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Friday, November 23, 2007
· Shamed Marion Jones' Olympic glory erased. All of Marion Jones' results dating to September 2000, including her Olympic and world championship titles, were annulled Friday because of doping. Track and field's governing body also told her to return her estimated $700,000 in prize money from that period. 
· Bullet Meant For Dog Kills Owner. Police said a southeastern Indiana woman chasing her dog was fatally shot by a neighbor after the dog ran through the neighbor's property. Nicole Stroud, 29, of Wadesville was pronounced dead Thursday at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville.
· Study: Democrats party of rich. Democrats like to define themselves as the party of poor and middle-income Americans, but a new study says they now represent the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional districts. A key measure of each district's wealth was the number of single-filer taxpayers earning more than $100,000 a year and married couples filing jointly who earn more than $200,000 annually.
· Sex offender mayor barred from City Hall. The mayor of small Texas town pleaded guilty to indecent conduct toward two girls and is barred from going to City Hall because it is near a youth center. But he still doesn't plan to resign. Mayor Lino Donato entered the pleas October 31 to three counts of indecency, cutting short a trial on accusations that he exposed himself to two girls between 1996 and 2000 and improperly touched one of them.
· Drunk Driving Prosecutor Arrested On DUI Charge. A Shasta County deputy district attorney who specializes in prosecuting drunken driving cases now faces DUI charges herself. A California Highway Patrol pulled over Patricia Jean Haley, 28, early Saturday for a routine traffic violation and gave her a breath test that showed a blood alcohol level of 0.10. The legal limit for driving in California is 0.08.
· $100K Violin Reported Stolen From Unlocked Car. For Nicolas Orbovich, losing his violin was like losing a member of the family. A concert violinist, Orbovich said he left his instrument, made in 1892 and worth $100,000, in its case and on the backseat of his car Saturday in a parking lot in this northwestern Indiana city. He left the doors unlocked.
· Skydiver Dies Practicing for Record Jump. 100 skydivers linked together after opening their parachutes during a jump, apparently setting a record for their type of formation, but another skydiver died after being injured in an earlier practice run.
· Woman Accused Of Dealing Drugs From Hospital Bed. Police said a woman who checked herself into a hospital earlier this month was dealing drugs from her bed. Quincy police confiscated seven small bags of heroin, a scale used to weigh the drug, marijuana, and $344 from the room of 39-year-old Jonna Marks at Quincy Medical Center.
· 15-year-old girl jailed with 20 men. A 15-year-old girl was put in a Brazilian jail cell with more than 20 men, and for a month was raped relentlessly and forced to have sex for food, human rights groups say. "She was raped from day one'' at the jail in Para state, a Children and Adolescent Defence Centre (Cedeca) spokeswoman said. The number of men in the cell varied from 20 to 34 while the girl, a robbery suspect, was there.
· Worker Crushed in Arizona When 747 Landing Gear Collapses. A man working on a Boeing 747 at an airstrip near Marana was critically hurt when the landing gear collapsed and he was trapped under the plane, authorities said.
· Boy With Toy Gun Robs Man. A boy with a toy gun and a man robbed another man in front of his apartment on Monday, according to officials. The boy, described as about 14 years old, was holding what the victim believed was a real gun and the duo took the man's wallet and cell phone, deputies said.
· Sony Ordered to Pay $5M in Logo Dispute. Sony Music must pay the founder of a small record company $5 million for failing to put his company's logo on reissues of Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell" album, a federal appeals court ruled.
· Football Team Gives Up 15 Yards For Dance. An Oregon football team starts almost every game with a 15-yard penalty, and the home fans in Portland love it. The referees drop the flag because the Jefferson High School team performs a dance known as a haka before each game.
· Family of girl hurt in pool sues club, drain-cover manufacturer. The family of a 6-year-old Edina girl injured in a freak wading pool accident filed suit Thursday against the pool manufacturer and the Minneapolis Golf Club. The suit blamed both the club, located in St. Louis Park, and Sta-Rite Industries, a pool equipment manufacturer owned by a Golden Valley company, for the accident, in which 21 feet of Abigail Taylor's small intestine were sucked out when she landed on an uncovered suction outlet in the kiddie pool in June.
· Mauling by pit bull critically injures boy, 1. A 1-year-old boy suffered severe injuries today when a pit bull mauled him in a Wichita apartment, police said. Doctors at Wesley Medical Center said the boy was in critical by stable condition and that although the injuries were serious, they were not life-threatening, said police Sgt. Bruce Watts. Doctors said the boy lost about 30 percent of his scalp in the attack.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
· 3 charged with causing Natalee Holloway's death. Authorities have re-arrested three men in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama teenager in Aruba in 2005, based on new evidence in the case, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Bothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were arrested in Aruba at the same time authorities in the Netherlands picked up Joran Van der Sloot at the request of the Aruban government.
· Dennis Quaid twins recovering from medical overdose. The two-week-old twins of actor Dennis Quaid were recovering in a Los Angeles hospital on Wednesday after mistakenly being given a massive overdose of a blood thinning drug. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, one of the United States' leading hospitals, apologized on Wednesday for what it called the "preventable error" that led to the twins and another unidentified child being given 10,000 units of the anti-coagulant Heparin, instead of the normal 10 units given to babies.
· King on walkoff: 'I have seen it all now.' It was a moment tailor-made for live television: The plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West's mother agrees to talk to Larry King but then walks off the set almost as soon as the interview starts. The bizarre turn of events had even CNN's King scratching his head. In his 50-plus years in broadcasting, King has never had a guest agree to appear but then disappear while still on the air. "It was as crazy a night as you can imagine," King said Wednesday from New York. "I have seen it all now."
· Wanted: tall, thin women to present Olympic medals. Beijing is seeking women presenters for medals ceremonies at the 2008 Olympics - but only those who are tall and thin need apply. Hundreds of young women will be recruited as volunteers to present medals and raise flags at ceremonies for the Games.
· License Suspended for Hogan's Son. The driver's license of wrestler Hulk Hogan's son has been suspended because of a street racing crash that left a passenger friend critically injured, state officials said Wednesday. Nick Bollea, 17, was arrested Nov. 7 on reckless-driving charges stemming from the August crash. Earlier in November, his license was suspended for six months for allegedly having a blood alcohol level of 0.055 percent as a minor at the time of the accident.
· Sheriff: Ban new deputies from smoking. The Volusia sheriff has a new idea on how to keep deputies fit: Ban them from smoking. Sheriff Ben Johnson proposed barring new hires from lighting up while on the job or at home. Johnson said it's important for his deputies to be in good shape for their physically demanding jobs. He is also proposing routine physical fitness tests.
· Convicted Lawyer Wants to Teach Morality. A lawyer known for his high-profile cases against the police and President Bush asked a judge on Wednesday to spare him jail time for federal tax evasion and fraud conviction. Prosecutors said Stephen Yagman, 63, should serve a minimum of nine years in prison. Yagman's lawyer argued the punishment would be too harsh, calling it ``vindictive prosecution."
· Congressman Accuses Police Of Racial Profiling. U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-7th District) said Wednesday he was the victim of racial profiling. CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, the congressman insists the only reason he was pulled over by Chicago police is because he is black.
· Designer to the stars faces rape charges in NY. An award-winning fashion designer to the stars who is accused of sexually assaulting 18 young models in California has been charged with assaulting nine more women in New York, prosecutors said on Wednesday. A Manhattan grand jury indicted Anand Jon Alexander, 33, with sodomy, rape and other charges involving young women and girls as young as 14 between 2002 and 2006, prosecutors said.
· McCartney's Estranged Wife Berates Rich. Heather Mills McCartney, who is reportedly seeking millions of dollars in her breakup with Paul McCartney, denounced the world's rich as misers and snobs Wednesday.
· Swiss Army Knife Sets Record for Tools. A Swiss Army knife that weighs nearly three pounds has been inducted into the 2008 edition of Guinness World Records for "most functions on a penknife." At the time, the knife had 85 tools; the latest version has 87 tools and at least 115 uses.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
· Update: San Francisco to give illegal aliens ID cards. San Francisco will give resident identification cards to illegal immigrants under a plan approved on Tuesday amid a fierce nationwide debate on granting privileges to undocumented aliens. In a 10-1 vote, the city's board of supervisors approved giving identification cards to all residents, including illegal immigrants.
· Man Kills Suspects While On Phone With 911. The 911 call came from a Pasadena, Tex., resident, who alerted police to two burglary suspects on a neighbor's property. Before he hung up, two men were dead. Joe Horn, 61, told the dispatcher what he intended to do: Walk out his front door with a shotgun.
· Sober California drivers to get turkeys. Sober drivers passing through a DUI checkpoint in Salinas will be getting the bird. Up to 300 turkeys will be given to drivers who successfully pass through the sobriety checkpoint Tuesday. The location for the DUI checkpoint isn't being disclosed.
· 81-year-old woman charged with punching police officer. An 81-year-old Greensboro woman was arrested Tuesday night after allegedly punching a police officer in the face. Greensboro police were investigating an assault at 2700 Buchanan Road about 7 p.m. when Mildred Richardson Morris, of the same address, allegedly assaulted officer Sheila A. Lennox-Spaulding by punching her twice in the face, according to arrest warrants.
· Donda West's plastic surgeon walks off 'Larry King Live.' The plastic surgeon who operated on hip-hop star Kanye West's mother the day before she died abruptly walked off the set of CNN's "Larry King Live" Tuesday, saying he was honoring a request from her family.
· Police smelled trouble with teenagers. Two teens who went to the Leicester police station to apply for door-to-door sales permits were arrested after officers say they smelled burned marijuana on them. Police detected the smell on Garrett St. Cyr after he came into the station last Friday. The officers went outside to talk with his companion, Joshua Kephart, after a computer check and a surveillance video showed he'd driven St. Cyr on a suspended license. Police said Kephart also smelled of marijuana and had several cans of beer in the car.
· Mother jailed for letting daughter play truant because she had 'a bad hair day.' A mother who let her teenage daughter skip school if she was having a 'bad hair day' was jailed. Dawn Joyce, 40, also allowed 14-year- old Carrie-Ann to stay at home if she needed to tidy her bedroom, had cat hair on her trousers, was too tired - or had dyed her hair and did not like the color.
· Nude Man Accused of Causing I-95 Crashes. Delaware State Police have arrested a Chester, Pennsylvania, man who they said was running naked and drunk on Interstate-95 and caused three accidents.
· Ex-Alabama football star involved in fatal wreck. A van driven by former University of Alabama football star Siran Stacy was struck by a pickup at an intersection and six people were killed, including Stacy's wife and four of his children, state troopers said Tuesday.
· Robbed pilots saved from a swampy fate. Having stolen $2 million, the thieves handcuffed the Australian pilots to a mangrove in a Papua New Guinea swamp as the tide rose, and covered their faces with mud. "That was so their white skin could not be seen from the air," Senior Inspector Reuben Giusu told the Herald yesterday. Two armed security guards hijacked their light aircraft in mid-flight to steal money being delivered to an isolated bank branch.
· Polygamist 'prophet' to serve at least 10 years in prison. A Utah judge Tuesday sentenced polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs to two consecutive prison terms of five years to life for his conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, a court spokeswoman said.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
· Sex scandal hits Atlanta-area megachurch. The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her. Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.
· CBS News Writers Authorize Negotiators to Call Strike. CBS news writers voted to give their union negotiators authority to call a strike, threatening news broadcasts at a network already struggling with a walkout by entertainment writers. A strike by news writers puts additional pressure on New York-based CBS, whose ``Evening News with Katie Couric'' lags behind ABC and NBC in ratings.
· Update: Child-on-child rape case stuns small Georgia town. They could barely see over the courtroom table, and their legs were too short to reach the floor: An 8-year-old and two 9-year-old boys, accused of raping an 11-year-old neighbor.
· 'Mr. Whipple' Dies. Dick Wilson, the actor and pitchman who played the uptight grocer begging customers "Please, don't squeeze the Charmin," died Monday. He was 91.
· Stem Cell Breakthrough Uses No Embryos. Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.
· New York DMV Bans 'GETOSAMA' License Plates. Retired New York City police officer Arno Herwerth, a 21- year veteran of the NYPD, wanted to add vanity license plates reading "GETOSAMA" to the 1993 Ford Aerostar he had already hand-painted red, white and blue. But New York's DMV red-lighted the anti-Usama bin Laden plates, banning them under an agency regulation that prohibits anything "derogatory to a particular ethnic or other group."
· Concrete billboard stirs controversy. A business owner is standing his ground, and the women in his family are standing with him, after a YWCA of Niagara official charged his company’s advertising is gender insensitive. On a billboard over the image of a wrapped gift, the solicitous catchline, “Wife need new shoes?” is accompanied by the American Concrete logo.
· Brothers behind bars. The brother of a man recently charged with a 24-year-old San Jose killing was arrested after a DNA sample he provided to tie his brother to the crime linked him to the rape of an 81-year-old woman, authorities said today. David Leonard Holland, 46, was arrested Friday in Salinas for the 2001 rape after his DNA sample matched evidence from the attack, authorities said. "We have to assume he didn't expect this to happen," said David Tomkins, assistant deputy district attorney.
· Bogus lawyer bilks clients out of thousands. A man who never finished college passed himself off as a Harvard Law School graduate and bilked clients out of more than $50,000, Broward County authorities said Monday. Robert Brady, 26, was charged with six counts of unlicensed practice of law and organized fraud, according to the sheriff's office.
· Heather Mills: 'Why don't we drink rats' milk?' During another typically bizarre day for Heather Mills, the former model yesterday urged people to try drinking milk from rats and dogs to help save the planet.
· War Of The Roses. A late-night flower bed raid has prompted Bill Nye the Science Guy to obtain a temporary restraining order against a California woman whom the television personality appeared to have married last year. Nye, 51, last week secured the TRO against Blair Tindall, who admits that she poured weed killer in the garden of the Los Angeles home she once shared with Nye.
· Huge yawn locks jaw, chokes man. A British man was rushed to the hospital after his monster yawn locked his jaw, blocking his ability to breathe or swallow. Ben Shire, 34, was making a cup of tea to keep awake when he yawned, dislocating his jaw. He fell to the floor, unable to breathe or swallow.
· Protesting Gas Station Owner Dies On Hunger Strike. The longtime owner of a gas station in the town of Marina in Monterey County lost his battle with Shell Oil when he passed away last week after going on a hunger strike to protest the oil giant.
· Rogue cell phone has 911 on redial. A rogue cell phone is not accepting calls, but it sure likes to dial 911 operators in eastern Iowa. Operators at the Black Hawk County Consolidated Communications Center said that they received about 400 calls from the same cell phone last week and that no one seems to be on the other line.
· Donny Osmond apologizes to Larry King. Donny Osmond has apologized to Larry King for criticizing the CNN talk-show host after he revealed that Marie Osmond's 16-year-old son had entered rehab. "I was very upset about it," the 49-year-old singer said in an interview that aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "I thought it was very unfair for Larry King to throw that question at Marie the way he did."
Monday, November 19, 2007
· Vick surrenders early to begin dogfighting sentence. Michael Vick turned himself in to authorities on Monday to get a head start on serving his sentence for running a dogfighting ring, the U.S. Marshals Service said. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10 on a federal conspiracy charge of bankrolling the dogfighting operation.
· Mike Tyson gets day in jail for cocaine, DUI. Mike Tyson was sentenced Monday to 24 hours in jail and three years' probation for drug possession and driving under the influence. The former heavyweight champion had pleaded guilty to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI count.
· Cop accused of letting stumbling drunk behind wheel to later arrest for DUI. A judge in Gillette has suppressed evidence in a drunken driving prosecution after ruling that the arresting police officer endangered the public by waiting for a man who was reportedly stumbling to get into his car and drive off before stopping him. The man's lawyer charged that officer Chad Trebby waited for the more severe offense in order to pump up drunken driving arrest numbers.
· Boys, 8 and 9, charged with raping girl. Police say they've arrested three young boys on charges they kidnapped and raped an 11-year-old girl in the woods near an Acworth, GA apartment.
· Fake speed signs garner speeders real tickets. After speeders on Townfield Drive ran over two of Granville Hogg's lambs, he asked for the speed limit to be lowered from 55 miles per hour, to 35. When VDOT declined the request, he bought some very realistic speed limit signs and posted them along the road. The signs were so professional looking that state troopers starting writing tickets because of them.
· Smith Judge No Longer Facing Pot Charge. A retired judge who briefly heard arguments in cases involving the death of Anna Nicole Smith no longer faces a misdemeanor marijuana charge. Prosecutors dropped the charge against retired Broward Circuit Judge Lawrence Korda on Thursday after he passed six months of random drug tests.
· Nancy Pelosi tries to force the Salvation Army to hire people who can't speak English. It's been less than a week since New York's Sen. Hillary Clinton and Gov. Eliot Spitzer had to climb down from their support of driver's licenses for illegal aliens. Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has moved to kill an amendment that would protect employers from federal lawsuits for requiring their workers to speak English. Among the employers targeted by such lawsuits: the Salvation Army.
· Woman who falsely cried rape EIGHT times is spared jail. A woman who has cried rape eight times has been spared a jail sentence. Gemma Gregory, 28, claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by seven different men over a six-year period.
· Detroit 'most dangerous city.' In another blow to the Motor City's tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.
· Orlando prep school sues mother for criticizing it on blog. Unhappy with her daughter's private school, Sonjia McSween created a blog to warn other parents. The unexpected result: The New School of Orlando Inc. slapped McSween with a defamation lawsuit to stop her from publishing and talking about the school and force McSween to pay damages.
· Sheriff launches pro-Christmas decoration plan. To heck with white lights and an all-inclusive "holiday" celebration as touted by a Fort Collins citizens group, the Larimer County sheriff said this week. Sheriff Jim Alderden believes such a secular event runs counter to what most people in America and Larimer County hold to be true - Christ and Christmas. So Alderden is putting up his own Christmas - "not a holiday" - tree outside the county sheriff's administration building and is asking people to decorate it Dec. 1.
· Religious Order Reaches $50 Million Sex-Abuse Settlement With Alaska Natives. A Roman Catholic religious order has agreed to pay $50 million to more than 100 Alaska Natives who allege sexual abuse by Jesuit priests, a lawyer for the accusers said Sunday. The settlement with the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus is the largest one yet against a Catholic religious order, said lawyer Ken Roosa, who called it "a great day" for the 110 victims.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
· Attorney says Bonds 'set up.' His attorney claims Barry Bonds was set up by a "perjury trap" by federal prosecutors. Michael Rains told the San Jose Mercury News baseball's home run king did not lie to a federal grand jury probing the BALCO steroid ring.
· Judge threatens jail time for parents of unvaccinated children. Scores of grumbling parents facing a threat of jail lined up at a courthouse Saturday to either prove that their school-age kids already had their required vaccinations or see that the youngsters submitted to the needle. The get-tough policy in the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County was one of the strongest efforts made by any U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their required immunizations.
· Saudi Rape Victim Gets 200 Lashes. A Saudi court sentenced a woman who had been gang raped to six months in jail and 200 lashes - more than doubling her initial penalty for being in the car of a man who was not a relative, a newspaper reported Thursday.
· Jurors reject claim of discrimination. Federal jurors determined that the city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin did not discriminate against a disabled softball umpire when it reduced the number of games she worked and eventually did not rehire her. Jurors heard witnesses testify that in 2003 Joan Schmitz made confusing calls during games, misunderstood a rule regarding the number of men who could compete on a co-ed team and took off her uniform pants at home plate during a game.
· Cheerleaders Fight Suspension After Risque Routine. Six cheerleaders are fighting suspensions after they flashed football fans a message on their underpants.
· Volunteer in California fires has arson rap. A volunteer firefighter who helped battle one of last month's wildfires in San Diego County pleaded guilty years ago to setting several destructive wildfires. Steven Santos Robles Jr. has been returned to prison because he violated parole by failing to tell his parole officer he had joined the Ranchita Volunteer Fire Department.
· Burglary suspect shoots self in arm. A burglary suspect in Port Jefferson, N.Y., was arrested at a hospital emergency room after he accidentally shot himself in the arm. Investigators said Steven Holmes of Rocky Point on Long Island was one of three intruders who entered a home in Port Jefferson Friday.
· Katrina-ravaged cars being sold in Bolivia. Tens of thousands of cars were damaged or destroyed by Katrina, which submerged much of New Orleans in a corrosive broth of saltwater and mud. U.S. officials warned Americans to beware of buying the drowned cars. But many “Autos Katrina” were shipped overseas, often sold through Internet salvage auctions now globalizing the auto recycling industry.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
· Woman wants church as part of her divorce. The estranged wife of a pastor claims her husband blended his professional and personal finances so thoroughly that his church should be counted as an asset in their divorce. A judge agreed in a decision published this week to hear arguments on the claim, and he ordered a financial appraisal of the church.
· Mom: Web hoax led girl to kill herself. Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her. Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel. The next day Megan committed suicide.
· 36 million drivers would flunk drivers tests. If a test administered by GMAC Insurance is any indication, one in six people cruising our highways and byways - roughly 36 million licensed drivers - would flunk their driver's test if they had to take it today. And based on the 2007 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test data the state with the most road-going dummies is New York, while the most knowledgeable ones are out West to Idaho.
· Death of Ex-Cop's Wife Called a Homicide. A nationally known pathologist has examined the remains of a former police officer Drew Peterson's third wife at her family's request and determined her death was a homicide, according to a published report. Former New York City chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden examined Kathleen Savio's remains on Friday and determined that she died after a struggle and her body was then placed in the bathtub where she was later found, Savio's family said.
· Woman stabs pit bull that attacked her cat. Authorities said a woman stabbed a pit bull that got into her house and attacked her cat. The Otter Tail County sheriff's office said the woman's daughter and a friend were walking into the house on Wednesday evening when the neighborhood dog made it past them and got into the home.
· FAA reassures travelers after near-miss. Air traffic control errors like the one that almost caused two airliners to collide near Chicago this week remain extremely rare and staffing levels are adequate despite controllers' complaints of fatigue and overwork, a federal aviation official said Friday.
· Costume Flap Imperils Immigration Post. Just when it appeared Julie Myers had cleared every hurdle in her quest to officially become the nation's top immigration official, a dreadlocked wig and a prisoner's outfit could cost her the job. Myers, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ran into trouble earlier this month after she and two other agency managers gave the "most original" costume award to a white employee who came to the agency's Halloween party dressed as an escaped prisoner with dreadlocks and darkened skin.
· Spears driving incident entered as evidence. The video of Britney Spears apparently running a red light with her children in the car was submitted into court Friday, a week after anyone with an Internet connection could judge it for themselves.
· Army Desertion Rate Highest Since 1980. Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
· Atty: Woman wasn't told donor was a risk. A woman in her 30s who is one of the four organ transplant patients infected with HIV and hepatitis was not told that the infected donor was high risk, and had previously rejected another donor "because of his lifestyle," her attorney said.
Friday, November 16, 2007
· Teacher Suspended for Alleged Racist Rhyme. A River View, Wisconsin middle school teacher accused of using a racist rhyme in class has been suspended. The teacher allegedly used the rhyme - "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" - Monday while trying to pick a student to do a task.
· Detroit Station Owner Kills Rival in Gas Price Fight. Detroit police say a war between two gas stations took a shocking and tragic turn with a station owner shooting his rival who was irate over a gas-price cut.
· Hooters Girls Pose with SWAT Team. A SWAT team leader in Hoboken, New Jersey has some explaining to do after pictures of Hooters girls holding SWAT issued assault weapons surfaced. Lieutenant Angelo Adriani is in several pictures with some Hooters girls.
· Retailer denies sign is a slur. A Casa Furniture and Bedding store in Alexandria, Virginia has been advertising easy credit with a twist: “no gringo papers” necessary.
· Wounded warriors face home-front battle with VA. Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel was attacked by a suicide bomber in Iraq. He lost part of his skull, his face was badly scarred and a portion of his brain was damaged. But when he returned home, the VA rejected his brain damage claim.
· Controversy Over London Tourism Ad. An advertisement depicting a tattooed skinhead urinating into a china teacup is being used to promote tourism to London.
· Historic Whiskey Could Go Down Drain. Here's a sobering thought: Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, may be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license. Officials seized 2,400 bottles late last month during warehouse raids in Nashville and Lynchburg, the southern Tennessee town where the whiskey is distilled.
· Southwest flyer told to change outfit poses for Playboy. A 23-year-old college student who was told by a Southwest Airlines employee that her outfit was too revealing to fly is wearing even less on Playboy's Web site. Kyla Ebbert appears in photos — some in lingerie, some nude — under the heading, "Legs in the Air."
· Rare robbery case brings cries of racism. Three young black men break into a white man's home in rural Northern California. The homeowner shoots two of them to death — but it's the surviving black man who is charged with murder. In a case that has brought cries of racism from civil rights groups, Renato Hughes Jr., 22, was charged by prosecutors under a rarely invoked legal doctrine that could make him responsible for the bloodshed.
· Woman crashes into salon, has hair done. Police say one customer was knocked across the room when 73-year-old Della Miller failed to stop her vehicle before it crashed through the windows of a hair salon. A customer who was sitting just inside the windows waiting for her appointment was struck and thrown six feet. Miller, who was not injured, proceeded with her hair appointment.
· Man Charged With Toad-Licking. A 21-year-old man in Kansas City was charged with possession of a venomous toad with the intent of licking its body to get high, according to police. David Theiss, 21, was arrested after police said he was trying to get high with the Colorado River toad. Officers in Clay County said it is the first time they've ever charged someone with toad-licking.
· New Study Says Some Alcohol OK For Pregnant Moms. British researchers say it might be okay for pregnant women to occasionally indulge in a night of drinking. The researchers reviewed 14 studies and could not find much evidence that a once-in-a-while binge harms a fetus. But the researchers also said more study is needed.
· Well Done: a food company annual report that has to be cooked first. Croatian creative agency Bruketa & Zinic have designed an annual report for food company Podravka that has to be baked in an oven before it can be read. Empty pages become filled with content after being baked at 100°C for 25 minutes.
· Woman sues boxer over racy photos. A New York woman sued Olympic boxer Oscar de la Hoya for $100 million on Thursday, saying she was coerced into agreeing not to sell photographs of him dancing around a hotel room in women's clothing.
· CBS "Mystified" by Dan Rather's "Bizarre Allegations", Files Motion to Dismiss. Yesterday, in New York Supreme Court, in response to Dan Rather's civil lawsuit, CBS filed a lengthy 30-page motion to dismiss the case. CBS executives also released a statement today, noting that they are "mystified" by Rather's "bizarre allegations" but will "vigorously" defend themselves in court if need be.
· Off Goes the Power Current Started by Thomas Edison. Con Edison ended 125 years of direct current electricity service that began when Thomas Edison opened his Pearl Street Manhattan power station on Sept. 4, 1882. Con Ed will now only provide alternating current, in a final, vestigial triumph by Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, Mr. Edison’s rivals who were the main proponents of alternating current in the AC/DC debates of the turn of the 20th century.
· GPS Helps Cities Catch Goof-Offs. GPS tracking devices installed on government-issue vehicles are helping communities around the country reduce waste and abuse, in part by catching employees shopping, working out at the gym or otherwise loafing while on the clock.
· Lohan Freed After 84 Minutes in Jail. Lindsay Lohan was a jailbird for just 84 minutes Thursday, becoming the latest celebrity to serve less than a day for a drunken driving offense.
· Britney Hits 'Em, One More Time. Paparazzi have felt Britney Spears' ire. They seem to be getting familiar with her tire as well. The beleaguered, steering-challenged pop star appeared to run over her third foot in less than a month while pulling into the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills Wednesday night.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
· Santas warned 'ho ho ho' offensive to women. Santas have been told not to use Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday. Sydney, Australia's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.
· The State Department has decide to not issue "death sentences" to it's diplomats. The State Department is backing down for now from forcing diplomats to serve in Iraq this summer because enough have volunteered to work in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and in outlying provinces, officials said today. At a recent town hall meeting, hundreds of diplomats applauded when one likened a forced tour in Iraq to a "potential death sentence."
· Federal Grand Jury Indicts Barry Bonds. Baseball superstar Barry Bonds was charged Thursday with perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying when he said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs.
· 68-year-old stuntwoman still loves her occupational hazard. Age means nothing to 68-year-old veteran stuntwoman, Sandy Gimpel. A fourth-level black belt in karate – a sport she also teaches – she routinely falls down stairs, jumps from high cliffs, and takes more than a few bruises from some of Hollywood's leading men.
· Secret ingredient of $25,000 dessert revealed: Mouse droppings? While serendipity may be the art of finding pleasant things by chance, what health inspectors found at celebrated eatery Serendipity 3 was not very agreeable. Officials closed the restaurant Wednesday night after it failed its second inspection in a month. An inspector spotted a live mouse and mouse droppings, fruit flies, house flies and more than 100 live cockroaches. People (used to) stand in line for hours outside the Manhattan restaurant, known for its Guinness World Record $25,000 Haute Chocolate dessert.
· Boy, 15, gets 60 years for sex attack of girl, 6. A judge sentenced to 60 years in prison this morning a teenager who had pleaded guilty of kidnapping, beating and sexually assaulting a neighbor in Spanish Lake, MO on Nov. 11, 2005, when he was 13 and she was 6.
· Man's taser death caught on tape. A video showing the last moments of a Polish immigrant, who died after Canadian police shot him with a stun gun at Vancouver International Airport, has been made public.
· Body found at scene of Houston building implosion. Authorities in Houston believe they have located a body among the rubble of a building implosion. Crews began digging through the debris of the Old Crowne Plaza Hotel Wednesday morning to search for someone who may have been inside when the building came down.
· Chicago city workers: 22 convictions? Not a problem. Fired for lying about his decades-long criminal past, a city worker claims bad memory - and gets his job back. When he applied for a part-time job as a truck driver for the city of Chicago, Jerome Felske admitted he had a criminal past. He acknowledged having six criminal convictions - one burglary and five thefts. At the time, three years ago, City Hall had an unwritten policy against hiring ex-cons. But Felske had clout: He was helping register voters for the Hispanic Democratic Organization, then a powerful patronage army delivering votes for Mayor Daley.
· Male teacher gets 30 years for having sex with 17-year-old. A Bainbridge, Georgia high school teacher is sentenced to 30-years in prison for having a sex with a 17-year-old student. Thirty-four-year old Richard Dennis Whitehead was found guilty on 9 counts of sexual assault.
· Atlanta inmates may get DirectTV. The 226 inmates in the Clayton County Correctional Institution may get something that many of their free neighbors don't have: "Monday Night Football" on satellite TV. Warden Frank Taylor is asking the Clayton County Commission to let him order in direct-broadcast satellite service. Taylor says it's a bargain tool for prison management.
· Bomb parts smuggled past airport security. Investigators with bomb-making components in their luggage and on their person were able to pass through security checkpoints at 19 U.S. airports without detection, according to the Government Accountability Office.
· LAPD shelves Muslim mapping plan. A police plan to map out Muslim communities, a proposal that civil rights groups sharply criticized as racial and religious profiling, has been shelved, a police spokeswoman said Wednesday.
· Clinton opposes driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor. Clinton stumbled when asked about the issue during a Democratic debate two weeks ago, and her new position comes the day before another debate in Nevada where opponents are expected to raise the issue again.
· Foreclosures Hit a Snag for Lenders. A federal judge in Ohio has ruled against a longstanding foreclosure practice, potentially creating an obstacle for lenders trying to reclaim properties from troubled borrowers and raising questions about the legal standing of investors in mortgage securities pools.
· O.J. Simpson to Face New Criminal Trial. More than a decade after his acquittal on murder charges, O.J. Simpson will again stand trial in a case certain to capture the national spotlight. The former football star said he wasn't surprised when a justice of the peace ordered him on Wednesday to defend himself against charges including kidnapping and armed robbery in a suspected sports memorabilia heist.
· Penn State Student Falls 8 Stories, Lives. A Penn State freshman is in critical condition after falling eight stories from her dorm room Tuesday. Tyrone Parham, a university police spokesman, said it was not clear if the 18-year-old girl fell from the window or jumped. Police said they have also not ruled out a criminal act.
· Matt Damon Named 'Sexiest Man Alive.' Matt Damon has been named the "sexiest man alive" by People magazine, an honor that has been bestowed twice on his pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The 37-year-old actor is featured on the cover of People's annual issue, on newsstands Friday.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
· Utah Highway Patrol crosses could be coming down. The fate of more than a dozen crosses honoring fallen Utah Highway Patrol troopers was left in the hands of a federal court judge on Tuesday. The issue was taken to court after a group of atheists sued the state claiming the crosses violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
· California will not charge 10-year-old arsonist. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has decided not to file charges against a 10-year-old boy accused of playing with matches and starting the Buckweed fire, which charred 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes in the Agua Dulce and Santa Clarita areas last month.
· McCain supporter: "How do we beat the bitch?" Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was posed a question at a South Carolina presidential rally that he hadn't heard before. An older woman stood and asked him, "how do we beat the bitch?"
· Update: Judge Who Sued Over Pants Loses Job. A judge who lost a $54 million lawsuit against his dry cleaner over a pair of missing pants has lost his job, District of Columbia officials said. Roy Pearson's term as an administrative law judge expired May 2 and the Commission on Selection of Administrative Law Judges has voted not to reappoint him. He had held his position for two years.
· San Francisco supervisors approve ID cards for illegals. The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to issue municipal identification cards to city residents - regardless of whether they are in the country legally. Under San Francisco's sanctuary ordinance, it is city policy that no municipal government personnel or resources be used to assist federal immigration officials in the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants.
· N.Y. governor abandons driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will withdraw a controversial plan that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, a spokeswoman said. Seventy-six percent of Americans oppose giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, according to poll conducted in October for CNN by the Opinion Research.
· Man successfully escapes police - killed by alligator. A man who jumped into a Florida lake to escape police has been found dead with alligator bite marks on his torso, police said today. While it is yet to be determined that the man was killed by an alligator, a suspected long reptile culprit has been identified and killed.
· Jury awards $2.3 million in gynecologist abuse suit. A King County jury has awarded $2.3 million to three women who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by disgraced gynecologist Charles Momah. Momah, who operated several clinics in South King County, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2005 after being convicted of rape and other sex crimes. At trial, former patients testified that he got them hooked on painkillers before sexually assaulting them.
· West Doctor Sought Hollywood Limelight. The doctor who performed a tummy tuck and breast reduction on the mother of Kanye West is a plastic surgeon to Hollywood's elite and something of a celebrity himself, with a TV show of his own and a host of appearances on programs from "Extra" to "Oprah." What Dr. Jan Adams hasn't publicized, however, is that the state medical board is investigating whether to revoke or suspend his license over alcohol-related arrests; that he has been the target of malpractice lawsuits; and that he's paid out nearly $500,000 in civil settlements.
· Real Estate Lock Boxes Add Panic Button. Entering an empty, unfamiliar house with a stranger is all in a day's work for real estate agents, most of them women. "You're on your own," said Nicholle D. Dagata, a real estate agent in Berlin, Conn. Cell phones are an obvious tool but cannot be used inconspicuously and can drop out of range in a basement, she said. "Sometimes you feel queasy." Now, GE Security's new wireless lock boxes, already designed to quickly notify a seller's agent that a house is being shown, are being outfitted with a "panic button" agents can use in an emergency.
· Domestic Spying Inquiry Restarted at DoJ. The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government's warrantless wiretapping program, a major policy shift only days into the tenure of Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
· CIA agent faked marriage for citizenship. A former agent for the FBI and CIA with ties to the popular Detroit area Lebanese restaurant chain La Shish, pleaded guilty Tuesday to faking a marriage to win U.S. citizenship, clearing the way to being hired and given security clearances by the two intelligence agencies.
· Regan Files $100M Suit Against Publisher. One-time book publishing powerhouse Judith Regan filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit Tuesday saying her former employers asked her to lie to federal investigators about Bernard Kerik, the former police commissioner who was once her lover, and tried to destroy her reputation.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
· Washington Post Critic Apologizes for E-Mail. A Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic for The Washington Post has apologized for sending an angry e-mail in which he called District of Columbia Council member Marion Barry a "crack addict."
· Saudi Prince Buying 'Flying Palace' Jet. In the annals of excess, it could be a new high: a more than $300 million dollar, super-sized luxury airplane, bought and outfitted solely for the private comfort of a Saudi Arabian billionaire. Once done, the Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, will be a "flying palace" for Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the manufacturer announced Monday.
· NYC Taxpayers May Soon Be Funding 'Pigeon Czar.' Don't feed the pigeons … or else. A new pigeon plan is in the works that includes the creation of a pigeon czar. New York City is a smorgasbord for pigeons, but something could break that bread line. "We hope people who are spending their time collecting old bread from bakeries to feed pigeons to poop on your head will stop," Councilman Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, said. Felder wants pigeon feeders to pay. His plan is modeled after one in London where the fine is $1,000, to minimize the fluttering and flinging of filth.
· Student describes how she became a Clinton plant. The college student who was told what question to ask at one of Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign events says "voters have the right to know what happened" and she wasn't the only one who was planted.
· Man Found Dead, Stuck In Cat Door. St. Johns County Florida deputies recently launched an investigation into what they called one of the strangest accidents they've ever seen when a man was found dead after getting stuck in a cat door. Investigators said 32-year-old Charles Tucker Jr. was using the cat door early Saturday morning as a way to get back into his girlfriend's St. Augustine home after the woman kicked him out.
· Great Grandmother Strip-Searched At N.Y. Casino. A great-grandmother from Mount Vernon is filing suit for allegedly being strip searched at the Yonkers Raceway casino. As CBS 2 HD has learned, the angry woman says it was over a winner's slip that was missing. "They kept me down there for two and a half hours. Then they came and said they found the ticket. I said where was the ticket? He said it was in the machine."
· Officer Accidentally Uses Taser On Self. Adding insult to injury, the Madison Police Department issued a letter of reprimand after an officer was injured in the hand from accidentally discharging a Taser during a standard checkout procedure.