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Cops: Girl, 17, Separated From Friends Is Assaulted 3 Times | (Oct 13, 2017 10:02 AM CDT) A 17-year-old girl who became separated from friends after a night out experienced the unthinkable in East London, say police: three sexual assaults within a 60-minute period. The BBC reports the teen was seen on surveillance footage in the area just before midnight on Sept. 29. She was being carried by a man who is believed to have assaulted her on Cambridge Heath Road; items of her clothing were found in the area. Just after midnight, more footage shows her being followed down another street by a man wheeling a bicycle who police say was her second attacker. In the third alleged attack, thought to have occurred minutes later around 12:45, as many as three men may have been involved. |
Monaco Will Spend $2B to Get 3% Bigger | (Nov 21, 2017 7:35 AM) Monaco is set to get 3% bigger. The Guardian looks at Prince Albert II's decision to green-light a construction project that will see 15 acres of land reclaimed from the sea so that more luxury homes can be built on it. The prices are astronomical, and so too, apparently, will be the demand: With its lax tax laws—no personal income tax and no inheritance tax, for instance—about a third of Monaco's residents are millionaires, and the Guardian cites real-estate research that suggests that within 10 years, that figure could jump to roughly 42%. But Monaco measures just 485 acres, and there's basically no more room for additional housing, which can go for as much as $10,000 per square foot. The new Portier Cove neighborhood, which will cost $2 billion to construct, is not the first reclamation project Monaco has undertaken, notes Business Insider: The larger Fontvieille district was constructed in the 1970s. In a 2016 article on the project, the Telegraph reported the project would take 10 years, and that the foundations for the titanic operation alone would take more than 3 years to construct. Hundreds of thousands of tons of sand will be imported from Sicily to create the new land. (in the 20th century, the US shrunk by one square mile.) |
Burger Heiress Turns 35, Becomes Billionaire | (May 5, 2017 1:13 PM CDT) Lynsi Snyder, the mysterious heiress to the In-N-Out Burger fortune, turned 35 years old Friday—which means she's now a billionaire. Per the trust put in place by her grandparents, the founders of the California-based chain, Snyder has been receiving stakes in the company for the past 10 years; as of her 35th birthday, she received the last portion, meaning she now owns 97% of the company and is worth an estimated $1.3 billion, Forbes reports. Snyder's grandfather died in 1976, Business Insider reports; her uncle then took over until he died in 1993. Snyder's father took over after that, but he died in 1999, at which point Snyder started getting more involved. She became president in 2010, four years after her grandmother died. She has made few changes to the company's simple burger-and-fries formula, though she did expand the chain from four states to six; its revenue has risen 57% to an estimated $870 million since she took over. |
Ikea to Pay $50M to Families of Kids Killed by Falling Dressers | (Dec 22, 2016 8:10 AM) Ikea will pay $50 million to the families of three toddlers crushed by its dressers since 2014 in what might be the largest-ever settlement for a case involving the death of a child, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. The families, who filed wrongful death suits, will split the money evenly after paying lawyers' fees. Ikea will also donate $50,000 to three children's hospitals and $100,000 to a children's safety nonprofit, per NBC News. He would be proud that we fought so hard and for him, says the mother of one 2-year-old victim. Ikea has since recalled 29 million dressers and chests. |
Grandma Survives 5 Days Trapped in Car After Crash | (Jun 1, 2017 10:15 AM CDT) A 70-year-old Washington state woman has been reunited with loved ones after an ordeal that trapped her in her car at the bottom of an embankment for five days. KING-TV reports Sharon Leaming was driving back to Rochester from her vacation home in North Cove on Tuesday when she suffered a medical emergency that left her sleepy, dizzy, and with part of her face [dragging] down a little, per her daughter, Tammie Pennypacker. She knew that she was in trouble, Pennypacker says of her mother's thoughts right before she flew off Highway 12 and 30 feet down an embankment. She wasn't due home until Thursday, so her family didn't report her missing until then, and they joined in the search for Leaming, who's in the early stages of dementia. Her own nephew, Bob Stewart, found her Sunday when he noticed flattened brush and a tree with stripped-off bark, followed by yelling. Per Pennypacker, Leaming couldn't move due to her injuries, and so she had leaned on the horn for a couple of days until the battery died. She used the tiny amount of water she had to keep her mouth moistened to scream for help and subsisted on two bananas; there were also Pop-Tarts, but Leaming didn't eat them because she was afraid of choking. Her cellphone was out of reach, though the Olympian notes rescuers tried to find her car by tracing the phone but came up empty. Inside Edition reports Leaming was dehydrated and unable to walk, so she was airlifted to the hospital. A GoFundMe page notes she suffered a busted knee, ankle, and heel, as well as a chest rupture, but she's now in good spirits, joking, and already planning her next trip down the beach, Stewart tells KING. (A mom survived nearly two days in the Grand Canyon.) |
Her Identity Was a 40-Year-Old Secret. Then It Unraveled | (Dec 6, 2017 12:22 PM) Violeta Ortolani was eight months pregnant when she was detained by Argentina's military in 1976 during the country's Dirty War. Following the January 1977 birth of her daughter, the 23-year-old wasn't seen again, nor was her 21-year-old partner, Edgardo Garnier, following his detention in February of that year as he searched for the two. The child, now 40 and identified only as Adriana, was raised by another couple, believing they were her biological parents—but after their recent deaths, someone told her that wasn't the case, reports the BBC. I found out on a Saturday and on the Monday I had already gone to the Grandmothers. That's the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group devoted to tracking the children taken from parents who were among 30,000 Argentinians imprisoned or killed under a brutal dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, per the AP. Adriana took a DNA test and then heard nothing for four months. On Monday, she learned she was the 126th child found by the Grandmothers and the daughter of Ortolani and Garnier. The BBC notes Garnier's mother was herself involved with the Grandmothers and continually searched for her own lost grandchild. Though Adriana hasn't yet met her in person, they have spoken via phone. She is beautiful inside and out, says Adriana, adding love is stronger than hate, always. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo notes Ortolani and Garnier had been members of a left-wing student group while studying engineering in La Plata. (The group's founder previously located her grandson.) |
The 2020 Presidential Campaign Has Officially Begun | (Jul 28, 2017 2:13 PM CDT) It. Has. Begun. On Friday, Rep. John Delaney of Maryland officially became the first Democrat running to defeat President Trump in 2020. Delaney, 54, made the announcement with an op-ed in the Washington Post. It is time for us to rise above our broken politics and renew the spirit that enabled us to achieve the seemingly impossible, he writes. He says he believes he has an original approach to governing that will work for the American people and touts his blue-collar family and his past as a successful entrepreneur and job creator. The Baltimore Sun reports Delaney started a company that loaned money to nursing homes and doctors and founded a commercial and retail bank. At 32, he became the youngest CEO in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. Delaney will have an uphill battle to the presidency for multiple reasons. For one, the Democratic Party may be moving leftward too quickly for Delaney to keep up. Despite describing himself as progressive, his reputation in the House is as a bipartisan centrist. He opposes the $15 minimum wage and supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership, CNN reports. He also isn't well-known nationally—though being able to spend millions of his own fortune on his campaign could help with that. Delaney's early announcement for president is a sign of two things: Pretty much every Democrat in elected office thinks they can beat Trump, and the race for the Democratic nomination could be wide open with Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren all potentially sitting out. |
Verizon Getting 7% Discount on Yahoo After Massive Hacks | (Feb 21, 2017 1:48 PM) Seven months ago, Verizon agreed to buy Yahoo for $4.83 billion, the AP reports. Since then, Yahoo has revealed itself to have been the victim of the two biggest data breaches ever, resulting in information from more than a billion users being stolen. According to the Washington Post, experts expected Verizon to demand Yahoo knock billions off the purchase price or to simply call off the deal entirely. But on Tuesday, the companies announced the deal was going through—at a comparatively minor 7% discount. Verizon will now purchase Yahoo for $4.48 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. What's left of Yahoo after the sale—an entity to be known as Altaba—will split liability with Verizon for any future lawsuits that result from the Yahoo data breaches. Altaba alone will be responsible for whatever happens with an ongoing SEC investigation into the hacks. Sources say Verizon went through with the deal at a minor discount for multiple reasons. One, Verizon has a ton of money and a few billion dollars weren't going to make a difference to it. Two, Verizon says the number of Yahoo users who left following the hacks was minimal. Verizon is basically buying Yahoo in order to advertise to users on its news and sports sites, Tumblr, and Flickr; if a bunch of Yahoo users fled the service, Verizon would have fewer people to advertise to. Verizon, which already owns AOL and hopes to compete with Facebook and Google, wants to close the deal by the end of April. |
Stabbed 32 Times, Left to Die ... Saved by Prince Charming | (Mar 28, 2017 9:39 AM CDT) The first time Cameron Hill met Melissa Dohme, it was on the worst day of her life, she tells People—and earlier this month, they celebrated her (and their) best day. In what the 25-year-old describes as a dream come true on Facebook, the couple became husband and wife on March 4, five years after Dohme was brutally stabbed 32 times by an ex-boyfriend and left to die on the side of the road in Clearwater, Fla. Hill, an EMT, was a first responder who came upon the horrific scene and helped transport Dohme into a helicopter for a flight to a trauma center, CNN reports. She flatlined a handful of times and ended up in a coma after the 2012 attack. Still, as the chopper flew away, I had this crazy little feeling … that I would see Melissa again, Hill told 48 Hours, per CBS News. And they did, though not for many months, when they reunited at an event where Dohme was speaking. They started going out after that, and Hill was there by Dohme's side through her recovery, including extensive facial-nerve reconstructive surgery that enabled her to talk and smile again. Her strength was unbelievable, Hill, 42, tells People. It was at a 2015 Tampa Bay Rays game, where Dohme was set to throw out the first pitch, when Hill made a lifetime pitch of his own, bringing the ceremonial ball out to Dohme on the pitcher's mound with the words Will you marry me? scrawled across it. It was the happiest moment of my whole life, she tells 48 Hours. Life and love after abuse is possible, says Dohme Hill, who now works as a domestic violence advocate for a Tampa Bay nonprofit. (A twist on paramedics and brides: a paramedic bride.) |
200 Sites Peddled Fake Election News From Russia | (Nov 25, 2016 11:48 AM) Some of the anti-Hillary Clinton news stories that popped up in your social media feeds during the election campaign may have been put there by Russia. That's the conclusion of independent propaganda research group PropOrNot, which provided its report to the Washington Post. PropOrNot found more than 200 websites, including RT and Sputnik, published Russian propaganda during the election campaign that was read by 15 million Americans. The stories—reportedly the work of thousands of botnets, teams of paid human 'trolls,' and networks of websites and social-media accounts, per the Post—were then viewed an estimated 213 million times on Facebook. An earlier study identified a similar campaign conducted by organized hordes of trolls, per the Verge. The propaganda campaign was equivalent to some massive amount of a media buy, says PropOrNot's executive director. It was like Russia was running a super PAC for Trump's campaign … It worked. What the RT had to say in an email to the Post: RT adamantly rejects these claims. (Mark Zuckerberg maintains fake news didn't impact the election.) |
It Cost Taxpayers $330K for Security on Trump Kids' Ski Trip | (Sep 30, 2017 1:51 PM CDT) $329,561. That's how much it cost taxpayers to provide security for Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Eric Trump, and their families when they took a ski trip to Aspen last March, reports CBS News, which got the records through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Department of Homeland Security spent $195,700 on housing for the Secret Service, $26,000 on vehicle rentals, and nearly $22,000 on equipment—skis, boots, bicycles, etc.—so Secret Service agents could be with the Trump children as they skied. Another ski trip taken by Ivanka Trump and Kushner to Whistler, Canada, in April cost taxpayers $65,000 for Secret Service protection. On the other hand, two Aspen ski trips taken by Michelle, Malia, and Sasha Obama during the previous administration cost $166,000 and $65,000. |
Report: 75 Women Strangled in Chicago, Most Cases Unsolved | (Jan 14, 2018 2:41 PM) An investigation by the Chicago Tribune has found that at least 75 women have been strangled or smothered over the last 17 years, though arrests have been made in just a third of the cases. The newspaper reports that the women's bodies were found in vacant buildings, alleys, garbage cans, and snow banks. Many of the women struggled with drugs or prostitution, while some had no arrest records. Chicago police say they've found no evidence of a serial killer. The newspaper's analysis of medical examiner records and public crime reports also found that the women ranged in age from 18 to 58 and most were African American. Of the 75 cases, 25 have been closed with the arrests of 13 men. That leaves 67% unsolved, reports the AP. |
Conjoined Twins Separated in 21-Hour Surgery | (Jan 25, 2017 12:47 PM) Ballenie and Bellanie Camacho are separated for the first time since they were born 11 months ago. The twins, who were conjoined at the base of their spine, were separated during a 21-hour surgery that began Jan. 17, the AP reports. The girls, who are from the Dominican Republic, will be in the hospital for several weeks of recovery, but doctors say the outlook is good and the surgery gave them chances for better lives. More than 50 medical professionals were involved in the operation at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, New York. It was always a dream, the twins' mother tells Today. I would pray and dream that it would come together and now it has. She adds that, though she knew she was expecting twins, neither she nor the doctors realized the girls were conjoined until she gave birth. The family hopes to bring the girls home to the Dominican Republic within a few months. The first thing we'll do is go to the beach, says their father. |
He Was Executed in 1995. China Now Says He Was Innocent | (Dec 2, 2016 1:00 PM) In August 1994, a Chinese man was named a suspect in the rape and murder of Kang Juhua, whose body was found in the northern Hebei province. He was allegedly beaten into a confession, subjected to a trial his parents couldn't attend, and executed by gunshot without their knowledge seven months later. Now, 21 years after that, China's supreme court has declared Nie Shubin, just 20 years old at the time of his death, innocent. CNN calls it a landmark case that exposed deep flaws in China's criminal justice system, where 99.93% of cases ended with a conviction in 2013. In their ruling, the judges noted that Nie was made a suspect without a shred of evidence and that the time and cause of death and murder weapon couldn't be verified, reports the AP. And, then, there was the other confession. A man named Wang Shujin admitted to the crimes in 2005; it took nine years for a legal review of the case to commence—Beijing legal expert Xu Xin tells the New York Times the police and prosecutors who worked on the case drove the hold-up—and the court in June of this year decided the case should be retried. On Friday, Xinhua reports the Supreme People's Court, among other things, ruled the truth and legitimacy of Nie's confession were in doubt. Nie's mother, burdened by both the loss of her son and her husband's attempted suicide in the wake of Nie's death, broke down sobbing at the news. She tells CNN, I wanted to tell my son: you're a good person, you're innocent. Xinhua reports Wang was sentenced to death for unrelated rape and murder cases. (Something similar happened almost exactly two years ago.) |
Letterman's Unlikely Star Mom Dies at 95 | (Apr 12, 2017 9:24 AM CDT) David Letterman's mother, Dorothy Mengering, a Midwest homemaker who became an unlikely celebrity in her 70s as she baked mystery pies and covered the Olympics for her son's show, has died at age 95, per the AP. Letterman had made ironic celebrities out of dozens of regular folks before he thought to bring on his mom. But the moment he did, she became a hit, usually with a cheerful Hi, David! starting every appearance. The two had great on-air chemistry, her homespun sincerity proving the perfect foil for her son's urban acerbity. Her first appearances came via satellite from her kitchen in Carmel, Ind., for a segment called Guess Mom's Pies, which became a Thanksgiving tradition. Letterman would make a huge production before finally declaring, usually correctly, chocolate chiffon! or rhubarb! She really became a star when the show took her out of the kitchen. Mengering was a correspondent for the Letterman's Late Show at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, a role she reprised for the next two winter games, wearing bulky snow gear that made her tiny self almost invisible, and oozing pure sincerity even in absurd bits Letterman's writers had her perform. After Lillehammer, I couldn't believe how it all took off, Mengering told the New York Times in 1996. I think it's about the idea of mom and of a family. Mengering lived all her life in Indiana. She married Letterman's father, a florist named Harry Letterman, in 1942. He died in 1973, and she married structural engineer Hans P. Mengering, who died in 2013. Once famous, she put out a cookbook, 1996's Home Cookin' With Dave's Mom. (How Letterman would have handled Trump.) |
Veep Is Ending After 7 Seasons | (Sep 7, 2017 6:47 AM CDT) HBO says its much-honored political satire Veep is coming to an end. The cable channel said Wednesday that Veep will air its seventh and final season in 2018, the AP reports. Series star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won five consecutive Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Selina Meyer, a self-absorbed politician and failed president. The actress is up for a sixth trophy at the Sept. 17 Emmy ceremony. Louis-Dreyfus tried to comfort Veep fans over their pending loss. It's true BUT don't despair cuz we still have a whole season 7 to write and film, she tweeted. HBO programming chief Casey Bloys wrote in a statement that HBO respected the producers' decision to bring the show to a close, calling it bittersweet. It became clear that this season should be the last season, Louis-Dreyfus tells the Hollywood Reporter. We don't want to repeat ourselves or wear out our welcome, she says, though she admits it is tough to give up a role of a lifetime. Veep has also won two consecutive best comedy Emmys, and is in the running to repeat. Tony Hale, who plays Meyer's overly devoted personal aide, Gary, could pick up his third best supporting actor Emmy. (This lawmaker laughed so hard during an episode of Veep that he knocked himself out.) |
'Rosa Parks of Canada' to Appear on Nation's $10 Bill | (Dec 8, 2016 10:26 AM) Only one woman currently appears on Canadian currency, but Queen Elizabeth II is about to get a partner. Starting in 2018, civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond—aka the Rosa Parks of Canada —will have her mug on the country's $10 bill, the Toronto Star reports. The Globe and Mail relays the story that made Desmond famous in November 1946, when her car broke down in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. While she was waiting for her car to be repaired, she went to see a movie—but because she was nearsighted, she couldn't see well from the balcony seats where black patrons were made to sit. Instead, Desmond took a seat in the whites-only section on the floor. She refused to move when asked and ended up being arrested and spending the night in jail. She was charged and convicted of tax evasion (her balcony ticket cost a penny less than a floor ticket would have) and was fined $26. Desmond took her case all the way up to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, though her appeal was eventually dismissed. Desmond, who died in 1965 at the age of 50, was officially pardoned in 2010 by the region's black female lieutenant governor. It's a big day to have a woman on a banknote, Desmond's sister said during the Thursday announcement ceremony about the currency change, per the Star. It's [a] really big day to have my big sister on a bank note. She would be so very proud. (Some Canadians started slicing their banknotes in half.) |
Marine Instructor Gets 10 Years for Tormenting Recruits | (Nov 11, 2017 7:12 AM) A Marine Corps drill instructor has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars after being convicted of tormenting and abusing young recruits, especially Muslim-Americans, including one who later killed himself. A military jury also ordered Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix, a 34-year-old Iraq veteran, to forfeit all pay, be demoted to private, and given a dishonorable discharge. Friday's sentencing at Camp Lejeune, NC, came after Felix begged for forgiveness before the eight-member jury, which a day earlier convicted him of abusing more than a dozen trainees at the Marine boot camp at Parris Island, SC, the AP reports. |
Judge to 'Nasty' Texter: Write 144 Nice Things About Your Ex | (Oct 30, 2017 2:30 PM CDT) A judge on the Hawaiian island of Maui has handed down an unorthodox sentence to a man who pleaded no contest to violating a protection order preventing him from contacting his ex-girlfriend. Judge Rhonda Loo ordered Daren Young on Friday to write 144 compliments about his ex-girlfriend, in response to the 144 nasty text messages and calls that he's accused of sending her, the AP reports. For every nasty thing you said about her, you're going to say a nice thing, Loo told Young. No repeating words. She added: It's so childish to think a grown man can be so thumb-happy. His ex sought the protection order, which was issued Feb. 22. He was ordered not to contact her, including by phone. |
Jeep Stuck in Sand Dune 40 Years Is Finally Free | (Feb 25, 2017 6:20 AM) A Jeep buried in sand in Massachusetts 40 years ago has finally been dug out. Work crews on Friday pulled out the rusted remnants of what John Munsnuff says was once his family's beach buggy at the home they've long owned near Ballston Beach in Cape Cod, reports AP. The Jeep, once been painted white with a green interior, had been stored in a garage that was long ago buried by shifting sand dunes. Munsnuff says the family was unable to remove the Jeep or dismantle the now-collapsed garage all these years because of environmental regulations around the dunes. He snagged a few souvenirs from the wreckage, including the Jeep's hub caps and door handles. |
3 Equifax Execs Sold $1.8M in Stock Days After Hack Discovered | (Sep 8, 2017 1:22 AM CDT) Days after Equifax discovered a massive security breach affecting 143 million Americans, three senior executives sold off almost $2 million in shares. The company says it discovered the intrusion, which was only made public Thursday, on July 29. Records show that three days later, Chief Financial Officer John Gamble; Joseph Loughran, chief of US information solutions; and Rodolfo Ploder, president of workforce solutions, sold company shares worth around $1.8 million, Bloomberg reports. The credit-reporting company says the men sold a small percentage of their shares and had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred at the time. The SEC declined to comment on the share sales, which are not listed as having been part of scheduled trading plans, reports CNBC. In after-hours trading after the breach was disclosed, Equifax shares dropped 13%. The company says that between May and July of this year, hackers obtained information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, names, addresses, and driver's license numbers. They also may have obtained the credit card numbers of 209,000 people. Equifax has apologized, admitting that the hack affected information that the company was supposed to protect. It says it is in the process of alerting affected customers. |
Mormon-Owned BYU Ends 6-Decade Ban | (Sep 21, 2017 7:17 PM CDT) Mormon church-owned Brigham Young University ended a six-decade ban Thursday on the sale of caffeinated soft drinks on campus, surprising students by posting a picture of a can of Coca-Cola on Twitter and just two words: It's happening. The move sparked social media celebrations from current and former students, with many recalling how they had hauled their own 2-liter bottles of caffeinated sodas in their backpacks to keep awake for long study sessions, the AP reports. The university never banned having caffeinated drinks on campus, but held firm to the ban on sales even when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2012 clarified that church health practices do not prevent members from drinking caffeinated soft drinks. The ban has been in place since the mid-1950s. But officials with the school of 33,000 students in Provo, Utah, said Thursday that increasing demand prompted the change. Students were abuzz about a change that meant they'll no longer have to make off-campus runs to load up on their favorite caffeinated sodas to jolt their sleep-deprived brains. As cafeteria workers stocked refrigerators in the student center food court with caffeinated Diet Coke, Coca-Cola, and Mr. Pibb, students joked about it being the best day ever. Caffeinated soft drinks will also be sold at sporting events that draw tens of thousands of fans. Sales of highly caffeinated energy drinks are still banned. The Utah-based Mormon religion directs its nearly 16 million worldwide members to avoid alcohol and hot beverages such as coffee and tea as part of an 1833 revelation from Mormon founder Joseph Smith. One former student says the change could impact views among Mormons about caffeine. She said some older Mormons in her Salt Lake City congregation still believe all caffeine is prohibited. |
With 6 Words, Oprah Revs Up Rumors of 2020 Run | (Sep 29, 2017 2:59 AM CDT) Will President Trump meet his match in 2020? A tweet from Oprah Winfrey has revived speculation in conservative outlets including the Daily Caller and Washington Examiner that she is planning to seek the Democratic nomination. She retweeted a link to a New York Post opinion piece from John Podhoretz that called her the Democrats' best hope for 2020. Thanks for your VOTE of confidence! wrote Winfrey, who said in March that Trump's win made her realize that lacking experience in government is no barrier to running for office. In June, however, she said she would never run for public office. Podhoretz praised Winfrey's moderation of a political discussion on 60 Minutes and said she was uniquely positioned to challenge Trump in 2020. If you need to set a thief to catch a thief, you need a star—a grand, outsized, fearless star whom Trump can neither intimidate nor outshine—to catch a star, he wrote. We're through the looking glass here. America is discarding old approaches in politics. Democrats will have to do the same to match the mood to the moment. He described Winfrey as the mirror image of Trump, but more so. She's America’s generous aunt and he's America’s crazy uncle, he wrote. Click for the full piece. |
2 Russian Spies, 2 Hackers Behind Yahoo Hack: Reports | (Mar 15, 2017 10:44 AM CDT) The Justice Department is set to make a big announcement Wednesday about the massive 2014 Yahoo data breach, which affected 500 million users: the indictment of Dmitry Dokuchaev and his boss Igor Sushchin, both Russian spies from the Federal Security Service intelligence agency, as well as Russia-hired hackers Alexsey Belan and Karim Baratov, anonymous officials tell the Washington Post. A person briefed on the matter tells Bloomberg that three of the suspects are thought to be in Russia, while the fourth was being sought for arrest in Canada. Charges that shed light on what an ex-FBI special agent tells the Post is the murky world of Russian intel services are said to include hacking, economic espionage, trade secret theft, and wire fraud. Per the Post, this would be the first time Russian government officials have had US cybercrimes charges filed against them. What irks US officials most is that the FSB employees implicated in this case work for a division within the agency that's akin to the FBI's own cybercrime unit, which one official tells the Post is pretty sad. If any of the suspects are indeed in Russia, there's no extradition treaty that the US can tap into to haul them to the States, but the Post notes charges such as these, plus possible sanctions, can still wield a deterrent effect against future criminality (and the suspects can still get busted if they visit countries that will ship them to the US). CNN reports both the DOJ and the San Francisco office of the FBI (neither of which are commenting) have Wednesday press conferences scheduled; the DOJ's presser is set for 11:30am in Washington, DC, Bloomberg notes. (Verizon got 7% knocked off the sale price of Yahoo because of the data breach.) |
Bride-to-Be Called 911 Once, Then Again 8 Minutes Later | (Jul 20, 2017 3:03 AM CDT) Justine Damond called 911 twice to report a possible sexual assault in progress before she was shot dead by one of the responding officers, according to transcripts released by Minneapolis on Wednesday. In the initial call, at 11:27pm Saturday night, the 40-year-old Australian said she feared somebody was being raped in an alley near her home, NBC reports. It sounds like sex noises, but it's been going on for a while and I think she tried to say help and it sounds distressed, Damond said. She was told officers were on their way. Eight minutes later, Damond called 911 again. She told the operator she had reported an emergency, but no one's here and was wondering if they got the address wrong. When the squad car arrived, she was shot dead by officer Mohamed Noor after approaching the vehicle. Officer Matthew Harrity, who was driving, has told Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators that he was startled by a loud sound moments earlier. His lawyer tells the Star Tribune it is certainly reasonable to believe that the officers may have thought they were driving into a possible ambush. Police say they found no evidence of a sexual assault in the area that night. Noor has declined to be interviewed by BCA investigators. In his first comments on the case, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton called it a horrible tragedy and said the state legislature should review its policy on body cameras, which the officers were wearing but had not turned on. |
Nasdaq's 10-Day Winning Streak Ends | (Jul 21, 2017 3:11 PM CDT) Stocks are closing lower as energy companies fall with oil prices and a winning streak for technology companies ends, the AP reports. The price of US crude fell 2.5% Friday. Helmerich & Payne dropped 5.5%. General Electric fell 2.9% after a disappointing profit forecast. European stocks tumbled following a report the European Central Bank will make a decision about reducing its economic stimulus in October. The blue chip Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 1.4%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped less than 1 point to 2,472. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 31 points, or 0.1%, to 21,580. The Nasdaq lost 2 points to 6,387, ending a 10-day string of gains. |
Iraqi Military Finds 100 Decapitated Bodies in Mass Grave | (Nov 7, 2016 1:17 PM) The Iraqi military says it has found about 100 decapitated bodies in a mass grave south of the ISIS-held city of Mosul, the AP reports. The spokesman for the Joint Military Command, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, says the bodies were discovered Monday near the agricultural college in the town of Hamam al-Alil. Most were reduced to skeletons. A forensics team from Baghdad will investigate the site on Tuesday. Rasool says the state of the bodies made it difficult to tell by their clothes if they were soldiers or civilians. ISIS has carried out several massacres since it swept into northern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with photos and videos circulated online. Iraqi forces launched a massive operation last month to drive the extremists from Mosul and surrounding areas. (Last week an ISIS leader released a rare message amid the battle for Mosul.) |
Dow Reaches 20K for the First Time | (Jan 25, 2017 8:40 AM) It's stock market history: The Dow Jones industrial average eclipsed 20,000 for the first time Wednesday, triggering cheers from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, reports the AP. The Dow hit the mark upon opening for the day. The Wall Street Journal notes that the Dow was under 18,000 as recently as Nov. 4, but the markets have since spiked, buoyed in part by President Trump's promise of infrastructure projects. |
9 Shot at Gender-Reveal Party; 1 Person Dead | (Jul 9, 2017 10:53 AM CDT) A mass shooting near Cincinnati Saturday night left a woman dead and eight others wounded, including three children. The shooting took place about 11:20pm in Colerain Township inside a home where a gender-reveal party for a baby-to-be had been held earlier that day, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. Based on 911 calls, it appears that two hooded men entered the home and opened fire before fleeing. Two guys just came in and shot people in the house, one woman who was outside in her car told the 911 dispatcher. They just ran in and started shooting. There's a pregnant girl here. The injuries to the three children were not considered life-threatening, and only one of the adult survivors had serious injuries. One of the 911 callers said she was pregnant but had lost her baby after being shot in the leg, reports WCPO. Authorities say the victims appear to have been watching a movie when the shooting started. Police have made no arrests but were tracking down leads. They haven't speculated about a motive. |
Pregnant 16-Year-Old Killed in Police Shooting | (Mar 17, 2017 12:59 PM CDT) A 16-year-old California girl who was fatally wounded during an incident with police earlier this week was pregnant, KTVU and KGO report. The teen, IDed as Elena Mondragon, was a passenger in a car that had been reported stolen and was being sought in a bunch of armed robberies. When Fremont cops driving in Hayward spotted the vehicle around 5:20pm Tuesday, they tried to make a traffic stop, but as officers neared the car, the driver allegedly drove his car right into the police vehicle, hurting two detectives. Police started shooting, and Elena was struck by gunfire before the car sped away. The panicked driver crashed the car not far from the scene, however, and fled on foot. Two other passengers besides Mondragon were taken into custody, but although firefighters tried to save the teen, she eventually succumbed to her injuries at a nearby trauma center. The coroner notes the girl, known as Ebbie to family and friends, looked to be in her first trimester. A GoFundMe that has already collected more than $3,000 to help defray funeral costs has been set up in her name. Meanwhile, police arrested the man they believe to be the driver Wednesday night in San Francisco, hauling him in on an outstanding warrant for various robbery charges. Those close to Elena tell KGO the suspect is her boyfriend. (A Bakersfield man with dementia was shot dead by cops.) |
5 Teams Still Hoping to Reach Moon for $20M Prize | (Jan 24, 2017 4:46 PM) It's officially a five-team space race for $20 million, Quartz reports. The X Prize Foundation announced Tuesday that just five teams remain in its 10-year contest to land a private spacecraft on the moon. According to CNET, the Google Lunar X Prize was first announced in 2007, but none of the 30 teams could pull off a launch before the 2012 deadline. A 2014 deadline also came and went without a launch. Sixteen teams were still in the running until the end of last year, when only teams that had secured launch contracts for 2017 were allowed to move forward, GeekWire reports. The five remaining teams have until Dec. 31 of this year to launch their spacecrafts. The first team to get to the moon, travel at least 500 meters on its surface, and send back high-definition photos and live video will win $20 million, the Verge reports. There's also a $5 million second-place prize and additional prizes for visiting historic sites, traveling long distances, and such. The five finalists are SpaceIL (Israel), which wants to build excitement for space exploration; Moon Express (US), which wants to mine the moon for resources; Synergy Moon (international collaboration), which wants to make spaceflight more accessible; Team Indus (India); and Hakuto (Japan), which wants to explore lunar caves as possibilities for human habitats. They've booked flights on multiple rockets, some of which have yet to be tested. (The poor moon is pummeled way more than we thought.) |
House of Cards Will End Things in 8 Episodes | (Dec 4, 2017 1:42 PM) The uncertain fate of Netflix's House of Cards is now a certain one: Production on the sixth season, which was put on ice at the end of October following a slew of sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey, will resume after the holidays. It will be the show's final season and consist of eight episodes, all absent Spacey, reports Variety. The Hollywood Reporter notes the season was originally supposed to clock in at 13 episodes and that production had been finished on episodes one and two when things were halted. Chief content officer Ted Sarandos announced the news Monday and explained how glad he was an agreement could be reached for the sake of the 370 people who work directly on the show and the 2,000 people in Baltimore, where it's shot, who have some kind of employment because of it. The Hollywood Reporter's take: Writing Spacey out of House of Cards isn't a stretch. In the Michael Dobbs book that inspired the Netflix series, Frank's character dies. No word on plot yet, but the episodes will revolve around Robin Wright. |
Merkel and Trump: 2 Very Different Takes on G7 Summit | (May 28, 2017 2:26 PM CDT) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Trump walked away from the G7 summit in Sicily with very different takes on the meetings. The BBC reports that Merkel made a somber speech at an election event in Munich on Sunday, suggesting that Europe could no longer rely on allies Britain and the US. The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out, she said. I've experienced that in the last few days. Without mentioning Trump by name, she referenced the conversations that the seven leaders present had surrounding the 2015 Paris climate deal, which Trump has not agreed to uphold, as six against one and very difficult, not to say very unsatisfactory. Merkel also referred to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. Meanwhile, Trump described meetings at the summit as great on Twitter, and upon returning stateside, tweeted, Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results! Merkel stressed that moving forward with friendship toward the US and Britain were priorities, but that Europe must begin fending for itself more strongly in several areas, including defense, reports the New York Times. We Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands, said Merkel, who is up for reelection as chancellor in September. (Trump says he'll make his decision on the Paris pact this week.) |
Ryan Lauds a $1.50/Week Pay Hike, Quickly Regrets It | (Feb 4, 2018 6:03 AM) House Speaker Paul Ryan used Twitter to highlight a school secretary benefiting from the Republican tax overhaul, then deleted the tweet after online criticism that he is cheering an increase of $1.50 a week. The AP reported on Thursday that changes in tax withholding were sparking bigger paychecks, citing as one example Julia Ketchum of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whose check went up $1.50 a week. She told the AP that the $78 a year would more than cover her Costco membership. |
8 Injured After Plane Catches Fire at Chicago Airport | (Oct 28, 2016 5:50 PM CDT) Flames and heavy black smoke poured from the side of an American Airlines jet that aborted takeoff and caught fire on the runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday, forcing 170 crew and passengers to evacuate and resulting in eight injuries, authorities said. According to the AP, pilots on American Airlines Flight 383 bound for Miami reported an engine-related mechanical issue. Seven passengers and a flight attendant were taken to a hospital to be evaluated for minor injuries. Footage from the scene showed the Boeing 767, which appeared to be damaged on its rear and along its right side, sitting on the runway with flames underneath and shooting from one side along with plumes of smoke. The right wing appeared to have partially melted. Passengers came down emergency slides, hurrying across grass next to the runway as emergency vehicles surrounded the plane. The passengers were to be placed on another flight to Miami Friday evening. The FAA said in a statement that the plane made an emergency stop around 2:35pm after experiencing a problem during takeoff. An earlier FAA statement said the plane had blown a tire. Passenger Sarah Ahmed says the plane was almost in the air when she heard a loud bang and saw a fire out the window. The plane comes to a screeching stop, she says. People are yelling, 'Open the door! Open the door!' Everyone's screaming and jumping on top of each other to open the door. |
Doctors Toss the 'No Screen Time Before Age 2' Rule | (Oct 21, 2016 8:21 AM CDT) Child experts are now acknowledging that electronic devices and online media are here to stay, and probably impossible to keep away from your kids—and new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics reflect this sea change, USA Today reports. A press release notes that, per a trio of documents published in the November issue of the Pediatrics journal, the AAP has revamped its guidelines, and it's no longer set in stone that kids under 2 get zero screen time and that older kids and teens only be allowed to plug in for one or two hours daily. Instead, parents can rest assured that time on the computer, iPad, or smartphone is not evil and doesn't have to be avoided, Megan Moreno, an adolescent medicine expert at Seattle Children's Hospital and one of the guideline authors, tells USA Today. It just needs to be balanced with all the other things kids need. For example, the AAP's new recommendations—announced Friday at its annual meeting, per the Washington Post—note it's OK for babies younger than 18 months to use services such as FaceTime or Skype to bond with family, that those in the 18- to 24-month range can be introduced to shows by their parents (research shows toddlers may learn words from these programs if and only if parents watch and engage as well, per NPR), and that kids ages 2 to 5 can enjoy an hour of high-quality programming from platforms like PBS Kids or Sesame Workshop. And there's now no set time limit on older kids' media usage: Instead, the AAP has debuted an online Family Media Plan to help families figure out the right balance of screen time and other needs such as sleep, physical activity, schoolwork, and offline social interactions. |
Woman Finds Boy Who Left $5, Sad Note | (Mar 14, 2017 2:22 AM CDT) A Washington state woman has tracked down the boy who left $5 and a heartbreaking note at her door after taking one of her butterfly wind chimes—and she wants to give him his money back. I am sorry that we stole your windchimes our mom died and liked butterflies so my sister took it and put it by our window I am sorry this is only money I have please do not be mad at us, the note said. Christina Reitz says she found the boy, who gave his name as Jake, after his aunt posted on a Facebook group she started, USA Today reports. The Lakewood resident says that while she doesn't condone stealing, she lost her own mother at a young age and understands what the children are going through, KING5 reports. She says she has been in contact with the family and for now, they want to stay anonymous. They are grieving and everything is overwhelming for them right now, says Reitz, who will be meeting the children in person soon. She says she wants to give the children another wind chime, so they each have one to remind them of their mother. |
Clock Trapped in Wall Has Been Beeping for 13 Years | (Jun 19, 2017 6:04 PM CDT) A homeowner outside Pittsburgh, Penn., has a rather jolting daily reminder of a construction mistake he made nearly 13 years ago. CBS Pittsburgh reports that Jerry Lynn of Ross Township accidentally dropped an alarm clock between the walls during a home improvement project in the fall of 2004. Though it’s been 13 years, the clock beeps every evening at 6:50pm (unless it's daylight saving time, when the beeping starts an hour later). Back in 2004, Lynn set the alarm for 10 minutes later, then lowered the clock through a second-floor vent via a string. The plan was for the alarm to go off, once lowered to the first floor, as a signal for where Lynn needed to drill a hole through his living room wall for a TV hookup. Instead, the clock detached from the string, leaving Ross unable to lift it back through the vent. As I was laying it down, all of a sudden I heard it go ‘thunk’ as it came loose, he says, adding that he figured maybe three, four months, it’ll run out of battery. But the clock has been ticking faithfully since, with a distinctive beep that can be heard in CBS Pittsburgh's video around the :25 second mark. Though the Lynn family has grown accustomed to the daily alarm, Jerry’s wife Sylvia told CBS Pittsburgh that it still throws off guests. It starts with a soft ‘beep, beep, beep, beep,’ and it gets louder and closer together. And that will set people like, ‘What is that?' |
Trump Voter Fraud Expert Registered in 3 States | (Jan 31, 2017 12:30 AM) A man who President Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the AP has learned. Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas, and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show. In a post earlier this month, Phillips described an amazing effort by volunteers tied to True the Vote, an organization whose board he sits on, who he said found thousands of duplicate records and registrations of dead people. The AP found that Phillips was registered in Alabama and Texas under the name Gregg Allen Phillips, with the identical Social Security number. Mississippi records list him under the name Gregg A. Phillips. He has lived in all three states. At the time of November's presidential election, Phillips' status was inactive in Mississippi and suspended in Texas. Officials in both states, however, say that Phillips could have voted by producing identification and updating his address at the polls. Reached by telephone Monday, Phillips said he was unaware of his multiple registrations but asked, Why would I know or care? He added: Doesn't that just demonstrate how broken the system is? (Steve Bannon was registered in two states.) |
PG-13 Films More Violent Than R-Rated | (Jan 23, 2017 9:21 AM) If you thought PG-13 movies were less violent than R-rated flicks, think again. More gun violence plays out on the big screen in movies open to all ages than in R-rated box office blockbusters, reports FastCo.Exist. Researchers found that gun violence in PG-13 action movies is on the rise with Hollywood increasingly relying on shoot-'em-up scenes to fill seats. Building on an earlier study, they sampled 30 top-grossing films between 2012 and 2015 to determine the number of five-minute segments in which a character fires a gun at someone. Writing in the journal Pediatrics, they report the rate of gun violence in PG-13 movies in 2012 equaled that of R-rated films, restricted to 17 and older, and outpaced those films in later years. Kids of all ages are allowed into cinemas showing PG-13 movies, though parents are strongly cautioned. Some of the most violent PG-13 films were some of the most popular like 2015's Star Wars: the Force Awakens. (See the full list here.) Of note: The authors say films often remove the consequences of gunplay. Thus, children and their parents are being desensitized to these effects, they contend, comparing on-screen bloodshed to behaviors like smoking and drinking that can young people often imitate. Previous research has shown that repeated exposure to violence on screen can make kids more aggressive. We know less about the potential effects of films that glorify the use of guns, the authors write. Until more is known, they say, pediatricians should advise parents to be cautious about exposing their children to violent films. (Violent superheroes can make kids more aggressive.) |
Weed Whacker Sparks 30-Acre Brush Fire | (May 29, 2017 5:04 PM CDT) More than 150 firefighters battled a 30-acre brush fire on a Los Angeles hillside on Sunday that investigators said was sparked by a weed whacker, the AP reports. The fire, which triggered the evacuation of five homes, broke out on a steep chaparral-covered hillside of Mandeville Canyon above Brentwood and sent up a plume of smoke that was visible for miles. Firefighters aided by water-dropping aircraft were able to contain 70% of the fire by late afternoon. A private company working on Mandeville Canyon Road had been using the weed whacker to clear brush around homes when its muffler overheated, said Battalion Chief Mike Castillo, supervisor for the LAFD's arson unit. The five mile dead-end road through the canyon is home to some of Los Angeles' wealthiest residents and leads to side roads where the likes of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady have owned mansions. |
Chaffetz: 'No Ulterior Motives' in Backing Out of 2018 Race | (Apr 19, 2017 12:07 PM CDT) GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, head of the House Oversight Committee, will not run for reelection in Utah in 2018, Politico reports. Chaffetz made the announcement on Facebook Wednesday morning, noting that after long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, he'd decided to follow his own advice of get in, serve, and get out. He stressed in his post that he had no ulterior motives, that he thinks he would've been reelected by large margins, and that he didn't rule out running for public office in the future—just not next year. The 50-year-old added he's not sick and that he still had the full support of Speaker Paul Ryan in heading up the Oversight Committee. The Hill notes that Chaffetz was instrumental in Republican efforts to go after Hillary Clinton for the 2012 Benghazi attack and her use of a private email server. Right before the election, Chaffetz even warned if Clinton won, the GOP had two years' worth of material already lined up to investigate her. Chaffetz, who could've kept on as the committee chair until 2020 if he'd been reelected in 2018, has faced criticism of late for seeming disinclined to investigate fellow GOPers (especially ex-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn) and telling uninsured citizens they should stop using their money to buy iPhones so they can buy health care instead, the New York Times notes. He also told infuriated attendees at a February town hall in Utah that the way they treated him was bullying and an attempt at intimidation, per the Deseret News. Although Chaffetz's Utah seat is widely thought to be safe in Republican territory, the Salt Lake Tribune notes Democrat challenger Kathryn Allen raised nearly $400,000 more than him in the first quarter of 2017. |
6 Major Retailers Agree to Stop On-Call Scheduling | (Dec 21, 2016 12:12 AM) Disney and Aeropostale are among six retailers that have agreed to stop using on-call scheduling, a system worker advocates have said means too much unpredictability for employees. The change in scheduling was made following an inquiry by nine attorneys general. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday about 50,000 workers nationwide will benefit. On-call scheduling requires employees to call before a scheduled shift to find out if they have to work that day. Worker advocates say it can leave employees scrambling for child care, unable to hold second jobs, and with uncertain paychecks. People should not have to keep the day open, arrange for child care, and give up other opportunities without being compensated for their time, Schneiderman said in a statement. Rounding out the six companies are Carter's, David's Tea, PacSun, and Zumiez. They're among 15 retailers who received a joint letter from the attorneys general, the AP reports.The other nine companies—American Eagle, Payless, Coach, Forever 21, Vans, Justice Just for Girls, BCBG Maxazria, Tilly's Inc., and Uniqlo—say they don't use on-call scheduling or have recently ended it. Other retailers have changed their practices. Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, rolled out a new scheduling system in July in about 650 Neighborhood Market stores that gives hourly workers more certainty about their schedules. |
NOLA Cops: 1 Killed, 9 Hurt in Bourbon Street Shootings | (Nov 27, 2016 5:43 AM) New Orleans Police say one man is dead and nine others injured following a shooting in the French Quarter, reports the AP. Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said during a news conference that officers responded about 1:30am Sunday to the shooting at the intersection of Iberville and Bourbon streets. Harrison said the shooting victims, whose ages ranged from 20 to 37, included two females and eight males. One male victim died at a hospital. Harrison said police do not know what motivated the shooting, but one male victim was among two men arrested on firearms charges. Harrison said the shooting happened despite an increased police presence for the Bayou Classic football game Saturday night between Southern and Grambling universities. This was the wrong place to bring firearms, he tells WDSU. We've made that clear, and now we've apprehended a number of people through our proactive efforts for carrying firearms in the French Quarter and we will continue to do that. |
Car Tries to Pass Bus Carrying 26 Kids, Causes Crash: Cops | (May 15, 2017 6:12 PM CDT) A bus carrying dozens of Pennsylvania eighth-graders to Washington, DC, for a field trip overturned on Interstate 95 in northeastern Maryland on Monday, state police said. Officials said one child and one teacher were seriously injured, the AP reports. The bus carrying 26 children from Charles W. Henry School, three chaperones, and the driver overturned at least once on the highway near Havre de Grace, Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said. One child and one adult were flown to trauma centers in Maryland and Delaware. Others were taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. No deaths have been reported. Police in Maryland say a car that tried to pass the bus clipped it, causing it to overturn. State Police say the southbound car lost control Monday morning as it tried to pass the bus on Interstate 95 in northeastern Maryland, came back across travel lanes and clipped the front of the bus. Troopers said the driver of the passenger vehicle is from Maryland, and he refused medical treatment at the scene. Crash investigators have consulted with the Harford County State's Attorney's Office, who said charges would be withheld for now. Once the investigation is finished, troopers said in a statement, the state's attorney will review it and determine if charges will be filed. |
315-Pound Barbell Fatally Falls on Weightlifter's Neck | (Dec 29, 2016 6:00 PM) Authorities say a 22-year-old man has died after a barbell slipped from his grasp and crushed his neck at a gym in central Iowa, the AP reports. The accident occurred Monday morning at Elite Edge Transformation Center in Ankeny, about 10 miles north of Des Moines. A spokesperson for the center, Mark Yontz, said Thursday that Kyle Thomson was bench-pressing 315 pounds when the barbell slipped. Ankeny Fire chief James Clack says the barbell fell on Thomson's neck. Clack says an ambulance took Thomson to a Des Moines hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Yontz says there were spotters watching Thomson on the bench. Iowa State University spokesperson Annette Hacker says Thomson was a student there. |
Tabloid Held Porn Star's 2011 Interview After Trump Threat | (Jan 20, 2018 9:35 AM) In Touch held back from publishing Stormy Daniels' 2011 account of an alleged affair with Donald Trump after the future president's personal lawyer threatened to sue, four former employees of the tabloid's publisher told the AP. In Touch magazine published its interview with the adult film star on Friday—more than six years after Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, sent an email to In Touch's general counsel saying Trump would aggressively pursue legal action if the story was printed, according to emails described to the AP by the former employees. Daniels signed a source contract with the magazine, which said a friend and Daniels' ex-husband corroborated her account of a 2006 tryst. She also passed a lie detector test, the magazine said. |
Nuclear Bunker Hid $1.25M Pot Factory | (Feb 23, 2017 11:47 AM) The 20-room nuclear bunker was originally intended to protect government officials in case of bombs. Instead, six men were allegedly using it to fill bongs, reports the BBC. During a Wednesday raid on the 1980s bunker known as RGHQ Chilmark in Wiltshire, England, police uncovered a massive marijuana operation with thousands of plants worth at least $1.25 million. Almost every single room had been converted for the wholesale production of cannabis plants, an officer says of the bunker, per the Telegraph. Six males, aged 15 to 45, were arrested on charges of cannabis production. Three also face human trafficking charges. |
She Bought the 'Costume Jewelry' for $15. But It Was Real | (May 22, 2017 8:14 AM CDT) It was an almost gaudily large piece of costume jewelry picked up for about $15 in the 1980s, and its owner apparently liked it—she would wear it out shopping, wear it day-to-day. She almost certainly likes it much, much more now. The ring, bought at a car-boot sale (akin to a flea market) in west London some three decades ago turns out to be a 26.27 carat white diamond, and it's expected to fetch as much as $450,000 when it's auctioned by Sotheby's on June 7, reports the Guardian. Jessica Wyndham of Sotheby's says the unidentified owner assumed it wasn't real because it apparently didn't sparkle as a diamond tends to and was in a filthy mount. The BBC reports those characteristics actually just stemmed from the reality of its age: It was likely cut in the 19th century. With an old style of cutting ... the light doesn't reflect back as much as it would from a modern stone cutting, explains Wyndham. Cutters worked more with the natural shape of the crystal, to conserve as much weight rather than make it as brilliant as possible. (Ikea's billionaire founder buys his clothes at flea markets.) |
Steve Perry to Perform With Journey for 1st Time Since '91 | (Apr 7, 2017 1:39 PM CDT) Steve Perry parted ways with Journey in 1987—but the original lead singer will perform with the band for the first time since a brief reunion in 1991 when Journey is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Friday night. Journey, whose current lead singer is Arnel Pineda, will perform three songs at the induction, and Perry will sing on at least one of them, TMZ reports. As the Mercury News notes, the ceremony at Brooklyn's Barclays Center won't be broadcast live, but will air on ET April 29. |
Dog Gets New Family After 445 Days in Shelter | (Dec 27, 2017 12:29 AM) A big Mastiff mix with droopy eyes that endured a heartbreakingly long stay at a Kansas City animal shelter has finally found a home. After 445 days at the Kansas City Pet Project shelter, where more than 10,000 pets pass through annually, Polina was finally adopted, the AP reports. The Kansas City Star wrote about Polina's plight earlier this month. She was sweet but always left behind when one prospective pet owner after another adopted other rescue animals, largely because Polina is scared of other dogs and children. But after the Star story, several people stepped forward to adopt Polina. Ultimately, she went to a Kansas City home where she can roam 3 acres of land and sleep on a large, warm bed. |
Paul Ryan Will Retire at End of 2018—If Not Sooner: Report | (Dec 14, 2017 2:10 PM) Paul Ryan could be leaving Congress by the end of 2018—if not much sooner. Politico spoke to three dozen people close to Ryan, and none of them believed the speaker of the House would still be in Congress after 2018. On the verge of passing tax reform—one of his major goals since entering Congress in 1999—sources say Ryan wants to use 2018 to tackle his other, more politically risky goal: reforms to Social Security, Medicare, and the rest of the social safety net. They say Ryan would serve through 2018, then retire before the next Congress is seated. Sources say Ryan doesn't want to campaign alongside Trump in 2020, feels like he's running a daycare, and wants to spend time with his actual children instead. Close friends tell CNN Ryan is suffering from Trump-haustion. But it's no guarantee Ryan will even last that long. The next few weeks in Congress—with success needed on tax reform, government funding, and more—could sink the speaker. He's reportedly told some close to him that his current strategy is short term: Win the day. Win the next day. And then win the week. During his weekly press conference Thursday, Ryan denied that he's quitting Congress soon, the Hill reports. I ain't goin' anywhere, he told reporters when asked about the rumors. A spokesperson later added that reports to the contrary are pure speculation. |
64-Year-Old Gives Birth to Twins in Spain | (Feb 16, 2017 11:16 AM) A 64-year-old has become the second oldest woman ever to give birth in Spain. The woman, identified only by her initials MIA, received fertility treatment in the US before giving birth to twins—a 5.3-pound boy and 4.8-pound girl—via Caesarean section in the Spanish city of Burgos, reports the BBC. The mother is doing well and both infants are in a perfect state of health, say officials at the Recoletas Hospital, which shared a video clip of the delivery on its website, per the Belfast Telegraph. MIA, reportedly from the town of Palacios de la Sierra in northern Spain, is now the second oldest woman to give birth in the country, after a 67-year-old woman delivered twins in 2006; she died three years later, reports Fox News. MIA also gave birth to a baby girl in 2012 after receiving fertility treatment in the US. However, the girl was removed from her care in 2014 over allegations of neglect. Officials said the child was often isolated and had poor hygiene. |
Pilot Busted With 230 Pounds of Pot After 3-Airport Sting: Cops | (Mar 21, 2017 3:54 PM CDT) If you fly your small plane solo from Medford, Ore., to South Texas with only one stop to gas up during the 2,000-mile flight, you're either going for some sort of endurance record or you're trying to get to your destination as quickly as possible for … reasons. The Department of Homeland Security and Texas police suspected the latter about Wayne Douglas Brunet's flight, which someone had called in to DHS Sunday as being suspicious, the KVUE reports. The reasons for his efficient flight, authorities say, were because he was transporting 230 pounds of vacuum-packed pot, plus $6,000 in cash. Federal officials began keeping track of the 64-year-old's plane after the initial tip, and when Brunet tried to land at a remote airport in Bulverde, Texas, he spotted authorities and zipped back into the clouds, his arrest affidavit notes. The Houston Chronicle details the next leg of his trip, which was apparently to another airport in Lago Vista—where more law enforcement sat waiting and he again aborted his landing. Going for that charmed third attempt, Brunet then finally set down at Llano's airport, and it's here where officials say he tried to make a run for it before being nabbed by the Department of Public Safety. Inside the plane, per authorities, were 15 duffel bags with the marijuana and cash. Brunet was charged with pot possession with intent to distribute, which could net him between five and 40 years in federal prison if he's convicted. (A police dispatcher was busted with lots of pot—in her basement.) |
Gossip Queen Liz Smith Dies at 94 | (Nov 13, 2017 2:18 AM) Liz Smith, the legendary gossip columnist who started dishing up inside info on celebrities when the grandparents of some of today's stars were babies, has died. She was 94. The New York Post, one of nine New York newspapers Smith wrote for in her long career, reports that her publicist says she died from natural causes on Sunday. After graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Texas in 1949 and going to New York on a one-way ticket with $50 to her name, Smith worked a variety of jobs, including ghostwriting the popular '50s gossip column as Cholly Knickerbocker, the AP reports. After working for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Smith ended up with her own column at the New York Daily News in the 1970s and was eventually syndicated to around 70 newspapers. She was known as the Grande Dame of Dish, though she won praise—and plenty of celebrity friends—by ignoring unfounded rumors and approaching celebrities with what reviewers of her 2000 memoir Natural Blonde called a spirit of wonder, not meanness. One of her big scoops was Donald Trump's first divorce, in 1990. Ivana still wants to be his wife. But the bottom line is, she won't give up her self-respect to do it, Smith wrote. Intimates say she had every chance to continue being Mrs. Trump by allowing her husband to live in an open marriage. |
Tourist Kidnapped by al-Qaeda Freed 6 Years Later | (Jun 26, 2017 2:48 PM CDT) A Swedish man kidnapped by Islamic militants in northern Mali nearly six years ago has been released from captivity, the Swedish government confirmed Monday. There was no immediate word on the fate of a second hostage, from South Africa, who was also seized in Timbuktu. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom announced the release of Johan Gustafsson—who had been on a motorcycle tour through Africa when he was seized by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, per the BBC—without giving details on what had finally led to his freedom, leaving also open whether the Nordic country's government paid a ransom in exchange for his freedom. Gustafsson, 42, was flown to Stockholm on a special Swedish government plane later Monday but he did not appear before media, the AP reports. Following his arrival, Wallstrom said during a news conference that Gustafsson was set free a few days ago but declined to give any details on the negotiations except to say that diplomacy and police work along with tight international cooperation led to his release. The Swedish policy is not to pay ransom in connection with kidnappings, Wallstrom said, referring to her government's general guideline, but refused to take questions on Gustafsson's case. There was no immediate word on the fate of Stephen McGown, the South African hostage. A third foreigner had been freed in 2015 by French special forces. The kidnapping of Gustafsson—who Wallstrom said was the longest-held Swedish kidnapping victim in the modern history of Sweden —took place in November 2011 as Islamic extremism was gaining a foothold in northern Mali. |
UNICEF: 300M Kids Breathing Dangerous Air | (Oct 31, 2016 11:00 AM CDT) Some 300 million of the kids on planet Earth are breathing dangerously polluted air into their developing lungs, UNICEF reported Monday, with some 220 million of those living in South Asia. The former number represents one in seven kids who live in areas with high outdoor pollution, notes Reuters, and the results are devastating: Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year, says UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake. Pollutants don't only harm children's developing lungs—they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains—and, thus, their futures, he adds. UNICEF wants some 200 nations, which meet beginning next week, to dial back on fossil fuels with the aim of improving air quality and slowing climate change. The UNICEF report is here. |
At 2:30am, She Saw a Bear Dragging Away Her 5-Year-Old | (May 14, 2018 1:23 AM CDT) A 5-year-old girl in Colorado was seriously injured after going outside in the middle of the night to investigate noises she thought were coming from her dog and being attacked by a bear. Kimberly Cyr's father tells NBC 11 that the Grand Junction girl will be fine after the attack at around 2:30am Sunday. Her mother says that after she heard screaming, she went outside to see a black bear dragging the girl away. The mother says the bear dropped her daughter after she started screaming at it. Kimberly, whose condition was upgraded from serious to fair Sunday afternoon, needed 77 stitches but suffered no life-threatening injuries, a pediatric surgeon at St. Mary’s Medical Center tells Q13 Fox. Colorado Parks and Wildlife public information officer Rebecca Ferrell tells ABC that traps have been set for the bear. She says that if it is captured, it will be euthanized and a necropsy will be carried out to determine what happened. Ferrell says Kimberly may have startled the bear, since the animals are not expecting people to be up and about at that time of night. Ferrell says bear encounters in Colorado are unusual, but anyone who does encounter one should stay calm and make it aware that there are people near it. Do not ever run from a bear, don't try and climb a tree, because a bear can do both of those things much faster than we can, she says. |
Alabama Inmate Coughs 13 Minutes Into Execution | (Dec 9, 2016 3:55 AM) A man who killed an Alabama convenience store clerk more than two decades ago was put to death Thursday night, an execution that required two consciousness tests as the inmate heaved and coughed 13 minutes into the lethal injection. Ronald Bert Smith Jr., 45, was pronounced dead at 11:05pm, about 30 minutes after the procedure began at the state prison in southwest Alabama. Smith was convicted of capital murder in the Nov. 8, 1994, fatal shooting of Huntsville store clerk Casey Wilson. A jury voted 7-5 to recommend a sentence of life imprisonment, but a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Smith to death. Smith, who pistol-whipped Wilson and shot him in the head, replied, No ma'am when asked by the prison warden if he had any final words. US Supreme Court justices put the execution on hold twice Thursday as Smith's attorneys argued for a delay, saying a judge shouldn't have been able to impose the death penalty when a jury recommended he receive life imprisonment. Four liberal justices said they would have halted the execution, but five were needed to do so. As the execution began, Smith heaved and coughed repeatedly, clenching his fists and raising his head, the AP reports. A prison guard performed two consciousness checks before the final two lethal drugs were administered. During the first one, Smith moved his arm, according to the AP. He slightly raised his right arm again after the second consciousness test. The state prison commissioner said he did not see any reaction. We do know we followed our protocol. We are absolutely convinced of that, Alabama Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said. |
2 Teens Shot in LA School; Girl in Custody | (Feb 1, 2018 12:18 PM) Another school shooting is in the news, this time in Los Angeles. Police say a 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were shot inside a classroom at Salvador Castro Middle School. The boy is in critical condition, and the girl is in fair condition, reports the Los Angeles Times. Police have a female student in custody and have recovered a gun, per the AP. A 30-year-old woman also was injured, though she was not shot. No word yet on a possible motive. The LA newspaper notes that Belmont High School is on the same campus as the middle school. |
Man Says MRI Left Him With 2-Inch-Deep Hole in Stomach | (Feb 8, 2018 5:28 PM) A 72-year-old man with diabetes is suing a California hospital after he says an MRI burned a 2-inch-deep hole into his stomach, KTLA reports. Nick Kruth went to Glendale Adventist Medical Center in 2016 because he had low blood pressure and his legs felt weak, and doctors ordered a series of tests. However, Kruth says a tab from his electrocardiogram was left on his stomach and he experienced serious pain during the MRI. So I think at that time, ‘Maybe if I'm gonna die in there, let me die,' Kruth says. Kruth says after the test a technician found the tab, which contained metal, and realized it had burned a deep hole in his stomach. He did describe that when they peeled it off, it was still sizzling, like a cooking egg, Kruth's son says. Kruth says the burn hasn't healed right and still causes him pain. One of his lawyers says the MRI technician ignored Kruth's complaints during the test; another lawyer says the hospital should have checked Kruth more thoroughly prior to the MRI. Glendale Adventist Medical Center hasn't commented. (A man in India was killed when he was sucked into an MRI machine in a freak accident.) |
Marathon Runner Escapes 2 Bears | (Jul 7, 2017 3:12 AM CDT) Professional runner Moninda Marube came in second in a race Tuesday but came in first in a more important one Wednesday when he encountered two black bears. Marube says he met the bears early in the morning on a dirt road in woods near Auburn, Maine, the Guardian reports. He says he can't swim, and knows better than to try to climb a tree to escape a bear, so he decided running was his only option when they charged. Marube says he managed to make it to a vacant house he had passed earlier. He got to the porch and closed the screen door with the bears just 10 yards behind him. Over the next few minutes, the two bears sniffed around the porch and looked through the screening before wandering off. Marube tells the Lewiston Sun Journal that he encountered a leopard once while running in Kenya, where he grew up, but the close call with the bears was much worse. I don't fear lion, he says. I don't fear anything else. But a bear is scary. Marube says he plans to start his runs later in the morning and will carry pepper spray in the future. Authorities in Maine say people who encounter aggressive bears are not advised to run. Instead, they should try to make themselves look larger while slowly backing away—and remain calm if they charge. Marube says he was aware of advice to stand your ground —but found it hard to follow it when the bears ran at him. (This bear crashed through a bedroom window in Alaska.) |
Cops Put Cheetos in 4/20 'Trap' for Pot Smokers | (Apr 21, 2017 11:37 AM CDT) If Minnesota's Wyoming Police Department had been serious, it might've actually nabbed some pot smokers with its discreet trap on 4/20. As it is, the department instead got plenty of laughs—and even praise—for a tweeted photo showing an officer holding a net near a stash of video games, Cheetos, and a bag from White Castle, per ABC 7. Undercover #420 operations are in place, read the Thursday tweet, liked or retweeted more than 500,000 times. In a later tweet, the department added, All jokes aside, substance abuse is a real issue. We use tongue in cheek humor to bring attention to those issues. |
Hacker Tries, Fails to Extort $100K From E-Sports Site | (Jan 10, 2017 3:57 PM) A hacker has released the information of more than 1.5 million e-sports players and fans following a failed extortion attempt, Mashable reports. According to PC Gamer, the Esports Entertainment Association was hacked sometime over Christmas. The hacker then threatened to release users' information unless ESEA paid them $100,000. ESEA flatly refused, stating, We do not give into extortion and ransom demands. True to their word, the hacker over the weekend released users' information, including email addresses, usernames, passwords, security question answers, private messages, IP addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, names, and more. ESEA says it's already fixed the security problem exploited by the hacker and that stolen passwords are still encrypted and should be hard to crack. We apologize for the incident that has taken place as it is our responsibility to do everything possible to secure the data of our users, the competitive gaming site states. |
Ex-Cop Serving Life for 22 Murders Charged With 47 More | (Jan 10, 2017 11:45 PM) An ex-cop already serving life for 22 murders has been charged with 47 more killings and another 12 are under investigation, which would make Mikhail Popkov the worst serial killer in Russian history and the third-worst in world history. Law enforcement sources tell the Siberian Times that Popkov, who targeted women he thought were immoral because they were out late at night, has been providing investigators with information including the locations of bodies. He claims to have started his killing spree, which stretched across a large area of Siberia, after he began suspecting that his wife had cheated on him. Popkov, who resigned from the force in Angarsk in 1998, per the Washington Post, was arrested in 2012 after investigators got a tip-off and checked the DNA of thousands of current and former police officers, the Times of London reports. Police sources say he has claimed to have killed at least 81 women with axes, knives, and screwdrivers, a total that exceeds the 52 killed by Butcher of Rostov Andrei Chikatilo between 1978 and 1990 and the 48 murdered by Chessboard Killer Alexander Pichushkin between 1992 and 2006. (Here's why he was called the Chessboard Killer. ) |
Engagement Broken, Couple Battles Over $125K Ring | (Nov 14, 2016 12:37 PM) One minute you're registering for monogrammed guest towels and a $1,090 vase; the next, you're embroiled in a lawsuit over a $125,000 engagement ring. Such is the sad story of former Manhattan couple Bradley Moss and Amy Bzura, who were engaged to be married Oct. 29. For reasons not specified in the lawsuit, the wedding did not occur, even though Bzura had posted on Instagram just a week before the nuptials were supposed to take place, I can't wait to be your nagging and annoying Jewish wife. You mean everything to me. On Nov. 3, Moss asked in a letter to Bzura that the ring be returned, the New York Post reports. She has willfully and maliciously refused, per the lawsuit Moss then filed. Moss, who runs a pipe supply company, and Bzura, an advertising professional, started dating in June 2012 and cohabitated for more than three years on the East Side. They got engaged on Nov. 7, 2015, which is when the square emerald-cut diamond engagement ring came into play. Moss's lawsuit calls for its return, or for Bzura to pay him its cash value plus interest. The suit also calls for the court to determine additional punitive damages. As Yahoo News reports, New York is a no-fault state when it comes to such matters, which likely means Bzura will be required to return the ring even if she's not the one who called off the engagement. (Police say a Florida woman attacked her fiance over a recycled engagement ring.) |
Ski Lift Malfunction Strands Dozens, Injures 5 | (Dec 16, 2017 5:29 PM) A ski lift malfunction on opening day at a Pennsylvania ski resort stranded dozens of people and left five with minor injuries, the AP reports. Around 10am Saturday, a chair carrying skiers and snowboarders slipped along the haul rope and slid backward into another chair, officials with Tussey Mountain ski resort in Centre County said. That caused a domino effect to several other lift chairs. Officials said the lift was stopped and the ski patrol and emergency responders started to evacuate people from the lift. The Centre Daily Times reported that emergency crews were lowering people with ropes. State College police Lt. Bradley Smail said he believed more than 50 people were stranded and it took over an hour to get everyone down. He said five had minor injuries. |
Madonna's 16-Year-Old Arrested for Pot: Report | (Nov 23, 2016 4:06 PM) Madonna says she is supporting son Rocco Ritchie after reports surfaced Wednesday that the 16-year-old was arrested for possession of marijuana in London. Madonna released a statement to the AP Wednesday calling the September arrest a family matter. She said: I love my son very much. I will do whatever I can to give him the support that he needs, and I ask that you respect our privacy at this time. Rocco was the subject of a months-long custody dispute between Madonna and ex-husband Guy Ritchie. The couple divorced in 2008. They finally agreed in September to allow Rocco to continue living with his father in London. According to a report in the Sun newspaper, Rocco was arrested on Sept. 28. |
Smoking Will Soon Kill 8M a Year | (Jan 10, 2017 6:04 PM) Smoking costs the global economy an eye-popping $1 trillion a year, and despite anti-tobacco efforts, deaths are rising, Reuters reports. Tobacco-related illnesses will claim 8 million lives per year by 2030, up from the current 6 million, warns a new study by the World Health Organization and the National Cancer Institute. There are more people lighting up in middle- to low-income countries, which is where 80% of projected smoking deaths will occur in the coming years. Lost productivity and health care costs top $1 trillion per year (that's 12 zeros), a figure that dwarfs that $1 billion governments spent on anti-tobacco measures in the 2013-14 year. Governments could do more to curb smoking and reduce their health-care costs, the authors say. Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of death, notes Reuters. Global efforts to curb tobacco use have fallen short, the study says. Government fears that tobacco control will have an adverse economic impact are not justified by the evidence, the authors write. The science is clear; the time for action is now. They suggest boosting tobacco taxes and the price per pack along with better anti-smoking policies, warning labels and a total ban on marketing tobacco. Australia's strict plain-packaging laws banning cigarette company logos have been praised by health experts as a model for other nations, though the policy has sparked legal challenges. Australia won a legal fight against Philip Morris in 2015 to keep cigarette packs there as drab as possible, per the Guardian. (Smoke just a little bit? It'll still kill you.) |
Machete-Wielding Man Takes 9 Hostage at Bank | (Sep 23, 2017 3:02 PM CDT) A machete-wielding man was arrested Friday in Tennessee after taking nine people hostage inside a bank, ABC News reports. According to WZTV, the situation started around 2:45pm at the Community First Bank & Trust in Columbia. Police say it's unclear why the suspect took hostages at the bank, but it doesn't appear to have been a robbery attempt. The suspect initially let four hostages go before allowing the remaining five to leave hours later. None of the hostages were hurt. The suspect was tackled by police and arrested upon leaving the bank Friday night. He suffered minor injuries during his arrest. Police haven't released any information about the suspect or hostages. |
2-Story Star Wars Replica Is Big Halloween Hit | (Oct 19, 2017 7:46 PM CDT) A two-story, Star Wars-inspired Halloween yard display in Ohio is enticing kids to get toy lightsabers and attracting hundreds of visitors from across the state, the AP reports. Elevator mechanic Nick Meyer, 39, spent about $1,500 and 10 hours a weekend for half a year to build a replica of the four-legged All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT walker. He built it with his carpenter friend Anthony Paroda, and it's been such a success that spectators are donating money for them to build another display next year. At 19 feet, the replica is nearly as tall as Meyer's home in Parma, a Cleveland suburb. The cockpit of the AT-AT walker is outfitted with lights that glow red at night, and a mannequin fashioned to resemble a Star Wars Stormtrooper soldier stands guard in front. |
Police Official Sorry for 1994 Comments About Rape Victim | (Jan 13, 2018 7:13 AM) A New York City police official apologized Friday to a rape victim he helped discredit almost 24 years ago. Deputy Commissioner John Miller said in a statement sent to the woman's lawyer that he was wrong to tell reporters that police doubted the woman's account of being raped in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Police said this week that they had finally solved the crime by matching DNA found on the victim to serial rapist Edward Webb, who is in prison for other attacks. Miller, then the chief police spokesman, told reporters in 1994 that detectives believed there were inconsistencies in the woman's story. Per the AP, Miller said in his apology that inappropriately sharing this information, which was the speculation of investigators, and ultimately proved to be incorrect, was a serious misjudgment on my part. |
Woman Jailed 7 Weeks Over 'Outrageous' 22-Year-Old Error | (Dec 20, 2016 9:30 AM) Latasha Eatman missed Thanksgiving and her son's sixth birthday this year as she sat in jail for seven weeks—all because of what the Cook County Sheriff's Office is calling an outrageous error on the books for 22 years, CBS News and CBS Chicago report. On Oct. 14, cops came into the store where Eatman works to see if it was selling illegal cigarettes, and when they ran her name, they found a 1994 warrant for community service she hadn't completed for a minor drug-possession infraction. Eatman was arrested and waited in a jail cell for 10 days, at which point she was hauled before an irritated judge, denied bond, and thrown back in jail for another 39 days. The problem? The remainder of that old community service had been terminated by a judge at the time after it was deemed Eatman had tried to fulfill it and couldn't due to logistical tie-ups that weren't her fault. The warrant in her name somehow remained, leading to her arrest more than two decades later. It was only when the Cook County Sheriff's Office was doing an audit of jailed women that they found Eatman's case and raised holy hell with the prosecutor’s office, per sheriff's rep Cara Smith. Eatman, who tried to hide from her young son why she was gone by telling him she was at school or on business, was released the day after the sheriff's office intervened. Smith, who says Eatman was let out without so much as an apology or an explanation, notes Eatman is working extra hours to pay all the bills that racked up while she was in jail not earning money. You wonder why these communities don't trust law enforcement, Smith says. Can you imagine a more thoughtless, cruel way to handle this? (Parents at a NYC nursery school were wary of this celebrity's community service.) |
By 6, Girls Think Boys Are Smarter | (Jan 27, 2017 10:27 AM) A new study suggests that girls start to view boys as smarter as early as age 6. And that's even though, just a year earlier, boys and girls both associate brilliance with their own gender. It's really heartbreaking, lead author Lin Bian of the University of Illinois tells the Atlantic. The impact is immediate, she says, and the implications are far-reaching. Girls quickly become less inclined to choose games that are characterized as being for smart kids, as well as subjects linked to raw, innate talent, which in turn affects career hopes, she says in a New York University video published by the Washington Post. In the study, kids ages 5 to 7 were read a story about a really, really smart person, then were shown photos of men and women and asked to guess who the person was. The youngest kids were split, but the older ones mostly guessed it was a man. A second, similar experiment reaffirmed those results, reports the Los Angeles Times. A psychologist not involved with the study theorizes that the changes set in after age 5 because that's when kids leave kindergarten and enter more formal schooling, where gender stereotypes might already be prevalent. Previous research has found that men and women, including parents, perpetuate them. For instance, the Atlantic notes that the term is my son gifted? is Googled 2.5 times more than is my daughter gifted? Teachers and characters in literature and films can also play large roles, so some experts say that adults need to work harder to expose the accomplishments of smart women to girls and boys. (Engineering toys aimed at girls are so rare that this one went viral.) |
13-Year-Old Girl Dies on Popular Hiking Trail | (Feb 6, 2018 7:00 PM) A 13-year-old girl fell to her death from a popular narrow trail bordered by steep drops at Utah's Zion National Park, officials said Tuesday. The Utah girl was hiking with family when she tumbled from the Angel's Landing Trail on Monday evening, park ranger John Marciano said. She was quickly discovered by hikers on the West Rim Trail below, per the AP. The girl had done the hike before, and the trail was clear of ice and snow. It was just a beautiful day. It's at time you wouldn't expect anything to happen, Marciano said. It did not appear that anyone had witnessed the fall, he said. The girl's name and hometown were not immediately released. |
Feds: Michigan Doctor May Have Cut 100 Girls' Genitals | (Jun 8, 2017 7:02 AM CDT) In April, a Michigan doctor was charged with performing genital mutilation on two young Minnesota girls. On Wednesday, feds dropped what the Detroit Free Press calls a bombshell in the case: They estimate not two but up to 100 girls had their genitals cut by Dr. Jumana Nagarwala. The Minnesota victims were not the first victims, Assistant US Attorney Sara Woodward told a judge as part of what is the first case of its kind to be prosecuted in federal court. The government says it has evidence of eight victims (though the Detroit News notes the case at hand still just involves the two). The feds arrived at their estimate based on defendant Dr. Fakhruddin Attar's alleged statement that he gave Nagarwala use of his Livonia clinic as many as six times a year over a dozen years. The allegation came as Woodward argued Attar and his wife, who is accused of helping to calm and restrain the girls during the procedure, should not be released on bail in advance of the October trial. A judge disagreed; they'll be on house arrest going forward, and barred from using the Internet. The prosecution argues the three, members of an Indian-Muslim sect called the Dawoodi Bohra, illegally cut the girls' genitals as part of a religious rite. The defense counters they simply underwent what the News terms a benign procedure that involved scraping the mucous membrane of the girls' genitalia; lawyers say what was removed was then deposited on gauze pads and returned to their mothers for burial. (The first person in America to be convicted of female genital mutilation was kicked out of the country in March.) |
'Saturation Point:' Wildlife Populations Have Collapsed Since 1970 | (Oct 27, 2016 6:03 AM CDT) A disturbing study says the world's wild animal population has plunged 58% since 1970, the BBC reports. Researchers from the WWF and the Zoological Society of London warn that if current trends continue, two-thirds of the world's wildlife will be gone by 2020. The finger points squarely at humans, who cause climate change, pollution, habitat loss, hunting, and illegal trafficking. We know what the causes are and we know the scale of the impact that humans are having on nature and on wildlife populations—it really is now down to us to act, says Dr. Mike Barrett of the WWF. Now we've reached a point where there isn't really any excuse to let this carry on. In the most comprehensive assessment of its kind, the Living Planet report analyzed 3,700 vertebrate species and found that decimation included a wide range of them: from African elephants devastated by poaching to vultures to salamanders. Animals living in rivers and lakes were most at risk, with their decline pegged at 81%. But the Living Planet is taking criticism from some, including a Duke ecologist who cites a lack of data from South America, from tropical Africa, there is not much from the tropics, period. They're trying to pull this stuff in a blender and spew out a single number.... It's flawed. The report underscores the effects of the Anthropocene, a suggested geological era that finds humans dominating the planet, reports the Guardian. We are no longer a small world on a big planet. We are now a big world on a small planet, where we have reached a saturation point, the report says. Barrett says saving animals and ensuring biodiversity depends on enforcing sustainable environmental policies and simpler acts such as consuming fewer resources including meat. There is good news: species like tigers and the giant panda have rallied; the latter was recently removed from the endangered list. |
At Least 20K Flee Massive Fire at Music Fest | (Jul 30, 2017 5:33 AM CDT) A spectacular fire at a music festival in Spain forced the evacuation of over 20,000 concertgoers in Barcelona, the regional government said. Images showed towering flames consuming a large outdoor stage Saturday night at the Tomorrowland electronic music festival held at Barcelona's Parc de Can Zam. Barcelona firefighters said there were no serious injuries during the concert evacuation, reports the AP, but the event's private security treated 20 people for minor injuries or anxiety. CNN puts the number of those evacuated at 22,000. Firefighters are investigating the cause of the fire. The Tomorrowland website published a statement saying the stage caught fire due to a technical malfunction. The festival in Barcelona was one of several offshoot events of a main Tomorrowland festival in Belgium. Organizers say the Barcelona event has been canceled following the fire. |
Powerball Jackpot Now 2nd Biggest in History | (Aug 22, 2017 12:55 PM CDT) Get your lucky numbers ready. The jackpot for Wednesday night's Powerball lottery game has climbed to $700 million, making it the second largest in US history, per the AP. The drawing will be 10:59pm EDT in Tallahassee, Fla. For the record, the $700 million figure refers to the annuity option, doled out in 30 payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners favor the cash option, which pays significantly less. For the current jackpot, the cash prize would be $443.3 million. The odds of winning are one in 292.2 million. The only bigger Powerball jackpot came in 2016, when it reached $1.6 billion. The AP lists the biggest jackpots here. |
Teacher Busted in $6M Drug Raid | (Mar 20, 2017 11:24 AM CDT) A middle school teacher who doubles as a soccer coach was nabbed after cops in Georgia raided her home and found $6.2 million in cocaine and heroin, reports Fox 5. Karla Alvarez, 28, and two others face drug trafficking and gun charges following Thursday’s arrest. Hall County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Scott Ware told reporters that police got information that there was probably a substantial amount of drugs in the house in Oakwood and obtained a search warrant, the Gainesville Times reports. They reportedly found 61 kilos of coke, a kilo of heroin, and two semi-automatic assault rifles. I've worked drugs and gangs for a long time and it was one of the larger cocaine seizures I've ever seen, says Ware. Answering questions tonight on how or why a teacher who taught my kids is now in jail for cocaine and heroin is difficult, one parent posted on Facebook. At least the drugs won't make it to the streets and out in our community. Alvarez has taught at Chestatee Academy in Gainesville since August 2015 and coached the girls soccer team. Monica Pascual Brito, 24, was arrested with Alvarez and faces the same charges. A third suspect, Ricardo Pascual Brito, 25, was at large, and authorities asked for the public's help in finding him. |
Pitcher's 11 Strikeouts Lead Dodgers to Game 1 Win | (Oct 24, 2017 10:00 PM CDT) Clayton Kershaw struck out 11, the most by a pitcher in a World Series opener since 1968, Chris Taylor and Justin Turner homered, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros 3-1 Tuesday night. With the Dodgers in the World Series for the first time since 1988, Taylor homered before the hometown fans in the first inning to give Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead, per the AP. |
6 Teens Are Running for Governor in Kansas | (Feb 9, 2018 10:35 AM) Most teenagers spend their free time playing video games or hanging out with friends. In Kansas, they run for governor. Last September there were two teens (Tyler Ruzich and Jack Bergeson) who'd announced they were vying for the state's top seat, and now four more—Aaron Coleman, Ethan Randleas, Dominic Scavuzzo, and Joseph Tutera Jr.—have joined their ranks. The New York Times reports on the six, ranging in age from 16 to 18, gunning for the $99,636-a-year post. The influx of minors into the race is a result of the state's rules not imposing any age restrictions, which has led local lawmakers to lobby for an age mandate to avoid in the future what the Times deems a carnival-like note. Specifically, a state House bill is in motion to require all candidates to have been residents in Kansas for at least four consecutive years, and to be of voting age in Kansas. As soon as they turn 18, if they want to run for the legislature, knock yourself out, bill sponsor Rep. Blake Carpenter says. The Kansas City Star notes all six of the teens were under 18 when they announced their candidacy, and they're expressing different reactions to Carpenter's bill. I think it's trying to disenfranchise candidates, says Bergeson, 17. Ruzich, who will turn 18 a month or so before 2018's Election Day, calls the bill a common-sense proposal. In the case of these teens, though, even if the bill goes through, it wouldn't become law until January—meaning if any of them win in November, they'd become the new governor. Not that hopes are especially high that will happen, at least for one candidate. The day a 17-year-old wins governor of any state will be the day pigs fly, the 16-year-old Tutera says. [But] hey, we're here, we've got ideas. |
When Dinosaurs Were Killed, Earth Went Dark for 2 Years | (Aug 22, 2017 6:29 PM CDT) When a 6-mile-wide asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago, it caused a devastating wave of earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis that killed untold number of animals and ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Then things got really bad. In a study published Monday in PNAS, scientists used a computer model to look at the climate effects of the asteroid's impact—namely plunging the Earth into darkness for up to two years. According to a press release, vaporized rock from the impact would have fallen back to Earth, igniting global wildfires and sending 15 billion tons of soot into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun. It would have been about as dark as a moonlit night, co-author Owen Toon says. It also would have effectively stopped photosynthesis for more than 18 months. Those months of darkness help explain how the asteroid impact killed off more than 75% of Earth's species—including some that could have hidden from the immediate devastation underground or underwater, New Atlas reports. For one, the lack of photosynthesis would have killed off phytoplankton, the basis of the food chain in the ocean. For another, all that soot caused global temperatures over land to drop 50 degrees. According to Seeker, it took seven years for temperatures to return to normal. The soot also damaged the ozone layer, allowing in harmful ultraviolet light. Researchers say their computer model could be used to predict the effects of nuclear war, which would similarly send mass amounts of soot into the atmosphere. (These weird creatures will live long enough to see the sun die.) |
2 Dead in New Amtrak Crash | (Feb 4, 2018 5:32 AM) At least two people are dead and 50 more injured after an Amtrak train collided with a CSX freight train early Sunday in South Carolina, reports CNN, derailing the Amtrak lead engine and some of its passenger cars. The accident, which involved Amtrak's New York-to-Miami Train 91, occurred about 2:30am in Cayce, SC, south of Columbia. Amtrak said it had 139 passengers and eight crew aboard. |
From Biggest Pool of Applicants Ever, NASA Picks 12 | (Jun 8, 2017 12:11 AM CDT) NASA chose 12 new astronauts Wednesday from its biggest pool of applicants ever, hand-picking seven men and five women who could one day fly aboard the nation's next generation of spacecraft. The astronaut class of 2017 includes doctors, scientists, engineers, pilots, and military officers from Anchorage to Miami and points in between. They've worked in submarines, emergency rooms, university lecture halls, jet cockpits, and battleships. They range in age from 29 to 42, and they typically have led the pack, the AP reports. It makes me personally feel very inadequate when you read what these folks have done, said NASA's acting administrator, Robert Lightfoot. Vice President Mike Pence welcomed the group during a ceremony at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. He offered President Trump's congratulations and noted that the president is firmly committed to NASA's noble mission, leading America in space. Under Trump, America will lead in space once again, and the world will marvel, Pence said. More than 18,300 people threw their hats into the space ring during a brief application period 18 months ago. That's more than double the previous record of 8,000 set in 1978, when the space shuttles were close to launching. The 12 selected Wednesday, who now begin two years of training, will join 44 astronauts already in the NASA corps. NASA has more on the 12 here. |
Health Bill for Tanning Beds in US: $343M a Year | (Mar 5, 2017 1:56 PM) Tanning beds have long been associated with skin cancer, and now researchers are quantifying just what that costs the US financially. Reporting in the Journal of Cancer Policy, they calculate that in 2015, the direct medical care for skin cancers resulting from tanning bed exposure totals $343.1 million. What's more, they figure that early deaths and loss of productivity in these cases add up to a $127.3 billion loss over the lifetime of individuals currently diagnosed. But those are just dollar signs: the human toll is large, too, with more than 263,000 cases of skin cancer attributed to tanning beds in 2015 alone. The researchers call tanning beds a significant contributor to illness and premature mortality in the US. Reuters notes that some 30 million Americans use tanning beds every year. Tanning beds emit UV-A rays, which damage DNA, and UV-B rays, which can burn one's skin and also raise the risk of skin cancer. (The research did not calculate the medical cost of burns.) Previous research has found that indoor tanning bed exposure in people younger than 35 nearly doubles their risk of melanoma, reports STAT News, and Americans must now be 18 or older to use them in several states. Women younger than 30 are six times more likely to develop melanoma if they tan indoors, says a University of Alabama researcher who wasn't involved in the study. Even one indoor tanning session can increase users' risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by 67% and basal cell carcinoma by 29%. (Australia has outright banned tanning beds.) |
Rose McGowan: Weinstein Offered $1M to Shut Up | (Oct 29, 2017 8:07 AM CDT) As Harvey Weinstein's alleged house of cards was about to come crashing down in a wave of allegations of sexual harassment and assault, one of his most vocal accusers, Rose McGowan, says the increasingly desperate producer offered her some pretty hefty hush money: $1 million, the actress tells the New York Times. And as something of a starving artist, friends counseled her to take it. She countered at $6 million, she says, figuring I could probably have gotten him up to three, but ultimately I was like—ew, gross, you’re disgusting, I don’t want your money, that would make me feel disgusting. McGowan, who settled with Weinstein 20 years ago for $100,000 after she says he raped her, recently learned there was no confidentiality clause attached to that agreement. Meanwhile, director Robert Rodriguez tells Variety that he not only knew about McGowan's allegation, but that he cast her in the Weinstein-backed Grindhouse as a deliberate jab at the producer. After finding that she had been banned from appearing in any Miramax films, he says he offered to write her a BAD ASS character and make her one of the leads. I wanted her to have a starring role in a big movie to take her OFF the blacklist, and the best part is that we would have Harvey’s new Weinstein Company pay for the whole damn thing. |
Gambler Uses Phone App to Bet $1.1M on Falcons | (Feb 5, 2017 3:10 PM) It's one thing to pull for the underdog. It's another to bet $1.1 million that they'll cover the spread in the year's biggest NFL game. Sportsbook operator CG Technology took that bet from an unnamed customer Friday, someone who thinks the Atlanta Falcons will either beat the New England Patriots or lose by fewer than 3 points in Sunday's Super Bowl LI, reports ESPN. The San Jose Mercury News notes that the big bet came via the user's phone app. The way things are going, bettors might exceed the record of $132 million bet on last year's game. Most people betting the spread were still going with the Patriots to win. |
5 Kids Hit by Car While Walking Home From Bus Stop, 1 Fatally | (Apr 28, 2017 1:53 PM CDT) A Florida sheriff's deputy was sleeping Thursday afternoon when his 11-year-old daughter called and asked him to pick her up at her school bus stop. Seconds later, she started screaming into the phone, Dad, help me, help me! Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Quintana told reporters Friday that he assumed the worst as he jumped out of bed and ran barefoot to the bus stop. He found his daughter safe, but immediately saw the carnage left when a suspected drunken driver hit five of her fellow students as they were walking home from the stop. Officials said Jahiem Robertson, 13, died of his injuries Friday morning, the AP reports. Another child, John Mena, 13, remains in intensive care with orbital fractures. Three other children suffered minor injuries. A witness at the scene pointed out the car that had allegedly just crashed into the children, who were not in the road when they were hit. Quintana saw the vehicle had hit another car about 4,000 feet down the road. The driver then stumbled out of the vehicle. A woman who was four months pregnant was injured in that crash, according to authorities. Quintana arrested John Camfield, 48, a former law enforcement officer who worked for 10 different agencies in Mississippi before moving to Florida. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Camfield initially refused to take a breath test after his arrest, but after being advised that two of the children he hit were in critical condition, he agreed to take a breath test and a blood draw. Seven hours after the crash, he still read a .14, nearly twice Florida legal limit, Judd said. He faces multiple charges. |
Twitter Is Laying Off 9% of Its Workers | (Oct 27, 2016 7:21 AM CDT) Twitter, seemingly unable to find a buyer and losing money, is cutting about 9% of its 3,860 employees worldwide, reports the AP. Twitter Inc., which has struggled amid competition from the likes of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, said Thursday that it expects to book about $10 million to $20 million in workforce restructuring charges as it lays off about 350 workers. We have a clear plan, and we're making the necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term growth, CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement. Since the end of 2014, Twitter has lured 15 million monthly users to expand its audience to 313 million people. In that same period, Facebook brought in 319 million users, expanding its reach 1.7 billion people. Twitter is placing a big bet on live video, and recently landed a high-profile deal to show National Football League games over 10 Thursdays. It wants to be the go-to place to share opinions in real time. But management appears unfocused and complacent, while the narrative has shifted to buyout rumors, writes one analyst, who believes that Twitter remains too complicated for most users despite numerous attempts to change that. On Thursday, Twitter said that average monthly active users climbed 3% to 317 million during its third quarter, while average daily active usage increased 7%. Twitter Inc. posted a loss of $102.9 million, or 15 cents per share. Adjusted profit of 13 cents per share on revenue of $616 million. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research expected earnings of 9 cents per share on revenue of $605.7 million. Advertising revenue rose 6% to $545 million, with mobile advertising making up 90% of total ad revenue. |
Couple Survives 48 Hours Lost in Blizzard on Mountain | (Dec 16, 2016 1:52 PM) Madison Popolizio, 19, and boyfriend Blake Alois, 20, set out Sunday for what was supposed to be a day hike in New York's Adirondack Mountains. The weather forecast was partly cloudy, Popolizio tells the Daily Gazette. Then fog rolled in so thick they could barely see their hands in front of their faces, and they ended up lost for 48 hours in blizzard conditions near the top of Algonquin Peak, the state's second-highest mountain. At one point, they even lost their footing and began sliding down the mountain, Popolizio tells CBS News. I was freezing. The fall pushed all of the snow up my jacket, into my gloves, in my boots. I was covered in snow. She says she owes her survival to Alois, who helped her keep her feet and legs warm with his bag when she started going numb and kept her going by talking to her about what their lives would be like once they got rescued. After two days of searching, rescue crews finally located the couple on Tuesday, 265 feet below Algonquin's 5,115-foot summit, the Albany Times Union reports. Both were hallucinating by that point, but they knew the choppers they were hearing were real, and they started screaming, drawing rescuers to them. Frostbite left it difficult for Popolizio to walk, and chattering may have left her teeth fractured. Meanwhile, Alois may lose toes due to frostbite; he's still in the hospital. We made an agreement early on when we got trapped that neither one of us could die, Popolizio tells CBS. Because we couldn’t leave the other one alone. And after that death wasn’t an option for us. It just wasn’t. A GoFundMe campaign aims to help the couple with their medical bills, though they say they may donate any money raised to their rescuers. |
After 3 Years, 'Slender Man' Trial Begins | (Sep 13, 2017 10:00 AM CDT) It's been more than three years since Payton Leutner was stabbed 19 times by two friends in a Wisconsin park in the Slender Man stabbing, and this week a jury hears testimony to decide if one of her attackers was mentally competent at the time. Opening statements began Tuesday in the case of 15-year-old Anissa Weier, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Weier's defense is now tasked with convincing 10 of 16 jurors (12 assigned and four alternates) that Weier was delusional at the time of the May 2014 attack and went after Leutner because Weier feared the internet character Slender Man. Weier has pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide, meaning she admits she took part in the attack; this trial will determine if she can be held criminally responsible, which will impact whether she heads to prison or a mental hospital. Anissa's broken mind caused her to lose touch with reality, Weier's defense attorney told jurors Tuesday, adding she'd been a loner who developed a delusional belief system with co-defendant Morgan Geyser, believing they could become Slender Man's proxies by murdering Leutner, per the AP. Waukesha County Assistant DA Kevin Osborne refuted that, noting Weier had intended to carry out the attack herself but instead instructed Geyser to do it, which he sees as an indication she knew it was wrong. Weier's father took the stand as a defense witness and said while his daughter had gone through rough times during his divorce, in my opinion, she was a normal child. Geyser, who's been diagnosed with schizophrenia, has pleaded not guilty to being a party to attempted first-degree homicide and will go to trial Oct. 9. |
Cops: Boy, 12, Killed Driver in Overpass Suicide Attempt | (Oct 30, 2017 1:08 AM CDT) In a grimly ironic death in Virginia Saturday, a 22-year-old woman who worked with children with severe behavioral problems was killed when a 12-year-old boy jumped from a highway overpass and landed on her vehicle. Police believe the boy was trying to kill himself when he jumped from the Cedar Lane overpass onto Interstate 66, killing Marisa Harris when he landed on the 2005 Ford Escape she was driving, People reports. Harris' boyfriend was in the passenger seat of the SUV and was able to grab the steering wheel and safely guide the car off the interstate. The 12-year-old boy was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Harris, who grew up in Maryland, lived in Arlington and was pursuing a master's degree in clinical counseling at Marymount University. Her mother says she had a passion for helping troubled children and, given the chance, could have helped the boy who jumped, NBC Washington 4 reports. She was caring—I mean she had an absolute love for children, her mom tells the Washington Post. She was awesome. I miss her so much. Her father says Marisa is from a long line of psychologists. She was fearless, she was absolutely fearless, he says. She was loved by her friends, she was dearly loved by her family, she was admired by her peers, she was just a shining star. |
A Year After Their Mobile Home Burned, 2nd Fire Takes 2 Kids | (Feb 10, 2017 4:07 PM) After their mobile home burned last year, the best Michael Reeves and Chassity Carter could do was to park a camper trailer on the same lot in coastal Georgia and make it their new home. Now hardship has become sheer tragedy for Reeves and Carter. Less than a year after their mobile home burned, another fire Wednesday ravaged the camper the family had been living in, killing two of their children—3-year-old Blayden Wade Reeves and his 4-month-old sister, Tallie Ann Carter, the AP reports. Chassity Carter and 2-year-old Brighton Michael Reeves were hospitalized in critical condition. After searching the camper's charred remains Thursday, investigators determined the deadly blaze likely stated as an accidental cooking fire. There was a pot of noodles left on a hot plate on a countertop that was the cause of the fire, Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering told reporters at a news conference. Police were initially suspicious because of last year's mobile home fire, but he said there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the fire at the camper. It was a travel trailer, which is unusual for a family to be living in, Doering said. It's not designed for that, especially for a family of five. Neighbors knew the young couple had a hard time making ends meet, said Danny O'Neal, who lives around the corner. They have been struggling and struggling, O'Neal said Thursday from his front porch just outside the port city of Brunswick, about 70 miles south of Savannah. He could hardly talk about the day before, when he ran outside to the sound of his neighbors screaming for their children. |
Girl, 11, Suspended for Bringing Toddler Knife to School | (Nov 17, 2016 4:05 PM) An 11-year-old honor student has been suspended for six days for bringing a knife to her Florida middle school—a child's butter knife, which she used at lunchtime to cut a peach, Local 10 reports. This is a set of a spoon, fork, and knife for toddlers—one year old, says Andrea Souto, the girl's mom. It is made for children to learn how to eat properly. She's used it since she was baby. Her father says she was cutting the peach so that she could share it with a friend when someone saw the knife. A spokesperson for Broward County school district wouldn't discuss specifics, but said, The school followed district policy regarding this incident and continues to work with the student and parents involved. It is the district's priority to maintain safe and secure campuses for students and staff at all times. The school district says the girl violated the county's weapon policy, and a resulting Pembroke Pines Police Department investigation has been turned over to the State Attorney's Office. It's not clear whether prosecutors are considering criminal charges, but the family's attorney says it's tragic such a thing is even a possibility when the girl was using a child-proof utensil that could never be construed in any form as a weapon. |
7 Calls Might've Come From Missing Sub: Argentina | (Nov 19, 2017 5:33 AM) Argentina's Navy detected seven brief satellite calls Saturday that may have come from a submarine with 44 crew members that hadn't been heard from in three days. The communications indicate that the crew is trying to re-establish contact, so we are working to locate the source of the emissions, the Navy said via Twitter; the calls lasted between four and 36 seconds. It has not been confirmed the calls came from the submarine, the ARA San Juan, though the AP reports that is the working hypothesis. Earlier Saturday, Navy rep Enrique Balbi said the area being searched off the country's southern Atlantic coast has been doubled as concerns about the fate of the submarine and its crew grew. We are not discounting any hypothesis, Balbi said, adding that possibilities to explain the submarine's disappearance include a problem with communications or with its power system. |
Warren Jeffs Ordered to Pay $16M to a Former Child Bride | (Sep 6, 2017 7:23 AM CDT) Warren Jeffs must pay $16 million to a woman he pressured to marry her cousin when she was just 14. Elissa Wall, a child bride within the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was awarded $4 million in damages and $12 million in punitive damages Tuesday, some 12 years after filing an initial lawsuit, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. It accused Jeffs of arranging the 2001 marriage of Wall to her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, and pressuring the pair to have children. Wall went on to have miscarriages and a stillbirth. Utah judge Keith Kelly said the conduct of Jeffs—who didn't defend himself— was so extreme that it went beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society, per Fox 13. Jeffs—serving life in prison for child sex assault following a trial in which Wall testified against him—was previously convicted as an accomplice to rape for presiding over Wall's marriage. However, that conviction was overturned in 2010 over improper instructions given to the jury, per the Deseret News. Steed pleaded guilty to solemnization of a prohibited marriage and pleaded no contest to unlawful sexual activity with a minor in 2011; he received 30 days in jail, three years of probation, and was ordered to pay $10,000, the Deseret News previously reported. Following Tuesday's decision, Wall's lawyer suggested the $16 million come from FLDS assets across North America so the church feels the pain of what their doctrine has been as to the rape of young girls. (A year after a slippery escape, Jeffs' brother was caught in June.) |
It's June, and Parts of California Still Have 8 Feet of Snow | (Jun 7, 2017 7:30 PM CDT) You can ski pretty much all summer long this year in California, where the remnants of a very snowy winter are still lingering. Much of the Rockies, Sierras, and Cascades still have at least 8 feet of snow on the ground, USA Today reports, citing the National Weather Service, and the Mammoth Mountain ski area says it will be open daily into August thanks to the best spring conditions in decades. Hikers, however, should be wary of the conditions, as snow and the associated rise in water levels as snow melts can make that activity as well as some water sports more dangerous. The snowpack throughout the Sierras meets or exceeds record levels set in 1982-83. |
Scientists: 500-Year Flooding in NYC Could Happen Every 5 | (Oct 24, 2017 3:07 AM CDT) Within the next three decades, floods that used to strike the New York City area only once every 500 years could occur every five years, according to a new study released just days before the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. The study, performed by researchers at several universities and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, primarily blames the predicted change on sea-level rise caused by global warming. This is kind of a warning, says Andra Garner, a Rutgers University scientist and study co-author. How are we going to protect our coastal infrastructure? The researchers based their analysis on models that factored in predictions for sea level rise and possible changes in the path of future hurricanes. |
More Than 100K Evacuated Near America's Tallest Dam | (Feb 13, 2017 1:02 AM) More than 100,000 people fled their homes in northern California on Sunday as an emergency spillway next to America's tallest dam threatened to collapse and unleash what authorities called a catastrophic amount of water along the Feather River. While the evacuation took place, emergency repairs were performed on the spillway at the 770-foot Oroville Dam, with helicopters dropping rock-filled containers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The cities of Oroville, Yuba City, and Marysville were among those under mandatory evacuation orders. Saturday, when a hole developed in the main spillway, was the first time the emergency spillway was used since the dam was completed in 1968. Authorities say the dam itself remains structurally sound, reports the Los Angeles Times. Officials said Sunday night that the immediate danger was subsiding because the level of the man-made Lake Oroville had dropped below the level of the emergency spillway for the first time in more than 24 hours, the Sacramento Bee reports. But authorities warned that the danger of catastrophic flooding remains, with the main spillway still in danger of collapse because water was released so quickly along it to relieve pressure on the auxiliary spillway, causing further erosion. The AP reports that the evacuation order covered 188,000 people in Yuba, Sutter and Butte counties and that people were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic out of the area more than five hours after the order was issued. |