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Monday, March 31, 2008
· Baby Delivered After Woman Is Murdered. Grand Junction police said they arrested a man suspected in the shooting death of a pregnant woman in front of an apartment complex. 
· Airline hires temps to fill plane. Flybe has given the term low-fare airline an entirely new meaning: it is paying 172 people to fly back and forth across England and the Irish Sea to help it meet a target for passenger numbers at Norwich airport.
· Rape Trial Postponed Because Of Wardrobe Problems. A Frederick County judge has delayed the rape trial of an Adamstown man after the defendant complained that a courtroom attire provided by his public defender didn't fit. The judge granted the continuance last week after 40-year-old George Mathis appeared in his prison uniform for the start of his trial. Mathis is accused of strangling, beating and raping a former girlfriend.
· Woman guilty of sex with 14-year-old to be sentenced. A 27-year-old woman accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy is scheduled for sentencing today after pleading no contest to a felony sexual assault charge, online court records show.
· Dozens Injured At Wrestlemania When Fireworks Fall On Crowd. At least 40 people were hurt when fireworks and cables landed on the crowd packed in the Citrus Bowl for Wrestlemania on Sunday night, according to the Orlando Fire Department.
· Married Troops Can Live Together in Iraq. When American soldiers get off duty in Iraq, the men usually return to their quarters, the women to theirs. But Staff Sgt. Marvin Frazier gets to go back to a small trailer with two pushed-together single beds that he shares with his wife.
· Driver found shot in LA freeway wreck. Rescue crews responding to a wreck on a Los Angeles freeway found a driver fatally shot in the head early Sunday, while another driver was shot and wounded in a separate attack about 30 miles away.
· Camels line up for Gulf beauty contest. More than 10,000 camels from across the Gulf will be competing for millions of dollars in prize money at a beauty pageant for the "ship of the desert" in Abu Dhabi next week.
· Physicists convert first known sound recording. The voice of an unknown woman singing in a lamp-lit Paris laboratory nearly 150 years ago came to life Friday amid the crackles and buzz of a historic breakthrough recording made 17 years before Edison invented the phonograph.
· Dad Kills 3 Kids In Md. Hotel, Tells Front Desk. Baltimore police say a man has killed his three young children at a downtown hotel. Police spokesman Sterling Clifford says the man called the front desk at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon and said he had just killed his children.
· Housing secretary to resign. The U.S. housing secretary will resign Monday morning under pressure after accusations of improper allocation of federal contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported in its Monday edition. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson will step down on Monday morning. Jackson has faced calls for his resignation after lawmakers have said he behaved improperly in awarding federal contracts.
· Baggage Handlers Arrested At Fla. Airport. Three baggage handlers at the Tampa International Airport have been arrested for dealing with stolen property, according to arrest reports. The trio is accused of dealing electronic goods that included laptop computers, digital cameras and iPods that were stolen from the luggage.
· Heather Mills to Judge Miss USA Pageant. Heather Mills soon will be back in front of the cameras. The former Mrs. Paul McCartney, who recently wrapped up a very public divorce from the ex-Beatle, is among the celebrity judges just announced for the upcoming Miss USA Pageant.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
· Muslims more numerous than Catholics. Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday. "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said. He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population, while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.
· Woman trying to help after crash bitten. An Indiana woman who tried to help after a car crash was punched and bitten by the man she was trying to assist, police said. "It was just crazy. I was just trying to help," 28-year-old Danielle Herndon said.
· Countrywide execs to get millions. Countrywide Financial Corp.'s top executives will get hefty payments in the company's merger with Bank of America, filings with U.S. regulators indicate. Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo and President David Sambol, who built Countrywide into the largest mortgage lender in the United States before it collapsed with the housing bubble, are to receive stock next week worth $19 million.
· Teen makes mistake of trying to rob 84-year-old former U.S. Marine. A boy in his mid-teens learned Wednesday afternoon that it is not a good idea to try to rob a former U.S. Marine at knifepoint, even if the former Marine is 84 years old, police said today. The boy said, "Old man, give me your wallet or I'll cut you," Sgt. Steve Bair said. The man told the boy he was a former Marine who fought in three wars and had been threatened with knives and bayonets, Bair said. The man then put his bags on the ground and told the boy that if he stepped closer he would be sorry. When the boy stepped closer, the man kicked him in the groin, knocking him to the sidewalk, Bair said. The ex-Marine picked up his grocery bags and walked home, leaving the boy doubled over on the ground.
· Judge Orders Release Of Woman Charged With Kidnapping Newborn. A woman accused of kidnapping a newborn from a Central Florida hospital could be out of jail as soon as Monday after a judge orders her release on Saturday. Seminole County Judge Ralph Eriksson ordered Jennifer Latham, 39, released from custody. She did not have to pay a bond and will be set free under a pre-trial release program.
· Cities pay huge salaries despite fiscal crises. A city nurse earned $350,000. A fire department battalion chief pulled in more than twice as much as the mayor. And a municipal park ranger took home $188,000 in overtime on top of his $71,000 salary. Such generous payouts were criticized for hastening the fiscal downfall of the city of Vallejo, which narrowly averted bankruptcy this month. But the nurse, firefighter and ranger aren't from Vallejo - they're among hundreds of top earners working for the cities of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland.
· Female Escort Jailed After Stealing TV From Alleged Non-Paying Customers. Authorities investigated a bizarre robbery on Saturday after a female escort allegedly stole an expensive television from two men who she said refused to pay her for her services.
· Cheetahs attack woman at cat sanctuary. Authorities say the owner of a Florida wildlife sanctuary has been hospitalized after she was attacked by two cheetahs. The Palm Beach County sheriff's office says Judy Berens has about 40 puncture wounds to her extremities and back. She was airlifted to Delray Medical Center, but it appears that her injuries are not life-threatening.
· TV, Film Actors' Unions Sever Ties. Unions representing film and television actors will negotiate separately with producers in upcoming contract talks after board members of the TV actors union voted Saturday to sever a long-standing agreement between the two guilds.
· Amateur Sleuths Name Anonymous Dead. Four days a week Todd Matthews earns $11.50 an hour working for an automotive parts supplier. He punches in at 4:15 a.m., punches out nearly 11 hours later, then drives half a mile to his little beige house on a hill where, in the distance, he can glimpse the Appalachian mountains. He spends the next seven to eight hours at his desk, beneath shelves lined with miniature plastic skulls, immersed in a very different world.
· Cities switch off lights for Earth Hour. From the Sydney Opera House to Rome's Colosseum to the Sears Tower's famous antennas in Chicago, floodlit icons of civilization went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a worldwide campaign to highlight the threat of climate change. The environmental group WWF urged governments, businesses and households to turn back to candle power for at least 60 minutes starting at 8 p.m. wherever they were.
· Google goes dark for Earth Hour. Google made an environmental gesture today by turning the lights out on the U.S. version of its search page. The black background doesn't save energy, but it's Google's way of observing Earth Hour.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
· Missing NY pastor found at Ohio strip club. Police say a pastor who was reported missing from his home in western New York has been found at an Ohio strip club. A police officer patrolling the K.C. Lounge parking lot Friday morning in the Dayton suburb of Riverside spotted the pastor's car.
· Man's Oxygen Tank Ignites Near Grill. A 55-year-old Melbourne, Florida man suffered severed injuries to his face and hands after an oxygen tank he was using for medical purposes caught fire as he cooked on an outdoor grill.
· Principal improves test scores, but ousted over losing basketball team. He's a principal loved by his students and credited with a lot of success. But, that's not stopping the Green School Board from getting rid of its high school principal. “This school is so much better, fights are down and test scores are up,” said Adrian Mays. Unfortunately, Principal David Hopper is also Coach Hopper - and despite a dramatic improvement in academics, coach Hopper has had two losing basketball seasons.
· AP: Mayor's scandal hurts Detroit's image. After decades of population loss, high crime, racial tension and disinvestment, Detroiters began to attach themselves to a newfound sense of pride that followed baseball's 2005 All-Star Game at Comerica Park and the Super Bowl in 2006.
· Klugman Sues NBC Over 'Quincy' Profits. Former "Quincy, M.E." star Jack Klugman sued NBC Universal Friday, claiming the studio is lying about the show's profits and owes him money. Klugman, 85, played the crime-busting Dr. R. Quincy on the show from 1976 to 1983.
· Houston cracks down on illegal immigration. Mayra Figueroa — a naturalized U.S. citizen, community organizer and licensed driver — had no reason to fear being arrested, no need to worry about deported. Then she was pulled over by a Houston police officer, who told her he found it suspicious that a Latina was driving a late-model car. The first thing the officer requested? Figueroa's Social Security card, as proof of citizenship.
· Chase mortgage memo pushes 'Cheats & Tricks.' A newly surfaced memo from banking giant JPMorgan Chase provides a rare glimpse into the mentality that fueled the mortgage crisis. The memo's title says it all: "Zippy Cheats & Tricks." The document recommends "handy steps" to loan approval. Among them: If all else fails, simply inflate the applicant's income. "Inch it up $500 to see if you can get the findings you want," the document says. "Do the same for assets."
· Arms dealer's dad wanted 'nice' doctor son. Efraim Diveroli's father hoped his son would become a doctor or lawyer. What he got instead is a 22-year-old international arms dealer who faces a congressional inquiry for allegedly selling old Chinese ammunition to the U.S. military to equip allies in Afghanistan.
· Spector defense team not ready until fall. Phil Spector made a brief court appearance Friday in which his new lawyer said he could not be ready for the music producer's murder retrial until September at the earliest. The lawyer also filed a writ asking that a neutral judge be appointed to decide if Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler should be disqualified from Spector's second trial because of alleged bias.
· FBI: Combs/Shakur Documents Appear Fake. Papers purporting to be FBI reports linking associates of music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs to a 1994 attack on rapper Tupac Shakur appear to be fakes, the agency said Friday. The documents had been cited in recent Los Angeles Times and Associated Press stories. James Sabatino, a convicted con man who is serving a federal prison sentence for fraud, filed the documents last fall in Miami federal court as part of a $19 million lawsuit against Combs, claiming Combs never paid him for arranging a recording and video session by the late Notorious B.I.G.
Friday, March 28, 2008
· Nipple ring search procedures faulty, TSA admits. The Transportation Security Administration said Friday its officers at a Texas airport appear to have properly followed procedures when they allegedly forced a woman to remove her nipple rings - one with pliers - but acknowledged the procedures should be changed.
· FBI Focusing on 'About Four' Suspects in 2001 Anthrax Attacks. The FBI has narrowed its focus to "about four" suspects in the 6 1/2-year investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, and at least three of those suspects are linked to the Army’s bioweapons research facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland, FOX News has learned. Among the pool of suspects are three scientists — a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist — linked to the research facility.
· Man Caught Having Sex with a Picnic Table. A man in central Ohio is accused of having sex with his picnic table. The investigation began when a tipster gave police three DVDs showing Arthur Price having sexual intercourse with a metal round table on his deck.
· Kid Robs Store With Rock. Police in Franklin, Tennessee said a 10-year-old girl tried to rob a Mapco Express convenience store late Monday night. He said he wasn't sure what the girl wanted until she threw a rock that struck him in the chest.
· Australian barbecue planned for man thrown in fire pit. Assault charges have been filed by US authorities against two men suspected of throwing an Australian tourist into a burning fire pit on a Californian beach. Carl Gregory and Roseann Iovine plan to host an "Australian barbecue" on April 13 to support the man's recovery. About 300 people are expected at the barbecue.
· Teller speechless after losing $5,000 bet. Penn Jillette lost on "Dancing With the Stars," so his comedy-and-magic partner Teller lost $5,000. Teller had placed a bet on Jillette to conquer the sixth season of the popular ABC dance competition. The odds against Jillette were 30-1 so Teller stood to win $150,000.
· Latest from Obama: Had Wright not retired, I'd have left church. Sen. Barack Obama says in an interview scheduled to air on TV Friday that he would have left his church if his pastor had not retired and had not acknowledged making comments that "deeply offended people."
· Obama's pastor getting $1,600,000 home in retirement. Public records of the sale show Trinity United Church of Christ initially obtained a $10 million bank loan to purchase the property and build a new house on the land. But further investigation with tax and real estate attorneys showed that the church had actually secured a $1.6 million mortgage for the home purchase, and attached a $10 million line of credit, for reasons unspecified in the paperwork. “Some people think deals like this are hypocritical. Jeremiah Wright himself criticizes people from the pulpit for middle classism, for too much materialism,” said Andrew Walsh, Associate Director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion.
· Judge: Learn English or go to jail. A Pennsylvania judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail. The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Olszewski Jr. said. The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday. "Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.
· Parents Didn't Expect Daughter To Die During Prayer. The mother of an 11-year-old rural Weston girl who died of untreated diabetes said she didn't know her daughter was terminally ill as she prayed for her to get better instead of taking her to the doctor. Authorities said Madeline Neumann died Sunday from an undiagnosed and treatable form of diabetes.
· Pittsburgh Mom Left Baby In Car To Buy Drugs. A 22-year-old woman left her baby in a car with the engine running on Wednesday while she went to buy drugs for the father of her baby, who is under house arrest.
· Older Americans wealthier, living longer. Older Americans have more money and are expected to live far longer than prior generations, U.S. government researchers said on Thursday. They said the average net worth of older Americans - those 65 or older - has increased almost 80 percent over the past 20 years. And those who reach the age of 65 are now expected to live an average of 19 more years.
· Colorado chef steals $50K, loses it in scam. An executive chef stole $50,000 from his employer only to lose it in a foreign lottery scam in which he hoped to win $1.5 million, Detective Paul Arnold of the Avon Police Department said. Thomas Jefferson Newsted, 33, bought the tickets and later got an e-mail from a man in South Africa saying he had won $1.5 million in the lottery, but had to wire $60,000 in fees and taxes to get the $1.5 million.
· Bear Stearn's CEO Sells His Stake. What was once valued at $1 billion has been sold for $61 million. On the block were the 5.66 million shares of troubled investment bank Bear Stearns owned by its former long-standing chief executive James Cayne.
· Pennsylvania Man Stopped at Candian Border Admits Killing Parents to Avoid Rehab. A man who police say killed his 74-year-old parents to avoid going to rehab was charged with murder Thursday after he tried to enter Canada. Richard Reed, 44, was stopped late Wednesday after a Canadian customs officer in Fort Erie, Ontario — across the border from Buffalo, N.Y. — noticed that the car Reed said belonged to him was actually leased to his mother, authorities said.
· Man Charged After $32,200 In Fake Money Found In His Lap During Stop. A man pulled over on a routine traffic stop was arrested in Orange County on Wednesday after troopers found $32,200 in fake money in his lap, authorities said. Alvaro Gonzalez, 32, was arrested on a charge of possession of forged bills.
· Developer sues to recover 9/11 costs. The developer of the World Trade Center in New York is seeking $12.3 billion in damages from the airlines and other companies associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks, his spokesman said Thursday. September 13, 2001. Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, has recovered $4.6 billion in insurance payments, spokesman Bud Perrone said.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
· 3 dead as pickup carrying 25 illegal immigrants hits SUV. A pickup truck crammed with suspected illegal immigrants collided with an SUV near the Mexican border today, killing three people and injuring at least nine others. Police said there could have been as many as 25 people in the truck when it crashed before dawn. The truck's driver, believed to be injured, ran off.
· Bonds' name removed from San Francisco Giants stadium. It didn’t matter if it said "PacBell," "SBC," or "AT&T" on the outside; to many San Francisco Giants fans, the ballpark on the city’s waterfront was always known as "The House That Barry Built." But now, less than a year removed from Barry Bonds’ setting of the all-time, home-run record, the average fan will have a hard to finding evidence that the slugger ever played there. His name, his image, as well as any mention of his feat, have been scrubbed from AT&T Park.
· Narcotics cop made illegal search look like a break-in. A 23-year Atlanta Police Department veteran pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring to violate civil rights by searching a private residence without a warrant, federal prosecutors said.
· TSA Forces Woman To Remove Nipple Rings. A woman was forced by the Transportation Security Administration to remove her nipple rings before she was allowed to board a flight, Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred said Thursday. "The woman was given a pair of pliers in order to remove the rings in her nipples," said Allred. "The rings had been in her nipples for many years."
· Deputy Shocks Girl, 11, With Taser At Elementary School. An Orange County sheriff's deputy on Thursday shocked an 11-year-old girl with a Taser gun at an elementary school after the girl punched her in the face, authorities said.
· Family of woman who died at airport files claim. The family of Carol Gotbaum, the woman who died last year while in police custody at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, filed an $8 million claim Wednesday against the city and its police department. Gotbaum was left alone in a holding cell and strangled herself while trying to escape her handcuffs.
· After blowing up 10 cell towers in Afghanistan, Taliban realizes it misses the phone service. Taliban attacks on 10 telecom towers have prompted cell phone companies to shut down service across southern Afghanistan at night, angering a quarter million customers who have no other telephones. Even some Taliban fighters now regret the disruptions and are demanding that service be restored by the companies.
· Copper thieves strike cerebral-palsy facility. Copper thieves have hit the facility of United Cerebral Palsy of Central Arizona. "It's like stealing wheelchairs from an old-folks home," said Matt Patterson, 37, whose daughter Amanda attends day care at the facility.
· No one yelled 'fore'? Paul Prudhomme, the famous Cajun chef, was cooking Tuesday morning during a practice round at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans when he felt what he thought was a bee sting on his right arm. He shook his arm, and out came a .22 caliber bullet. "Within five minutes, he was back to doing his thing," said Col. John Fortunato of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
· L.A. Times apologizes for Diddy-Tupac story. The Los Angeles Times apologized for using documents that were apparently fabricated in a story implicating associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs in a 1994 assault on rapper Tupac Shakur. "The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used," Editor Russ Stanton said in a story posted Wednesday night on the newspaper's Web site. "We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents ... and in the story."
· Egg McMuffin Inventor Dies. A Southern California McDonald's restaurants official says Egg McMuffin inventor Herb Peterson has died in Santa Barbara at age 89. Peterson came up with idea for the signature McDonald's breakfast item in 1972.
· Robin Williams, wife divorcing after 19 years. After nearly 19 years of marriage, Robin Williams and his wife are getting divorced. Marsha Garces Williams filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on March 21 in San Francisco Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. The two met when Garces Williams worked as a nanny for Williams' son Zachary, whom he had with his previous wife, Valerie Valardi.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
· Court Strikes Down State Law Protecting Fliers. A federal appellate court on Tuesday rejected New York State’s attempt to penalize airlines for not providing adequate services to passengers trapped on planes at airports for more than three hours. Under the New York law, airlines could be fined up to $1,000 per passenger if they failed to supply water, fresh air, electric power and working restrooms during lengthy delays.
· Chicago's Dumbest Thief. Ruben Zarate entered a muffler shop in Chicago yesterday and declared a robbery. He allegedly waved a gun around and demanded money, according to police. When he was told the money was in a safe and that the manager who knew how to open it was not there, the suspect had a brilliant idea; at least he thought it was brilliant. He gave the shop employees his cell phone number and asked them to call him when the manager arrived so he could open the safe for him.
· American Airlines Cancels 200 Flights Today, Affecting 26,000 Passengers. American airlines says it is grounding all of its MD-80 jets for safety checks today, affecting 200 flights and more than 26,000 passengers. DEVELOPING
· Dad who microwaved baby to be sentenced. Jurors who rejected a young father's claim that he was insane when he burned his infant daughter in a microwave must now decide his punishment. Prosecutors are asking that Joshua Mauldin be sentenced to life in prison for stuffing his daughter Ana in a microwave and turning it on for 10 to 20 seconds.
· D.B. Cooper Evidence Unearthed. There could be a major break in the biggest crime mystery in Northwest history.The FBI in Seattle is beginning analysis of a long-buried parachute - the same type used by skyjacker D.B. Cooper when he jumped from an Northwest Orient Airlines 727 with a 25 pound money bag containing $200,000 ransom on Thanksgiving eve 1971.
· Pastor admits stealing IDs from flock. The former pastor of a Pennsylvania church acknowledges using parishioners' personal information to obtain credit cards. The Rev. Raymond Clayton pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Williamsport to a charge of access device fraud.
· Actor Richard Widmark dies at 93. - Hollywood actor Richard Widmark, who often portrayed killers, cops and Western gunslingers, has died after a long illness. Widmark's wife, Susan Blanchard, says he died at his home in Connecticut on Monday.
· Eastwood's termination: 'Somebody got a bee under their bonnet.' After Clint Eastwood learned last week that his friend Arnold Schwarzenegger no longer wanted him on the state parks commission, he spoke with Bobby Shriver, the governor's brother-in-law, who had also been dropped. Somewhat incredulous, they joked about it, each saying the other should be more offended.
· Man Finds Wife On Fire. A Phoenix man came home to a gruesome scene Monday: his wife on fire in the front yard. When the man arrived home shortly after 10 p.m., police said, he found his wife, Donna Owens, 67, sitting in a chair on the front lawn, engulfed in flames. Police said she had fallen asleep while smoking.
· Cigarette company paid for lung-cancer study. A prominent scientist accepted money from the tobacco industry through a hastily created non-profit group that helped finance research that suggested CT scans could boost the long-term survival rates of lung cancer patients, The New York Times reports.
· Smugglers' deadly cargo: Cop-killing guns. A deadly trade is occurring along the U.S. border with Mexico, federal officials say - a flood of guns, heading south, used by drug thugs to kill Mexican cops. One of the "guns of choice" is a .50-caliber rifle that can fire a slug through both a car door and bulletproof vest from 100 yards.
· Man Steals Car At Jail Minutes After Release. Frank Singleton turned a misdemeanor into a felony, without even leaving the jail parking lot. Just minutes from being released from jail Tuesday, Singleton tried to hijack a car in the parking lot of a West Palm Beach jail.
· Pilot suspended after firing gun in cockpit. A US Airways pilot who accidentally discharged his handgun in the cockpit during a flight has been suspended from the federal program that permits pilots to carry firearms and has been removed from flight duty pending the outcome of an investigation, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.
· Mob turncoat Lewis Kasman was just 'like a son' to John Gotti Sr. John Gotti must be spinning in his grave: The late Gambino crime boss' self-proclaimed "adopted son" is a rat. Lewis Kasman, a multimillionaire mob wanna-be, has been secretly taping conversations with gangsters since late 2005, federal prosecutors revealed Tuesday.
· Mom Charged After 3-Year-Old Found Wandering In Busy Street. Investigators said Shameka Parker, 28, told officers that she dropped her children off at a babysitter's house in Palm Bay Tuesday. However, police said the babysitter was not aware that she was supposed to take care of the children. A 7-year-old was also found wandering alone in Parker's home after the 3-year-old was found in the street, police said.
· Nude wife photos stir up Sarkozy UK visit. French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started his first official visit to the UK -- the day after an auction house announced it is to sell nude pictures of his new wife, according to agency reports.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
· Man Fatally Shoots Wife While Installing Satellite TV. Officials are trying to decide whether to file charges against a Missouri man who fatally shot his wife while trying to install a satellite TV system in their home. The man said he fired shots through the wall from the inside of their home after several unsuccessful efforts to punch a hole through the exterior wall.
· Chelsea Clinton Startled by Monica Query. Chelsea Clinton had a quick retort Tuesday when asked whether her mother's credibility had been hurt during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "Wow, you're the first person actually that's ever asked me that question in the, I don't know maybe, 70 college campuses I've now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business," Clinton said during a campaign visit for her mother, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
· Boy shot outside Oakland memorial service. A teenager attending a memorial service for 15-year-old Jose Luis Buenrostro-Gonzalez, who was shot to death March 19, was wounded Monday evening outside a San Antonio District church by a drive-by gunman.
· Brain-damaged woman at center of Wal-Mart suit. Debbie Shank breaks down in tears every time she's told her 18-year-old son was killed in Iraq. Shank, 52, suffered brain damage in a car accident nearly eight years ago. It was the beginning of a series of battles for her family - one of the biggest with Wal-Mart's health plan.
· U.S. says missile parts mistakenly sent to Taiwan. The U.S. Defense Department accidentally shipped ballistic missile components to Taiwan, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Four nose-cone fuses for intercontinental ballistic missiles were shipped instead of the helicopter batteries that Taiwan had requested.
· Good Samaritans Encounter Thief Twice. A Good Samaritan couple got not one, but two chances to stop a burglar who made off with a store's Good Friday profits. Authorities arrested a suspect for robbing a downtown Sacramento store after the couple ran into him again - at a bar.
· 93-Year-Old Charged In Sex Sting. Florida prosecutors are moving ahead with a case against a 93-year-old man picked up during an undercover prostitution sting. Frank Milio, according to police records, tried to pay $20 to an undercover officer in Manatee County. Another man, Carlos Uderhill, also 93, will not be charged, telling police he just wanted to chat with the buxom woman who smiled at him as he drove past.
· Model loves her 63-year-old billionaire boyfriend for his brain. Model Kristy Hinze says she was instantly attracted to her 63-year-old billionaire boyfriend by his brains. The 27-year-old granddaughter of the late Queensland politician Russ Hinze has been dating Texan billionaire Jim Clark, the founder of Netscape, for two-and-a-half years.
· Minister Accused Of Wanting To 'Play Doctor,' Have Sex With 15-Year-Old. A Winter Park minister is accused of wanting to "play doctor" and have sex with what he thought was a 15-year-old girl. Investigators said music minister Jack Aldrich from First United Methodist Church in Winter Park made contact with an undercover officer posing as an underage girl.
· At Least 2 Injured When Car Plows Into Post Office. A car Monday crashed into a post office in Burbank, leaving at least two people injured, according to the Burbank Police Department and Derek Bell. The incident occurred about noon when an elderly driver crashed into the building.
· CBS News Finally Exposes Hillary Clinton Bosnia Trip. CBS news finally exposes the real story of Hillary Clinton's 1996 trip to Bosnia. [video]
· Security Lapse Exposes Facebook Photos. A security lapse made it possible for unwelcome strangers to peruse personal photos posted on Facebook Inc.'s popular online hangout, circumventing a recent upgrade to the Web site's privacy controls.
· Man declared dead feels 'pretty good.' Four months after he was declared brain dead and doctors were about to remove his organs for transplant, Zach Dunlap says he feels "pretty good." Dunlap was pronounced dead Nov. 19 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas, after he was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident.
· Virginia Tech victims' families offered settlement. Families of those killed in the Virginia Tech massacre would receive $100,000 each under a settlement the state is proposing to prevent lawsuits, according to a victim's relative who received the proposal.
· NY Gov. Paterson says he used cocaine. New York's new governor, who disclosed last week that he and his wife both committed adultery several years ago, said he used cocaine in his 20s and smoked marijuana when he was younger.
Monday, March 24, 2008
· Priscilla Presley Victim of Phony Cosmetic Doc. TMZ has learned Priscilla Presley is the victim of a botched cosmetic procedure. What's worse - it was at the hands of a gigolo who was sent to prison for perpetrating an injectable scam on Hollywood's elite. Daniel Serrano was injecting industrial, low-grade silicone similar to what's used to lubricate auto parts in Argentina into the faces of these women. Several women, including Shawn King, Larry's wife, and Diane Richie, Lionel's wife at the time, held injection parties in their homes, according to TMZ.
· Pilot's Gun Goes Off On Flight From Denver. Federal authorities are investigating how a pilot's gun accidentally discharged in the cockpit on a US Airways flight from Denver to Charlotte.
· Clinton 'misspoke' on Bosnia trip. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said she "misspoke" last week when she said she had landed under sniper fire during a trip she took as first lady to Bosnia in March 1996. The Obama campaign suggested it was a deliberate exaggeration on Clinton's part.
· Hulk Hogan Sued Over Son's Car Crash. Hulk Hogan is being sued by attorneys for the man who was critically injured in a car crash involving the celebrity wrestler's son. John Graziano's attorneys filed suit on Monday in Clearwater against Hogan. The suit says he and his estranged wife, Linda, are liable as the parents of 17-year-old Nick Bollea.
· Waitress accused of inflating tip amounts. A Park City waitress is accused of helping herself to more than $1,000 from her customers. Prosecutors say she did it $10 to $20 at a time.
· 'Barbie Bandit' Ashley Miller To Prison; No Jail For Johnston. Only one of the so-called "Barbie Bandits" will be going to prison. Ashley Nicole Miller, 19, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for her role in the bank heist that ended in a shopping spree. Miller will only have to serve two years.
· Oregon man's property ransacked after Craigslist hoax. A pair of hoax ads on Craigslist cost an Oregon man much of what he owned. The ads popped up Saturday afternoon, saying the owner of a Jacksonville home was forced to leave the area suddenly and his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan.
· Mom, 4 kids found dead in Iowa home. A woman and her four children were found dead in their home Monday morning, and authorities were searching for the woman's husband, authorities said. Officers said they were not able to find the woman's husband, Steven Sueppel. Court records show that a Steven Sueppel who lives at the address where the bodies were found was indicted last month on federal charges of stealing about $560,000 from the bank where he worked.
· Detroit Mayor Charged In Sex Affair. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and as Detroit's youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages surfaced that appear to contradict his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also charged the popular yet polarizing 37-year-old mayor with obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.
· Businessman Falls To Death At Daytona Hotel. A 31-year-old businessman sitting on the railing on his balcony died when he apparently lost balance and fell six stories to the ground. Police said John Sise was spotted by a security guard sitting on a railing at the La Playa resort located on Atlantic Avenue Sunday.
· Chicago Police Arrest Six Iraq War Protesters for Squirting Fake Blood on Easter Churchgoers. Six Iraq war protesters disrupted an Easter Mass on Sunday, shouting and squirting fake blood on themselves and parishioners in a packed auditorium. Three men and three women startled the crowd during Cardinal Francis George's homily, yelling "Even the Pope calls for peace" as they were removed from the Mass by security guards and ushers.
· Wausau-area cops bust underage root beer keg party. The Zebro home in Kronenwetter, Wisconsin showed all the signs of an underage drinking party March 1: cars blocking the road, dozens of rowdy kids and a keg. And yet, every partyer's breath test revealed an alcohol-free gathering. Dustin Zebro, 18, and his friends said they threw the party after D.C. Everest High School administrators suspended their friends from sports.
· JPMorgan could up Bear Stearns offer to $10 a share. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was discussing a deal that would increase fivefold its offer for Bear Stearns Cos. to $10 a share, The New York Times reported Monday. The talks Sunday were an attempt to satisfy Bear Stearns stockholders upset over JPMorgan's offer of $2 a share for the struggling investment bank, the newspaper said on its Web site, citing people involved in the negotiations.
· Journalist in Pellicano Case Will Get Her Day in Court. The long series of events leading to the trial of the Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano on charges of racketeering and wiretapping began in 2002, when a journalist, Anita M. Busch, found a note saying “Stop” taped to her car, a fish and a rose in a tin tray on the hood, a bulletlike hole piercing the windshield.
· 1986 message in bottle drifts 1,735 miles. Merle Brandell and his black lab Slapsey were beachcombing along the Bering Sea when he spied a plastic bottle among the Japanese glass floats he often finds along the shore of his tiny Alaskan fishing village. He walked over and saw an envelope tucked inside. After slicing the bottle open, Brandell found a message from an elementary school student in a suburb of Seattle.
· Where to stash your cash. The credit crisis teaches a valuable lesson: Put safety first - and save your money so you'll be ready to get in on a stock market rebound. Keeping money in "cash" generally means putting it where it is guaranteed not to lose value and can be accessed quickly, with no fees or taxes. As some investors have learned the hard way, not all investments touted as "cash-like" meet those requirements.
· BMW dealer auctions new M3 for $60K on eBay, doesn't want to honor the deal. BMW of Lincoln, Nebraska posted an auction on eBay for a brand new M3 Sedan for $60,000. Perhaps they were hoping for the kind of eBay madness that would push the price to six figures (something other dealers are doing right on the show floor). If that's what they were after, well, they didn't get it. The car was won by a gentleman in California for the listed price: $60,000. The problem is that the dealer doesn't want to give him the car. Not long after the auction ended, the winning bidder got a call from BMW of Nebraska telling him the auction was "a mistake," and that he couldn't have the car.
· Wall St. Journal Makeover. The Wall Street Journal’s transition to more breaking news and shorter articles will continue in the coming weeks with a makeover of its Marketplace section, editors and reporters there said. The Journal’s front page has changed markedly since Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation bought the paper’s parent, Dow Jones & Company, in December. The front page has reduced its focus on business news and long explanatory, investigative or offbeat articles. Mr. Murdoch has said that he wants to broaden The Journal’s appeal with more general-interest news. Now, the front page has shorter articles and more breaking and nonbusiness news, and particularly favors politics. The paper has set aside pages for world news and added a sports page.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
· Mom Stabs Son In Psychiatrist's Office. A Florida woman repeatedly slashed and stabbed her 15-year-old son during a supervised visit at a psychiatrist's office, police said. The teen is in critical condition.
· New Jersey judge charged with misconduct. Former Municipal Court judge Richard Sasso has been charged with seven counts of judicial misconduct, including being under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol while on the bench and disorderly conduct at Torpedo's Go-Go Bar in Bound Brook.
· Harry Potter author: I considered suicide. Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has revealed she thought of killing herself while penniless and suffering from depression as a single mother. At the time, Rowling had separated from her first husband and was living in a cramped apartment with her baby daughter.
· Man charged after gun in oven goes off. Chicago police say two children were injured when a loaded handgun hidden inside an oven discharged when the stove was heated for cooking.
· Miami man told FBI of alleged Spitzer sexscapades. Almost four months before Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sex scandal, a lawyer for Republican political operative Roger Stone sent a letter to the FBI alleging that Spitzer "used the services of high-priced call girls" while in Florida, adding the man in question hadn't taken off his calf-length black socks "during the sex act."
· Oprah Winfrey Faces Double Lawsuit. Attorneys for the queen of daytime are fending off two separate lawsuits this week, one filed by an audience member at The Oprah Winfrey Show who claims she was injured when the excitable audience stampeded for choice seats during a taping, and another from a Boston mother who claims she fed Harpo Studios the idea for Winfrey's ratings-grabbing stab at televised altruism, Oprah's Big Give, and has yet to receive credit or compensation.
· 2 held in millionaire developer's death. A chauffeur and his cousin are being charged in the 2006 stabbing death of a millionaire developer accused of real estate fraud, police said Saturday. Andrew Kissel, 46, was found tied up and stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion just days before he was to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar fraud case.
· Woman Tried To Run Over Husband 20 Times. A Port St. Lucie, Florida woman is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse after authorities say she tried to run over her husband in the family minivan, as her baby sat in the back seat.
· Ex-'70s radical free for 5 days on clerical error. A former member of the radical 1970s group Symbionese Liberation Army is back in custody after a clerical error miscalculated her prison release date by a year, a California Department of Corrections spokesman said. Sara Jane Olson, freed Monday, was apprehended Saturday "without incident," authorities said.
· Deputy Shot Self While Shooting Man. A Polk County Sheriff's deputy accidentally shot himself in the leg while shooting at a knife-wielding man who was attacking him.
· After 38 years, man's stolen Mustang is back. A Los Angeles man is getting his Mustang back — 38 years after it was stolen. The vehicle has an extra 300,000 miles and a different paint job, but Eugene Brakke's 1965 Mustang is evidently running just fine.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
· High-speed chase of doughnut truck ends in arrest. An Illinois man was arrested after police chased a stolen delivery van loaded with doughnuts across two Iowa counties at speeds of up to 100 mph. In all, nine officers joined the chase into Tama County. “What strikes me as a bit out of the ordinary in this case is the number of officers who were able to respond,” said Assistant Tama County Attorney Rich Vander May.
· Driver Blames Speeding On Poorly Dunked Oreo. A state trooper who stopped the 1993 BMW says its driver, 28-year-old Justin Vonkummer of Millerton, N.Y., blamed the driving problems on an errant Oreo. Police say Vonkummer told the trooper that an Oreo had just slipped from his fingers as he dunked it in a cup of milk, and that he was trying to fish it out when he lost control of his car.
· Police: Mom Let Man Get Daughter Pregnant. Police arrested a Larenceville, Georgia mother earlier this week on charges she harbored a man who impregnated her 14-year-old daughter. According to arrest warrants, both suspects are Mexicans in the country illegally.
· Passport contractor exec is Obama adviser. The CEO of a company whose employee is accused of improperly looking at the passport files of presidential candidates is a former CIA official and a consultant on foreign policy to the Barack Obama campaign.
· Man steals police cruiser to drive home from bar. Police say Josh Osborne, 21 of Nitro, W. Virginia initially took a bus to downtown Charleston where he drank at a bar. When he was ready to go home, officers say he stole the Charleston Police cruiser from the parking garage near the Civic Center - and drove it around with the lights and siren on. Osborne told police that the keys were in the cruiser, and the temptation to take it was too hard to resist.
· Registered sex offender runs for mayor of small Texas town. A registered sex offender arrested in a police sting for trying to arrange sex with a 15-year-old girl on the Internet is running for mayor of his small town. James Brian Sliter, 42, said he's sorry and needs to prove he can be an asset to his suburban Dallas community.
· Bicyclists blamed twice as often as drivers. Bicyclists were twice as likely as drivers to be at fault in the nearly 2,000 collisions that killed or severely injured Bay Area bike riders in the past decade, an analysis by The Chronicle shows.
· White House: Computer hard drives tossed. Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.
· School must remove $50K fence at park. A private school will have to dismantle a $50,000 fence it installed without permission at a Peoria, Arizona park. Some neighborhood residents saw the fence as exclusionary.
· Man sentenced to 8 years for trying to lure girl for sex. A man whose conviction in a child enticement case was thrown out but then reinstated was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison and four years of extended supervision. Sheboygan County Circuit Judge Timothy Van Akkeren sentenced Mitchell D. Pask, 44, who was found guilty by a jury in September of trying to lure a 9-year-old girl into a Sheboygan park shelter for sex.
· Salt Lake Interior Designer Killed By Falling Statue In His Home. Authorities on Friday said that an interior designer, who was found dead at his Millcreek area home, was accidentally crushed by a ceramic statue.
Friday, March 21, 2008
· Spitzer seeks sex addiction therapy. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has gone into therapy in the wake of the hooker scandal that swept him out of office, a Spitzer insider told The Post yesterday.
· Turkey Hunter Mistakenly Shoots, Kills Camouflaged Man In Tree. A camouflaged hunter sitting in a tree was accidentally shot and killed Friday by another hunter trying to shoot a turkey, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
· Naming of Lunatic Asylum Insults Advocates. It's an intriguing and provocative name that translates to Web hits, phone calls and tour tickets: The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. Many say words like "lunatic" and "retarded" have gone the way of "colored" and "Negro" and should never be resurrected.
· Arkansas Judge Apologizes For Forgotten Inmate. Judge Jerry Hunton said Thursday he regretted the story of Adriana Torres-Flores' four days in a holding cell made national news. It was a "horrible incident" that occurred in Washington County, he said. Torres-Flores, 38, was forgotten in a small cell March 6 for four days without food, water or access to a toilet after attending court and having her bond revoked by Judge William Storey. She pleaded not guilty that day in court on charges related to DVD piracy.
· Gov. Paterson's old flame Lila Kirton never saw affair admission coming. A week ago gubernatorial gal pal Lila Kirton was so confident of her rising stock in state government, she was busily deciding who would sit where in the offices of soon-to-be Gov. Paterson. Paterson's disclosures less than 24 hours after his swearing-in of marital infidelity stunned Kirton and quickly outed her as the governor's former lover. Friends say the 49-year-old married attorney never got a heads-up.
· Starbucks ordered to pay $100M in tips. A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors. San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities. Starbucks spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said the company planned an immediate appeal of the ruling, calling it "fundamentally unfair."