Datasets:

nutorbit

/

news-headline-gen

like 0

2 Navy Seals Suspected in Green Beret's Murder

(Oct 29, 2017 3:22 PM CDT) Nearly five months after a 34-year-old Army Green Beret was strangled to death in his embassy housing in the Malian capital of Bamako, military officials say investigators are looking into whether two members of the Navy's SEAL Team 6 are involved. Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar's body was discovered June 4 in housing he shared with other Special Operations forces. And while no arrests have been made, the two SEALS were flown out of the country almost immediately afterward and put on administrative leave, the New York Times reports. The SEALs were originally classified as witnesses, but that designation was changed to persons of interest. A military medical examiner has ruled the death to be a homicide, sources tell the newspaper. Originally the Army's Criminal Investigation Command was investigating Melgar's death, but on Sept. 25 the case was taken over by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which is not releasing details about the investigation or a possible motive. NCIS does not discuss the details of ongoing investigations, says a spokesman. The Army has yet to release a statement about the incident. Read the full Times story.

67M-Year-Old Dinosaur Eggs Upend a Long-Held Assumption

(Sep 20, 2017 10:05 AM CDT) Feathers, wishbones, colored eggs. If they're things you associate as only found in birds, you're wrong, says paleontologist Mark Norell. It turns out dinosaurs evolved all three, though we've only just recently learned about that last item. The discovery of fossil egg-shells in China has upended the conventional wisdom that all dino eggs were white, a belief born out of the fact that, as National Geographic reports, lizard, turtle, and crocodile eggs are white. But as a study newly published in Peer J explains, researchers now believe that a species of oviraptor named Heyuannia huangi laid blue-green eggs. While fossil eggs often end up looking brown or black, the 67 million-year-old ones found in China seemed blueish, which led scientists to try—and, as it turns out, succeed—to identify bits of colored pigments. The two, biliverdin (blue) and protoporphyrin (red), are typically found in today's bird eggs, and the researchers speculate that the coloring may have worked as a protective camouflage. It was a huge surprise. I couldn't believe it, says co-author Jasmina Wiemann. The findings suggest the dinosaurs were at least partially open nesting, as colored eggs are present in most modern birds which build open nests, as the eggs are vulnerable due to periods without parental guarding. A 2015 report from CBS News on the initial findings shares another hypothesis: that male oviraptors may have provided care for the eggs, as is the case among their colored-egg modern bird counterparts. (Dinosaur eggs hatched in a potentially troublesome way.)

Lego Batman, 50 Shades Choke Competition

(Feb 19, 2017 12:53 PM) 50 Shades Darker again found itself playing second banana to the Lego Batman Movie, as the two scored $34.2 million and $20.9 million, respectively, to hold down three newcomers, reports Business Insider. Failing big-league was Matt Damon's The Great Wall, which the AP notes at $150 million is the most expensive movie ever made in China, yet brought in only $18.1 million for the holiday weekend. That's mitigated slightly by the movie's success in China, where it has already taken in $171 million. Next in line was First Fight, which scored $12 million. A Cure for Wellness, meanwhile, befuddled critics and audiences, as Business Insider puts it, with only a $4.2 million haul.

Personal Assistant Stole $1M From Employer: Charges

(Feb 22, 2017 2:48 PM) A New York woman is facing up to 15 years in prison after allegedly using nearly $1 million of her employer's money on a new car, trips, spa treatments, and mortgage payments for herself, the Journal News reports. The Westchester County District Attorney's Office says 60-year-old Joann Perrino even spent more than $4,300 of her employer's money on clothes in a single shopping trip. Perrino pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny on Tuesday. The DA says Perrino, who worked as a part-time personal assistant for the victim, transferred money and wrote checks from the victim's account without the victim's knowledge, the Yonkers Daily Voice reports. According to News12 Westchester, the name of the victim isn't being released. The DA says Perrino took $987,428 from the victim starting in 2009 and ending with her arrest in May 2014. In addition to prison time, Perrino must pay the money back.

10-Year-Old's Idea of 'Fun' Gets Mom Arrested: Cops

(Mar 7, 2017 10:22 AM) Not surprising: a 10-year-old boy proclaiming, This is fun! as he zips around town behind the wheel of his mom's Jeep Grand Cherokee. Even less surprising: the mom getting arrested for allegedly letting him do so. Per the Connecticut Post and Hartford Courant, that's what police say recently happened in Monroe, where locals called in to report a video on Facebook in which the boy was seen at the wheel of 38-year-old Lisa Nussbaum's car, cruising around the neighborhood while his mother apparently live-streamed from the passenger seat. Cops say the underage driver, who didn't seem to be sporting a seatbelt in the video, appeared to drive at a reasonable speed as his mother was heard offering directions. The Monroe PD says Nussbaum was arrested and charged with risk of injury or impairing morals of a minor and subsequently released, per WTNH; she's set to appear in court on Friday.

Genes Up Your Heart Disease Risk? Do 3 of These 4 Things

(Nov 15, 2016 12:31 PM) If you lost the genetic lottery when it comes to heart disease, take, well, heart: The upshot of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine is that DNA is not destiny; it is not deterministic for this disease, as Dr. Sekar Kathiresan puts it. While the analysis of health data on some 55,000 people did reveal that bad genes can double your heart disease risk, researchers found that participants who had high genetic risk but led a favorable lifestyle can halve their risk. On the flip side, those dealt a good genetic hand who led an unfavorable lifestyle lost about half the genetic advantage, reports the New York Times. So how to move into the favorable category? The study's authors focused on four indicators of a healthy lifestyle: no current smoking, no obesity, regular physical activity (the Times defines this as at least once a week), and healthy diet. Adhering to at least three of the four factors places one in the favorable column; unfavorable is one factor or less. Patients may equate DNA-based risk estimates with determinism, a perceived lack of control over the ability to improve outcomes, the researchers write. However, our results provide evidence that lifestyle factors may powerfully modify risk regardless of the patient’s genetic risk profile. But since a favorable lifestyle was tied to a reduced risk across each stratum of genetic risk, even those with good genes should take note.

Rand Paul Has 5 Fractured Ribs, Lung Contusions

(Nov 6, 2017 1:21 AM) Sen. Rand Paul has painful injuries, including five fractured ribs, after being assaulted at his Kentucky home Friday and it could be a while before he can go back to work, a spokesman says. Paul has five rib fractures including three displaced fractures, adviser Doug Stafford said in a statement to the Bowling Green Daily News. This type of injury is caused by high velocity severe force. It is not clear exactly how soon he will return to work, as the pain is considerable, as is the difficulty in getting around, including flying. Stafford said the senator is also suffering from lung contusions caused by the displaced fractures, and this type of injury is also accompanied by severe pain that can last weeks to months. Police say Paul has told them neighbor Rene Boucher tackled him from behind after coming onto his property in the community of Rivergreen, just east of Bowling Green. Boucher has been charged with fourth-degree assault and could spend up to a year in prison if found guilty. The 59-year-old doctor was released from jail Saturday night on $7,500 bond. No motive for the assault, which apparently blindsided Paul, has been disclosed. Politico reports that if the senator does end up being absent from Washington, DC, for a significant amount of time, it could complicate the legislative agenda of Senate Republicans, who have a slender majority of 52 votes.

Stunt Driver Killed on Deadpool 2 Set

(Aug 14, 2017 2:50 PM CDT) A stuntperson has been killed on the set of Deadpool 2, a spokesperson for distributor 20th Century Fox confirms to ABC News. Details, including the identity of the stunt driver involved in the Vancouver accident, were not immediately available, but sources tell TMZ the Monday morning accident involved a female motorcycle rider who went airborne somehow while filming a scene for the movie. The sources say she never applied the brakes, and her bike ultimately crashed through the glass of a studio inside Shaw Tower. (A stuntman recently died on the set of The Walking Dead).

Trump Roasted for Reportedly Claiming 2005 Tape Is Fake

(Nov 28, 2017 7:39 AM) Access Hollywood anchors are calling President Trump out after he reportedly suggested a 2005 Access Hollywood recording was fake. On Monday's broadcast, host Natalie Morales made it clear that Trump boasted about sexual misconduct, including grabbing women by the pussy, in the tape. Let us make this perfectly clear, the tape is very real and Trump said every one of those words, Morales said, per the New York Daily News. She was addressing a Saturday article in the New York Times focusing on Trump's backing of Roy Moore. It noted Trump suggested to a senator earlier this year that [the tape] was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently, despite confirming its authenticity and offering an apology last October. At that time, Trump brushed off the tape as decade-old locker room talk, adding, Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course. Morales wasn't the only one to recall this. Are you insane? … You admitted it was real, Seth Meyers said of the tape on Monday's Late Night, per the Huffington Post. Meanwhile, Chris Cillizza at CNN suggests Trump is simply creating a conspiracy theory—based on little or no evidence—that suits his purposes and knows exactly what he is doing. Asked about the tape Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump made his position clear a year ago, reports CNN. The president hasn't changed his position. I think if anything, what the president questions is the media's reporting on that accurately, she added.

The Suspect Is a Tree: 5 Craziest Crimes of the Week

(Oct 28, 2016 5:50 AM CDT) Among this week's seasonal crimes: one involving pumpkins, and another involving Election 2016 (or so she thought).

Virginia Executes Man for Murder of Family of 4

(Jan 19, 2017 1:55 AM) A man convicted of killing a family of four, slashing their throats, and setting their home ablaze after they left their front door open while preparing for a New Year's Day party in 2006, was executed Wednesday. Ricky Gray was pronounced dead at 9:42pm following a lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., the AP reports. The 39-year-old inmate showed no emotion as he was walked into the execution chamber wearing blue jeans and handcuffs. Asked if he had any final words, Gray responded, Nope. Gray was condemned to death in 2006 for the murders of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and 4-year-old sister Ruby, and sentenced to life in prison for the slaying of their parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey. Bryan Harvey was a guitarist and singer for the rock duo House of Freaks. The family was getting ready to host friends for a chili dinner and Gray and his nephew, Ray Dandridge, were looking for a home to rob when they spotted the open door. Court records show they tied up the family in the basement and Gray slashed their throats and bashed their heads with a hammer before setting their home on fire and fleeing with a computer, a wedding ring, and a basket of cookies. Gray also confessed to participating in the slaying of 21-year-old Ashley Baskerville, her mother Mary Baskerville-Tucker, and stepfather Percyell Tucker days after the Harvey deaths, but he wasn't tried in that case. Gray was the first Virginia inmate executed since convicted serial killer Alfredo Prieto received a lethal injection in October 2015. Just six inmates remain on Virginia's death row.

141 Carcasses Found Along World's Deepest Lake

(Nov 3, 2017 8:54 AM CDT) Russian authorities are investigating whether 141 Baikal earless seals starved to death after their carcasses washed up in Siberia on the shoreline of the world's deepest lake, officials said Friday. The dead seals started appearing along Lake Baikal last weekend, the Irkutsk region's government said in a statement. Most of the seals were pregnant females, reports the AP. The population of the Baikal earless seals, or nerpa, is estimated to be around 130,000. The lake near the Mongolian border, 2,600 miles east of Moscow, contains 20% of the world's non-frozen freshwater and is home to 1,500 species of plants and animals that exist nowhere else in the world; it's more than 5,500 feet deep.

Purple Heart Fraudster Gets 3 Years in Prison

(Jun 2, 2017 12:03 AM CDT) A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former soldier who lied his way to a Purple Heart to three years in prison and ordered him to repay nearly $650,000 in stolen government benefits. Darryl Wright, 48, a former Idaho National Guardsman, feigned injuries from an explosion in Iraq in 2005 and doctored statements from fellow soldiers to obtain two awards, a Combat Action Badge and a Purple Heart, which is reserved for those wounded in action, the AP reports. The Army has since revoked the awards, though Wright still has the medals. Prosecutors, who said he defrauded 16 state, federal, local, and private agencies, programs and organizations, were seeking a prison term of five years. In applications for benefits, Wright claimed to be so severely disabled that he could only focus his attention for five to 10 seconds, and he said he needed a live-in caregiver. In reality, he served as chairman of the planning commission in Snoqualmie, Wash., coached high school basketball, and had held a full-time federal government job in Seattle. The VA paid his sister to be his live-in caregiver, though investigators said she performed no such service. By May 2013, the siblings were bringing in benefits totaling $10,000 a month, prosecutors said. Wright's attorney said the sentence was fair. He described the defendant as a complicated man with psychological issues, but said he has been doing well in therapy.

Nestle to Pay $200 for 210M Gallons of Mich. Water

(Nov 7, 2016 4:43 AM) Nestle is facing a backlash in Michigan over its plans to massively expand the amount of groundwater it pumps from the state—and pay less than $1 per million gallons. The company wants to more than double what it pumps from its plant in Evart to 210 million gallons a year, which will cost it just $200 per year because state law considers the plant to be a private well, the Guardian reports. Angry residents have written to state regulators complaining about the plan to expand operations at the plant, which is 120 miles from Flint, where tap water is still unsafe to drink. Nestle argues that the aquifer can handle the increased withdrawal and that the $36 million project will create 20 jobs. MLive.com reports that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued a draft approval for the request and has been asking for public comment. Why on Earth would the state of Michigan, given our lack of money to address water matters of our own, like Flint, even consider giving MORE water for little or no cost to a foreign corporation with annual profits in the billions? an Ada resident wrote to regulators. Other critics, including the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation group, say they want outside experts to look at Nestle's claim that the increased pumping won't affect surface waters in the area. (In California, Nestle bottled water during a drought with a long-expired permit.)

White Nationalist to Speak at UF. His Cost: $10K. UF's Cost: $500K

(Oct 6, 2017 9:05 AM CDT) As one university faces a lawsuit over its refusal to host white nationalist Richard Spencer, another is reluctantly conceding to the idea. The University of Florida says it will allow Spencer to speak on its campus on Oct. 19 in what will be the alt-right leader's first college event since an August rally at the University of Virginia that culminated in a deadly demonstration a day later, reports the Washington Post. UF initially denied a request from Spencer's National Policy Institute for a September event citing security concerns. Spencer then hired an attorney who threatened the school with a lawsuit, and UF announced Thursday that NPI would pay a standard fee of $10,500 to rent a space and provide security on campus on Oct. 19, reports the Gainesville Sun. No one at the University of Florida invited Richard Spencer. The racist ideas espoused by this organization and this individual conflict with the values of this institution, UF says in an email to students, per the Independent Florida Alligator. But UF must allow the free expression of all viewpoints, a university rep adds, noting the school will pay some $500,000 for additional security on campus and in Gainesville for which it is unable to bill Spencer's NPI. Spencer, who is concerned about violence at the event, says the fact that so much money is going to have to be spent on security results directly from people who want to shut down free speech and we need to fight this. He adds it will be an exciting event. I expect good intellectual push-back from the students, he says. That's part of the fun of it all.

7.8 Quake Hits New Zealand; Tsunami Warning Issued

(Nov 13, 2016 6:17 AM) A powerful earthquake has struck New Zealand near the city of Christchurch, with strong jolts felt over 120 miles away in the capital, Wellington. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries, reports the AP. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at first reported that there was no risk of a tsunami, but later changed that advisory and advised people on South Island to move to higher ground, adds CBS News. The magnitude-7.8 quake struck just after midnight Sunday and was centered 57 miles northeast of Christchurch, according to the US Geological Survey. It was at a relatively shallow depth of 6 miles. Earthquakes tend to be more strongly felt on the surface when they're shallow. New Zealand sits on the Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common. An earthquake in 2011 in Christchurch killed 185 people.

S&P 500, Nasdaq See Record Closes Again

(May 26, 2017 3:11 PM CDT) Major US stock indexes ended the day pretty much where they started as trading was quiet ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, the AP reports. Meager gains by the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite were enough to leave both at record highs. Both marked their seventh straight day of gains. The Dow Jones industrial average of 30 major stocks fell slightly. Consumer-focused companies rose. Costco gained 1.8% after reporting solid earnings. The S&P 500 edged up a fraction to 2,415. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2 points, less than 0.1%, to 21,080. The Nasdaq composite rose 5 points, or 0.1%, to 6,210. More stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Here Are the 10 Most Tweeted-About Topics of 2016

(Dec 6, 2016 10:35 AM) The Rio Olympics, the American presidential election, and Pokemon Go were the top global trends on Twitter in 2016, the AP reports. The social media site says Rio2016 was the most tweeted-about topic around the world, followed by Election2016 and PokemonGo. Euro2016, Oscars, Brexit, Trump, and BlackLivesMatter also made the top 10. (Spots No. 9 and 10 went to the terms RIP and GameOfThrones, per the Mirror. A Spanish gamer known as elrubius originated the year's most popular tweet: It reads Limonada (lemonade) and was re-tweeted more than 1.3 million times. One Direction's Harry Styles had the second most-repeated post—quoting a Taylor Swift song—with more than 700,000 retweets. A postelection tweet from Hillary Clinton encouraging little girls to recognize their power and seize opportunities was the third most popular of the year with 634,560 retweets.

Cops: Drunk Mom Used Girl, 8, to Get Around Anti-DUI Device

(Feb 27, 2017 4:54 PM) Police say that a Pennsylvania woman who crashed her car while her 8-year-old daughter was inside should never have been driving at all. Angela L. Daywalt has been charged with drunken driving, child endangerment, corruption of minors, and other traffic offenses in the Feb. 13 incident—but the 36-year-old already had a device on her car blocking her from drinking and driving, the Patriot-News reports. Police say, per witness reports, she had her daughter blow into it, which allowed her to start the vehicle. She allegedly fled the scene of the one-car accident, which happened around 11pm, and was found at her home, per Fox 43.

Captive Kids Won't Have to Interact With Parents for 3 Years

(Jan 25, 2018 9:24 AM) David and Louise Turpin essentially can't have anything to do with their children for the next three years following a judge's Wednesday court order. The Desert Sun reports Riverside County Judge Emma Smith has barred the parents from any attempts at communication with their children, including electronically or by phone, per the Washington Post, until January 2021. They're also prohibited from coming within 100 yards of any of their children—whom they're accused of shackling, starving, and abusing—except in the course of a court hearing. The only contact that's permitted is via their lawyer. A separate Desert Sun piece highlights the recollections of Taha Muntajibuddin, who attended third grade in Forth Worth, Texas, with one of the eldest Turpin girls—and now feels an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame. In a Facebook post, Muntajibuddin writes the girl was the butt of ceaseless jokes and mockery for smelling like mud and worse. She was the cootie kid, and he recalls the day the whole class teased her after the teacher made her throw out a hair tie she had fashioned out of the discarded tin foil wrapper from an old Hershey's bar. He says that years later, he searched for her online, imagining that somewhere, somehow, [she] was probably living her best life ... She was going to be that person at the reunion looking completely flawless and making six figures. His hope was that she would have taken all the cruelty and used it as ammunition to forge a successful path in life. Knowing her reality, he shares the simple lesson he has learned: Be nice ... [an] act of kindness and acceptance may be the ray of hope that that person needs. (Louise Turpin's siblings had some weird things to say about their sister.)

Fire Sweeps Through Crowded Children's Shelter, Killing 22

(Mar 9, 2017 12:14 AM) A fire swept through the female section of a crowded children's shelter near Guatemala City early Wednesday and officials said at least 22 girls died and dozens more were injured. Photos from inside the shelter showed blue sheets covering sneaker-clad bodies and bits of foam mattresses in what appeared to be a smoke-stained dormitory room. Weeping, distraught relatives waited outside the walled facility for news of their children. The head of Guatemala's social welfare agency, Carlos Rodas, said youths at the shelter started rioting Tuesday in an effort to escape, the AP reports. Complaints about abuse and living conditions at the overcrowded shelter have been frequent. Then on Wednesday, about 9am, Some of the adolescents lit their mattresses on fire, Rodas said. A 15-year-old girl being treated for minor injuries said the uprising followed rumors of an escape attempt. Some boys, or even young men who were still housed at the center after turning 18, entered the girls' area, she said. She said she fled to her dormitory's roof with others fearing the boys would attack them. Two hospitals said they received 41 injured girls between the ages of 13 and 17, many with second- and third-degree burns. Rodas said the shelter, known as the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, had an official capacity of 500, but was housing at least 800 youths.

Russian Doping Involved 1K Athletes, 30 Sports: Investigator

(Dec 9, 2016 9:36 AM) The Russian doping scandal just keeps getting bigger: A new report implicates 1,000 athletes in 30 sports over recent years, along with officials at various levels of government. The upshot is sure to be increased pressure to penalize Russia ahead of the 2018 Winter Games. In the report—which amplifies an earlier one in July—World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren lays out 1,166 immutable facts he says prove Russia to be guilty of an institutional conspiracy between 2011 and 2015, per the New York Times. This involved cheating on an unprecedented scale at the 2012 London Olympics, where athletes were given a cocktail of steroids ... to beat the detection thresholds, McLaren says. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency says accusations of cheating haven't been proven, reports USA Today. Though his initial report helped ban 30% of Russia's delegation from the Rio Games, McLaren's investigation continued. American athletes, for example, have discussed boycotting the world championships in bobsled to be held in Sochi in February over lingering concerns about doping. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field, McLaren says, per the AP. It's time that this stops. New evidence presented in the report shows Russian officials swapped or tampered with urine samples, including those of 15 medalists at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Samples from female athletes, for example, had male DNA. IOC's president has said he supports lifetime Olympic bans for athletes and officials involved.

1.5 Years in Prison for Ex-Navy Admiral in 'Fat Leonard' Case

(May 18, 2017 9:02 AM CDT) An ex-admiral in the US Navy who served his country for nearly four decades was tempted by parties and prostitutes and ultimately chose karaoke over character, US prosecutors say, and he's now been sentenced to 18 months behind bars for that choice. Reuters reports that 56-year-old Robert Gilbeau, the first active-duty admiral to be handed a conviction for a federal crime, had pleaded guilty in 2016 to lying when federal agents asked him if he'd received gifts from one Fat Leonard —aka Leonard Francis, a foreign defense contractor in Singapore. Per a Justice Department statement, prosecutors say Gilbeau, who had a relationship with Francis that spanned two decades, was showered with fine dining experiences, stays at high-end hotels, and cash, and that the two men often partied together at karaoke bars and clubs, all on Francis' tab. In exchange, prosecutors note, Gilbeau awarded Francis lucrative contracts for services such as waste removal from US ships. Gilbeau reportedly started trashing files and documents tying him to Francis when he found out Francis and others had been arrested in 2013. In a San Diego federal courtroom on Wednesday, US District Judge Janis Sammartino told Gilbeau, You dishonored your shipmates, the Navy, and the United States of America. The Washington Post says Gilbeau offered a shaky, To the Navy, I want to say I am sorry. Gilbeau's attorney notes his client's Bronze Star and Purple Heart to Reuters and says: We respectfully disagree with the court's sentencing decision. Gilbeau, now free on bond, will sign in at the Federal Bureau of Prisons on June 23. Francis, meanwhile, faces up to 25 years in prison on bribery and conspiracy charges. (Another military scandal, this one involving nude pictures.)

Dems Raise $13K to Reopen Firebombed GOP Office

(Oct 17, 2016 3:05 AM CDT) Democrats disgusted by the firebombing of a GOP office in Orange County, NC, set up a GoFundMe page to help reopen it and blew past their $10,000 goal within hours Sunday. Thank you all for showing that Americans are thirsty for civility and decency, and that we love our democracy above all our differences, wrote the page's creators, who stressed that they were ordinary voters, not Democratic officials. Police are still searching for the attackers who threw a firebomb into the Republican headquarters in Hillsborough overnight Saturday and spray-painted Nazi Republicans leave town or else on an adjacent building, the Hill reports. The fundraising page—which was criticized by some LGBT activists opposed to the state's controversial bathroom law —was closed after reaching $13,000 in donations. Gov. Pat McCrory denounced the attack as an attack on our democracy. Hillary Clinton tweeted Sunday that the attack was horrific and unacceptable, while Donald Trump tweeted: Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning. The Charlotte Observer notes that Democrats and independents outnumber Republicans 5 to 1 in the county, which lies to the west of Durham.

2 Arrests After Mannequin Challenge Featuring 19 Guns

(Dec 7, 2016 10:14 AM) They succeeded in making a viral video, but it might have been in exchange for their freedom. Alabama police say they've arrested two men after they were alerted to an ill-advised mannequin challenge video making the rounds on Facebook, per AL.com. Posted on Nov. 9 and shared 85,000 times, it shows at least 22 men pointing at least 19 guns at each other outside of a home in Huntsville in what appears to be a mock drive-by shooting, per the Washington Post. On Tuesday, police say they searched the home and found two hand guns, an assault rifle and magazines, a shotgun, ammunition, a tactical vest, and marijuana packaged to be sold. Kenneth White, 49, faces charges of first-degree possession of marijuana and being a felon in possession of a firearm, while Terry Brown, 23, faces charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and loitering. Brown was also charged with promoting prison contraband after police say he arrived at jail with marijuana in his possession, per WHNT. Police add more arrests could be on the way. There are several persons in the video who may be convicted felons, the captain of the Madison County Sheriff's Office says. He adds officers are working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to identify the individuals and draw up any potential charges.

'Funky Drummer' Behind Infamous Hip-Hop Sample Dies at 73

(Feb 18, 2017 5:18 PM) Clyde Stubblefield, a James Brown drummer who created one of the most widely sampled drum breaks ever, has died. He was 73. Stubblefield's wife, Jody Hannon, tells the AP he died of kidney failure at a Madison, Wisconsin, hospital Saturday. She says he had been suffering from kidney disease for 10 years, and had been hospitalized for a few days. Stubblefield performed on several of Brown's classics, but was best known for a short break on Brown's 1970 single, Funky Drummer. Rolling Stone says it was sampled on more than 1,000 songs and served as the backbeat for countless hip-hop tracks, including Public Enemy's Fight the Power. Hennon says the Tennessee-born Stubblefield never saw many royalties and never expected them.

Vet Loses Wife, 2 Sons in Crash—but Another Son Lives

(Mar 5, 2017 6:21 PM) A California family's grief deepened Saturday after divers called off the search for 2-year-old Noah Abbott, who has been missing since Thursday when the car his mother was driving crashed into an aqueduct, the Mercury News reports. The bodies of Christina Estrada, 31, and another son, Jeremiah, 3, were previously recovered, but Noah remains missing and presumed dead. The family's attention now turns to the lone survivor, Elijah Estrada, 10, who was released from a hospital over the weekend. He had been ejected from the red Volkswagen convertible, and witnesses say they helped pull him from the water, where he had been holding on to flotation buoys. Elijah's uncle, Steven Abbott, tells the Victorville Daily Press that the boy is doing well and appears to be in good health. Relatives kept a vigil at the aqueduct in Hesperia amid a makeshift memorial of candles, flowers, and stuffed animals as police searched for Noah in the water and by air. Authorities ended the search because of unsafe conditions from a strong current and poor visibility. Two GoFundMe accounts (here and here) have been set up to help Kevin Abbott, the husband and father, pay funeral expenses. Abbott, an Iraq War veteran who was not in the car, is having a hard time right now, says a cousin. He's been put in a position where he's now a single father, so we're looking for any support we can get. The car crashed through a fence and into water about 6:40pm Thursday, and the cause is under investigation. It was fully submerged when found.

Mali Extremists Release Video of 6 Western Hostages

(Jul 3, 2017 12:11 AM CDT) An al-Qaeda-linked group in Mali has released a proof-of-life video showing six foreign hostages, a group that monitors jihadist communications says, shortly before the French president arrived in the West African country for an anti-terror summit. The recently formed Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen issued the video Saturday on Telegram, the SITE Intelligence Group said. The video shows Stephen McGowan of South Africa, Elliot Kenneth Arthur of Australia, Iulian Ghergut of Romania, Beatrice Stockly of Switzerland, Gloria Cecilia Narvaez of Colombia, and Sophie Petronin of France, the AP reports. No genuine negotiations have begun to rescue your children, a narrator says. The narrator also mentions the recently elected French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that Petronin is hoping that the new French president will come to her rescue. Macron met Sunday in Mali with heads of state from five nations across Africa's Sahel region to build support for a new 5,000-strong multinational force meant to counter extremists there. These people are nothing, he said of the extremists. They are terrorists, thugs, and assassins. And we will put all of our energies into eradicating them. Of the six shown in the video, McGowan was the earliest seized, abducted in 2011 from a hostel in Timbuktu. (Last week, extremists released a Swedish man kidnapped the same year.)

Man's Right Testicle Hurt for 15 Years. Doc Removed Left One

(Jun 16, 2017 7:24 PM CDT) A Pennsylvania man is $870,000 richer after a jury ruled his urologist committed reckless indifference when he removed the wrong testicle from his patient, PennLive.com reports. Steven Hanes' right testicle had been causing him intense pain for 15 years. According to Fox 43, it was about half the size of the 54-year-old's left testicle. Hanes consulted urologist Dr. V. Spencer Long in 2013, and Long recommended removing the painful testicle. But after the surgery, Long wrote in a report: It appeared that the left testicle and cord may actually have been removed instead. A follow-up visit confirmed that. On Wednesday, a jury awarded Hanes $620,000 in damages for pain and suffering and $250,000 in punitive damages. Meanwhile, Hanes' right testicle is still hurting. Mr. Hanes is now forced to either live with the painful testicle or undergo treatment that could result in the loss of the remaining testicle, making him reliant on hormone therapy the rest of his life, his lawyer tells the Legal Intelligencer.

Antarctica About to Lose 1 of Biggest Icebergs Ever

(Jun 1, 2017 5:59 PM CDT) Experts say one of the biggest icebergs in recorded history—it would be about the size of Delaware—is very close to separating from Antarctica, USA Today reports. According to the BBC, a 124-mile-long crack on the Larsen C Ice Shelf grew more than 10 miles over just six days to end the month of May. The crack, which had been running parallel to the edge of the ice shelf, also took a right turn toward the shelf's edge, CNN reports. The crack is now only eight miles from the edge of the shelf, and it appears there's nothing left stopping a major chunk of the shelf from calving free. When the iceberg does split off, it will take 10% of the Larsen C Ice Shelf with it. The iceberg will be more than 1,900 square miles in size and 1,150 feet thick, Gizmodo reports. The loss will make Larsen C less stable, and one researcher says the entire shelf could fall apart in a day or two. The Larsen A and Larsen B ice shelves already broke up after similar events in past years. The loss of the ice shelf can increase the speed of glaciers flowing from the land to the ocean and therefore the speed of rising sea levels. Researchers are also concerned that larger and larger ice shelves appear to be breaking up. (What it looks like when a glacier calves an iceberg.)

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.)

Scarlett Johansson Splits From Hubby No. 2

(Jan 26, 2017 3:33 AM) Scarlett Johansson has split from husband No. 2, US Weekly reports. Johansson, 32, and Romain Dauriac called it quits after two years of marriage. The Captain America: Civil War star wed the French journalist in a secret ceremony at a luxe lodge in Montana in October 2014, two years after they got together. They have daughter Rose, 2, to whom Johansson gave a shoutout at last weekend's Women's March in Washington, DC. Support my daughter, she said, who may … grow up in a country that is moving backwards. Johansson wasn't wearing her wedding ring at the march, notes People; a source says they've been separated since the summer. No word if the split is amicable, but US notes that Johansson has hired celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, who repped her ex-husband Ryan Reynolds in their 2011 divorce. Thanks to her turn as Black Widow in the comic book movie series, Johansson was the top-grossing actor in 2016 with $1.2 billion in ticket sales. In a far less lucrative venture, the Hollywood Reporter notes that she and Dauriac also co-own Yummy Pop, a popcorn shop in Paris' trendy Marais district that stocks flavors like strawberry cream.

Here's the $20K Trump Portrait He Bought With Charity Funds

(Nov 2, 2016 9:31 AM CDT) A tweet from Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold offered a first glimpse to the masses Tuesday of something that's long been reported but not yet seen: the portrait of Donald Trump that Trump bought for $20,000 using money meant for his Trump Foundation charity. Artist Michael Israel, a speed painter who the Post says whipped up the 6-foot-tall depiction in five or six frenzied minutes during a 2007 charity gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, released the public pics of the painting for the first time Tuesday. Melania Trump initially bid $10,000 during the event's auction, then was cajoled into doubling that; half the proceeds went to Israel, half to the children's charity the event was being held for. And those well versed in tax law say if that now-elusive painting is hanging in either one of Trump's homes or businesses, he could be breaking self-dealing laws. The only hint as to where the painting may be: Israel's former manager, who revealed in September that he was told by Melania to send the painting to a Trump golf club in Westchester, NY, where she planned to display it in the boardroom or the conference room. The Hill notes that Trump paid $10,000 funneled from the Trump Foundation for another portrait of himself in 2004, with an eyewitness saying that painting is on display in Trump's National Doral Miami resort. (Meanwhile, a nude painting of Trump has caused quite a ruckus.)

He Escaped Prison in 1978. Then the Blood Began to Spill

(Sep 25, 2017 12:00 PM CDT) Last Rampage, starring Robert Patrick and Heather Graham, had its limited release on Friday, and as the trailer promises, blood will spill. It's based on the true story of Gary Tison (played by Patrick), who in 1978 broke out of the Arizona State Prison with the help of his three sons and went on a murderous rampage during his quest to allegedly reach Mexico. As Richard Ruelas writes in a lengthy piece on the escape for the Arizona Republic, the movie will undoubtedly take some dramatic license, as all films based on true events do. But with the Tison Gang, it becomes necessary. That's because questions persist even now, though Ruelas tries to fill in the holes, outlining Tison's crimes for which he was serving life, his seemingly model prison behavior, and his two prior prison escape attempts. His third and final attempt took place on July 31, 1978, when sons Donald, Ricky, and Raymond—20, 19, and 18, respectively—arrived at the prison with a sawed-off shotgun concealed in a Salem cigarettes box. The four Tisons fled, along with inmate Randy Greenawalt. Authorities began a hunt for the green Ford LTD they took off in—except the group had quickly switched that one for a black Lincoln Continental. While on a remote stretch of Arizona 95, the car suffered its second flat, stranding the men. That is, until a US Marine, his wife, 22-month-old son, and niece stopped to offer a hand. The men took their car—and their lives. They'd kill again, this time a pair of newlyweds in Colorado, before being caught purely by happenstance on Aug. 11. Gary Tison escaped again, but he wouldn't be alive much longer. Read the full story here.

McDonald's Manager Gets $110K for Murder Suspect TIp

(Dec 1, 2017 2:59 PM) A McDonald's manager will get a $110,000 reward for tipping off police about a man accused of killing four people and terrorizing a Florida neighborhood for 51 days, the AP reports. Tampa police chief Brian Dugan said at a news conference Friday that Delonda Walker will receive every penny of the reward money. Her tip to police on Tuesday led to the arrest of 24-year-old Howell Emanuel Donaldson III.

Scientists Spot Stage 1 Cancers Via Blood Test

(Aug 17, 2017 12:15 PM CDT) Human blood is rich with genetic material, and scientists have in recent years taken many steps forward in decoding it. The latest announcement—that a blood test can spot cancer at its earliest stages—has the potential to save millions of lives as treatment is administered earlier in the disease's progression, reports Reuters. Reporting in the journal Science Translational Medicine, scientists say that by analyzing DNA fragments in blood to look for several dozen cancer-driver genes, they spotted 86 out of 138 stage 1 and stage 2 cancers; they also confirmed no trace of cancer in 44 healthy patients (in other words, there were zero false positives). Some call this minimally invasive test a liquid biopsy. This is one of the first studies that has looked directly at early-stage cancers, says lead author Dr. Victor Velculescu, an oncologist at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. While the test is proof-of-concept and not yet ready for prime time, detecting 62% of cancers that were only in stages 1 or 2 is a major milestone, experts say. For instance, less than one in five ovarian cancers are caught that early, when the survival rate is higher than 90%; those that are caught after the cancer has spread face a dramatically lower 40% survival rate five years out, per HealthDay News. For this study, however, the blood test caught early-stage ovarian cancer 68% of the time. Scientists hope they can get the test much closer to a 100% detection rate. (This cancer treatment is being hailed as the most exciting in a lifetime.)

'Significant Settlement' for Innocent Men Jailed 32 Years

(Mar 9, 2017 5:18 PM) After serving 32 years behind bars for arson and murders they didn't commit, Amaury Villalobos and William Vasquez are finally getting what one official calls closure. The two men wrongly convicted following a 1980 fire that killed a mother and her five children in a Brooklyn townhouse will each receive $9.7 million from New York City, plus an additional $5.75 million from the state, NYC comptroller Scott Stringer says, per the New York Times. The pair served 32 years in prison before being released on parole in 2012. Three years later, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office ruled the fire an accident—possibly caused by residents burning heroin—and said the owner of the townhouse, a drug dealer, had lied about the men's involvement. We have reached an agreement that recognizes the years these men spent incarcerated and allows them and their families closure, Stringer said in a statement Friday, noting the men's case represents the longest period of incarceration for any conviction vacated by the Brooklyn DA’s Conviction Review Unit. It's a significant settlement, but this is a case where the system completely failed these men, says Vasquez's lawyer. He tells the New York Post he hopes the money will allow Vasquez to pick up the pieces of his life. The family of a third man, Raymond Mora, who was also exonerated of the crime following his death in prison in 1989, has not yet settled their claim with the city, reports the New York Daily News. (This man is getting just $175,000 over his wrongful imprisonment of 13 years.)

Best Year in Human History? That Would Be 2017

(Jan 7, 2018 4:31 PM) Columnist Nicholas Kristof looks back on the state of the world in the year that just ended and arrives at a conclusion likely to surprise many: 2017 was probably the very best year in the long history of humanity, he writes in the New York Times. It's all about perspective, Kristof explains. Yes, American politics are a circus, North Korea poses a scary threat, and wars and related atrocities continue to plague Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, and elsewhere. But it's important to look past the drumbeat of bad news and not lose sight of bigger-picture advancements, including: A smaller share of the world’s people were hungry, impoverished or illiterate than at any time before. A smaller proportion of children died than ever before. Kristof is talking about transformational changes taking place over years, even decades, that get lost in daily headlines, including advances in health care in third-world nations and the increasing availability of clean water and electricity. Kristof writes that he isn't blind to the very real threats the world is facing, but he suggests looking at this way: The world is registering important progress, but it also faces mortal threats. The first belief should empower us to act on the second. Click for the full column, in which Kristof promises to return to tearing his hair out and expressing outrage at the world's troubles for the rest of the year. But today, let's not miss what's going right.

After Girl, 10, Found Dead, 15-Year-Old Boy Arrested

(Jun 12, 2017 2:43 AM CDT) A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of a 10-year-old Colorado girl. Kiaya Campbell was reported missing in the city of Thornton on Wednesday, and her body was found the next day about 1.5 miles from her father's house, the AP reports. Investigators said her body had signs of severe trauma. Kiaya was last seen with the 15-year-old son of her father's girlfriend. Police wouldn't confirm if he was the boy arrested Saturday night. The girlfriend's son had told investigators that he and the girl had gotten separated during a thunderstorm, though some neighbors disputed that there was a storm that night, reports the Denver Post.

The Deal: Pay $26K to Work Low-Pay Job in Chicken Plant

(Jan 10, 2018 1:49 PM) ProPublica takes a look at a little known green-card program that allows people overseas to shell out hefty sums for the privilege of coming to America to work grueling factory jobs. It's EB-3, and in a perfect world it allows companies that can't find enough American workers to bring in unskilled immigrants. The problem, however, is that the system seems rife with abuse: It has been co-opted by a handful of companies (mostly poultry processors) and foreign consultants who have used it to bring in immigrants willing to work for low pay in often-dangerous jobs, writes Michael Grabell. Those foreign consultants make money by recruiting people in South Korea, China, and elsewhere to apply, though they couch their services as migration assistance to stay within the law. Many of the takers are middle-class Asians willing to shell out for US citizenship. The story highlights the case of Yongho Yeom, a South Korean native and computer engineer who paid $26,000 to a migration agency, then landed in South Carolina in 2015 to work the graveyard shift for $8.50 an hour at the House of Raeford chicken processor. He did it to provide an American future for his two daughters. Critics say the EB-3 program has been abused by companies who would prefer to bring in cheap foreign labor rather than improve pay and working conditions. But Yeom, who recently opened his own business, has no regrets. It was very, very difficult work; there’s no question about that, he says. On the other hand ... they provided a sponsorship through this chicken plant. For us who want to come to the US, it’s a very valuable program. Click for the full story.

'World's Heaviest Woman' Drops 700 Pounds— or Has She?

(Apr 28, 2017 8:43 AM CDT) Just a few months ago she was billed as the world's heaviest woman, but doctors in India now say Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty has dropped more than 700 pounds and will be transferred to a hospital in the United Arab Emirates to continue her medical treatment closer to her family, People reports. A proud moment in Indian Medical History! reads a statement from the Save Eman Cause Tumblr account, which appears to be updated by the medical staff at Mumbai's Saifee Hospital who've been treating the Egyptian woman. The statement adds that Abd El Aty, who weighed about 1,100 pounds in September before undergoing gastric sleeve surgery in early March, now weighs 389 pounds. The team of doctors … has done a fabulous job and her recovery has been unprecedented, it reads. That's not quite the story Abd El Aty's sister is telling. Per Al Arabiya, Abd El Aty is really going to the UAE due to a fight between the Indian doctors and Abd El Aty's family, specifically sister Shaimaa Selim. Selim reportedly penned a letter to a UAE hospital noting her sister was in bad shape, having seizures, and in no condition to be moved, per the Hindu. Mid-Day notes Saifee Hospital called the cops Thursday to complain Selim has been trying to give her sister water, which could lead to fluid in her lungs (Selim says she wasn't warned about this; the hospital says she was). Per another Hindu report, 12 of the 13 doctors treating Abd El Aty have stepped away from her treatment to protest Selim, who they say has also accused them of exaggerating Abd El Aty's weight loss. (People were enraged by a cancer survivor's weight-loss story.)

Mom, 24, Dies After Taking Online Diet Pills

(Jul 6, 2017 8:48 AM CDT) Mexican health agencies are on the hunt for the manufacturer of a weight loss drug sold online after a young mother went into a coma and died after ingesting it. Per Mexico News Daily, Lucero Priscila Garza Campos, 24, had been taking Avitia Cobrax for a month before she went to the doctor to complain of severe headaches. She was admitted and diagnosed with cerebral edema. Two days later, she experienced cardiac arrest and went into a coma. Garza was taken off life support later that week when her doctors declared her brain dead. Her doctors say the pills, marketed as a natural weight loss remedy, were a major contributor to her death. The drug’s social media pages and stores have since been taken down. Garza found Avitia Cobrax online while looking for a natural remedy to help lose weight gained during her pregnancy with her now 1-year-old daughter, reports the Independent. She spent $65 on the pills and lost 15 pounds over 10 days. Marketing descriptions claim that the product uses heat to reduce the percentage of body fat without reducing muscle. Two drugs using similar ingredients were banned by state health agency Cofepris, which is investigating whether the same manufacturer is rebranding the drug under new names. Following Garza’s death, the agency warned against the dangers of drugs sold online, tweeting (translated), Medicines sold online and on the street are a risk to your #health. Buy them in legal establishments. (In the US, the FDA approved a new weight loss pill for the first time in 13 years).

Ex-Guest Gave Hotel a Bad Review. Then, a $350 Charge

(Dec 21, 2017 12:31 PM) The former owner of an Indiana hotel is being sued for charging a woman hundreds of dollars for posting a negative online review that said there was hair and dirt on the sheets in her room and other cleanliness issues. Indiana's attorney general's office contends Andrew Szakaly violated the state's deceptive consumer sales act by charging guests $350 if they posted negative reviews but didn't inform management about problems during their stay at the Abbey Inn & Suites, the AP reports. Indiana's suit, filed Dec. 15, seeks a reimbursement for the guest, Katrina Arthur, and a court order barring the southern Indiana hotel from maintaining and enforcing such a policy, which it calls unfair, abusive, and deceptive. Arthur says she and her husband stayed for one day in March 2016 at the Nashville hotel; when they arrived, their room was unclean, without a functioning AC, and had other issues.

9 Players Take Head Blows, High School Forfeits Game

(Oct 16, 2017 10:45 AM CDT) A high school team in Canada forfeited a game Friday after nine players suffered head injuries, CBC News reports. The coach of the Ecole L'Odyssee Olympiens says he had no choice after four members of the team in New Brunswick showed symptoms of concussion, including vomiting. We had to forfeit the game for players' safety and security, Marcel Metti says. The teens with concussion symptoms were still feeling ill on Sunday, he says. Metti declined to discuss what happened during the game against the Titans; the match was called midway, with the Titans leading 35-0. I'm not going to get into that. It's part of the football game, he says. But Titans coach Scott O'Neal says the Olympiens were outmatched, that's as simple as it was. That's how football is. O'Neal says his team played by the rules, noting they weren't hit with any penalties. If anyone was injured, he adds, it was the fault of the coaches for failing to train them. The episode followed a new school district policy that specifies that a player who takes a blow to the head must get a doctor's note before playing again. A Quebec university this month settled a lawsuit filed by a former student who says he suffered critical brain injuries during a game, per the National Post. Kevin Kwasny claimed coaches sent him back onto the field in 2011 after he'd been hit, and he then suffered a second head injury and was hospitalized in critical condition. (Even high school athletes have shown signs of brain disease.)

Radio Host Faces 45 Years in Prison on Fraud Charges

(Sep 6, 2017 4:52 PM CDT) I thought he called in sick this morning, but unfortunately my partner was arrested, former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason told listeners of WFAN's Boomer & Carton show Wednesday. The New York Daily News reports New York morning show host Craig Carton was arrested Wednesday and charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy for allegedly scamming investors out of $5.6 million to pay off gambling debts. According to court filings, Carton had racked up millions in losses at two casinos and owed $825,000 to an unidentified person. In an email exchange released by the court, an accomplice suggested Carton could flee to Costa Rica or change his identity and start a new life to escape his debt, Bloomberg reports. Instead, Carton allegedly started a fake ticket reselling business. He allegedly told investors he would use their money to buy blocks of tickets for major music events through agreements with promoters and venues then resell those tickets, NBC New York reports. But: Carton ... had no deals to purchase any tickets at all, US Attorney Joon Kim says. Kim says Carton was actually running a sham, designed to fleece investors out of millions. Carton's alleged operation is described by authorities as Ponzi-like. Carton, who has been co-hosting Boomer & Carton for a decade and reportedly earns $250,000 a year, is facing up to 45 years in jail and millions in fines. He's also facing a civil suit for fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sheriff Criticized for Spending $300K on New Belt Buckles

(Mar 14, 2017 6:14 PM CDT) Giving new meaning to fashion police, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is drawing criticism from its own deputies over the decision to replace their uniforms' silver-colored belt buckles for gold-colored ones. The Los Angeles Times reports the department is spending $300,000 to replace belt buckles, belt snaps, baton rings, and key holders to make them better match the bronze badges, lapel pins, and tie clips worn by deputies. Sheriff Jim McDonnell says the change from silver to gold will make deputies look more professional, which will in turn lead to suspects giving them more respect. They need to exude command presence, McDonnell says of his deputies. But those deputies aren't so sure new belt buckles are the way to do it. The president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs says the department is in turmoil and has more pressing needs. The union issued a statement against the new belt buckles on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The union says the sheriff's department has an annual budget deficit of $250 million, which has left it with 300 deputy positions and 1,000 professional staff positions unfilled. Deputies work back-to-back shifts, and detectives and administrators are pulled away from their regular work and sent out on mandatory patrols. While the union understands the desire to have a professional uniform appearance, it says this is not the time to do it.

Nestle to Pay $200 for 210M Gallons of Mich. Water

(Nov 7, 2016 4:43 AM) Nestle is facing a backlash in Michigan over its plans to massively expand the amount of groundwater it pumps from the state—and pay less than $1 per million gallons. The company wants to more than double what it pumps from its plant in Evart to 210 million gallons a year, which will cost it just $200 per year because state law considers the plant to be a private well, the Guardian reports. Angry residents have written to state regulators complaining about the plan to expand operations at the plant, which is 120 miles from Flint, where tap water is still unsafe to drink. Nestle argues that the aquifer can handle the increased withdrawal and that the $36 million project will create 20 jobs. MLive.com reports that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued a draft approval for the request and has been asking for public comment. Why on Earth would the state of Michigan, given our lack of money to address water matters of our own, like Flint, even consider giving MORE water for little or no cost to a foreign corporation with annual profits in the billions? an Ada resident wrote to regulators. Other critics, including the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation group, say they want outside experts to look at Nestle's claim that the increased pumping won't affect surface waters in the area. (In California, Nestle bottled water during a drought with a long-expired permit.)

Steve Ballmer's Secret $10M Site on Gov't Spending Debuts

(Apr 18, 2017 11:54 AM CDT) Ask Steve Ballmer about the project he's been quietly working on since he retired as CEO of Microsoft, and he starts gushing with the excitement of a child showing off a new toy, per the New York Times. That three-year project is USAFacts.org, a first of its kind database for those interested in finding facts about government in a comprehensive, nonpartisan way. These facts revolve around government spending on the federal, state, and local levels, a service Ballmer says will help US taxpayers find out where their money goes, with information on everything from airport revenue to what percent of US bridges are structurally deficient. He says he has spent $10 million of his own cash so far to fund a team of Seattle researchers and offer a grant to the University of Pennsylvania to help compile the data, which Fast Co. Design notes was crafted into a website by the Artefact firm. Ballmer, who appeared Tuesday morning on CNBC's Squawk Box, notes the project, which he calls a civic contribution, began when he left Microsoft in 2014 and started helping his wife with her philanthropic work—and couldn't find comprehensive data about government spending on relevant items, CNN reports. His goal is to create the governmental equivalent of a 10-K, the SEC form companies must file annually to show their financial performance. Ballmer and his team use only government-provided data to avoid bias accusations, though he says that can limit some information (he notes the NRA, for example, has pushed to keep data on the number of firearms in the US from public view). He did note on CNBC that there's still a lot more work to do on the site, which apparently went offline as he tried to show it off during the show. (Also on Ballmer's plate: being owner of the LA Clippers.)

Paralyzed NYPD Cop Who Urged Forgiveness Dies at 59

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

One Airline Will Now Offer Up to $10K to Bump Flyers

(Apr 14, 2017 5:34 PM CDT) Delta is letting employees offer customers almost $10,000 in compensation to give up seats on overbooked flights, hoping to avoid an uproar like the one that erupted at United after a passenger was dragged off a jet. In an internal memo obtained Friday by the AP, Delta Air Lines said gate agents can offer up to $2,000, up from a previous maximum of $800, and supervisors can offer up to $9,950, up from $1,350. United is reviewing its own policies, including incentives for customers, and will announce any actions by April 30, a spokesperson said. The airline would not disclose its current compensation limit. Other airlines did not immediately comment on whether they would raise their ceiling. Ben Schlappig, a travel blogger who first wrote about the Delta compensation increase, said it shows Delta is trying to reduce forced bumping. He said he couldn't imagine many situations in which people wouldn't jump at nearly $10,000. Delta no doubt hopes that gate agents and their supervisors won't need to make maximum offers, and the financial cost to the airline is likely to be limited. If Delta paid $9,950 to every person it bumped involuntarily last year, that would total $12 million. Delta earned nearly $4.4 billion. After the incident last Sunday, critics questioned why United didn't offer more when no passengers accepted the airline's $800 offer for volunteers to give up their seats. If you offer enough money, even the guy going to a funeral will sell his seat, said a retired United pilot.

8 Protesters Were Blinded in Single Day in May

(Jul 14, 2020 10:14 AM CDT) By the count of the Washington Post, a dozen people were partially blinded by police projectiles during the week of protests in the wake of George Floyd's death. And eight of those people lost vision in one eye in a single day—Saturday, May 30. In a video investigation, the Post finds that the official police accounts of what happened in some of those instances is undermined by actual video of what transpired. The newspaper takes a look at three of the cases in particular, including that of Balin Brake, a 21-year-old in Fort Wayne, Ind. In that incident, police say Brake was struck in the eye by a tear gas canister when he bent down to pick up another canister and throw it back toward officers. However, the video shows that while other protesters were doing that, Brake was not. At the moment he is struck, Brake is standing near a street corner, after having moved away from the police position, says the video's narrator. He is not bending over, and no canister is visible within reaching distance. Watch the video investigation here.

'Targeted' Incident on Atlanta Train Leaves 1 Dead, 3 Hurt

(Apr 13, 2017 11:37 PM CDT) A shooting that killed a man and wounded three other riders Thursday on an Atlanta public transit train appears to be a targeted, isolated incident, officials say. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Police Chief Wanda Dunham said in a statement late Thursday that officers arrested a suspect in the death of Zachariah Hunnicutt at the West Lake station, the AP reports. Dunham didn't release the suspect's name or details about what led to the shooting at around 4:30pm. A MARTA spokesman says one man died at the scene. Two men and a woman who were wounded by gunfire were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Cedric Peterson tells WGCL he regularly rides the train after work and that the ride started off normally. Everybody's sitting down. It's quiet, he says. After we pulled off, we heard a sound like a crash, like we ran into maybe a tree limb that was on the track. Then like three seconds later, I'm hearing pop, pop, pop. I look back and see a guy's back and see his outstretched arm. I'm like, 'Yo, man, this is a shooter.' Then I'm running for the door. The shooter got on the train just like anyone else, Peterson says: He was wearing headphones and just bobbing his head. There was no argument or anything. Then I heard the first pop.

Dow Ends Day Up 92

(Feb 14, 2017 3:04 PM) Strong gains by bank stocks pushed major US indexes to more all-time highs, the AP reports. Banks rallied Tuesday as bond yields rose following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. Yellen said the Fed was poised to continue raising interest rates, which would help banks earn more from lending money. It was the sixth straight gain for the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index. Goldman Sachs rose 1% to close at its own all-time high. The S&P 500 climbed 9 points, or 0.4%, to 2,337. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 92 points, or 0.5%, to 20,504. The Nasdaq composite increased 18 points, or 0.3%, to 5,782.

Cameras Capture Trump Say He'll '100%' Release GOP Memo

(Jan 31, 2018 7:30 AM) President Trump was overheard Tuesday night telling a GOP lawmaker he's totally in favor of releasing a classified memo on the Russia investigation. Oh yeah, don't worry, the president told South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan on the House floor after his first State of the Union address, per the AP. 100%. Duncan had implored Trump to release the memo. TV cameras captured the exchange as Trump was leaving the chamber. The White House had said before the speech it was still conducting a legal and national security review of the document; press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters earlier Tuesday that Trump still hadn't been briefed on its contents. The memo arrived at the White House Monday evening after House Intelligence Committee GOPers brushed aside opposition from the DOJ and voted to release it. Committee rules say the president has five days to object to its release.

Woman: Roy Moore Made Sexual Advance When I Was 14

(Nov 9, 2017 1:03 PM) The latest high-profile figure accused of sexual misconduct is a politician who has staked his career on morality. The Washington Post is out with a detailed report about Alabama's Roy Moore, the state's former supreme court justice who is now running for the US Senate. A woman who is now 53 says Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was just 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Leigh Corfman says that they did not have intercourse, but that Moore drove her to his home, stripped down to his underwear, removed her pants and shirt, and touched her through her bra and underpants. She says that when he began guiding her hand toward his underwear, she recoiled, got dressed, and asked to leave, at which point he drove her home. Moore categorically denies the allegations as fake news drummed up by Democrats. The Post also talks to three other women who say that Moore asked them out on dates, sometimes successfully, when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s and still single. The account given by Corfman is the only one that advances beyond kissing. I wasn’t ready for that, Corfman says of Moore's attempt to guide her hand. I had never put my hand on a man’s penis, much less an erect one. She says she first met Moore outside a courtroom, when he approached her and her mother and offered to sit with Corfman while her mom went inside for a custody hearing. In his later career, Moore would twice be removed from his chief justice post for taking stands against gay marriage and his refusal to remove a 10 Commandments plaque. Read the full Post investigation, based on interviews with more than 30 people, here.

From Sierra Leone Mudslide, Bodies of 109 Children

(Aug 16, 2017 12:08 PM CDT) We have been through 10 years of war, then Ebola, and now this. Have mercy on Sierra Leone, Father, a bishop prayed Wednesday during a vigil in the country's capital of Freetown, where reports suggest 400 people are dead and another 600 are missing as a result of intense flooding and a mudslide. Officials are continuing to dig through the muck in an effort to find people buried when a mountainside collapsed Monday, bringing devastation to the Regent district built on hills, report Reuters and CNN. The chief coroner in Freetown—which received 27 inches of rain, more than double the average, between July 1 and Aug. 13—says nearly 400 bodies have arrived at morgues, but we anticipate more than 500. The dead reportedly include at least 109 children. A reporter says he was drenched in tears while encountering the scene at Freetown's central morgue, where hundreds of bodies were lying on floors, per the BBC. Another witness tells BuzzFeed there are dead bodies littering some of the streets. The AP reports bodies swept out to sea have also begun washing back ashore. Space is so limited at morgues that mass burials are being planned to make room. The national director of the World Vision charity describes the sounds of wailing and mourning everywhere, per CNN. And still, the devastation might not be over. A Red Cross official warns of the possibility of further flooding and landslides, while a UN spokesman cites concerns about outbreaks of waterborne diseases including cholera and typhoid.

Michael Brown's Parents Received $1.5M

(Jun 23, 2017 11:30 AM CDT) The amount of the settlement Michael Brown's parents reached with the city of Ferguson, Mo., didn't stay secret for long. In response to an open records request, the city attorney told the AP the city's insurance company paid $1.5 million to settle the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden. Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson in 2014, sparking months of protests over racial bias in the city's police force.

42 Years After Girls Vanish From Mall, a Guilty Plea

(Sep 12, 2017 12:25 PM CDT) A 60-year-old man who pleaded guilty in the killing of two young sisters from Maryland was sentenced Tuesday to 48 years in prison, more than four decades after the girls vanished during a trip to a local shopping mall, the AP reports. Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. entered his plea in a Virginia court Tuesday and was sentenced soon after to two 48-year terms to run concurrently. The first-degree felony murder charges had carried the possibility of a death sentence. Welch, who's already serving a long prison term in Delaware for sexually molesting a 10-year-old girl, also received a 12-year sentence in two unrelated sexual assault cases in Virginia. He had been scheduled to go on trial Tuesday, but his trial request was withdrawn last week. Welch is accused of snatching 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon in March 1975. When the girls disappeared, Welch was an 18-year-old former worker at a traveling carnival. Authorities believe he burned the girls' bodies on a remote mountain in Virginia where his family owned land. They were never recovered. The Lyon sisters' disappearance shattered the sense of security in Kensington, Md., rattling parents to the point where they no longer let their children play outside. Cold-case detectives began focusing on Welch in 2013 after they noticed a composite sketch that resembled a 1977 mugshot of Welch in a burglary. In interviews with police beginning in 2013, Welch acknowledged he was at the mall that day and said he believed the girls had been abducted, raped, and burned up. He was charged in their deaths two years ago.

Lake Huron Spits Out Not One, but 2 Century-Old Shipwrecks

(Sep 1, 2017 5:25 PM CDT) Two shipwrecks more than a century old have been found in the deep waters of Lake Huron, maritime archaeologists announced Friday. Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary officials say they recently confirmed the identities of the wooden freighter Ohio and steel-hulled steamer Choctaw, per the AP. Researchers from the federal sanctuary based in Alpena, Mich., found what they believed to be the vessels during a May expedition. Officials say they plan future expeditions to the 202-foot-long Ohio and 266-foot Choctaw, which they add are well-preserved in the upper Great Lakes' cold freshwater. The ships are in more than 200 feet of water off the coast of Michigan's Presque Isle. Sanctuary Superintendent Jeff Gray says they aren't releasing the precise coordinates of the wrecks until researchers have gathered more information, but the ultimate goal is to open them up to public diving. Both are magnificently preserved, he says. They're really time capsules, sitting there fully intact. The Ohio sank in 1894 and the Choctaw in 1915, both in crashes with other vessels. All crew members were rescued from both. Researchers and divers have long sought to locate the Choctaw, considered unique among experts for its straight-back design. Notably, it was the subject of a 2011 search involving professional researchers and high school students that became a documentary film entitled Project Shiphunt. Though the Choctaw then proved elusive, the crew located two other shipwrecks. Thunder Bay estimates its 4,300-square-mile sanctuary contains about 200 shipwrecks, with about half discovered. It protects and monitors the wrecks in what was once known as Shipwreck Alley. Officials intend to nominate the shipwrecks for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

2 US Sailors Found Dead 4 Days Apart in Same Home

(Oct 18, 2017 3:54 PM CDT) Investigators suspect drug overdoses killed two Navy submarine sailors whose bodies were found in the same Georgia house four days apart. Authorities are awaiting results of toxicology tests following the strange back-to-back deaths at an off-base home near Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, said Cmdr. Sarah Self-Kyler, a spokeswoman for the Navy's Submarine Forces Command. It is our understanding from the initial reports that it is an apparent drug overdose for both sailors, Self-Kyler said in an interview Wednesday, per the AP. Petty Officer 1st Class Brian Jerrell was found dead Oct. 12 on the floor inside a friend's house in Kingsland, located near the Georgia-Florida state line. Friends had gone looking for Jerrell after the sailor's wife reported him missing, Self-Kyler said.

City Fines 5-Year-Old $195 Over Lemonade Stand

(Jul 21, 2017 11:01 AM CDT) A British man and his young daughter have gained international attention after being fined for selling lemonade outside. Andre Spicer says his 5-year-old daughter was left in tears after local council officers fined her $195 for selling lemonade without a license near their home in London, reports the AP. The girl had been selling home-made lemonade to fans attending the Lovebox festival for 30 minutes when four local council enforcement officers showed up, turned on a camera, and read Spicer and his daughter a legal statement that basically told them they were being fined over their lack of a trading permit. Spicer wrote an article about the experience for the Telegraph that gathered hundreds of comments and shares online. A portion of it: When I shared our experiences with my cousin who lives in Chicago, he told me this would be a national scandal if it happened in the US. Americans would not stand for the spirit of free enterprise being throttled in someone so young. Local officials said Friday the fine will be canceled immediately. We are very sorry that this has happened, reads a council statement. We expect our enforcement officers to show common sense, and to use their powers sensibly. This clearly did not happen.

Cambridge Won't Return Spears Explorer Took in 1770

(Jun 18, 2017 3:34 PM CDT) The British and the Aborigines first crossed paths in 1770, when famed English explorer James Cook landed in what is now Sydney. It was a violent meeting, and Cook departed with some of the Gweagal's spears—and the UK's Cambridge University says it won't give up the four it owns. The request for their return came by way of an Australian man who claims to have personal ties to the artifacts. Reuters reports Rodney Kelly issued a formal repatriation request for the spears displayed at Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in November. He claims he is a direct descendant of Cooman, the Gweagal warrior Kelly alleges was injured by Cook's party during that bloody first encounter, in which two Gweagal men tried to halt the newcomers from landing. We lost so much that day. Culture, language families, land, and knowledge, says Kelly in an interview with Cambridge News. My family [was] the first to be in contact and when you come to my tribe you really see what has happened and what has been lost since the British invasion of 1770. A rep for the museum says that removing parts of the Cook collection will harm and deprive it of its integrity, and that Kelly's proposal did not say how the artifacts would be properly housed or conserved. The museum also claims Kelly's ties to the artifacts are tenuous but says it would listen to requests from accredited representatives of the Gweagal people. Kelly says he will continue to fight; the Australian Senate and state parliament of New South Wales are in favor of repatriation.

Mavis Wanczyk Wins $758M Powerball Jackpot, Quits Job

(Aug 24, 2017 2:13 PM CDT) I called [my employer] and told them I will not be coming back, Fox News quotes Mavis Wanczyk as saying after claiming her massive $758.7 million Powerball jackpot on Thursday. USA Today reports it's the largest grand prize won with a single lottery ticket in US history. The 53-year-old hospital worker from Massachusetts says her pipe dream came true. She bought the winning ticket Wednesday at a store in Chicopee and heard she was a winner while leaving work Wednesday night, according to CBS News. I just want to sit back and relax, Wanczyk says. I wanted to retire, and it came early. The executive director of the Massachusetts lottery calls Wanczyk a prototypical Massachusetts resident ... someone who's a hard-working individual. Meanwhile, the owner of the store where Wanczyk bought her winning ticket says he'll donate his $50,000 cut to charity. It's really pretty amazing, Bob Boduc tells USA Today. It could have happened anywhere in the country. It's really a stroke of luck. Forty other people won at least $1 million each in Wednesday's drawing, which followed 20 drawings in a row without a winner. Wanczyk's was the second largest Powerball jackpot in history; a $1.58 billion jackpot was shared by three winners in 2016.

US Suffers 2 Rare Combat Deaths in Afghanistan

(Nov 3, 2016 3:33 AM CDT) Two US service members were killed Thursday battling Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan alongside local troops, reports the AP, rare combat deaths for American forces who largely handed over securing the nation to Afghan troops some two years ago. NATO described the Americans killed and two other Americans wounded in the assault as being part of a train, advise, and assist mission in Afghanistan's Kunduz province. They have not been identified. Kunduz officials later said they were investigating claims that local civilians also were killed in the fighting, possibly in a retaliatory airstrike. Taliban fighters briefly overran the city of Kunduz in early October, a show of strength by the insurgents that also highlighted the troubles facing local Afghan forces 15 years after the US-led invasion of the country. The Taliban captured and held parts of Kunduz a year earlier as well before the city was fully liberated weeks later with the help of US airstrikes. Though US combat operations are officially over, thousands of US troops remain in Afghanistan, and special forces routinely accompany Afghan forces on missions, notes Reuters. (Afghanistan's own refugee crisis is beyond grim.)

James Bond Actor Roger Moore Dead at 89

(May 23, 2017 8:35 AM CDT) Actor Roger Moore, most famous for his starring role as James Bond in seven 007 flicks, has died at age 89. With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today, said his family in a statement. It added that he died in Switzerland after a short battle with cancer, though no other details were provided. Among the Bond films in which he starred were Live and Let Die and the Spy Who Loved Me, notes the BBC. Moore starred as Bond longer than any actor so far, a 12-year stretch from 1973 to 1985. The Guardian remembers him as the epitome of the suave English gent, quipping sweatlessly in a bespoke three-piece suit. (See some of those quips in this video. Moore, however, had a long career beyond Bond, including roles in the hit TV shows The Saint and The Persuaders. He also was known for his humanitarian work, becoming a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 1991. Moore received a knighthood for his charity work in 2003, thus becoming Sir Roger Moore. The Hollywood Reporter says Moore's Bond was more of a charmer than a fighter, especially in contrast to the original Sean Connery take. And it seems Moore agreed with that: My personality is entirely different than previous Bonds, he once said. I’m not that cold-blooded killer type. Which is why I play it mostly for laughs.

Samsung Apologizes for Note 7 in Full-Page Newspaper Ads

(Nov 8, 2016 5:39 PM) Samsung wants Americans—or at least the handful of them that still ready daily newspapers—to know that it's truly sorry its new phones keep exploding. Gizmodo reports the company took out full-page ads in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal to address the expensive recall of its much-hyped Galaxy Note 7. The ad appeared in the Monday editions of the papers and was signed by Samsung president and CEO Gregory Lee, according to the Verge. An important tenet of our mission is to offer best-in-class safety and quality, the ad states. Recently, we fell short on this promise. It states an investigation is underway to figure out what went wrong with the Note 7. (The ad also addresses Samsung's recent problem with exploding washing machines.

7-Eleven Raids Open New Front on Immigration

(Jan 10, 2018 12:40 PM) US immigration agents descended on dozens of 7-Eleven stores before dawn Wednesday to open employment audits and interview workers in what officials described as the largest operation against an employer under Donald Trump's presidency. The AP reports agents targeted about 100 stores nationwide, broadening an investigation that began with a 4-year-old case against a franchisee on New York's Long Island. The audits could lead to criminal charges or fines over the stores' hiring practices. The action appears to open a new front in Trump's sharp expansion of immigration enforcement.

CDC Wants $400M to Replace $214M Lab After Just 13 Years

(Feb 23, 2018 7:54 PM) Thirteen years after building a state-of-the-art lab for the world's most dangerous germs, the nation's top public health agency is asking for more than $400 million to build a new one, the AP reports. Officials at the CDC say the current lab building in Atlanta is quickly wearing down and cannot be upgraded without shutting down the facility for years. The lab investigates deadly and exotic germs like Ebola, smallpox, and dangerous new forms of flu. The CDC lab is one of only eight US labs with the security and safety features necessary to work with the highest-threat germs, said James Le Duc, director of one of them, the University of Texas's Galveston National Laboratory. Five of the eight are run by the federal government.

Here Are the 10 Best TV Spinoffs

(Feb 8, 2018 12:43 PM) Some people insist you shouldn't mess with a classic, but if a TV show has a compelling character or story line, a spinoff can lure loyal fans from the original and even attract new ones. To see which offshoots have done best, 24/7 Wall St. looked at the top-rated shows on IMDb that had at least 1,000 user ratings. To qualify, a show had to have been connected to its original series through shared characters or a shared universe that is unique to the original. Among the site's findings: that spinoffs of children's shows do especially well. Here, the 10 most highly rated spinoffs, with the shows they were birthed from in parentheses: 10. The Bugs Bunny Show (Loony Tunes) 9. Black Adder the Third (The Black Adder) 8. Justice League (Batman: The Animated Series) 7. The Legend of Korra (Avatar: The Last Airbender) 6. Star Trek: The Next Generation (Star Trek: The Original Series) Read on for the top five. 5. Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) 4. Brass Eye (The Day Today) 3. Dragon Ball Z (Dragon Ball) 2. Better Call Saul (Breaking Bad) 1. Blackadder Goes Forth (The Black Adder) Click here to see more spinoffs that made the list.

Stocks Have 2nd Worst Decline of 2017

(Aug 17, 2017 3:20 PM CDT) Stocks had their second-worst drop of the year, led by declines in technology companies, retailers, and banks, the AP reports. The slump Thursday brought the Standard & Poor's 500 index back to where it was on July 11. It was the biggest drop for the benchmark index since May. Victoria's Secret owner L Brands fell 3.6% after cutting its full-year earnings forecast. Network equipment maker Cisco Systems sank 4% after issuing a disappointing outlook. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 38 points, or 1.5%, to 2,430. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 273 points, or 1.2%, to 21,750. The Nasdaq composite plunged 123 points, or 1.9%, to 6,221. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.19%.

Guy Gets 6 Years for Strip Club Selfie Accident

(Aug 15, 2017 2:07 AM CDT) A Florida man has been sentenced to six years and five months in prison for accidentally shooting a gun while taking a selfie in a strip club restroom. The US Attorney's Office in Tampa announced 34-year-old Rorn Sorn's sentencing Monday, the AP reports. The Asian Pride Gang member pleaded guilty in April to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Court documents say Sorn was at Club Lust in St. Petersburg in December when his gun discharged. The bullet went through the mirror and into the adjacent women's restroom. No injuries were reported. A security guard approached Sorn as he was leaving, and Sorn reportedly told the guard that it was an accident and that he was just trying to take a selfie. Police responded, and officers found a handgun, ammunition, and drugs on Sorn, who has prior felony convictions for burglary and attempted first-degree murder. (This selfie-taker accidentally broke a Washington, DC, museum exhibit.)

Sole Survivor Marks 75th Anniversary of 1st US Raid on Japan

(Apr 17, 2017 12:56 AM CDT) At age 101, retired Lt. Col. Dick Cole says his memories are vivid of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders mission that helped change the course of World War II. Now the sole survivor of the original 80-member group, he plans to take part in events Monday and Tuesday at the National Museum of the US Air Force near Dayton, Ohio, marking the 75th anniversary of the attack that rallied America and jarred Japan. It will be a somber affair when he fulfills the long Raider tradition of toasting those who've died in the past year, using goblets engraved with their names, Cole tells the AP. In a private ceremony, he will offer tribute to retired Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, who died last year at age 94 in Missoula, Mont. The Raiders, led by aviation pioneer Jimmy Doolittle, launched their assault April 18, 1942, in B-25 bombers not built to fly off an aircraft carrier at sea. After hitting Tokyo and other targets in the first US airstrike on Japan's home islands, they continued to China because it would have been impossible to land the bombers back on the USS Hornet. Three Raiders died trying to reach China. Out of eight later captured by Japanese soldiers, three were executed, and a fourth died in captivity. Their attack inflicted scattered damage—and stunned Japan's people. Its military diverted resources to guard their homeland, while news of the raid lifted US morale after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and a string of Japanese victories in the Pacific.

Mike Pence: Flight 93 Heroes Saved My Life

(Sep 11, 2017 12:19 PM CDT) VP Mike Pence paid homage to the heroes of Flight 93 Monday during a ceremony in Shanksville, Pa., but his speech had an unusually personal note: He thinks the passengers who brought down the plane on Sept. 11, 2001, saved his life. Pence recalled being a new member of Congress when news broke of the attack on the World Trade Center. He went to Capitol Police headquarters, where the chief took a phone call and then informed everyone that a commandeered plane was headed for the Capitol and was just 12 minutes out. So we waited, he said, per Business Insider. It was the longest 12 minutes of my life. But it turned to 13 minutes. Then 14. Then we were informed that the plane had gone down in a field in Pennsylvania. Pence says he owes a debt to those who stormed the cabin that he doesn't think he'll be able to repay, reports the Washington Examiner. I will always believe that I, and many others in our nation's capital, were able to get home that day to hug our families because of the courage and selflessness of the heroes of Flight 93. Earlier in the day, President Trump observed a moment of silence at the White House, then spoke at the Pentagon on the 16th anniversary of the attacks. The terrorists who attacked us thought they could incite fear and weaken our spirit, Trump said, per the AP. But America cannot be intimidated and those who try will join a long list of vanquished enemies who dared test our mettle.

23 Marines Rescued After Osprey Crash. 3 Still Missing

(Aug 5, 2017 10:58 AM CDT) Three US Marines are missing after an MV-22 Osprey crashed into the waters off the coast of Queensland, Australia, Saturday afternoon, ABC reports. The aircraft ... was conducting regularly scheduled operations when the aircraft entered the water, CNN quotes a Marine Corps statement as saying. There were 26 Marine personnel on board the Osprey when it crashed in what is being characterized as a mishap. Twenty-three people have been pulled from the water. Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing, and authorities are investigating the crash. NBC News reports President Trump has been briefed on the incident. The Osprey was in Australia for a joint training exercise between the US and Australia that ended July 25. Ospreys are a cross between a helicopter and plane and have been involved in a number of recent crashes.

Rashida Jones Explains Her Exit From Toy Story 4

(Nov 22, 2017 5:10 AM) John Lasseter is on a leave of absence from Disney and Pixar over unwanted hugs and other alleged misconduct—but screenwriter Rashida Jones says his behavior was not the reason for her departure from Toy Story 4. In a statement seen by Entertainment Weekly, Jones and writing partner Will McCormack deny reports that she quit after unwanted advances from Lasseter, who is Disney and Pixar's chief creative officer. The breakneck speed at which journalists have been naming the next perpetrator renders some reporting irresponsible, they said. We parted ways because of creative and, more importantly, philosophical differences. Pixar has a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice, they write, stressing that they are still fans of the movies and urging the company to be leaders in bolstering, hiring, and promoting more diverse and female storytellers and leaders. They note that only one of Pixar's 20 films was directed by a woman, and one by a person of color. Former Pixar employees tell Variety that the studio was a boys' club with a sexist and misogynistic culture. They say that for 20 years, Lasseter's behavior, including walking up to women in the office and kissing them on the mouth, was tolerated. Female former employees say that when they started, the whisper network advised them to keep their distance from the company co-founder.

Did 60 Children Die Because of an Unpaid Bill?

(Aug 14, 2017 9:26 AM CDT) In a five-day span at a single hospital in India, 60 children have died, 34 of them infants. The rash of deaths, which the Independent reports began last Monday, has led to the suspension of the head of the hospital in Uttar Pradesh state, and it's also spurred a string of questions and finger-pointing. Reuters cites Indian media's take: that some of the deaths were due to a lack of liquid oxygen, with the hospital's supply having been cut off due to unpaid bills. Rajeev Misra oversaw the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur before his suspension, and he backs up that assertion, telling the media on Saturday that I wrote at least three letters to the government requesting money. A Home Ministry rep was quoted as saying 21 of the deaths were the result of the oxygen shortfall, reports the Washington Post. But other officials and a hospital doctor cited by Sky News say the oxygen supply wasn't a factor. They claim mosquito-borne encephalitis was the cause of 35% of the infant deaths, with the rest being due to unspecified causes. State officials say they were able to bolster the oxygen supply after reaching out to area nursing homes. But parents tell Sky the oxygen supply dried up Thursday night and that parents were offered manual resuscitator bags. The Post obtained documents showing the hospital had been receiving letters regarding unpaid bills for six months, and that nearly $90,000 was owed to a medical supply company. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has pledged to get to the bottom of the situation: We will know whether it was because of an oxygen shortage or due to a lack of proper treatment. Those found guilty will not be spared.

10th Woman Accuses Trump of Groping

(Oct 21, 2016 4:35 AM CDT) Another woman has come forward to accuse Donald Trump of inappropriately touching her—and to then be called a liar by the Trump campaign. Karena Virginia, a yoga instructor and life coach, appeared with attorney Gloria Allred at a press conference in New York Thursday, where she accused Trump of groping her after the 1998 US Open, NBC reports. Virginia, who was 27 at the time, says she was waiting for a ride home from the tennis tournament when she heard Trump discussing her legs with a group of other men. He then walked up to me and reached his right arm and grabbed my right arm, then his hand touched the right inside of my breast. I was in shock. I flinched, she says. She says Trump, whom she had never met before, asked her: Don't you know who I am? Virginia, the 10th woman in recent weeks to accuse Trump of misconduct, says she felt ashamed for a long time after the encounter and blamed herself for wearing a short dress and high heels, USA Today reports. She says she decided to come forward because it is her duty as a woman, a mother, and an American citizen to speak out and tell the truth about what happened to me. The New York Times reports that Trump spokeswoman Jessica Ditto called Allred a discredited political operative, accused her of working with the Clinton campaign, and said voters are tired of fictional stories and circuslike antics.

How Donald Trump Cost George Soros $1B

(Jan 13, 2017 11:50 AM) George Soros literally bet against Donald Trump after the election and lost. The Wall Street Journal reveals the hedge fund manager and Hillary Clinton supporter misread what the stock market was going to do after the election and said goodbye to almost $1 billion. Soros, who'd already been leery of the market before Nov. 8, became more so after Trump won. But as Business Insider notes, the Dow Jones is up almost 10% since Election Day, while all three main US stock indexes (the Dow, plus the S&P 500 and Nasdaq) have set record highs, meaning Soros' bearish money-managing approach led his personal portfolio to take a huge dive (though he did stem the hemorrhaging and get out of many of his positions before 2016 came to a close). Soros Fund Management's portfolio overall did better, helping the firm claim a 5% gain on the year. Meanwhile, one-time Soros protege Stanley Druckenmiller, who served as Soros' deputy for years at the Quantum Fund, took a different tack, theorizing that if Hillary Clinton won, stocks would rise, then fall, while the opposite would happen if Donald Trump pulled off a win. Druckenmiller obviously proved right, and because he had dumped his bearish positions the night of the election, his firm Duquesne Family Office LLC boasted gains of 10% in 2016. It doesn't appear as if Druckenmiller jumped on the Trump train for any reason other than economic potential: He had previously said Trump had an unstable personality and even indicated he might not vote in the election; a few days after the election, he told CNBC he didn't vote for Trump or Clinton. (Soros once said he'd invest $1 billion in Ukraine.)

Judge OKs $25M Trump University Settlement

(Mar 31, 2017 1:40 PM CDT) A judge on Friday approved an agreement for President Donald Trump to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits over his now-defunct Trump University, ending nearly seven years of legal battles with customers who claimed they were misled by failed promises to teach success in real estate. US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's ruling settles two class-action lawsuits and a civil lawsuit by New York AG Eric Schneiderman, the AP reports. Trump had vowed never to settle but said after the election he didn't have time for a trial, even though he believed he would've prevailed. Under terms of the settlement, he admits no wrongdoing. The lawsuits alleged that Trump University gave nationwide seminars that were like infomercials, constantly pressuring people to spend more and, in the end, failing to deliver. Attorneys for ex-customers have said their clients will get at least 90% of their money back, based on the roughly 3,730 claims submitted. The Trump U case dogged the GOP businessman throughout the campaign as rivals used it to portray him as dishonest and deceitful. Trump brought more attention by repeatedly assailing Curiel, insinuating the Indiana-born judge's Mexican heritage exposed a bias. The judge rejected requests by two ex-students who objected to the settlement. Court docs unsealed last year revealed strategies for enticing people to enroll even if they couldn't afford it, outlining how employees should guide people through the roller coaster of emotions and telling employees to be very aggressive. Trump acknowledged in depositions that he played on people's fantasies and couldn't recall names of employees, despite saying he'd hand-picked them. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Officer Dead, 2 Injured in Pennsylvania Shooting

(Jan 18, 2018 11:25 AM) A law enforcement officer is dead and two others are wounded after a man reportedly opened fire during the serving of a federal arrest warrant in Pennsylvania on Thursday. The members of a US Marshals task force had arrived at a Harrisburg home to serve a woman with a warrant when a man came out shooting around 6:30am, reports WGAL. A US marshal was killed, while a Harrisburg police officer and York City police officer were both wounded, per KOMO News. Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse says the Harrisburg police officer bravely returned fire and critically injured the gunman. WGAL reports the shooter is dead. The York officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries, per the New York Daily News. The official condition of the Harrisburg officer isn't known, though Harrisburg Police Chief Tom Carter told KOMO both officers are doing OK. No words can adequately express the sadness we feel at this moment as we contemplate the loss of yet another law enforcement officer in the line of duty, Papenfuse adds in a statement. I extend my sincerest condolences to the family of the slain US marshal, to his colleagues and to all law enforcement officers who risk their lives each day. A press conference is scheduled for 2pm, reports WPMT.

Cosby Accuser Doesn't Stumble in 7 Hours on Witness Stand

(Jun 7, 2017 5:58 PM CDT) The woman who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and violating her more than a decade ago stood by her story at his trial Wednesday, withstanding hours of cross-examination that didn't produce the stumbles Cosby might have hoped for, the AP reports. Andrea Constand brushed off suggestions she and Cosby had a romantic relationship before the 2004 encounter at his home. And she explained away the numerous phone calls she made to him afterward by saying she was merely returning Cosby's messages about the women's basketball squad at Temple University, where he was a member of the board of trustees and she was director of team operations. Constand, 44, left the witness stand after some seven hours of testimony over two days. Constand's mother followed her on the stand and bolstered her daughter's account. Gianna Constand told the jury that she was distraught to learn what Cosby had done to her daughter. They were good friends. She viewed him like a father, the mother testified. Gianna Constand said she confronted Cosby by phone during a two-hour call in which she said he surrendered to her about the sexual encounter and told her he was sick. Prosecutors played a recording of a call in which Cosby offered to pay for Constand's education. Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. Constand testified he gave her three blue pills and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay paralyzed on a couch, unable to tell him to stop.

How to Buy a Piece of Parisian Real Estate for $75

(Jan 24, 2017 12:59 PM) Parisian streets have been paved with stones since the 12th century, and while asphalt now covers large swaths of the city, the cobblestones still adorn squares, boulevards, and alleyways. For years as the city dug them up (about 10,000 tons a year) to continue building or repaving, it paid to haul them to the dump, reports the New York Times. No longer. It finally occurred to officials last March to salvage these rare gems of Parisian history and sell them to contractors so that they'd have a second life, say the head of the city maintenance yard that stores them. They are cheap and have some charm, he tells Bloomberg. In September, one enterprising woman bought five tons for $215 and set up a souvenir shop of sorts, where her team polishes, weighs, and hand-paints the stones. She sells them online for between $60 and $160, plus $15 to $40 in shipping fees. Tourists from as far afield as China and Oklahoma have paid for what entrepreneur Margaux Sainte-Lagüe calls enduring little pieces of history. (Not bad, considering the stones are worth maybe 8 cents as raw material.) For her, they bring a bit of nostalgia, reminding her of when youth threw them at police during national strikes in 1968. (This happened in 1848 as well.) Even the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has one of her decorated stones, notes Architectural Digest. (Paris is designating a wooded area for nudists.)

Kyle Larson's Racial Slur Could Be 8-Figure Mistake

(Apr 14, 2020 4:45 PM CDT) From indefinite suspension to termination: NASCAR driver Kyle Larson has been fired by his team, Chip Ganassi Racing, after using the N-word during a virtual race Sunday night. The 27-year-old was participating in an iRacing tournament that was livestreamed on Twitch at the time. I can't see it. You can't hear me? Hey (N-word,) Larson said after apparently experiencing communications difficulties with his spotter, who is white. Another driver told him: Kyle, you're talking to everyone, bud. The AP calls it a stunning downfall for a budding star—and one that could cost him eight figures. Larson was in the last year of his contract with the team and preparing to give it a go as a free agent for the 2021 season; Ganassi was steeling himself for a bidding war in hopes of keeping the sprint car driver. Instead, Ganassi had this to say: The comments that Kyle made were both offensive and unacceptable especially given the values of our organization. As we continued to evaluate the situation with all the relevant parties, it became obvious that this was the only appropriate course of action to take. NBC Sports reports that on Tuesday Chevrolet joined McDonald’s, Credit One Bank, and Clover in terminating their sponsorship of Larson. The AP reports a sole sponsor—Plan B Sales and Marketing—is sticking with him.

8 Confirmed Dead in Alabama Dock Fire

(Jan 28, 2020 2:04 AM) A massive boat dock fire in Alabama early Monday killed at least eight people, including minors, authorities have confirmed. Scottsboro Fire Chief Gene Necklaus says it will take days to confirm the identities of the victims and learn the cause of the fire, which destroyed dozens of boats, AL.com reports. The chief says the fire is one of the most devastating things he has ever seen. Necklaus says the number of dead could go up, because we don't know how many were on boats that sank. The blaze, which began just after midnight, destroyed the wooden dock and at least 35 boats. An aluminum roof that covered many boats melted, cutting off escape routes, the AP reports. Necklaus says some of the burning boats floated away from the dock before sinking. Authorities say some of the boats anchored at Dock B in Jackson County Park along the Tennessee River were houseboats that served as primary residences for the owners, the Jackson County Sentinel reports. Some of the seven survivors pulled from the water were treated for hypothermia. Marina resident Tommy Jones tells the AP that winds rapidly spread the blaze and he and several other men could only watch helplessly as flames engulfed a boat carrying a woman and her children. We didn't have time to do nothing, says Jones, who cut several boats free before swimming 200 yards to shore. His brother, Yancey Roper, drowned after swimming in a different direction.

Boy, 3, Killed By Driver Upset His Grandma Driving Too Slow

(Dec 18, 2016 7:28 AM) A 3-year-old Arkansas boy on a shopping trip is dead after another driver decided that the boy's grandmother wasn't moving fast enough at a stop sign, got out of his car, and opened fire in an apparent fit of road rage, reports the AP. The boy and his grandmother were at the stop sign in southwest Little Rock on Saturday evening when the other driver opened fire, police said. The boy was struck by gunfire at least once. The grandmother, who wasn't struck, drove away and called police from a shopping center. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he died shortly after. This is about as frustrated as you can be, Police Chief Kenton Buckner tells NBC News. Police Lt. Steve McClanahan said investigators believe the boy and his grandmother were completely innocent and have no relationship with Saturday's shooter, who was being sought. McClanahan said the grandmother simply was driving the car and was taking her grandson shopping when the incident occurred. Police said they were looking for an older black Chevrolet Impala that was being driven by a tall black man; there was no further description. Last month, a 2-year-old girl was killed when a car drove by and someone fired into her vehicle; the shooter in that case hasn't been captured. Buckner said the young victims were very innocent and can do very little to protect themselves. We cannot have a community to where the least protected among us, being infants, who are dying these senseless crimes in our city, Buckner said.

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.

In Referendum, 97% Support Making Puerto Rico 51st State

(Jun 12, 2017 12:07 AM CDT) Going by votes cast, statehood was the overwhelming winner in a referendum Puerto Rico held Sunday. But going by the actions of most Puerto Ricans, staying home or going to the beach was the runaway winner. The island, a US territory since 1898, held a non-binding referendum on statehood Sunday, and becoming the 51st state won with 97% of the votes, NBC reports, with 1.3% opting for the status quo and 1.5% choosing independence. But with opposition parties boycotting the vote, turnout was extremely low: Only 23% of voters cast a ballot in a territory where turnout is usually closer to 80%. In a similar referendum in 2012, before the island's financial troubles deepened, 61% voted for statehood. The White House declined to comment on the vote. Statehood supporters including Gov. Ricardo Rossello say it is absurd for the US to encourage democracy abroad and reject it for the American citizens of Puerto Rico, though some Puerto Ricans doubt the administration will welcome a new state that would be the poorest in the US by far, the New York Times reports. Puerto Ricans can't vote in presidential elections and their only representative in Congress has limited powers, but the Hill reports that the island will now implement the statehood plan that worked for Tennessee in 1796. The governor will appoint two senators and five representatives who will go to Washington, DC, and demand to be seated.

Stephen Furst, aka 'Flounder,' Is Dead at 63

(Jun 18, 2017 9:33 AM CDT) RIP, Flounder. Stephen Furst, the actor who played that character in Animal House, is dead at age 63, reports TMZ. A rep tells the Hollywood Reporter that the cause is complication from diabetes, which Furst had battled for years. He was even a spokesman for the American Diabetes Association. Furst's role as Kent Flounder Dorfman in the 1978 movie launched his career. He followed that up with guest appearances on various sitcoms until his next big role, that of Dr. Axelrod on St. Elsewhere. He's also known for his role as Vir Cotto in Babylon 5. To truly honor him, do not cry for the loss of Stephen Furst. But rather, enjoy memories of all the times he made you snicker, laugh, or even snort to your own embarrassment. He intensely believed that laugher is the best therapy, and he would want us to practice that now, write his sons on Facebook.

Sheriff: Las Vegas Shooter Had Lost Money Since 2015

(Nov 3, 2017 12:47 PM CDT) What pushed Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock to kill 58 people and wound more than 500 others last month? It's still not clear, but in a new interview with Vegas' 8 News Now, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo says that while the 64-year-old was status-driven based on how he liked to be recognized in the casino environment and how he liked to be recognized by his friends and family, he had lost a significant amount of wealth since September 2015 and was showing signs of depression, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lombardo also said Paddock's girlfriend Marilou Danley remains a person of interest. For this individual to do it at a certain point in time and to do it all with such robust action, you would think that Ms. Danley would have some information associated with that, he said, per the New York Post. Lombardo also attempted to further clarify the shooting timeline, noting that the security guard who was shot, Jesus Campos, called in to report a barricaded door to the Mandalay Bay's 32nd floor at 9:59pm. He made it to the 32nd floor a few minutes later by walking to the 33rd floor and taking the elevator back down, was shot outside Paddock's door, and called in to report that. Lombardo didn't give specific times for those developments, but said Paddock started shooting on the crowd at 10:05pm and that two Las Vegas Metropolitan PD officers were able to make it to the 32nd floor about 10 minutes after that; they had been on the scene already for another call. He called it a pretty amazing response time and noted that Paddock had stopped firing by the time they arrived, per the Washington Post, so their response then became slow and methodical.

Dad Sues Energy Drink Maker Over Death of Son, 19

(Jan 16, 2017 9:27 AM) The father of a 19-year-old who died in 2015 after drinking Monster Energy drink is now suing its manufacturer, TMZ reports. Dustin Hood suffered a cardiac arrhythmia on the basketball court and died at the hospital shortly after. He's believed to have imbibed three large, 24-ounce cans of the Mega Monster Energy beverage, per the Inquistr. That means Hood may have ingested more than 700mg of caffeine in a 24-hour period. The Mayo Clinic reports that up to 400mg appears to be safe for most healthy adults, while the American Academy of Pediatrics is even more conservative in its estimates for teens, saying child and adolescent caffeine consumption shouldn't exceed 100mg per day (and that kids shouldn't be drinking energy drinks at all, as they have no therapeutic benefit ). The suit in Hood's case notes that the amount he drank would be equivalent to guzzling 14 12-ounce cans of Coke. The Hood suit notes that others have also suffered cardiac arrest after acute consumption of the beverage, which is described on the product's website as being the ideal combo of the right ingredients in the right proportion to deliver the big bad buzz that only Monster can. The Inquistr points out it's not known if Hood had a preexisting heart condition or other malady, or an unusually strong reaction to caffeine itself, that may have made him vulnerable to the cardiac arrhythmia that killed him. (This isn't the first time Monster Energy drinks have been blamed for untimely deaths.)

How Patagonia Gets 100% of Its Moms to Return to Work

(Oct 23, 2016 7:33 AM CDT) Patagonia has accomplished an amazing feat: Over the past five years, every single woman who has gotten pregnant while working for the high-end outdoor clothing brand has returned to her job. The national average is 79%. If the former stat sounds too good to be true, Patagonia's HR head understands: I wish it was 97.5% because 100% just doesn’t sound accurate. But, as Quartz reveals, the company's success is real, and it's part of a corporate culture that was built to value people, not just profits. While Patagonia checks all the right boxes in terms of corporate child care and ample maternity and paternity leave, one fringe benefit is the deeper sense of community its approach fosters. One employee tells Quartz he doesn't just pop into the childcare center to read his 4-year-old a pre-nap book; his co-workers all know his daughter, and that deepens all their relationships. When the New Yorker recently profiled Patagonia's founder, Yvon Chouinard, it called him a philosopher king, exploring how his passion for living a balanced life that doesn't sacrifice the time spent outdoors for that corner office helped build the company into the quixotic beast it is today: the type of company that'll design and manufacture a jacket then market it with a full-page ad telling you not to buy it. But before all that, when Chouinard started his company, he did so by hiring his friends. When those friends started families, Patagonia worked to support those new parents, and the approach has evolved to comfortable extremes: If a Patagonia employee has to go on a business trip, the company will pay to fly a partner or nanny along; if neither is available, one of the child-care center's teachers will go.

Markets: S&P 500 Sees Longest Losing Streak Since 1980

(Nov 4, 2016 3:16 PM CDT) The stock market gave up an early gain and ended slightly lower, extending a losing streak for the Standard & Poor's 500 index to a ninth day, the longest losing streak in 36 years, the AP reports. While the losing streak for the market barometer has been long, it hasn't been deep. The losses over that time amount to just 3.1%. Investors have been pulling back in recent days as the US presidential race appears to tighten. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 42 points, or 0.2%, to 17,888. The S&P 500 fell 3 points, or 0.2%, to 2,085. The Nasdaq composite declined 12 points, or 0.2%, to 5,046.

She Delighted Over Her Baby for 6 Hours. Then a Turn

(Jun 30, 2017 8:14 AM CDT) What began as an inspiring story came to a tragic conclusion this week when a 30-year-old Nashville woman who survived a heart transplant seven years ago died after giving birth to her first child, KSDK reports. Megan Moss Johnson, originally of Ferguson, Missouri, gave birth to daughter Eilee Kate around 2:40am Tuesday and spent six hours delighting over her girl. Megan held, fed, and burped little Eilee, per a GoFundMe page. [Husband] Nathan says they couldn't sleep because they were too excited. They talked all night and morning. Then Johnson lost consciousness; she died about two hours later. A friend tells the Tennessean doctors don't yet know what caused her death, though the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that pregnancies are considered high-risk for women who have had heart transplants. Johnson was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, when she was just 15, the Post-Dispatch previously reported. She was put on a transplant list in February 2010 and in April developed pneumonia that doctors said made her too sick for a transplant; 12 hours later she made a surprise turnaround and a heart was en route to her. On Wednesday a GoFundMe page was set up for Eilee and Christian music artist Nathan Johnson, who a friend writes talked about Meg every day. Half of his posts online are about his 'boo,' his 'goddess,' his 'beauty.' It has raised $335,000 as of this writing, with the page's creator updating it to say, I can't quit crying. Nathan and Eilee, we love you. Meg, we miss you. I'm raising the goal again. We're sending this girl to college. (A healthy baby, a tragic twist for her mom.)

Fellow Students Beat the 8-Year-Old. Then, a Suicide

(May 12, 2017 3:21 AM CDT) Police in Cincinnati are investigating the heartbreaking circumstances leading up to the suicide of an 8-year-old boy in January. Police say security camera footage from a restroom in Carson Elementary School shows a fellow student knocking the boy to the floor, leaving him unconscious. For another five minutes, other students step over, point, mock, nudge, kick, etc. the boy before an assistant principal rushes in, homicide detective Eric Karaguleff says in a report to the school, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. The boy, identified by the Enquirer as Gabriel Taye, hanged himself in his bedroom two days after the Jan. 24 assault, per FOX19. The school system agreed Thursday to release the video after blurring the children's faces. Lawyer Jennifer Branch, hired by the boy's mother to find out what really happened to her son, says the school told the mother he had fainted. She says the boy vomited the evening of the assault. His mother took him to the hospital, where she was told he'd probably come down with the stomach flu. He didn't go to school the next day and hanged himself after coming home from school on Jan. 26. Branch says the mother would have taken the boy to the hospital immediately and would not have let him return to Carson if she'd known he had been assaulted and was unconscious on the bathroom floor for so long. Mom is really heartbroken that she didn't know what she needed to know to protect her son, she says. (There's a disturbingly common problem in US schools.)

Spinal Tap Star Sues for $125M

(Oct 18, 2016 10:27 AM CDT) One of the makers of This Is Spinal Tap is suing entertainment group Vivendi, claiming the company is hiding millions from those who made the film possible. Harry Shearer—perhaps better known as the guy who voices dozens of Simpsons characters—co-created the 1984 film along with Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest and also co-wrote its soundtrack and starred as bassist Derek Smalls, reports Variety. He claims the four creators were promised 40% of net receipts from all sources of revenue, but he accuses Vivendi—which acquired the rights to the film in 1989—of a concerted and fraudulent campaign to hide, or grossly underreport, the film's revenues in order to avoid its profit participation obligations, per the Guardian. In particular, Shearer, who is seeking $125 million, says Vivendi claimed just $98 from soundtrack sales between 1989 and 2006, and $81 from global merchandising income from 1984 to 2006. Vivendi has failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse, to provide [Shearer] with proper and accurate accountings reflecting the amount of revenues, reads the complaint filed at the Central District Court of California on Monday. The only people who haven't shared Spinal Tap's success are those who formed the band and created the film in the first place, adds Shearer, noting his suit is on behalf of all creators of popular films whose talent has not been fairly remunerated. Vivendi declined to comment, per the BBC.

Dow Ends Day Down 53

(Sep 21, 2017 3:16 PM CDT) Stocks are closing slightly lower on Wall Street, erasing the market's gains from a day earlier, the AP reports. Technology stocks fell the most Thursday. Apple lost 1.7%. Supermarket operators and other consumer-focused stocks also fell. Kroger slid 2.8%. Harry Potter publisher Scholastic sank 7% after reporting a disappointing quarter. Industrial companies and banks led the gainers. General Electric rose 1.8%. It was the first decline for the market this week. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 7 points, or 0.3%, to 2,500. The Dow Jones industrials fell 53 points, or 0.2%, to 22,359. The Nasdaq composite lost 33 points, or 0.5%, to 6,422.

Trump Wants $1B to Build 62 Miles of Border Wall

(Mar 28, 2017 1:57 AM CDT) What's big, beautiful, and roughly $3,000 a foot? It's President Trump's border wall, according to Homeland Security budget documents obtained by CNN. The documents outline a request of $1 billion to cover 62 miles of border wall—48 miles of new barriers in San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley region, and 14 miles of replacement barrier in San Diego. Trump has promised a wall along all 1,954 miles of the border with Mexico, and while he has spoken of building a concrete barrier, US Customs and Border Protection has asked contractors to provide plans for see-through fences as well, an option preferred by officials who say they want to see what's happening on the other side. Trump is also seeking funding for border expenses beyond wall construction, including expanded detention facilities, according to the funding documents. Another expense is legal support, which will include funds to buy privately owned land along the border through eminent domain. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has fought fiercely for the rights of property owners in other cases but he says he does not have a problem with eminent domain being used in cases that serve a public purpose, such as road construction. In my mind, this is a very similar purpose, he tells the Dallas Morning News. It's a public purpose providing safety to people not only along the border, but to the entire nation.

74 Who Drowned in Mediterranean Wash Ashore

(Feb 21, 2017 7:03 AM) Scores of bodies of African migrants washed ashore in Libya, in the western city of Zawiya on the Mediterranean Sea, a spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent says. The drownings—at least 74 bodies were found in Zawiya—are the latest tragedy at sea after migrant deaths rose to record levels along the Libya-Italy smuggling route over the past months. The Red Crescent's spokesman, Mohammed al-Misrati, tells the AP that the bodies were found on Monday morning and that the Red Crescent workers retrieved them between 1pm and 7pm. He says a torn rubber boat was found nearby and that he expects more bodies to surface as such boats usually carry up to 120 people. Al-Misrati says the local authorities will take the bodies to a cemetery in the capital of Tripoli that is allocated for unidentified persons. Last week, Fabrice Leggeri, director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said the Libya-Italy smuggling route across the Mediterranean saw record numbers of migrant drownings in 2016: 4,579, which still might be much less than the true loss of life. That's compared to 2,869 deaths in 2015 and 3,161 in 2014. There is little sign that the surge is abating, even during wintertime. There were 228 recorded deaths in January, by far the biggest monthly toll in recent years. Leggeri blamed the very small dinghies and poor vessels used by the smugglers for the high death rate.

40+ Years in Solitary: 'Ask Me in 20 Years' How Freedom Feels

(Jan 10, 2017 2:24 PM) Albert Woodfox, the last of the famous Angola Three, was released from prison last February after pleading no contest to manslaughter in the 1972 killing of prison guard Brent Miller. In a piece for the New Yorker, Rachel Aviv offers some insight into the reserved and humble 69-year-old now trying to adapt to the outside world since his release, after more than 40 years behind bars, most of it spent in solitary confinement. I get apprehensive when somebody asks me ... 'What does it feel like to be free?' he says. His typical reply: Ask me in 20 years. Aviv dives into the details leading up to his imprisonment, including a rough childhood growing up in New Orleans, as well as his involvement with the Black Panthers in NYC and then in Louisiana's Angola Prison, where he was sent in the mid-'60s after being convicted for armed robbery. It was after Miller's murder and Woodfox's conviction for it when he became intimately acquainted with Closed Cell Restricted, or CCR—the unit where the 6-by-9-foot cells he'd call home for the next 40-plus years were located. Despite being described as a model prisoner, Woodfox remained in solitary. He didn't see outside light for more than five years in CCR; he was permitted to walk outside of his cell for an hour a day. (A small outdoor exercise area was added to CCR in 1978.) Woodfox often woke up gasping, Aviv writes. He felt that the walls of the cell were squeezing him to death. When Woodfox was transferred to a different prison in 2008, he was once more placed in solitary—making his 2016 release a huge adjustment. Once out, he found a usual day of moving from the kitchen to the bathroom to the living room took more steps than his entire exercise regimen in prison, Aviv notes. Since then Woodfox has found his street legs, and he's now an advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement. It's the same old America, he notes. Yet on nights when he can't sleep, Woodfox resorts to an old pacing routine he used in solitary to calm himself. The only thing I can do is walk it off. … And I move on, he says. (Woodfox's extraordinary tale of a life spent in isolation here.)

Man Crawls to Safety 4 Days After Falling From Cliff

(May 23, 2017 6:56 PM CDT) Ohio police say a man who fell down a cliff and spent four days in a ravine was rescued after he crawled onto a nearby golf course, despite having broken his legs, pelvis, and wrist, the AP reports. A worker at the course in Elyria, Ohio, was doing routine maintenance when he stumbled upon 30-year-old Gerald Muskiewicz and called for help, says Elyria Police Capt. Chris Costantino. Muskiewicz was naked and suffering from hypothermia when he was found. Muskiewicz told officers he had stripped his clothes off after falling because they had gotten soaked in a river and the weather was getting chilly. Temperatures in Elyria, about 25 miles west of Cleveland, dipped into the 50s over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. He's very fortunate, Costantino says. If it wasn't for the worker who was able to find him, the end result certainly could have been tragic. Muskiewicz told officials he had been speaking with his ex-wife while walking along a road above a cliff around 2am Friday morning, and that she had agreed to meet him near the golf course at the bottom of the cliff. He lost his footing while making his way down toward the golf course, Muskiewicz told detectives. The cliff is anywhere from 30 feet to 100 feet high, depending on where he fell, fire officials tell WJW-TV. There was no man-made path down the cliff, Costantino says. There's a strong possibility that alcohol or drugs played a factor in the fall, Costantino says, adding that police are not looking into the incident as a criminal matter at this time.