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(Nov 18, 2008 11:58 AM) After filing more than 400 lawsuits under the Amercians With Disabilities Act, Jarek Molski will be be allowed to file no more, the Los Angeles Times reports. In 2004, a federal judge accused him of extorting California businesses, barring him from future litigation, and yesterday the Supreme Court declined to hear his case against the owner of a Chinese restaurant. Many of the businesses Molski sued for handrail and parking violations settled, earning the crusader hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2004, the judge also banned Molski's law firm from litigating without permission.Though a full-court rehearing was denied, nine of the appeal court's 28 judges dissented, saying the constitutional right to sue was one of the most precious liberties and should be limited very sparingly.

(Sep 24, 2016 11:33 AM CDT) Every other day for months, Wolfram and Anita Gottschalk cried when they were separated and returned to the senior living facilities in which they'd been forced to reside apart. On Thursday, the tears were for another reason. Thanks in part to media coverage and a viral photo, the couple--married 62 years--is once again living together, CBC reports. The reunion saw tears of joy for all involved, the couple's granddaughter, Ashley Bartyik, posted on Facebook. They can now be under the same roof for their remaining years. Wolfram, 83, was hospitalized in January then moved into a facility in British Columbia. Because she didn't need as much care as her husband, who has dementia and lymphoma, 81-year-old Anita was moved into a different facility in July. Fearing that time apart would cause Wolfram's memories of Anita to fade, a family member drove 40 minutes every other day so they could see each other, CNN reports. Bartyik posted a photo of one of their tearful goodbyes in August, and their story went international. In her Facebook post this week, Bartyik thanks everyone around the world for making Thursday's permanent reunion at Anita's senior living facility possible. We thank you for your continued prayers and messages we have received, she writes. In a video of the reunion, Anita holds Wolfram's face and tells him, Look at me, look at me; I love you.

(Jan 16, 2019 12:11 AM) Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta says 14 people were killed in Tuesday's attack on a hotel complex in the capital and the operation to neutralize the attackers is now over. Kenyatta did not say Wednesday how many attackers were involved. He urged Kenyans to go back to work without fear, saying the East African country is safe for citizens and visitors. Al-Shabab--a Somalia-based Islamic extremist group allied to al-Qaeda--claimed responsibility for the carnage at the Dusit D2 hotel complex, which includes bars, restaurants, offices, and banks in Nairobi's well-to-do Westlands neighborhood. All the terrorists have been eliminated, said Kenyatta per the AP. The BBC reports that the Kenyan Red Cross puts the death toll higher, at 24. Kenyan police said early Wednesday there was still an active security operation ongoing after they announced overnight that all buildings in the hotel complex had been secured, the AP reports. Sporadic gunfire still rang out through the morning. Scores of people were rescued at daybreak as police continued what they called a mopping-up exercise. The attack started with multiple suicide car bombs which breached the security gates of the complex and was followed by an invasion of at least four armed men.

(Aug 31, 2008 5:22 AM CDT) Irascible NFLer Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco, a Spanish reference to his jersey number 85, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. Johnson took the name two years ago and was fined $5,000 for putting it on the back of his uniform in 2006. It's something I don't think has been done before, he said. I'm having fun. Team officials had no comment.

(Jan 21, 2019 12:40 PM) When Canada's Alla Wagner tried and failed to sell her home in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, she took inspiration from the movie The Spitfire Grill and came up with a writing competition of her own. The contest has a $19 entry fee and involves participants submitting a 350-word letter explaining why they should win the $1.3 million house in Millarville. Among other things, the 5,000-square-foot home features a wine cellar and scores of windows to accommodate the mountain views. In an interview with CTV Calgary, Wagner said, What do I have to lose? Like I have nothing to lose. Indeed. The main condition of the contest is that it must attract a minimum of about 68,000 entries--whose fees would be equivalent to her asking price. If this does not happen, the competition will be canceled and all the entry fees refunded. If it does, though, the entries will be whittled down to 500, from which an independent panel of judges will select the winning letter. The competition is set to run for three months, although this may be extended to six months. For full details of the competition and all the relevant rules, see this Facebook page. I know that it's going to be a beautiful story in the end, says Wagner. (What's no longer hot in real estate: homes on golf courses.)

(Aug 19, 2009 2:34 PM CDT) Rose Friedman, economist and collaborator with husband and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, died yesterday of heart failure, the Chicago Tribune reports. Rose was the co-author of Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose, two foundational texts of the Chicago School of economics. Though birth records from her birthplace in modern-day Ukraine have been lost, her family believes she was 98. Rose Friedman was fully involved in all the personal and professional decisions made along with Milton Friedman, said economist Gary Becker. She was also a significant economist in her own right.

(Jul 29, 2013 8:32 AM CDT) If his first wife had listened to doctors' advice in 1985, most people might never have heard of Stephen Hawking. In the new documentary Hawking, the famed British physicist reveals that he was so ill during a bout of pneumonia in Switzerland that doctors offered to turn off his life support machine, but Jane Hawking insisted that he be returned to England, the Telegraph reports. After weeks of intensive care that he describes as the darkest [time] of my life, he survived--though the treatment robbed him of what remained of his voice--and went on to complete his bestseller, A Brief History Of Time. (The Guardian notes that Hawking said his hopes of finishing my book seemed over during those dark weeks. In the documentary, which will be released this fall to coincide with the publication of his memoirs, Hawking speaks candidly about his failed marriages and his constant health struggles. Because every day could be my last, I have a desire to make the most of every single minute, says the 71-year-old, who was given just two years to live when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21. An Investor's Business Daily editorial once memorably claimed Hawking would never have survived under the British health system.

(Apr 1, 2016 9:30 AM CDT) A missing Texas woman described by her husband as a model mom and the rock of the family was found dead in a car in a Target parking lot in Frisco Thursday evening, her three young children alive beside her, CBS11 reports. Sources tell the station there were no explicit signs of trauma to the body of Christine Woo, 39, and her kids--5-year-old Lauren, 3-year-old Nathan, and 1-year-old Leah--were unharmed, though severely dehydrated, KDFW reports, via the Dallas Morning News. Woo and the children had been reported missing by her husband, Brandon, on Tuesday, after he hadn't seen or heard from them since Monday morning when he left for work. Christine was seen on a Walgreens surveillance video Monday morning, per WFAA; records also show she went to a local McDonald's a few hours later--the last purchase authorities have been able to track. Brandon says he texted his wife on his way home from work Monday, but he wasn't alarmed when she didn't reply because he figured she was busy with the kids. When he got home and found the house empty, he tried calling her--and her cellphone rang in an adjoining room. He says everything in the house was intact. Started getting worried when it got to 8 o'clock, now nothing. Nine o'clock, 10 o'clock, stayed up all night, of course, he tells NBC 5. He headed into work Tuesday morning to take care of some obligations before telling his boss his family was missing; he called the cops around 7pm Tuesday. Brandon says movies and TV had convinced him he had to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person's report--an assumption cops told him wasn't true. (A dad who disappeared from his daughter's California wedding was found dead.)

(Mar 26, 2011 3:44 PM CDT) News of Geraldine Ferraro's death has inevitably called attention to the flap she caused in 2008 when she said this of then-candidate Barack Obama: If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. At Salon, Joan Walsh writes that Ferraro deserves better than to be remembered mostly for her pained and divisive comments, but adds that, in some way, they defined her, good and bad. Walsh points out that other political observers suggested pretty much the same thing, but in more tactful ways. Ferraro--who refused to back down from the comments and insisted they weren't racist, just political reality--got into trouble because of her tone of white grievance. Remember that Ferraro is the product of working class white ethnic Queens, and she stayed with the Democratic party in the 1960s and '70s when many from that same background abandoned it in the civil rights push. She deserves credit for hanging on, for sticking with her party, and maybe even for surfacing subterranean currents of white resentment that most people are too polite--or chicken--to talk about, writes Walsh. At least she provided the chance for a needed conversation on race. As Jesse Jackson might put it, God wasn't finished with her yet, and She gave Ferraro one last role the Democrat might not have chosen for herself. Full column here.

(May 9, 2018 2:37 PM CDT) Baleigh Bagshaw, 15, had just gotten home from school on Monday and called her mom to check in. Then, the unthinkable: While she was on the phone with her mother, she was brutally attacked while inside of her home. Her mother heard the attack going on and then the phone went dead, a Salt Lake City police sergeant tells Deseret News. Bagshaw's mother heard screaming and called a neighbor, who went to the house and called police. Police found the teen dead at the house, Fox 13 reports. After a manhunt, suspect Shaun French was taken into custody Wednesday in Colorado, KUTV reports. Police say he was lying in wait for the teen. French, 24, once lived in the same house as Bagshaw and her family, but did not live there when Bagshaw was murdered. Police say he and the teen had a consensual but illegal relationship, but it's not clear how long the relationship lasted or when French lived in the house. An arrest warrant charging him with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor was issued Tuesday; he has not yet been charged in Bagshaw's death. Police have not said how Bagshaw was killed or if weapons were involved, simply saying she died in a very violent attack. Says the police sergeant, I can't even guess what the mother would be going through right now. Our hearts and thoughts are with her. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for the family.

(Oct 2, 2015 1:57 AM CDT) Bad news for Dunkin' Donuts fans and worse news for its investors: The chain announced on Thursday that 100 locations across the US will close over this year and next, reports CNNMoney, which notes that shares dived more than 12% following the announcement. All the stores that are closing are in Speedway gas station locations, NBC New York reports. Dunkin' execs stress that only a small fraction of US locations are closing and that the company is still on course to open more, CNN reports. The president of Dunkin' Donuts US and Canada says sales figures have been disappointing, but things should perk up with new items like the Maple Bacon Square Donut. (Earlier this year, the chain ditched a controversial ingredient.)

(Sep 1, 2015 8:44 AM CDT) It could be yet another long day for the markets. The Dow sank more than 300 points at the open this morning, with China again taking the brunt of the blame. The early swoon comes a day after US stocks closed out their worst month in more than three years. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 335 points, or 2%, to 16,200 in the opening minutes of trading. The S&P 500 fell 37 points, or 1.9%, to 1,935, and the Nasdaq slid 82 points, or 1.7%, to 4,695. The signs of weakness in China, a major importer of oil, sent the price of crude skidding 4%.

(Sep 12, 2019 1:20 PM CDT) On Nov. 7, 1997, William Earl Moldt called his girlfriend around 11:30pm and told her he was heading home from a nightclub. The 40-year-old Florida man never made it home, and for nearly 22 years, his whereabouts remained a mystery. But that changed last month--thanks to Google Earth, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. Deputies were called out to Palm Beach County retention pond Aug. 28 on a report of a submerged car; inside the car were skeletal remains that, the sheriff's office says, were identified as Moldt on Tuesday. According to the Charley Project, which maintains an online list of anyone missing a year or more, someone spotted the car on Google Earth. Amazingly, a vehicle had been plainly visible on a Google Earth satellite photo of the area since 2007, but apparently no one had noticed it until 2019, when a property surveyor saw the car while looking at Google Earth, says the website, which has an image of the satellite photo from Google Earth. It notes that the housing development in which the pond sits had been under construction when Moldt went missing. According to the AP, the sheriff's office says it was a former resident of the neighborhood who first zoomed in on the pond while looking at Google Earth and saw the car; he then contacted a current resident, who used a drone to confirm the car was there.

(Jun 6, 2011 11:38 AM CDT) Some 13 kids were injured when three bounce houses blew away in the wind on Saturday, taking flight with the children still in them. It was the craziest thing you ever saw, said a parent at the Oceanside, New York, kids' soccer tournament that was hit by powerful gusts. I tried to catch it, and it just flattened me. Others outside the bouncy houses were hit as the inflatables flew by. We heard people screaming, another witness tells ABC News. And all these people were running away. No one was seriously hurt, but the celebratory day just got destroyed, said another parent. (And it's not the first time this has happened...)

(Aug 26, 2020 1:34 AM CDT) Jerry Falwell Jr. has officially resigned from Liberty University, and he told the Washington Post on Tuesday night that he'll get $10.5 million in severance, as specified in his contract. That's because he resigned in good standing, without being formally accused of or admitting to any wrongdoing. The board was gracious not to challenge that, he tells the newspaper. There wasn't any cause. I haven't done anything. He'll get $2.5 million over two years, the equivalent of what his salary would have been during that same period, and he's agreed not to work for a competing university during those years. At the end of that period, he'll get the rest of his severance in retirement. A source tells Fox News that Falwell has agreed to consult for Liberty during the transition to a new president. His resignation comes, of course, on the heels of a controversial photo showing him with his wife's scantily-clad assistant, which was quickly followed by Falwell's admission that his wife had had an affair. Reports have claimed the affair lasted years and Falwell would watch his wife and her lover have sex; Falwell claims the man tried to extort the couple, and his wife denies Falwell watched, per Fox News. Her alleged lover on Tuesday issued new accusations against Falwell, claiming he shared inappropriate photos of a Liberty student; Falwell tells the Post it was simply a funny, non-sexual image of a friend of his daughters-in-law. Also Tuesday, Falwell confirmed it was President Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen who helped him years ago when someone tried to blackmail the Falwells over sensitive photos. Cohen claims he asked Falwell, as a personal favor, to endorse President Trump during the 2016 campaign.

(Dec 18, 2018 12:27 PM) El Salvador's Imelda Cortez is out of prison for the first time in more than a year and a half, and her freedom is being hailed as a potential landmark moment for women's rights in her country, reports AFP. Cortez's plight had drawn international attention: The 20-year-old was charged with attempted murder after giving birth to a premature infant in a bathroom. Cortez, however, says she hadn't even known she was pregnant, only that she felt something pass and then went to the hospital in pain. Authorities soon found the baby in the latrine, still alive, and prosecutors say Cortez's failure to summon help for the birth amounted to attempted murder. The other big part of the case: Cortez says she must have become pregnant by her stepfather, who she says had been sexually abusing her for several years. The stepfather is now under arrest and facing trial, reports the BBC. El Salvador has among the world's toughest laws on abortion, outlawing it in cases of rape and even when the woman's life is in danger. Those laws played a role in the charges she faced, but on Monday, prosecutors reduced them from attempted murder to abandonment. Then a court cleared Cortez of any crime at all, reports the Guardian. The judge ruled that she could not be blamed for what happened, given the emotional and psychological damage inflicted by the sexual violence she suffered since childhood, in the words of the Guardian. Says a member of her legal team: It took the whole world to make the judges and prosecutors see what we've been saying for years: An obstetric emergency is not a crime.

(Aug 24, 2009 2:23 PM CDT) Nokia is charging into the mobile computing market with its first netbook, PC World reports. The phone company's Booklet 3G features 3G connectivity for Internet access and packs a healthy 12 hours of battery life. The tiny laptop--10 inches--runs Windows and has Nokia's Ovi mobile apps and communication service built in. The device, which also boasts an HDMI port, is poised to do battle with the rumored Apple tablet expected to be unveiled soon. A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility, a Nokia exec says. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Pricing and availability for the Booklet will be announced at a press event next week.

(Jun 30, 2010 12:53 PM CDT) The world's top economies are all talking about tightening their belts, and in so doing risk repeating the mistakes of the 1930s, writes David Leonhardt of the New York Times. When President Roosevelt tried balancing the budget in 1936, it plunged the recovering country back into depression. But austerity enthusiasts argue the more stable modern financial system, coupled with growth from the developing world, will allow the economy to avoid a repeat performance. They may well be right, Leonhardt allows. But the parallels to 1937 are not reassuring. Then, as now, the economy had grown rapidly following government spending, and back then, at least the US cuts were softened a little by pre-World War II increases in Europe. This time, almost the entire world will be withdrawing its stimulus at once, Leonhardt writes. We are left to hope that we have absorbed just enough of the 1930s lesson.

(Oct 9, 2015 3:49 PM CDT) A 13-year-old boy appears to have deliberately shot and killed a 12-year-old girl outside a home in rural southwest Missouri with a gun that came from the house, the local sheriff said Friday. Officers tried to revive the girl, Teresa J. Potts, but she died Thursday evening near the town of Jasper in front of a foster home, Jasper County Sheriff Randee Kaiser said. Jasper is about 130 miles south of Kansas City. The boy was arrested without incident and is being held by the Jasper County Juvenile Office, Kaiser said at a news conference in nearby Carthage, adding that the boy will be charged in the shooting later on Friday. The sheriff's comments were first reported by the Joplin Globe. It was not a situation where they were playing. It does not appear to be a situation where it was an accident, Kaiser said. It was not clear if either of the children was a resident at the foster home. An adult was home at the time of the shooting, Kaiser said. He declined to describe the relationship between the adult and the teenagers. The sheriff said investigators believe the gun used in the shooting came from the home, but he would not talk about the weapon or how many times the girl was shot. There was more than one weapon missing at the time of search. All of those weapons have been recovered, he said. The boy and girl were both students in the Jasper School District.

(Mar 9, 2011 10:42 AM) A suicide bomber struck a funeral attended by anti-Taliban militiamen in northwestern Pakistan today, killing at least 36 mourners and wounding more than 100 in the deadliest militant attack in the country this year. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility. Police said about 300 people were attending the funeral for the wife of a militiaman in the Matani area when the bomber struck. TV footage showed men picking up bloodied sandals and caps from a dusty, open space where mourners had gathered. Witnesses said the bomber, who appeared to be in his late teens, showed up at the funeral just as it was about to begin. We thought this youth was coming to attend the funeral, but he suddenly detonated a bomb, one survivor said. Others complain that there was no police security at the funeral. The militia's commander says that his group might cease fighting the Taliban, because the government has not provided it with the resources it needs.

(Aug 30, 2018 10:46 AM CDT) Serena Williams went from training with her dad on the public courts in Compton to winning the US Open--six times so far. She's competing there again now, and in a new ad, Nike celebrates that incredible journey, Ad Age reports. The video combines shots of an adult Williams playing tennis with archival footage of a 9-year-old Williams and her dad on those Compton courts, complete with her dad saying in voiceover, Be tough, just like you want to win. Just like you're at the US Open. PopSugar declares that the minute-long video might as well be an extremely emotional short film, while Revelist calls it goosebump-inducing. CNBC points to the success hack the ad illustrates: visualization. If you can see it, you can be it.

(Jul 1, 2016 7:52 AM CDT) In an accident that is unlikely to do anything good for China-Taiwan relations, a Taiwanese naval ship docked in the southern city of Kaohsiung mistakenly fired a supersonic missile toward China during a training exercise Friday, killing one. Officials say the missile--built to destroy ships--traveled almost a third of the 160-mile distance to China in roughly two minutes before hitting a Taiwanese fishing boat, reports NBC News. The Taiwanese captain was killed, while three crew members from Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines were injured, reports the New York Times. Taiwanese officials say the supersonic missile--which had a range of about 200 miles--was likely fired by human error and did not cross the midway line in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China, which is celebrating the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party. In a speech Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for peaceful development of relations between Taipei and Beijing, as the AP puts it. China still claims Taiwan as part of its territory.

(Apr 4, 2014 11:48 AM CDT) A South Carolina woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for inadvertently killing her baby through breastfeeding. Prosecutors made the case that Stephanie Greene, 39, was taking so many prescription painkillers that her 6-week-old daughter overdosed, reports WYFF. The infant had a toxic level of morphine in her system upon death. Greene is a former nurse, and she hid her pregnancy from her primary doctor so she could continue getting her prescriptions all the while. She had her husband pick them up when she began showing. Greene's lawyers say she became addicted to the drugs following a bad car crash a decade ago, reports AP. She needed those meds to get up in the morning and function, said one. She was on total disability because of her pain, her fibromyalgia, and all the other things wrong with her. Greene plans to appeal, but as of now she is not eligible for parole for 16 years. She was found guilty of homicide by child abuse yesterday, and sentenced today. She also faces dozens of charges over fraudulent prescriptions.

(Jul 23, 2009 9:56 AM CDT) The latest Windows incarnation beats Vista and XP, but don't expect a smooth transition: upgrading from XP to Windows 7 is an ordeal, writes Walt Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal. In fact, the process will be so painful that, for many XP users, the easiest solution may be to buy a new PC preloaded with Windows 7, Mossberg notes. Installing the new operating system means wiping your hard disk, deleting everything except personal data files--and to keep those, you'll likely need an external hard drive and face a long, multi-step process. Then you'll need to reinstall your programs. Meanwhile, XP drivers won't work on 7. Microsoft does offer some options to ease the process, however, and it should be smooth sailing for Vista users.

(Jan 8, 2010 12:43 PM) Republicans have reeled in a diverse and promising assortment of candidates for 2010, lured by the prospect of a wave election that will sweep them into power. We've got candidates popping up all over the place, Mitch McConnell tells the Washington Post, and candidates that we have really, really encouraged to get in. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy spearheads the effort, which has turned up longtime prospects like California Assemblyman Van Tran as well as promising newcomers, like Stephen Fincher in Tennessee. Fincher, a gospel singer and farmer who raised $300,000 in September without a single staffer, is a threat to take a seat Democrats have held for 21 years. But like many Republicans, he may soon face a primary challenge that Democrats hope will damage establishment darlings. Carly Fiorina, for example, will have to fight to face Barbara Boxer. But Republicans are thrilled to have candidates fighting to take on incumbents like Boxer, who won by double digits in 2004.

(Apr 14, 2015 3:40 PM CDT) While some celebs may later come to regret their tattoos, piercings have the advantage of being removable--or hidden under a costume. From Cameron Diaz's nose to Neil Patrick Harris' nipples, below are 11 A-listers who've gone under the piercing gun: Click to read about 12 celebrities who have 'naughty' piercings.

(Mar 23, 2010 6:49 PM CDT) While YouTube is full of requests from fans for their celebrity crushes, reality isn't exactly full of said requests being granted--so extra props to a Denver-area high school senior for landing his dream prom date, in the form of Maxim model and Ultimate Fighting Championship eye candy Arianny Celeste. Conner Cordova, 18, won over Celeste, 24, with a series of vids, and the pair went to dinner before Saturday's dance at Dakota Ridge High. It caught my eye, the model told the Post, before paying Cordova the ultimate compliment: This is better than my own prom date.

(Dec 15, 2011 5:03 PM) A 90-year-old former member of the Nazi SS is heading to prison for murder--67 years later. An ambulance picked up the wheelchair-bound Heinrich Boere at his nursing home in Germany and carried him to a prison hospital, the BBC reports. A medical expert ruled him fit to serve his term for the killing of three Dutch people in 1944. He has admitted to the killings, saying he was following orders and would otherwise have faced a concentration camp. An appeal of his sentence was rejected. At no time in 1944 did I act with the feeling that I was committing a crime, he said in court; now, he says he feels differently. But the judge called the killings totally random. The half-German, half-Dutch Boere was initially convicted of the killings in 1949 in Amsterdam, but he wasn't extradited. Decades later, a German court rejected the conviction because Boere hadn't been at the trial. He was finally indicted in Germany in 2008 and sentenced last year.

(Dec 17, 2015 3:11 PM) US stocks are sliding into the close as the market gives back all of its big gain from the day before. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 253 points, or 1.4%, to 17,495 Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 31 points, or 1.5%, to 2,041. The Nasdaq composite declined 68 points, or 1.4%, to 5,002. Steep drops in energy prices and metals Thursday pulled down the stocks of oil and gas producers and mining companies. Chevron lost 3% and Newmont Mining skidded 8%. The dollar rose against other currencies a day after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.23%.

(Feb 10, 2020 4:04 PM) More than 100 US troops have now been diagnosed with brain injuries from Iran's missile attack on an Iraqi air base last month, Reuters and CNN report, citing anonymous officials. The number has been climbing steadily since the retaliatory attack, from an initial report that the US suffered no casualties to the first estimate of just 11 injured. The most recent number reported was 64 at the end of last month. The Pentagon had warned the number would continue to go up since symptoms, which include dizziness, headaches, sensitivity to light, and nausea, can take a while to manifest.

(Oct 5, 2011 2:24 PM CDT) Spain's Duchess of Alba walked down the aisle with a commoner groom more than 20 years her junior today, with a crowd of hundreds gathered around to cheer. As she left the ceremony at her 15th-century residence in Seville, the 85-year-old kicked off her shoes and danced a flamenco in celebration, while her groom, 61-year-old Alfonso Diez stood by, hand outstretched as if to catch her if she fell, the AP reports. The Duchess, whose full name is Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, has been twice-widowed and is among the richest and most famous women in Spain. Her children reportedly objected to the wedding, even though Diez signed a document denying any claim to her estate, and she gave them much of their inheritance early. One skipped the wedding, reportedly because he was upset with his slice of the fortune.

(Oct 14, 2014 12:42 PM CDT) With a name like Howard Cocks Dickinson IV, it's no wonder this New Hampshire man's obituary opens with a penis joke. He walked through heaven's gate 'prick first,' just as he would have wanted, reads the obituary in the Conway Daily Sun. It goes on to inform us that Dickinson was a lover of hunting, fishing, food, the woods, women, politics, dogs, guns, porn, and last but not least, himself. Did we mention he liked women? The obit also notes, As he begins his new journey we wish him ... a room full of women with an open bar! He's survived by three children-- that we know of, the obituary reads--and it looks like those are the people we have to thank for the delightful remembrance: Lesson to be learned: Be nice to your children, because they are the ones who hold your hand when you are dying and write your obituary, it concludes. Jim Romenesko spotted the obit and called it an obit that a junior-high boy would love, noting, Mr. Dickinson was 78, by the way. (Click for another funny obituary in which the Kardashians play a part.)

(Jan 17, 2018 8:21 AM) As the story goes, before Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation, Britain asked France if it might borrow the storied Bayeux Tapestry. The answer was no. Heinrich Himmler was also unsuccessful in transferring it to Nazi Germany. The 220-foot-long tapestry, which is on permanent display in Bayeux, France, has not left that country in some 950 years. That looks set to change. Multiple outlets are reporting that upon his arrival in the UK Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron will announce that the tapestry will be loaned to England, though not for a few years and only if tests show the 11th-century tapestry--which details the Norman Conquest of England, complete with King Harold dying with an arrow in his eye--can be safely moved. There is some speculation that the tapestry was actually created in Kent, England, reports the Guardian, and the Times of London writes the decision to loan it would be a huge gesture towards les Anglais --and a fraught one, as bright light, extreme temperatures, humidity, and moths could ruin it. The BBC reports a British museum believes it was commissioned in the 1070s by the half-brother of William the Conqueror; the historical trail doesn't start until 1476, when it appears on an inventory of Bayeux Cathedral. One interesting line of speculation: whether the UK will loan France something equally impressive. One member of parliament suggests temporarily parting with the Rosetta Stone, which was likely uncovered by the French--specifically by soldiers of Napoleon in Egypt. Read more on Harold, England's last Anglo-Saxon king, here.

(May 7, 2008 7:26 AM CDT) Even rising gas prices couldn't dent Disney's second-quarter earnings. The company's theme park earnings climbed 33%, helping push its overall net up 22% from a year ago, reports the Wall Street Journal. Disney also recorded a 61% jump in earnings from its movie arm and a 14% bump from its media networks. Only consumer product earnings declined, about 14%. Movie studio revenue rose 18% to $1.8 billion, and theme park revenue climbed 11% to $2.7 billion. The parks had an extraordinary quarter when you consider the economic environment, said CEO Robert Iger, who said bookings for the rest of the year were ahead of last year's pace.

(Oct 27, 2011 9:25 AM CDT) Sprint's latest earnings reveal just how pricey its deal to get the iPhone was--and the numbers aren't pretty. Spring is staring down a $2.2 billion cash shortfall next year, and will come up short by $5.2 billion the year after as it pays for the millions of iPhones it has ordered, and the deal isn't expected to actually turn a profit until at least 2015, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the same time, Sprint is going to have to dole out around $5 billion to upgrade its network to a 4G standard similar to AT&T and Verizon. Still, the news wasn't all bad: Sprint added 1.3 million new subscribers in the quarter, and posted its smallest quarterly loss--$301 million--in four years, the AP reports. Revenue was up 2.2%.

(Jan 11, 2017 9:27 AM) Steven McDonald spent the last 30 years of his life in a wheelchair, but the NYPD officer shot by a teen in Central Park chose forgiveness, becoming an international emblem, per CNN. McDonald died Tuesday at a Long Island hospital at age 59, just days after suffering a heart attack, the NYPD announced--and his inspirational story is once more making the rounds, per the New York Times. No one could have predicted that Steven would touch so many people, in New York and around the world, said NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill. Like so many cops, Steven joined the NYPD to make a difference in people's lives. And he accomplished that every day. McDonald was just 29, with a pregnant wife and only two years on the force, when he was shot by 15-year-old Shavod Jones, whom he had stopped for loitering with two other boys on July 12, 1986. Doctors didn't think he'd make it more than a few months, but McDonald persevered and forgave. I'm sometimes angry, he said at son Conor's baptism, a few months after the shooting. But more often I feel sorry for [Jones]. I forgive him and hope that he can find peace and purpose in his life. The two even wrote each other--after McDonald sent stamps, stationery, and a note that said, Let's start a dialogue --though that ended when McDonald declined to help Jones seek parole (Jones died in a motorcycle accident days after his 1995 release). McDonald traveled to schools, churches, and conflict-ridden areas around the globe to spread his message of faith and forgiveness, and to speak on gun control. Son Conor, now 29, became an NYPD officer in 2010 and is now a sergeant. [McDonald is] this city's greatest example of heroism and grace, says Mayor Bill de Blasio.

(Jan 23, 2008 9:09 AM) President Bush and top administration officials made hundreds of false statements--932, to be exact--about the national security threat from Iraq following 9/11, report two nonprofit journalism organizations. In the two years after the attacks, Bush and top officials stated at least 532 times that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was trying to make or get them, or was linked to al-Qaeda, the study found. The statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses, conclude authors of the study posted yesterday on the website of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism. Researchers examined public statements, government reports, books, articles, and interviews after 9/11.

(Aug 21, 2012 7:00 AM CDT) PayPal founder Peter Thiel, Facebook's first major investor and also a board member, has sold off the majority of his shares. Thiel invested $500,000 in Facebook in 2004, and has made more than $1 billion from that investment, the Wall Street Journal notes. He had already sold some shares before the IPO and some during the IPO; most recently, he sold 20.1 million shares and distributed another 2.2 million, making around $395.8 million--quite a bit less than the $762 million he would have made had he sold the shares during May's IPO, when stock was priced at $38 per share. Thiel pre-arranged the deal when the stock was still at that level, TechCrunch notes. He still has 5.6 million shares. The Journal is quick to note that Thiel made a bundle off his original investment, and that early investors often sell off their stakes after a company goes public. Even so, the timing is bad for Facebook, considering how poorly its stock is doing. Imagine being a Facebook employee right now and seeing Thiel sell the majority of his stock at what many are hoping is its low point, writes Billy Gallagher on TechCrunch. Indeed, shares hit a record low yesterday--less than half the IPO price at $18.75--before closing at $20.01, the San Jose Mercury News reports. All of this is also bad news for Instagram, which Facebook purchased for a deal valued at $1 billion--at the time. Since Facebook paid quite a bit of that in shares, that deal has now lost Instagram nearly $300 million, the New York Times notes.

(Sep 28, 2011 3:19 PM CDT) A sentence we never thought we'd write: The US and al-Qaeda have a common goal. The terrorist group would, pretty please, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop claiming that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks. An article in its fall 2011 issue of Inspire magazine notes that the Iranian government has professed just that, and asks, Why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence? The Telegraph notes that al-Qaeda's pronouncement follows last week's UN speech given by the Iranian president, in which Ahmadinejad suggested Osama bin Laden was killed as part of a 9/11 cover-up. Would it not have been reasonable to bring to justice and openly bring to trial the main perpetrator of the incident in order to identify the elements behind the safe space provided for the invading aircraft to attack the twin World Trade Center towers? Ahmadinejad asked.

(Nov 6, 2010 12:01 AM CDT) Jill Clayburgh, best-known for her Oscar-nominated role in An Unmarried Woman, has died at age 66, following a 21-year battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Clayburgh's career spanned five decades, and broke ground and glass ceilings alike in her portrayals of empowered women, as in her turn as a divorcee exploring her sexuality in 1978's An Unmarried Woman. There was practically nothing for women to do on the screen in the 1950s and 1960s, Clayburgh told the AP in a 1978 interview while promoting An Unmarried Woman. Sure, Marilyn Monroe was great, but she had to play a one-sided character, a vulnerable sex object. It was a real fantasy. Clayburgh graced big and small screen alike, most recently roles on Dirty Sexy Money and Nip/Tuck.

(Nov 16, 2018 9:30 AM) A 4-year-old girl spent a cold night alone in a vehicle at an impound lot after her mom was arrested for alleged drunk driving. The van was towed to the Milwaukee lot around 12:30am Tuesday after police removed a 10-month-old child from the vehicle but missed the girl, WBTV reports. She wasn't found until 8:30am, when workers heard her very upset and crying. The van only received an exterior inspection with a flashlight after arriving at the lot, and officials say procedures are being reviewed. Obviously this is something that's alarming to us, City Engineer Jeff Polenske tells the Journal Sentinel. We definitely don't want this to happen. Temperatures dropped as low as 18 degrees the night the girl was in the vehicle. She was taken to the hospital as a precaution after workers found her. (This puppy survived for weeks in an impounded car.)

(Dec 14, 2011 3:46 AM) Police in Pakistan say they rescued dozens of students from an Islamic seminary where they were being brainwashed by extremists. Some of the 68 students found at the Karachi madrasa were found chained in a basement, the Los Angeles Times reports. Police say the students were denied food and pressured to join the Taliban. Two staff members were arrested but the madrasa's leader escaped. They gave us jihad training, one of the students told reporters. They warned us if we ever tried to escape, we would be severely punished. Police say some of the students were drug addicts sent there by relatives unaware of conditions at the madrasa. These young people were chained, Pakistan's interior minister said. They were brainwashed. The aggression these people felt toward society, other people, you can't expect them to feel particularly positive.

(Dec 21, 2020 5:03 PM) Cheating on a math test at the US Military Academy, which is facing its worst cheating scandal in more than 40 years, can be a national security issue, a West Point law professor says. There's no excuse for cheating when the fundamental code for cadets is that they should not lie, cheat or steal, Tim Bakken says. Therefore when the military tries to downplay effects of cheating at the academy, we're really downplaying the effects on the military as a whole. Officials said more than 70 cadets cheated on a math exam taken remotely because of the pandemic, USA Today reports, 58 of whom have admitted it. West Point's chief of staff said Monday that the cheating wasn't a serious violation and wouldn't have happened if the cadets had been on campus. Others were more troubled. It's very sad, said a 79-year-old Army veteran, per the Times Herald-Record. In these times, the way things are going, people are doing desperate things. Rep. Jackie Speier, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said greater transparency is required to get to the bottom of the issue. Our West Point cadets are the cream of the crop and are expected to demonstrate unimpeachable character and integrity, she said. They must be held to the same high standard during remote learning as in-person. Academy officials said this cheating scandal isn't as serious as the one in 1976, when 153 cadets resigned or were kicked out over an electrical engineering test. They're early in their developmental process, one said. And so on occasion, these incidents happen, but we have a system in place to deal with them when they do. Mark Weathers, the chief of staff, said. Cadets are being held accountable for breaking the code. Instructors caught the cadets when they noticed that the cheaters had made the same mistake on one part of the test.

(Jan 28, 2014 9:01 AM) Driving service Uber now operates in 60 cities and is worth $4 billion, the Boston Globe reports. But the company is under scrutiny for more reasons than one, including this big one: A driver hit a 6-year-old girl on New Year's Eve, killing her, and a lawsuit was filed yesterday. It names the driver as well as the company, and says the app-based service is breaking California laws against distracted driving. According to the filing, driver Syed Muzzafar, 57, was using the UberX app to find his next customer when he hit Sofia Liu; the girl's mother and brother were also hurt. Uber drivers must respond quickly to a user request for service by physically interfacing with the app, thereby leading to distraction, the suit says. State law requires hands-free devices, but an Uber driver can't grab a fare without pressing the screen at least once. The family's lawyer also says that Uber failed to provide insurance to cover the scenario: Muzzafar had no fare in his car when he hit Sofia; state rules call for insurance to cover drivers while on trips for Uber, says an expert, but it's less clear about insurance for drivers between passengers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Uber says that since Muzzafar didn't have a passenger, Uber has no culpability in the matter; his lawyer maintains the opposite. He was waiting for a fare. He was working for Uber. Police arrested Muzzafar on suspicion of manslaughter, but he hasn't been charged.

(Apr 5, 2011 2:38 PM CDT) The remains of some 60 Jews killed in 1941 by Romanian troops and discovered last year were buried yesterday in a Jewish cemetery in the country's east. The bodies, including those of women and children, were found in November in a Romanian forest. The mass grave was added evidence of the country's involvement in the Holocaust, a matter kept quiet for decades. Seven rabbis from the US, Britain, and Romania participated in the ceremony, the AP reports. We gathered here to bury remains of 60 Jews murdered 70 years ago, a Romanian Jewish leader told Reuters. This is a moment of remembrance which shall represent a lesson of history that must never be forgotten. Somewhere between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were thought to have been killed in Romania during WWII.

(Aug 1, 2014 1:50 PM CDT) An Arizona mom wants answers as to why her 5-year-old kindergartner now has a sexual misconduct stamp on his permanent school file. Erica Martinez says her son, Eric Lopez, pulled down his pants and exposed himself when another student at Ashton Ranch Elementary School intimidated him on the playground. The superintendent of the Dysart Unified School District says administrators labelled the event as sexual misconduct per school policy, but Martinez argues her son doesn't even know what that means and his actions were far from sexual, the Arizona Republic reports. Eric was asked to sign a sexual misconduct referral without Martinez present, CBS News previously reported--though school officials say the signature only indicates he received due process. Eric spent a lunch period in detention, but the referral will stay in his school record while he remains in the district. This is a child's school record, and it's not something to be taken lightly, an expert notes. Labels like sexual misconduct, another adds, could hurt a child this age if they're internalized. Kids need to be put back on the right path ... rather than adults using adult words with kids that don't even really apply, that expert says, but the school says it's just following state guidelines for defining certain types of misbehavior. The status of Lopez's case is unclear--CBS reported last month that his mother's appeal to have the mark removed from his file was denied, but the Republic says she has not yet formally appealed.

(Oct 5, 2011 2:42 AM CDT) The National Cathedral needs at least $15 million in initial earthquake repair. The church remains closed as workmen scramble to stabilize large stone pinnacles and other structures shaken loose in the August earthquake. The chief stone mason believes it will take at least 10 years to repair all the damage, though officials hope to have basic safety repairs completed so the cathedral can open next month, reports the Washington Post. The short-term priorities are stabilizing the building, reopening the cathedral, and continuing its operations and mission, said a church statement. Full restoration is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, and the cathedral will seek contributions from across the country.

(Mar 14, 2012 4:52 AM CDT) A bus carrying students returning from a ski holiday crashed into a wall in a Swiss tunnel last night, killing 22 Belgian 12-year-olds and six adults. Another 24 students were hospitalized with injuries after the crash near the Alpine city of Sierre. The cause of the crash has not been determined. The bus hit the barrier stones on the right side of the road. It then hit the tunnel wall front-on in an emergency stop space, police said in a statement. Because of the strong impact the bus was badly damaged, and several passengers were trapped in the wreckage.

(Feb 2, 2016 3:17 PM) Energy companies led a broad retreat on the stock market as prices for crude oil and natural gas took another tumble. Bank stocks also got beaten down Tuesday as investors worry that lenders could suffer if loans to overextended energy companies go bad. Several stocks also lost ground after reporting weak quarterly results. Royal Caribbean plunged 15% after its revenue missed estimates. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 295 points, or 1.8%, to 16,153. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 36 points, or 1.9%, to 1,903. The Nasdaq composite gave up 103 points, or 2.2%, to 4,516.

(Aug 15, 2018 5:58 PM CDT) Synthetic weed known as K2 may be to blame for a spate of overdoses in New Haven, Conn. At least 41 people reportedly overdosed at or near New Haven Green, a local park, between Tuesday and Wednesday, with some 25 overdoses occurring over a period of three hours Wednesday, CBS reports. While no deaths were reported, a local official says at least two of the overdose victims had life-threatening symptoms. The synthetic cannabinoid K2 is often laced with other substances, CNN reports, adding that authorities believe an added opioid may have contributed to the New Haven overdoses. Some people at the scene also told officials that the K2 was possibly laced with the drug PCP, a source tells CBS. Authorities are awaiting the results of toxicology tests before making a final determination. Symptoms included nausea, hallucinations, trouble breathing, and unconsciousness, according to reports. In some cases, patients improved after receiving high doses of the drug naloxone that reverses opioid overdoses, the Houston Chronicle reports. Lower doses administered at the scene had been ineffective. Police said Wednesday afternoon that they had made an arrest in connection to the overdoses, WFSB reports. The 37-year-old man is known to police, per the New Haven Register, and was out on parole.

(Mar 10, 2019 6:02 AM CDT) An Ethiopian Airlines flight with 157 people thought to be on board crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday morning from Ethiopia's capital while headed to Nairobi, the airline said. Ethiopia's state broadcaster says all passengers are dead, reports the AP. There were no immediate details on what caused the crash of the Boeing 737-8 MAX plane, which was new and had been delivered to the airline in November. The BBC reports 737-8 MAX planes have been flying since 2016. Boeing tweeted that it is closely monitoring the situation. The state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, widely considered the best-managed airline in Africa, calls itself Africa's largest carrier and has ambitions of becoming the gateway to the continent.

(Mar 19, 2012 1:19 PM CDT) As the Supreme Court prepares to open hearings on the constitutionality of the federal health care law next week, a new poll finds that Americans oppose the law 52% to 41%. And an even higher percentage--67%--want the court to either throw out the entire Affordable Care Act, or at least ditch the individual mandate, which requires almost all Americans to be covered by health insurance. ABC News, which ran the poll along with the Washington Post, has never found majority support for the law. The most recent poll also finds that 70% of Americans say they've heard mostly negative buzz about the law recently; even among the law's supporters, 53% report hearing mainly negatives. While some portions of the law are popular--such as allowing parents to cover their children for longer--the individual mandate apparently counteracts all the positives. The poll found that 26% support the law in its entirety, but an additional 25% support it without the individual mandate.

(Oct 12, 2017 3:33 AM CDT) There's more than cash going down the drain in Switzerland. About $2 million in gold and $1.8 million in silver ends up in Switzerland's sewers each year, according to an environmental study commissioned by the Swiss government. Strange as it sounds, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology say it's not much of a surprise that 95 pounds of gold and 6,600 pounds of silver from Switzerland's gold refineries and watchmaking industry find a way into wastewater systems, along with trace amounts of rare earth minerals used in electronic components and even some paints, per CNN Money. If you're considering donning a hazmat suit for a smelly treasure hunt, however, you may want to reconsider. After checking 64 wastewater treatment plants across the country for elements discharged in effluents or disposed of in sewage sludge and determining they pose no real danger to the environment, researchers generally concluded the metals aren't worth the trouble it would take to collect them, reports Atlas Obscura. They note, however, that in some areas where gold refineries are abundant, concentrations of gold in sewage sludge are sufficiently high for recovery to be potentially worthwhile. US sewers see a similar phenomenon. A 2015 study estimated that Americans send about $13 million worth of precious metals down the drain each year, thanks to their presence in hair care products, detergents, and the like, reports Time. (Gold was recently found in another unexpected place.)

(Jan 28, 2015 3:50 PM) A headstone in an upstate New York cemetery currently reads, Lest we forget the unidentified girl. After 35 years, that girl is finally getting a name: Tammy Jo Alexander. As the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, Alexander was a Florida teen who went missing between 1977 and 1979 and whose body was found in a cornfield in New York's Livingston County in November 1979. Alexander would have been 16 at the time, though authorities were never able to identify the body. She had been shot twice. The break in the case came last summer, when an old friend got to wondering about Alexander and tracked down her half-sister, reports People. After they spoke, a missing person's report on Alexander was finally filed--apparently the first one in the case. With that crucial step in place, investigators in the two states eventually matched up their cases, and a DNA sample from a relative confirmed Alexander's identity. Authorities still don't know who killed her or how she ended up 1,200 miles from home. A sister says Alexander ran away to escape a volatile, drug-addicted mother, reports WHAM-TV, and she also insists that the family filed a missing person's report when she disappeared. Officials, however, say there is no record of it. Her half-sister had always assumed that their mother had filed a missing person's report, says Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty. But she never did. This poor girl went missing 35 years ago and no one looked for her.

(Jul 11, 2017 1:23 PM CDT) A Florida man died of a gunshot wound nearly 60 years after the bullet was fired, a medical examiner says. John Henry Barrett , 77, died in May of an infection and complications related to the gunshot wound, leading the Palm Beach County medical examiner to rule it a homicide, per the AP. At age 19, Barrett was shot by a friend during a fight, with the bullet damaging his spinal cord and leaving him partially paralyzed. He was eventually able to walk with the aid of a cane. The friend, who was not identified in the medical examiner's report, served time in prison. Court and law enforcement officials told the Palm Beach Post they could not find any records with information about the suspect or the 1958 shooting. Barrett worked for three decades as a pastor and was a former executive director of the Pahokee Housing Authority. He told the Miami Herald in 1974 that the injury kept him from working in the fields, like many of his friends did--and that might have been a blessing. If the accident hadn't happened, I would have spent all of my life as a farm worker, he told the newspaper. His family told the Post that Barrett didn't speak often about the shooting but used it as a way to inspire others. He never wanted to be looked upon as (being disabled), said Terrance Lee, his great-nephew. He wanted to be looked up to as a normal person in society. That's the way he lived his life.

(May 24, 2011 2:23 PM CDT) Talk about unnecessary spending: Harold Camping shelled out some $100 million to advertise his May 21 Rapture claim--money that came largely from the sale of a TV channel and a radio station, says a Family Radio employee. A lot of reporters have got it wrong, said Matt Tuter. The largest portion of money did not come from donors. And it was used to make a fool of himself to the whole world. (Tuter emphasized he is an employee of Family Radio, not a follower of Camping, who co-founded it. Camping has actually predicted the world's end at least 10 times, Tuter tells the Christian Post (and now he's predicted it again). Most of those predictions weren't made public. Most people at Family Radio don't subscribe to the predictions--and Tuter pushed some would-be donors not to contribute. I remember when the organization was normal! Tuter says. It was not always about Harold Camping. But Camping has long fancied himself a seer of sorts. His brother said he has always been like that since he was a child. Click for more on Camping.

(Jun 9, 2015 11:18 AM CDT) The man best known for putting Charles Manson away and penning the best-selling book on the Manson Family's murderous spree died Saturday at age 80, reports the AP. As the New York Times reports, Vincent Bugliosi was the unknown and intense, ambitious Los Angeles prosecutor who stepped into the role of a lifetime and tried Manson and three of his followers--Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten--in one of America's most sensational trials. The trial detailed how Manson influenced dozens as a cult leader, and the media pounced on the entwinement of sex, drugs, and The Beatles' single Helter Skelter. Manson, 80, is serving a life sentence. Bugliosi detailed the gruesome murders--which included Sharon Tate, the pregnant actress married to director Roman Polanski--and the subsequent investigation and prosecution, in his 1974 book, Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. The best-selling release won the 1975 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book and inspired two television movies. The Minnesota-born attorney went on to publish a dozen more books, including Reclaiming History--a massive examination of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that took more than 20 years to complete. Bugliosi's son, Vince Jr., said it was his father's proudest work, per the Times. Bugliosi is also survived by his wife of 59 years, Gail, and a daughter, Wendy. He had fought cancer in recent years.

(Jul 18, 2009 6:03 AM CDT) Britain's oldest surviving veteran of World War I has died aged 113, the BBC reports. Henry Allingham, who became the world's oldest man after the death of a Japanese 113-year-old last month, passed away peacefully at a care home for veterans. Politicians and veterans' groups paid tribute to Allingham, who was highly active in keeping memories of the war alive and whose mind remained sharp until the end. Allingham, whose dynasty includes 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild, once quipped that his longevity was due to cigarettes, whisky, and wild, wild women. Others put it down to sheer determination. He was a very dignified, very gentle man, one historian who knew Allingham says. He was so surprised to survive the first world war that he saw whatever came next as a reward. He made the most of his life.

(May 15, 2012 12:44 PM CDT) Nearly one in three adults in the US have sleepwalked, a new study finds. Researchers surveyed 16,000 Americans and found that 29% of respondents said they had sleepwalked at least once; almost 3% said they do it as often as once a month and another 1% said they do it at least twice a month. Prior to this, We did not know what was the prevalence of sleepwalking--as a disorder--in the general population, and that was a big problem, says the lead researcher. Prior research has been based on lab studies, but this one focused on home sleepwalking activity. Among its other findings: severe depression, OCD, insomnia, and sleep apnea can increase the likelihood you'll sleepwalk. Also linked to an increased possibility of sleepwalking: drinking heavily and taking sleeping pills, Reuters reports.

(Jan 5, 2009 6:11 PM) Prosecutors are fuming after Bernard Madoff mailed more than $1 million in jewelry to his sons on Christmas Eve, the New York Post reports. The Ponzi schemer was dragged into court today but left under house arrest pending written arguments. Madoff's bail agreement allows such a gift, but an SEC probe doesn't. Madoff's lawyer argued that the mailed bling amounted to small change.

(Sep 18, 2020 4:23 AM CDT) A lower league soccer team in Germany worried about coronavirus infection socially distanced themselves from each other, the opposing team's players--and apparently the ball. Ripdorf lost 37-0 on Sept. 13 after their request to have the game against local rivals SV Holdenstedt II was rejected, the BBC reports. They said they felt the game was unsafe because Holdenstedt players came into contact in a game less than 14 days ago with somebody who tested positive for COVID-19. Ripdorf fielded only seven players--the minimum number allowed--instead of the usual 11. They would have faced a fine of 200 Euros, around $240, if they had refused to play. We tried to postpone the match. But Holdenstedt wanted to play, Ripdorf co-chair Patrick Ristow tells ESPN. We are thankful those seven players volunteered, otherwise the club would have faced a EUR200 fine for abandoning the match, he says. That's a lot of money for us, especially amid the pandemic. He says that during the game, Ripdorf players stood on the pitch but did not go into direct duels and kept their distance from Holdenstedt players at all times. Their opponents scored at a rate of a goal every two minutes. There was no reason not to play this game, Holdenstedt coach Florian Schierwater said afterward.

(Feb 12, 2018 5:21 AM) Both parties agree that America's infrastructure is in need of some serious work after decades of under-investment, but the $1.5 trillion plan President Trump plans to roll out Monday is still expected to be controversial--especially because of disagreements over where the $1.5 trillion is supposed to come from. The plan involves around $200 billion in federal funding over 10 years, to be taken from cuts to other programs, including $100 billion in incentives to state and local governments to stimulate spending on infrastructure such as highways, ports, and airports, reports Reuters. Democrats had sought greater federal funding and new revenue, possibly through a hike in the gas tax, though White House aides say the Trump plan is just the starting point for negotiations. The proposal requires cities, counties, and states to put up at least 80% of a project's cost themselves before they can get 20% federal funding, which reverses the 80-20 federal-state funding split in place for many highways, NPR reports. The federal funding to be announced Monday also includes around $50 billion toward rural infrastructure projects. Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, praised the proposals, the AP reports. When ports are clogged, trucks are delayed, power is down, water is shut off, or the internet has a lapse, modern manufacturers' ability to compete is threatened and jobs are put at risk, he said. There is no excuse for inaction. Critics, however, said the plan needs more federal investment--and called moves to speed the approval process, including reducing environmental reviews, a corporate giveaway.

(May 23, 2016 2:33 PM CDT) A purported organized-crime incident in Japan put the emphasis on organized in a crime that RT.com is labeling Ocean's 100. Cops believe that more than 100 thieves took part in a spree in Tokyo and 16 other prefectures on May 15, cleaning out 7-Eleven ATMS of nearly $13 million in less than three hours, the Guardian reports. Just after 5am that day, the mass withdrawals started, with the meticulous money-nabbers making a total of 14,000 or so transactions, each one reaping about $915 (the maximum allowed per ATM), before wrapping things up right before 8am. Investigators think the suspects, believed to be part of an international gang, were able to access customer accounts by using fake credit cards with account details stolen from a South Africa bank. No suspects have been caught, and officials fear they may have all fled the country. (A $1 billion bank heist was thwarted by a typo.)

(Oct 7, 2015 8:42 AM CDT) Just when you thought Mitt Romney's 47% comment, which he said was the percentage of Americans dependent on the government and not paying income tax, had made way for a new election cycle's gaffes, that number now needs another revision. Per the Tax Policy Center, the percentage of US households that don't pay income tax is settled in at 45.3%, the Hill reports--nearly five percentage points more than 2013's 40.4%. Not that it looks like there's been anything significant causing the rise, the center notes. Instead, those additional non-payers were there all the time--we just failed to count them [accurately], the center's Sol Price Fellow says. It turns out the discrepancy can be partly attributed to individuals who never file returns, making it more difficult to gauge the accuracy of the stats, the Hill notes. (Romney's admitted his initial statement was wrong anyway.)

(May 20, 2013 6:31 PM CDT) Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complimented Jim Morrison's gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock's most enduring songs, has died. He was 74. Manzarek died today in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, said his publicist. His manager confirmed Manzarek died after being stricken by bile duct cancer. Manzarek's spidery organ on Light My Fire is one of the most instantly recognizable sounds in rock history. Manzarek continued to remain active in music well after Morrison's death in 1971 and briefly tried to hold the band together by serving as vocalist. He played in other bands over the years, produced other acts, became an author and worked on films.

(Mar 27, 2014 7:39 AM CDT) The FDA's first attempt to limit antibiotic use in farm animals appears to be working: All but one of the 26 drug companies asked to curb the use of antibiotics in animals to promote growth have agreed to do so, though the plan is voluntary. The plan will see the drug companies remove claims of growth promotion from their products, which will effectively make it illegal for the drugs to be used on livestock without a valid medical reason. Only antibiotics used similarly by humans--think penicillin and tetracycline--will be affected, and the 25 companies in agreement with the plan make 99.6% of those drugs. I think that within three years we're going to see growth promotion gone when it comes to antibiotics, one expert tells the Wall Street Journal. It's a big step forward, especially considering fears that drug makers would not come onboard, the Los Angeles Times reports. The FDA is attempting to fight the overuse of antibiotics because it is blamed for the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. But an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council says more must be done, because farms also use antibiotics to prevent sickness in animals due to crowded and unsanitary conditions. The FDA is just limiting antibiotic use for growth promotion, but the same animals are given the same antibiotics because of the crowded conditions, he says. Current levels of antibiotic use are likely to continue, but just with a different justification and label. That won't do anything to protect human health.

(Jan 31, 2017 8:47 AM) A co-defendant in one of the world's biggest art heists testified in court Monday he destroyed and threw away five art masterpieces worth more than $100 million that were stolen by a thief nicknamed the spider-man by French media. Yonathan Birn, accused of receiving stolen goods, was among three people who went on trial in the case, the AP reports. The five paintings stolen in 2010 from Paris' Museum of Modern Art--a Picasso, a Matisse, a Modigliani, a Braque, and a Fernand Leger--have never been found. I threw them into the trash, Birn tearfully repeated three times in court. I made the worst mistake of my existence. Investigators, however, are convinced the five paintings have been taken out of France, but they haven't been able to prove it, court documents show. And Birn's co-defendants testified he was too smart to destroy the masterpieces. Lead suspect Vjeran Tomic, the one dubbed the spider-man, testified he was the one who broke into the museum on May 20, 2010, and took the paintings. Several hours after the burglary, Tomic said, he offered the five paintings to 61-year-old antiques dealer Jean-Michel Corvez, who confessed to being a receiver of stolen goods. Corvez became worried about keeping the artworks and showed them to his friend Birn, a 40-year-old expert and dealer in luxury watches. Birn said he agreed to buy the Modigliani for $86,000 and to store the others in his studio; the Modigliani was hidden in a bank safe, he said. Birn said he panicked when cops began investigating and threw them all into his workshop building's trash. Tomic said he was sure Birn didn't destroy the paintings and wants to know where they are. These are my artworks, he said. The trial is set to resume later this week.

(Mar 22, 2018 3:45 PM CDT) Frank Avruch, perhaps better known as Bozo the Clown, died Tuesday at age 89. Avruch, who died at his Boston home from heart disease, created the iconic character and originated the role in 1959, TMZ reports. He played the red-haired, frilly-collared clown until 1970 and was the first nationally-syndicated Bozo. He had a heart of gold, manager Stuart Hersh tells the AP. He brought the Bozo the Clown character to life better than anyone else's portrayal of Bozo the Clown. In addition to playing the character on the children's program Bozo the Clown, Avruch toured the world performing as Bozo for UNICEF. After getting his start in radio, Avruch was a longtime Boston TV personality on WCVB, hosting The Great Entertainment and Man About Town and appearing on Good Day in addition to his Bozo duties. He was also inducted into the National Television Academy's Gold Circle. While it's hard to say goodbye, we celebrate the legacy of joy and laughter he brought to millions of children around the world, his family says in a statement. Our dad loved the children of all ages who remembered being on his show and was always grateful for their kind words. We will miss him greatly. Larry Harmon, who played Bozo after Avruch left the role, died in 2008.

(Jan 2, 2013 3:18 PM) Tennessee Waltz singer Patti Page has died at age 85, reports the Tennessean. Page was a huge star in the 1950s with hits such as (How Much Is That) Doggy in the Window, but Waltz turned into her signature hit and became one of the best-selling records of all time, reports AP. It was also an afterthought: Mercury Records made it the B-side of a Christmas song called Boogie Woogie Santa Claus. I was a kid from Oklahoma who never wanted to be a singer, but was told I could sing, Page said in 1999. And things snowballed.

(Dec 20, 2012 7:55 AM) InterContinentalExchange Inc. has agreed to buy NYSE Euronext, the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, for $8.2 billion, the two companies announced this morning. ICE, an Atlanta-based commodity exchange, says it intends to leave the NYSE's branding alone, and would explore an IPO for Euronext, spinning it off into a continental European entity, the Wall Street Journal reports. It will pay $33.12 a share for the elder exchange, or about a 37% premium on yesterday's close. You might remember ICE from its last attempt to buy the NYSE, which failed thanks to antitrust concerns from regulators. While the 12-year-old company may lack the name recognition of the iconic NYSE, it's much larger in terms of market capitalization, at $9.3 billion to NYSE Euronext's $5.8 billion--a sign, the New York Times observes, of how completely commodity trading has outpaced stock trading in relevance.

(Mar 29, 2013 6:16 AM CDT) Typically, a voyage to the International Space Station is a two-day affair. Though it's just 250 miles from the Earth, it's constantly moving, complicating the trip. But a team of three astronauts--two Russian, one from NASA--arrived at 10:28pm last night after just a five-hour, 45-minute journey, CNN reports. Normally, a spacecraft headed to the ISS circles the Earth 16 times during the trip; in the latest excursion, the Soyuz spacecraft orbited the planet just four times, thanks in part to equipment and computer software improvements. We're trying to cut that amount of time that they had to be in those close quarters, says a NASA rep. Still, officials may ultimately decide the longer trip is better because it gives astronauts more time to get acclimated to space. For the astronauts, many of the flight tasks are the same--they just have to be done more quickly, a NASA official says in a Space.com video. The crew will spend some six months at the ISS.

(Sep 22, 2014 11:48 AM CDT) A 19-year-old Rutgers student has died following what reports call a small gathering at a fraternity house. Alcohol may have been a factor in Caitlyn Kovacs' death, which is currently under police investigation; an autopsy will reveal the cause. The New Jersey resident passed out at the Delta Kappa Epsilon house; friends took her to the hospital around 3am yesterday, at which point she appeared to be in distress, a prosecutor says, as the Daily Targum reports. She was pronounced dead shortly afterward, and hospital staff notified police. Friends remember Kovacs fondly, calling her upbeat and bubbly, NJ.com reports. She was a good kid with a good head on her shoulders, says a high school classmate. We're pretty torn up over here. It's very raw, says the president of Rutgers' Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter, as WNBC reports. In a statement, the fraternity has offered its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Caitlyn Kovacs and Rutgers students.

(Jul 20, 2014 8:40 AM CDT) RJ Reynolds is about $23.6 billion poorer after a Florida jury awarded a widow a whopping $23.6 billion in damages over her husband's death from lung cancer. As the Pensacola News Journal notes, it's one of the largest verdicts ever against a tobacco company, and a Reynolds exec tells the AP that the company will fight the grossly excessive award. This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness, and is completely inconsistent with the evidence presented, he said. They'll appeal because they always appeal, that's the attitude they have, said a lawyer for widow Cynthia Robinson, whose husband, a longtime smoker, died in 1996. But no matter how the ball bounces with the appeal, it's not the money that's important in this case. Robinson's suit is among thousands of individual lawsuits filed after Florida's Supreme Court threw out a $145 billion class-action settlement in 2006. The award comes as Reynolds this week announced it was acquiring Lorillard in a $27 billion deal.

(Jan 5, 2010 9:39 PM) Looking for a true dark horse to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2012? Put your money on Gen. David Petraeus, the architect of the Iraq and Afghanistan war strategies, who's soon to receive a big award from the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Paul Bedard writes for US News & World Report's Washington Whispers blog. And though Petraeus is said to be reluctant to oppose President Obama, a scheduled May lecture could add fuel to fire from center-rightists.

(Sep 27, 2009 8:11 AM CDT) Rescuers plucked bodies from muddy floodwaters and saved drenched survivors from rooftops today after a tropical storm tore through the northern Philippines and left at least 106 people dead and missing. It was the region's worst flooding in more than four decades. The government declared a state of calamity in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces. Tropical Storm Ketsana roared across the northern Philippines yesterday, dumping more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours--16.7 inches in all--resulting in landslides and flooding that left at least 83 people dead and 23 others missing. TV footage showed drenched survivors still marooned on top of half-submerged passenger buses and rooftops in the suburbs of Manila. Some dangerously clung on high-voltage power lines while others plodded through waist-high flood waters.

(Feb 27, 2009 12:00 PM) President Obama didn't mince his words in his address at Camp Lejeune, NC, today. By Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end, he declared, earning his first applause from the audience of Marines. Iraq is not yet secure, and there will be difficult days ahead, he said, but all US troops will be out by the end of 2011, USA Today reports. Those dates are in line with the Status of Forces agreement the Bush administration signed with Iraq. Obama said he settled on the Aug. 31 deadline, three months later than the 16 months promised during the campaign, after consulting with military leaders. He also reassured Iraqis that America pursues no claim on your territory or resources, and is hoping for a new era of American leadership and engagement in the Middle East.

(Dec 14, 2018 1:35 PM) Facebook said Friday that a software bug affecting nearly 7 million users may have exposed a broader set of photos to app developers than what those users intended. Although this doesn't mean the photos were actually seen by anyone, the revelation of the bug offers another reminder of just how much data Facebook has on its 2.27 billion users and how often these sorts of slip-ups happen, per the AP. In a blog post, the company said the bug affected 6.8 million people who granted permission for third-party apps to access the photos. Facebook said that the users' photos may have been exposed for 12 days in September and that the bug was fixed.

(Jul 23, 2014 9:10 AM CDT) A New Hampshire woman who called police after stopping in a highway median to help some stranded ducklings plans to fight a $100 ticket. Hallie Bibeau of Newfields tells WMUR-TV she was driving east on Route 101 on Friday when she had to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting the ducklings. She says their mother and several of the ducklings were hit by a car, and the mother died. Bibeau called 911, got out of her car, and captured the two surviving ducklings, but a state trooper issued her a ticket for stopping in the median. Police say median stops are for emergencies, and they didn't consider this to be one. Officials say the ducklings were taken to a wildlife rescue in Maine.

(Aug 10, 2018 8:48 AM CDT) President Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has had a rough go of it lately, having been hacked at with a pickax last month and the subject of a unanimous (but essentially symbolic) vote by the West Hollywood City Council on Monday to have it removed. Now, a reversal of fortunes: It's multiplied to cover at least 50 squares. That's thanks to a unnamed conservative street artist who says the prior two events spurred him and his partners (self-dubbed the Faction ) to plaster $1,000 worth of stars made of adhesive-backed floor vinyl on the Walk of Fame. The man behind the effort tells the Hollywood Reporter it was funded in part by a young and anonymous entrepreneur. The Reporter got the 50 count from a member of the cleaning crew responsible for the upkeep of the walk who started removing the stars Thursday morning. Mashable reports the Faction self-identifies as a rogue right-wing street artist on Instagram and on Thursday tweeted, Take down his star, and we will descend upon you with 30 fresh new stars. We are MAGA Legion.

(Feb 9, 2019 5:30 PM) What looked like a shipment of speakers leaving for Australia contained so much more--a record-high 1.7 tons of methamphetamine, ABC News reports. Customs and Border Protection also uncovered nearly 60 pounds of cocaine and 11.5 pounds of heroin in the Jan. 11 seizure at Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport. Total street value: $1.29 billion, say Australian officials. Two Americans and four Australians, all linked to a US-based transnational crime syndicate, have been arrested in what authorities are calling a significant blow to the crime group, the LA Times reports. (US authorities have also made their biggest-ever fentanyl bust.

(Oct 29, 2014 3:50 PM CDT) The Schwandt family has 12 kids--all boys. Now, they're expecting a new sibling, and the parents are waiting until it's born to find out its sex, MLive reports. If we were to have a girl, I think we would go into shock, says Michigan mom Kateri. She says she'd actually slightly prefer to have another boy: We know what we are doing. Why change things up? Dad Jay, however, is hoping for a girl. I've experienced all the boy stuff, he notes. As long as we are having all these children, it would be really neat to experience the other side. Either way, we are both super excited, and obviously we are just hoping for a healthy baby, says Jay, noting that his sons are split on whether they're hoping for a girl or another boy. The couple's oldest son is 22, while the youngest was born in August of last year. The next one is due in May. In the meantime, I love being pregnant, says Kateri, who herself has 13 siblings. I've spent half of my life being pregnant. The Catholic Schwandts, who live north of Grand Rapids, are opposed to birth control, the AP reports.

(Apr 7, 2013 3:45 PM CDT) The remake of 1981 cult classic Evil Dead devoured the box office this weekend, taking in $26 million domestically and $30.5 million worldwide, says the Hollywood Reporter. Left shaking in its wake was DreamWorks' prehistoric comedy The Croods and G.I. Joe: Retaliation with about $21.1 million apiece. Internationally, Retaliation is on the verge of beating the first film in the series about America's moveable fighting man, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, after just two weekends. Meanwhile, a different type of reanimated corpse attacked movie screens: The 3D re-release of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park earned $18.2 million, making it one of the top openings ever for a 3D conversion. It also broke records for IMAX, which accounted for most of the ticket sales.

(Mar 3, 2012 5:46 AM) BP has agreed to pay about $7.8 billion to thousands of individuals and businesses around the Gulf of Mexico in economic and medical compensation for the massive 2010 oil spill, reports the Washington Post. About $2.3 billion will go to compensation to the seafood industry alone. BP also agreed to pay for medical consultations for people with health-related claims for the next 21 years, along with $105 million for improving health care around the region. A trial scheduled to begin Monday has been adjourned for now. The deal, however, does not include the federal or state governments, whose claims are much larger. Earlier estimates have BP facing up to $51 billion in fines and compensation for the spill. So far, the company says it has already paid more than $22 billion--$14 billion in clean-up costs and $8.1 billion in compensation. The $7.8 billion is only an estimate, and lawyers for the plaintiffs said BP had agreed to pay all legitimate claims. The settlement is to be fully funded by BP, with no cap on the amount BP will pay, said a representative for the plaintiffs.

(Apr 20, 2010 4:08 PM CDT) After quaffing your Burger King mimosa, be sure to leave room for a 7-Eleven beer. The convenience store has begun selling its own brand, called Game Day. The chain is trying to take advantage of the rising demand for low-cost beer in the recession, writes Joshua M. Bernstein at Slashfood. Figure about $8 for a 12-pack, notes AP. Sometimes this gambit pays off, such as the medal-winning Mission Street pale ales and IPAs that California's Firestone Walker brews for Trader Joe's, writes Bernstein. But brand-wise, Trader Joe's sits on a slightly more elevated plane than a convenience store selling unnaturally glistening, endlessly rotating hot dogs.

(Jun 18, 2008 8:48 AM CDT) LinkedIn--the buttoned-down, anti-Facebook social networking site for professionals--is about to up its profile with a $53 million infusion of private equity that will allow it to make acquisitions and expand its reach overseas, reports the New York Times. The new financing values the company at a hefty $1 billion, in between the $580 million News Corp. paid for MySpace in 2005 and the $15 billion value assigned to Facebook last year when Microsoft bought a stake. A rumored IPO of the 4-year-old company has been put on indefinite hold. The site, where the average age of its 23 million members is 41, has more diversified revenue streams than its purely social peers. A quarter of its projected $100 million in income this year flows from advertising; other revenue comes from premium subscriptions for users and recruitment tools for companies.

(May 21, 2020 7:05 PM CDT) A pandemic season played in empty stadiums would be problematic for the NFL. About $5.5 billion of stadium revenue would be out the window, Forbes reports. That includes money lost in tickets, concessions, sponsors and parking and at team stores. Some franchises would suffer more than others. The Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots would lose more than half their usual take, based on 2018 figures, while the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals would be down about a third. The players would take a hit, too: 47% of football-related income is slated to go to them in the 2020 season under the collective bargaining agreement. But more than money would be lost, one player said. I feel like you need fans to play the game, said Aaron Donald, a star defensive lineman or the Los Angeles Rams. Playing in an empty stadium wouldn't be fun to me, he said, per the AP. It's not certain that the NFL will play with spectators watching only on TV. Health officials could endorse opening stadiums. Or some states could allow fans while others don't, ProFootballTalk points out. Donald realizes the decision is out of his hands, but he said he counts on the crowd. The fans would give you that extra juice when you're tired and fatigued, he said. When you make that big play and you hear 80,000 fans going crazy, that pumps you up. Without them, he said, There's just no excitement.

(Aug 12, 2011 4:17 PM CDT) Mitt Romney has a net worth of up to a quarter of a billion dollars, reports the Boston Globe. His campaign estimates the total to be somewhere between $190 million and $250 million in a financial disclosure filed with the FEC. The total, which hasn't changed much over the past four years, should easily give him the deepest pockets of any candidate. Jon Huntsman hasn't filed yet, however. Romney earns millions in a retirement deal from Bain Capital, the venture firm he created and ran until 1999, and he raked in hefty speaking fees over the last year, including $68,000 to address the National Franchisee Association in Las Vegas. He also pulled in $114,000 for sitting on the board at Marriott International, notes the Globe. So much for being unemployed.

(Oct 9, 2019 9:55 AM CDT) Johnson & Johnson is facing lawsuits from more than 13,000 people over the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, and now one of those complaints has spurred an enormous payout. The AP and New York Times report that a Philly jury has come in with an $8 billion award in punitive damages against J&J and one of its subsidiaries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, after a Maryland man claimed Risperdal he took as a child to treat autism led to breast enlargement, a incurable condition in men known as gynecomastia. Plaintiff Nicholas Murray, 26, alleged that J&J failed to adequately warn doctors of the risks of the drug, which he took for a 5-year period beginning at age 9, reports the Washington Post. Compensatory damages for Murray amounting to $680,000 had previously been awarded in 2016. This jury resoundingly told Johnson & Johnson that its actions were deliberate and malicious, Murray's lawyers said in a statement, adding that J&J disregarded the safety of the most vulnerable of children. In its own statement, J&J called the verdict excessive and unfounded, complaining that it wasn't allowed to present as evidence labeling that shows users were adequately warned of the drug's risks, as well as that the plaintiff's attorneys failed to present any evidence that the plaintiff was actually harmed by the alleged conduct. The company adds it will be immediately moving to set aside the ruling. The Wall Street Journal notes J&J's other recent woes on the lawsuit front, including billions in damages for cases of cancer linked to its baby powder, as well as settlements it's been reaching involving the opioid crisis. (A similar case linked to Risperdal here.)

(Sep 29, 2011 3:44 PM CDT) A handful of workers at Boeing's Ridley Park plant were apparently doing more than building military aircraft: The FBI today arrested 36 current and former employees, along with a 37th individual, who were allegedly involved in illegally distributing prescription drugs. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the arrests follow a four-year investigation, which began at the behest of Boeing officials. The 37 either allegedly sold drugs to someone working with the FBI, or bought drugs (in truth placebo pills) from that individual. US Attorney Zane David Memeger shared details: Most of those arrested ranged from their 40s to 60s in age, and were connected to prescription drugs like fentanyl, oxycodone, and Xanax. This wasn't an organized ring. It was a number of independent actors, he said. A number of independent sellers and no shortage of buyers were found by investigators. Meanwhile, in Illinois, word of another bust: The Illinois Tollway announced that it has pressed charges against a dozen employees who reportedly stole $25,000 in toll money, reports the Chicago Tribune.

(Nov 15, 2013 11:07 AM) Toronto's City Council voted overwhelmingly to clip Rob Ford's wings today, with the first in a series of motions designed to make him mayor in name only, the National Post reports. The council voted 39-3 to strip Ford of the power to appoint and dismiss the deputy mayor and the rest of his senior staff--with the nay votes coming from Ford, his brother Doug, and David Shiner. And even Shiner abandoned the Fords when the council voted to strip the mayor's emergency powers, 41-2. Those votes are preambles to a Monday vote that will give the deputy mayor all the powers not explicitly given to the mayor by law. But the Fords aren't going quietly. The people didn't vote for the deputy mayor, Doug pointed out, according to the Globe and Mail, adding, I don't want to call it a coup d'etat... The mayor himself took it in stride. I would have done the same thing. I'm not mad at anybody, he said, before lamenting that the vote would cost the city money--because he'll be fighting it in court.

(Jun 2, 2010 3:18 PM CDT) A Texas woman walking on the beach found $2.1 million dollars worth of cocaine, the Houston Chronicle reports. The Galveston beachcomber told police she saw a backpack in the water that ended up containing 16 cocaine bricks weighing about 37 pounds. The cocaine was clearly part of a professional operation--the bricks were marked with bar codes and well-protected from the water. Only four bricks had been damaged. There were barnacles growing on the bag so you know it was probably in the water a long time, a police spokesman said.

(Aug 2, 2009 6:15 PM CDT) The Iraqi robbers who killed eight security guards and stole $4.8 million from a Baghdad bank this week were army officers, not insurgents, the Los Angeles Times reports. Iraqi police revealed today the arrest of four elite officers assigned to guard Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi. It was a genuine test of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a lawmaker said. It is clear that everyone is subject to the law. The arrests further fueled the notion that political factions can be as deadly as militants in today's Iraq. With elections set for January, even Friday's bombings, which killed 29, may not be the work of extremists: You can't say every attack is Al Qaeda or the Baathists, one analyst said. There is quite a connection between these attacks and political reasons. Some people inside the system don't want stability in the Iraqi state.

(Jun 16, 2009 1:01 PM CDT) Donte' Stallworth pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter today, the Miami Herald reports, as part of a deal that will send him to prison for 30 days. After that, the Browns receiver will serve two years of house arrest and eight years' probation in the March 14 crash that killed a 59-year-old pedestrian. He'll also perform 1,000 hours of community service, and make a payment to the victim's family. I will continue to bear this burden the rest of my life, Stallworth told the judge. The 28-year-old had faced up to 15 years in prison, but prosecutors said they offered him a deal because of his remorse, cooperation, and clean driving record. He was taken into custody immediately following the sentencing.

(Feb 3, 2012 12:40 AM) A 6-year-old Bronx boy has died after ingesting methadone stashed by his mom in a medicine bottle. The boy's father gave him a dose of what he thought was DayQuil to help relieve cold systems. He had no idea his wife had stored her methadone in the bottle, police said. The boy collapsed and was rushed to a local hospital where he later died. Mom Raquel DeLeon has been charged with reckless endangerment, reports the New York Daily News.

(Mar 20, 2019 9:25 AM CDT) The family of a Pennsylvania man killed after he fled a clearing where he was growing 10 pot plants fault state authorities for chasing him with equipment similar to a military tank. Though his friend was arrested at the game preserve in Berks County on July 9, 2018, Gregory Longenecker, 51, took off into brush so thick even a tracking dog couldn't get though, reports the Washington Post. With a helicopter overhead, a state trooper boarded a bulldozer with a Pennsylvania Game Commission employee, who'd been using the equipment when he'd spotted a car that didn't belong. Hours into cutting a trail, the pair found Longenecker dead. According to investigators, the suspect had, with a toxic level of methadone and methamphetamine in his system, crawled between the treads when the bulldozer briefly stopped. Its next move was to the left. Practically every bone from his pelvis to his collarbone was crushed, lacerated, or broken, per a lawsuit filed Monday by family members, who doubt Longenecker hid beneath the machine. They say the state trooper and Game Commission employee acted against all common sense and respect for life. Instead of utilizing machinery with similar force and characteristics of a military tank, troopers should've waited for Longenecker to emerge, or approached him later, as he wasn't a threat to the public. However, District Attorney John Adams argues the family would've been angry if Longenecker, who refused to surrender, had gotten injured after troopers left, per the AP. The DA's office ruled in August that the actions of state police were reasonable and conducted in a safe manner, though the ACLU disagrees.

(Dec 22, 2020 7:23 AM) For 253 days, Taiwan avoided any local transmission of COVID-19. But that impressive streak came to an end Tuesday with news that a woman in her 30s had tested positive after close contact with a pilot who'd flown to the US. The pilot, a New Zealand man in his 60s, flew a Taiwanese airline cargo plane to the US on Nov. 29, and returned to Taiwan on Dec. 4. The woman, a friend, is believed to have had contact with him between Dec. 8-12, when he is also known to have visited locations around Taipei, per the Guardian. Health authorities say he was coughing during another flight to the US on Dec. 12. His two co-pilots later tested positive. The New Zealander was tested in Taiwan on Friday and confirmed as a quarantined case on Sunday. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung confirmed the woman, representing the first local case outside hotel quarantine since April 12, had close contact with the pilot, per Reuters. Health authorities, who've helped prevent the spread of the virus to just 770 people in Taiwan since the start of the pandemic, are already testing more than 100 contacts of the woman. Her employer has not uncovered related cases so far, per Reuters. Meanwhile, the pilot faces a fine of more than $11,000 for violating Taiwan's communicable diseases law, per the Guardian. Chen said he hadn't correctly reported all of his contacts and locations. As a pilot, the New Zealander was excluded from a 14-day quarantine upon entering Taiwan, though he was to isolate for three days.

(Sep 20, 2008 12:00 PM CDT) The Bush administration today formally asked Congress to authorize a $700 billion fund, administered by the Treasury Department, to help troubled financial institutions unload bad debt, the Washington Post reports. The figure is $200 billion higher than legislators were led to expect yesterday, and the national debt limit would be raised to $11.3 trillion. It is a big package because it's a big problem, said President Bush, who added that he abandoned his free-market impulses because of the risks involved for the financial system. The streamlined proposal to Congress, not even 3 pages long, represents the biggest government bailout since the Great Depression. The $700 billion figure represents $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in the US, the New York Times notes. Meetings are underway on Capitol Hill between congressional and Treasury Department staffers to work out the details before an expected vote next week.

(Nov 20, 2013 4:29 PM) During their third-grade play in 1938, George Raynes played Prince Charming and Carol Harris was Sleeping Beauty. He wasn't supposed to really kiss her, but I laid a big wet one on her, the now 83-year-old Raynes tells CBC of New Brunswick. No young romance bloomed at the time, but 75 years later, the Saint John residents have gotten married. Raynes is a widower who raised a family, and Harris never married. But they did stay in touch over the years, and now I can't help but think ... that my prince from Grade 3 has finally come home to stay, says Harris.

(Nov 9, 2010 3:56 PM) As the baby boomer generation enters old age, the graying of America may be felt dramatically on the road. In 15 years, 1 in 5 drivers will be 65 or older, reports AP. The NTSB is already trying to gauge the impact that might have--though smart cars and smart roads could make up for slower reflexes and keep people on the road longer. Inevitably, though, boomers will live longer than their ability to drive, resulting in what experts call a mobility gap --a sizable population of former drivers who have outlived their ability to be independently mobile. For many, our homes will be house arrest, says one MIT researcher on aging. But for those who continue to drive, the road could be increasingly dangerous. Fatalities from crashes start to increase around age 75, and a driver over 85 is more likely to die in a crash than a teenager.

(Jul 31, 2018 6:52 AM CDT) Shares for the parent company of MoviePass plunged Monday, dropping 60% to close at $0.80 and prompting Forbes to make a dire prediction: The end is near for the subscription service, which was charging users $9.95 per month for the ability to see a movie a day in theaters. In an emergency move last week, Helios and Matheson put in place a 1-for-250 reverse stock split and borrowed $5 million to keep things afloat, as it had depleted funds to pay theaters for tickets. The low closing price is notable because a company can be delisted from Nasdaq if its stock stays below $1 for a certain number of consecutive days. Deadline notes the company's cash-flow problem led to outages on the MoviePass app over the weekend, specifically for subscribers trying to buy tickets for Mission Impossible: Fallout. And not including major movie releases on the service may be the indefinite future: Business Insider reports that at an all-hands meeting on Monday, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe announced that The Meg and Christopher Robin, coming out in theaters in early August, wouldn't be available to subscribers through the app. In a letter Friday, Lowe also said that subscribers wanting to see films in high demand on Opening Weekend would have to pay a surcharge--what he calls Peak Pricing, and which a MoviePass rep told Quartz earlier this month could mean a surcharge of between $2 and $6. Lowe also noted that as we continue to evolve the service, certain movies may not always be available in every theater on our platform. Some users are calling this all a bait and switch, per the Washington Post, which calls the service's moves another step toward the abyss.