. But, to quote Dr. Henry Lee from the O.J. Simpson case, "Something wrong." Roll the video and take a close look at the guy standing next to the concrete barrier. He doesn't even flinch as the car comes crashing just feet in front of him.
· Senate ‘emergency’ war bill includes $100 million for presidential conventions. Like their counterparts in the House, the Senate has larded its version of an “emergency” war spending bill with nearly $20 billion in pork-barrel outlays, including $100 million for the major political parties’ 2008 presidential conventions.
· Yacht Club Tries To Save Choking Diner, Gets Sued. A man whose wife died a week after she got a piece of meat stuck in her throat while eating dinner at the Chicago Yacht Club says the Yacht Club bears responsibility for her death, since its employees tried, unsuccessfully, to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on her. The city of Chicago is also named as a defendant in the suit, but the suit does not explain why the city is being sued.
· Tests Show Tony Snow's Cancer Has Returned. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow's surgery to remove a small growth showed that his cancer has returned and spread to his liver, the White House said Tuesday.
· Update: Pee Diddy-Dogg tour cancelled. Snoop Dogg and Sean "P Diddy" Combs were forced to scrap a tour of Britain after authorities denied Dogg a visa, a statement said Tuesday.
· Drunk women can consent to sex, judges rule. A drunken woman can still consent to sex, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday. Three senior judges were giving reasons for clearing a 25-year-old man of raping a student, aged 19, after both had been drinking heavily.
· Despite $204 million budget, U.S. loses 600,000 fugitives. Teams assigned to make sure foreigners ordered out of the United States actually leave are grappling with a backlog of more than 600,000 cases and can't accurately account for the fugitives' whereabouts, the government reported Monday. Even though more than $204 million was allocated for 52 fugitive operations teams since 2003, a backlog of 623,292 cases existed as of August of 2006.
· Romney offers student fundraisers a commission. A millionaire thanks to his work as a venture capitalist, Mitt Romney is acutely aware of the motivating power of money. His presidential campaign hopes it will have a similar effect on college students, which is why it’s offering them a cut of their fundraising. Participants in ”Students for Mitt” will get 10 percent of the money they raise for the campaign beyond the first $1,000.
· Roof fall dancer tenant sues. A tenant is suing her landlords after falling through a skylight while dancing on the roof. Anna Mayers was celebrating her 24th birthday party at the flat she rented with university friends when the near-fatal accident happened. Mayers suit could affect the warnings landlords have to give their tenants about dangers in and around their properties.
· Britney won't go broke. Even with a seven-figure payoff to Britney Spears' second husband, the troubled beauty's bank account will continue to swell - even if she decides never to work again. Documents drawn up by the legal team that prepared her ironclad premarital agreement - plus extensive research by Forbes magazine - reveals the mother-of-two has an estimated net worth of $124 million.
· Wal-Mart increases charitable donations. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. increased its U.S. charitable giving 10 percent last year to $272.9 million, the world's largest retailer said Tuesday, likely defending its position as the country's largest corporate donor of cash.
Monday, March 26, 2007
· Jewish Seminary to Admit Gays. The seminary considered the flagship institution of Conservative Judaism said Monday it will start accepting gay and lesbian applicants, after scholars who guide the movement lifted the ban on gay ordination.
· Senate aide charged with carrying weapon. A Senate aide was arrested Monday on charges of bringing a firearm into the Russell Senate building, U.S. Capitol police told NBC News. Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the police, said the aide worked for Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. He entered the building at 10:50 a.m., she said, and was in possession of an unregistered firearm.
· Border Inspector Gets Nearly 6 Years, An American border inspector was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in prison for taking cash and cars from smugglers, allowing them to shuttle illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States.
· Cleaning a chandelier isn't as cheap as it used to be. The Smithsonian Institution announced Monday that its top official, Secretary Lawrence M. Small, has resigned amid criticism about his expenses. An internal audit found that Small had made $90,000 in unauthorized expenses, including private jet travel and expensive gifts, and that Small charged the Smithsonian more than $1.1 million for use of his home since 2000. The housing expenses included $273,000 for housekeeping, $2,535 to clean a chandelier and $12,000 for service on his backyard swimming pool.
· Six off-duty Chicago cops accused in bar attack. Authorities are investigating claims that six off-duty Chicago police officers were captured on video assaulting four men in a bar, the second report of police involved in an assault to surface in a week. Patrol officers responded to a 911 call after the attack, but left after speaking to one of the off-duty officers, the alleged victim's attorney said.
· Anna Nicole died from overdose. Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental drug overdose, authorities announced Monday. “We found nothing to indicate any foul play,” said Chief Charlie Tiger of the Seminole police department.
· Pee Diddy-Dogg tour in "chaos." A European tour of Diddy and rapper Snoop Dogg has been thrown "into chaos" after Snoop was refused a British visa, reps say. It is believed the entry problems stem back to last April when Snoop and several pals were arrested in London after a skirmish that injured seven police officers.
· Florida foreclosures lead nation. The once red-hot Florida housing market leads the nation in delinquencies, according to the latest report on foreclosure filings from RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties. In addition to Florida, other once-hot markets showing weakness include California, where filings shot up nearly 79 percent compared with a year ago, and Nevada, which for the second straight month had the nation's highest foreclosure rate relative to the number of households.
· $1 short of buyer, Lay's desk back on eBay auction. After 10 days on the eBay auction block, the late Ken Lay's custom-made desk proved a dollar too rich for bidders' blood, so it has gone back up there at a going-out-of-business price. Only one person offered the $25,000 minimum for the desk, but that failed to meet the secret "reserve price" set by the nonprofit Saving Animals Across Borders. The reserve price, group founder Sean Hawkins said Sunday evening, was $25,001.
· High school 'Jihad' rally turns deadly. Police challenged a group of suspected militants Monday at a high school in Pakistan after hearing that they wanted to "motivate" students for holy war, sparking a gunbattle that left six people dead, police said.
· PSA: Do not sleep on railroad tracks. A man died after he fell asleep on railroad tracks and was hit by a train in Tallahassee.
· Are Chicago voters crazy? Four years ago, Mayor Daley got re-elected by a landslide and tore up Meigs Field a few weeks later. This time, there's a different kind of "after-the-election" avalanche - bad news. Since breezing to re-election with 71 percent of the vote, the you-know-what has hit the fan.