Teen shot by neighbor over TV s

Police are looking for Cloves Roche, who is suspected in a shooting of a Harlem teenager over a 32-inch television.
Eleventh-grader Rodney Lewis just wanted his family's TV back, but he was shot to death Wednesday by the neighbor who borrowed it, his family said Wednesday.
The East Harlem 17-year-old confronted his downstairs neighbor Wednesday afternoon demanding the return of 32-inch set. Words led to punches in a fourth-floor hallway inside the Woodrow Wilson Houses on E. 105 St., and the neighbor ended the fight with two shots, police said.
"He went to get one of his cousin's television back," said Yolanda Lewis, who lives a floor above her son's suspected killer. "No one in their right mind is going to kill somebody over a TV."
The Manhattan School for Career Development student was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at Metropolitan Hospital.
Cops were hunting for neighbor Cloves Roche, 26, Wednesday night. Investigators released a picture of the ex-con who was recently released from state prison. Roche just finished a five-year stint for robbery and drug charges, records showed.
Lewis' relatives said Roche pulled out a gun during the brawl, shooting the teen in the leg and stomach. more

Rookie bank robber scares woman to death

RALEIGH, N.C. — Larry Whitfield was on foot, his getaway car wrecked, his rookie attempt at robbing a bank thwarted by a set of locked doors, according to detectives. Looking for a place to hide, police say, he found himself inside the home of a frightened old woman.
There's no evidence Whitfield ever touched 79-year-old Mary Parnell. Authorities say he even told the grandmother of five he didn't want to hurt her, directing her to sit in a chair in her bedroom. But investigators have no doubt he terrified her so much that she died of a heart attack.
Now Whitfield, a 20-year-old with no prior criminal record, is charged with first-degree murder, a rare defendant accused of literally scaring a person to death.
"He could've avoided all this by turning himself in, and life would've went on for Mrs. Parnell," said Capt. Calvin Shaw of the Gaston County Police Department, which handled the investigation.
Under a legal concept known as the felony murder rule, it's not uncommon for prosecutors to bring a murder charge against a defendant who doesn't intentionally harm a victim. The rule exists in some form in every state and lets authorities bring murder charges whenever someone dies during a crime such as burglary, rape, or kidnapping.

"If you're committing any of those offenses and a person dies, that's first-degree murder," said Locke Bell, Gaston County's district attorney and the prosecutor in Whitfield's case.
Prosecutors typically use the rule to charge all of the suspects with murder when, say, one of them shoots a teller during a bank robbery. But cases of prosecutors using the felony murder rule to charge a defendant with scaring someone to death are isolated.
Jurors convicted Willie Ingram in 1982 after 64-year-old Melvin Cooper died from a heart attack in his New York home, caused by what medical experts said was the "emotional upset" of a robbery attempt. Likewise, a Pittsburgh jury convicted Mark Fisher last year in the 2003 murder of 89-year-old Freda Dale, who medical examiners said died in her home from a fear-induced heart attack.
Whitfield is being held without bail, and his attorney and his family declined to comment. He's charged with several other crimes in addition to murder, and has not entered a plea. He faces life without parole if convicted.
Authorities said Whitfield and an accomplice, armed with semiautomatic rifles, planned to rob the Fort Financial Credit Union in Gastonia. The bank's staff locked its security doors as the men approached, leaving them stuck outside. They fled but crashed on Interstate 85. Officials said the other man was caught shortly after the crash, while Whitfield ended up at Parnell's doorstep.
Parnell's husband came home from a funeral and found her around 4:30 p.m., slumped over in the chair. Whitfield, police say, had fled after Mary Parnell went into cardiac arrest and broke into another nearby home. He was arrested while walking in the neighborhood.
Parnell's autopsy report said she had an enlarged heart, was overweight and had advanced liver disease, kidney disease, hypertension, heart disease and was a diabetic, all of which were decided to be secondary factors. Dr. Steven Dunton, the deputy chief medical examiner in Dekalb County, Ga., said an autopsy finding of natural causes can be upgraded by what he calls an external environmental factor.
In Parnell's case, doctors listed her cause of death as a heart attack due to "stress during home invasion."
"There's nothing seen by the pathologist that would show a person died that way," Dunton said. "That's entirely from circumstantial information." more

Man received 5 years for filming woman having sex with dogs

TULSA — A man received a five-year prison term Monday for videotaping a co-defendant — who got no prison time — as she engaged in sex acts with dogs.
Donald Roy Seigfried He pleaded no contest in November to one count of committing a crime against nature.

Donald R. Seigfried, 56, pleaded no contest in November to one count of committing a crime against nature.
Tulsa County District Judge William Kellough sentenced Seigfried to five years in prison and ordered him to spend three years on probation.
Co-defendant Diane Sue Whalen, 55, received a five-year suspended sentence and no prison time in October. She pleaded no contest in September to one felony count.
Records show Seigfried has prior felony convictions for theft and drug offenses committed more than 25 years ago. Whalen had no prior criminal record.
Attorney Jerry Truster, representing Seigfried, said if Seigfried had not had the past convictions, he would have had a possibility of serving his entire sentence on probation.
According to Whalen’s sentencing report, she was recorded on video engaged in sex acts with three dogs. more

Unemployed California Dad Who Killed Family, Himself Said Hospital Incited Tragedy

An unemployed Los Angeles father said in a suicide note that he methodically shot and killed his family before turning the gun on himself because he and his wife were fired by the hospital where they worked after being told "you should have blown your brains out."
But the hospital said it was "confident" that none of its employees told Ervin Lupoe to take his own life or kill his family.
Police are investigating after finding a horrific scene at the Lupoes' home in Wilmington, Calif., on Tuesday morning.
In one upstairs bedroom, the bodies of twin 2-year-old boys were found beside their dead mother. In another bedroom, 5-year-old twin girls and their 8-year-old sister lay next to their lifeless father.

Lupoe and his wife had both recently been fired from their jobs at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.
His letter, faxed to KABC-TV in Los Angeles, indicated that Lupoe and his wife — both 40 — had been investigated for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency to obtain child care, and claimed that an administrator told the couple on Dec. 23: "You should not even had bothered to come to work today. You should have blown your brains out."
The letter said the couple complained to the hospital's human resources department and eventually were offered an apology, but two days later they were fired.
"They did nothing to the manager who stated such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are," the note said.
In a statement, the hospital said they were "saddened by the despair in Mr. Lupoe's letter faxed to the media, but we are confident that no one told him to take his own life or the lives of his family."
When asked what the couple was offered an apology for and whether an administrator said what Lupoe alleged, hospital spokesman Anthony Crump told FOXNews.com he could not comment on employee matters.

The Los Angeles Police Department said it's unlikely the medical center would be held legally responsible for telling Lupoe to blow his brains out.
"I don't know how someone's statement could be prosecuted," LAPD Officer Sam Park told FOXNews.com. "It's just like if I told you to go jump off a cliff. I don't think it could be prosecuted legally." more

Australian backpacker murderer Ivan Milat chops finger off in jail

Ivan Milat, Australia’s most notorious serial killer who murdered seven backpackers in the 1990s, has cut off his finger in jail and tried to post it to a judge at the country’s highest court.
The 64-year-old is serving seven life sentences for the murders of the backpackers – including two British women and three Germans – at the Supermax maximum security prison at Goulburn, 125 miles (200km) south-west of Sydney.
On Monday afternoon Milat, who has a history of self-harm in jail, was reported to have used the serrated plastic knife that came with his meal to sever his left little finger, then placed it in an envelope addressed to a judge on Australia’s High Court.
He handed the envelope to a prison officer, who quickly arranged for the prisoner, and his detached digit, to be transferred to a local hospital under extremely tight security.
Milat was reported to be calm and not showing any symptoms of shock, despite having just cut off his own finger. In hospital under the guard of four Extreme High Risk Escort prison officers, doctors assessed the mass murderer’s finger and deemed it too late for it to be reattached. more

Beating suspects is just a way of life, for Chicago police

This one could come from a punch extended halfway across the country, from a former Chicago cop who allegedly has been recorded on tape telling students at Colorado State University that beating suspects and paying off informants with drugs is just a way of life for police in "Chi-town."

Dexter Yarbrough, a former Gresham District community policing officer, allegedly made the remarks to students in 2008 lectures taped by a graduate student, according to the campus student newspaper, The Rocky Mountain Collegian.

Yarbrough, who took a leave of absence from Chicago police in 2000 and officially resigned in 2005, is chief of the Colorado State University Police Department and associate vice president of the Department of Public Safety. He was placed on indefinite paid leave last month "pending the outcome of a personnel investigation," according to a statement from the university.

The article in the school newspaper details numerous complaints from officers under Yarbrough's command as well as the recordings made by the graduate student, a former county sheriff's deputy who thought the chief's comments were out of line.

Yarbrough allegedly told students that paying informants with drugs was acceptable, as long as the informants never revealed where they got the drugs, and that excessive and violent force against a suspect is a "reality of law enforcement."

"If there's a news conference going on, I can't get in front of a crowd and say, 'He got exactly what the [expletive] he deserved.' You know the police should have beat him, you know. I used to beat [expletive] when I was in Chicago too. I can't say that," the article quotes a recording of Yarbrough as saying.

"I'd have to say, 'Well, you know we're going to have to look into this matter seriously . . . all of our officers, we like to think that they operate with the utmost integrity and ethics' . . . All of that [expletive] sounds good. That [expletive] sounds real good, but in the back of my mind, damn. He got popped. If he would have done it the way we used to do it in Chi-town, man, none of this [expletive] would have happened."

Burglars Dressed As Firefighters Steal TV's

Metro says two men dressed as Clark County firefighters stole two flat-screen TV's from an apartment complex near Flamingo and Cambridge. Now police are asking for the public's help to identify the men.

The fire department says this case causes them serious concern. While two TV's were stolen, the department fears the larger impact could be on the public trust.

The two men were captured by a security camera on January 9, 2009 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The photos show what appear to be two Clark County firefighters inside a hallway as police say they were in the process of stealing two flat-screen TV's.

One suspect stood by the side and was a lookout. The other suspect entered the workout facility and attempted to remove a flat screen TV off the wall. He was unsuccessful. They both left and approximately and hour and half later returned again, this time with a tool which enabled them to remove the TV," said Metro Officer Barbara Morgan.

CCFD Scott Allison says the department fears this incident could cast suspicions on real firefighters who are doing their jobs, "They seemed to know what they were doing. Their mannerisms, the way they moved through this complex and everything, they looked like firefighters. And if I was just Joe Blow citizen, passing them in a hallway, I might not question it either."

Until the men are caught, officials say there's no way to know if the shirts they were wearing were legitimate and, if they were, where they may have come from. But the two men had other markings of real firefighters, right down to the dark pants, boots, and even what appeared to be a two-way radio. more

Man wearing Batman mask was arrested for fighting crime

TAMPA - Batman has had a slew of enemies over the years – The Joker, The Riddler, Catwoman – but in Ybor City last year, he added a new nemesis: Tampa police.
Ybor City's version of the Caped Crusader –his real name is Walsh Ian Nichols – was sitting on a curb eating sushi on Oct. 21 when an officer arrested him for wearing a mask on a public street.
Nichols, 21, failed to use a batarang or fancy equipment to escape the officer. Now he is fighting back in court. His lawyer has filed a motion to dismiss, which will be heard next month.
"Law enforcement approached and detained Nichols who was sitting on the curb eating sushi and wearing traditional Batman apparel, complete with cape and partial mask," the motion to dismiss states. "It was a dark day for the Dark Knight, as he was subsequently placed under arrest for wearing a hood on a public street."
During an interview tonight, Nichols said a sergeant in Ybor City had an issue with his costume and caused him to land _ Pow! Zap! _ in the slammer. The sergeant, Nichols said, had previously advised him to unmask himself and told a fellow officer to arrest him.
"They actually didn't let me finish my sushi,'' Nichols said.
The legal argument outlined in the motion is that the law under which Nichols was arrested is aimed at combating hooded Ku Klux Klan members. The law was crafted to stop crime committers, not crime fighters, the motion states.
According to the motion to dismiss:
A Tampa police sergeant saw a Batman figure drive by on a motorcycle near East 7th Avenue and North 15th Street. The sergeant told Officer Lisa Cordero to track down Nichols, as the sergeant "had apparently advised Nichols to unmask himself three weeks earlier."
Nichols was stopped at East 9th Avenue and North 15th Street and arrested. In addition to the charge of illegally wearing a mask, he was charged with driving a motorcycle without a motorcycle license.
The anti-mask law was created in 1951:
"No person or persons over 16 years of age shall, while wearing any mask, hood, or device whereby any portion of the face is so hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer, enter upon, or be or appear upon any lane, walk, alley, street, road, highway, or other public way in this state."more

A plot to extort money from actor John Travolta has been revealed

NASSAU, Bahamas - Authorities in the Bahamas have charged an island lawmaker and detained two other people in an alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta after the death of his son, police said Friday.
Two of the suspects — ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and former tourism minister Obie Wilchcombe — were detained on Friday. Earlier, several tabloids quoted Lightbourne describing efforts to revive the celebrity's chronically ill son, Jett, who died of a seizure this month at their family vacation home on Grand Bahama.
Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, an attorney from Grand Bahama, was arrested on Thursday. She was charged with abetment to extort and conspiracy to extort and released Friday on $40,000 bail, according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Loretta Mackey.
Authorities said Travolta filed a complaint of attempted extortion but they did not reveal what the allegations involved. The actor and his wife Kelly Preston returned home to Florida with the ashes of their 16-year-old son, and Travolta's publicist Paul Bloch said Friday that he has no comment.
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames said Lightbourne — the ambulance driver — was detained after police issued an alert that he was wanted for attempted extortion, was "considered dangerous and should be approached with caution."
Lightbourne remained in police custody late Friday and was assisting police, according to a police statement.
Wilchcombe — a member of the Bahamas parliament and an ex-tourism minister — was arrested Friday in connection with the complaint, questioned by police and released "pending further investigations," Mackey said.
Wilchcombe has described himself as a friend of Travolta who was with the actor shortly after his son died.

Armored truck driver accused of strapping cash to his leg

An armored truck driver was jailed today in Grapevine on a felony theft charge after more than $100,000 was found strapped to his legs.
Police Lt. Todd Dearing says 31-year-old Elkin Strozier of Arlington was held on $10,000 bond. Dearing says Strozier had not requested an attorney.
Strozier was arrested Thursday and charged with theft of between $100,000 and $200,000.
Dearing declined to say how much cash was stolen, but says all of the money was recovered.
Strozier allegedly cut open a cash bag while his partner was out of the vehicle, taped the money to his legs and reclosed the bag. A bank reported cash was missing after a delivery was made.
Police say Strozier confessed when confronted by his boss.
If convicted, Strozier faces two to 20 years in prison.

Stupid burglar caught in a hot ceiling He passes out, falls through

FOR two hours he hid inside the roof, the sun beating down on the tin above sending the temperature in his hiding place soaring.Finally the burglar, who was forced to crouch in the tiny cavity after the family he intended to rob came home unexpectedly, could take no more and fainted.The half-baked crook came crashing through the ceiling and landed at the feet of a horrified couple and their five young children almost 4m below.Food distributor Darren Young described yesterday how he and wife Deslie and five of their six children were at their Newcastle home on the New South Wales Central Coast on Wednesday when the would-be thief made a sudden and unlikely entrance.In a shower of plaster and insulation, the intruder slammed face-down into the hardwood floor and started groaning for help."I just heard this thunderous crash and thought it must be the kids doing something," Darren said.

What slaytan?? This burglar was going to rob a hard working family and you reckon that he had a valid excuse?? Perhaps he should sue the family for damages and rob your house instea...
Chris Ellis "I ran in and there is this bloke lying there groaning. I didn't even realise where he had come from at that stage. I thought he must have been hiding in the cupboard."Deslie also ran out after the crash, fearing her husband had suffered a heart attack.With their terrified children looking on, the couple armed themselves with a pair of mildly threatening ceramic ornaments and screamed at the bumbling burglar to get out of their house.The intruder staggered outside before collapsing in the backyard, where the Youngs and neighbours held him with the ornaments and a set of oars until police arrived.The family thought they had heard faint calls for help about 30 minutes before, but had no idea the pleas were coming from their uninvited guest cooped up in the cavity over their heads.Police believe the 28-year-old Newcastle man gained entry through a laundry manhole up to two hours before but was forced to hide after the family returned home.

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Nursing home patient lost 87 pounds in 19 days

State and federal agencies have filed numerous sanctions against the Winchester Centre for Health and Rehabilitation since August, when a patient lost more than 87 pounds in 19 days and the nursing home failed to call a doctor, according to records obtained by the Herald-Leader under the Open Records Act.
At the end of the 19 days, the patient was found unresponsive and was taken to the hospital, according to a Type A citation from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
The unnamed medical director at the Clark County nursing home is quoted in state records as telling an investigator that the patient did not receive good care: "It was not a good experience during his three-week stay, and I think he suffered for it."

The facility's problems have continued, with the federal government and the inspector general's office for the cabinet notifying the nursing home that it did not meet the requirements to serve patients receiving Medicare and Medicaid.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is threatening to pull the facility's funding in February and has warned that the facility could be fined up to $6,050 a day if conditions don't improve, according to correspondence between the nursing home and the federal agency.
No plans to close
Officials with Kindred Healthcare in Louisville, which owns the Winchester nursing home, say the facility is correcting its problems and has no plans to close. If the funding is cut off, the patients who receive Medicaid and Medicare will be sent to other facilities that meet the requirements.
There are 166 patients at the facility.
The nursing home received a Type A citation, the most serious the state can give, in August, when it did not contact a physician or monitor a patient being treated for swelling and other problems. The patient lost more than 87 pounds, dropping from 197 pounds to 109.4 pounds, in 19 days
When the patient was admitted to a hospital, a physician there told state investigators, "I would never want anyone to lose weight that fast. That is too fast."
A second Type A citation was issued Jan. 12, after a patient received the wrong dosage of an anti-seizure medication for 40 days in November and December, an error that wasn't discovered until the patient suffered a seizure. The patient was supposed to have received a daily dose of 450 milligrams of extended-release capsules by mouth, but the nursing home staff gave 400 milligrams through a feeding tube, which altered the medication's effectiveness.
The facility didn't have a system to make sure that medications were administered properly, according to the Jan. 12 citation. more

2.6 million jobs vanished in the 2008 recession.

Every day it seems another massive layoff is announced at some of the country's best-known companies. Those job losses, in addition to thousands of mom-and-pop businesses, made 2008 one of the worst years for employment in our country's history.
Microsoft Slashes 5,000 Jobs
The latest bad news came today from Microsoft: it will slash 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months. It seems that even the once-mighty tech sector isn't immune from this recession.
"While we are not immune to the effects of the economy, I am confident in the strength of our product portfolio and soundness of our approach," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement today.

According to the Department of Labor, in December alone, employers shed 524,000 workers. Unemployment now stands at 7.2 percent, the highest since January 1993.
The losses make 2008 the worst year for layoffs since 1945 when 2.75 million jobs were lost. Granted, the U.S. workforce was smaller back then, but it's still a shocking number.

South African Airways crew arrested after 110 pounds of Cannabis was found

LONDON — British customs officials say a South African Airways crew arrested after drugs were found in bags at Heathrow Airport have been released on bail.
HM Revenue and Customs said Wednesday that three pilots and 12 flight attendants on the flight from Johannesburg to London were questioned overnight and have been released on unconditional bail pending further inquiries. They were told to report to a police station in March.
The crew were arrested as they passed through customs Tuesday after officials found 110 pounds of cannabis in three bags. One of the bags also contained around eight pounds of cocaine, worth around $222,000.
The airline confirmed the crew members had been released and said they were cooperating with authorities.

Convicted Killer confesses of a Florida Woman Missing 3 Years

Potential Break in Case of Florida Woman Missing 3 Years Comes From Convicted Killer
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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A potential break in the case of a Florida woman who has been missing for three years and whose photo later turned up on dating sites may have come from a convicted killer.
David Russ, who confessed to a 2007 murder, claims to have information about the disappearance of 24-year-old Jennifer Kesse and had his lawyer contact her father, MyFOXOrlando.com reported.
Russ is in the Seminole County Jail awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to killing Madeline Leinen. He asked to meet with Kesse's father, Drew Kesse.
"I think it's just one more lead that has to be followed up on," Kesse told MyFOXOrlando.com. "If it turns out, then we have something to go on."
Kesse wouldn't disclose anything about what Russ told him.
"I am not going to talk about the information that was relayed,” Kesse said. “It's just not pertinent at this point."
Detectives say they're investigating Russ' claims. They don't believe he has information that could break the case.
Jennifer Kesse was last heard from the night of Jan. 23, 2006, and never showed up at work the next morning at Westgates Resorts, where she managed the timeshares financial department. more

Supreme Court Kills Internet Pornography Law

WASHINGTON — The government lost its final attempt Wednesday to revive a federal law intended to protect children from sexual material and other objectionable content on the Internet.

The Supreme Court said it won't consider reviving the Child Online Protection Act, which lower federal courts struck down as unconstitutional.
The law has been embroiled in court challenges since it passed in 1998 and never took effect. It would have barred Web sites from making harmful content available to minors over the Internet.
A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled that would violate the First Amendment, because filtering technologies and other parental control tools are a less restrictive way to protect children from inappropriate content online.

The act was passed the year after the Supreme Court ruled that another law intended to protect children from explicit material online — the Communications Decency Act — was unconstitutional.
The Bush administration had pressed the justices to take the case. They offered no comment on their decision to reject the government's appeal.
Five justices who ruled against the Internet blocking law in 2004 remain on the court.

The case is Mukasey v. ACLU. 08-565.

Michigan Postal Worker Hoarded Thousands of Pieces of Mail Instead of Delivering Them

DETROIT — There were jokes and snickers at a Michigan post office when customers learned that an overwhelmed carrier had rented a storage unit to hide thousands of pieces of mail.
"I heard a couple of people come in and say, 'Can I pick up my mail — or is it in storage?"' said Annette Koss, the postmaster in Howell, 50 miles northwest of Detroit. "We just didn't understand it. It's such a stupid thing to do."
Jill Hull pleaded guilty Tuesday to deserting the mail, a misdemeanor. The case is rare but it happens: From North Carolina to North Dakota, carriers in recent months have been hauled to court for failing to fulfill their routes.
Mail has been found in basements, garages and, in Hull's case, a self-storage unit in Michigan's Livingston County. In North Carolina, a mail carrier admitted to keeping junk mail buried in his backyard.
In September, after she had failed to pay her bill, managers opened Hull's unit and discovered thousands of pieces of unopened mail, including 988 first-class letters. Some had postmarks from 2005.
"I was unable to deliver all the mail," Hull, 34, said during a brief hearing in federal court in Detroit.

In a court filing, postal investigator Douglas Mills said Hull had planned to catch up with late payments and apparently keep the mail under lock and key until she died.
No one on the rural route had complained about missing any mail.
"Looking back at her time sheets, she was leaving early everyday," said Koss, who became postmaster shortly after the discovery. "It's like it got dark and she didn't know what to do with the mail."
Hull and her attorney had no comment after the guilty plea. The maximum penalty is a year in prison, but Hull is hoping for probation.
The Postal Service says there were 333 cases of theft, delay or destruction of mail by employees or contractors filed in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. A California postal manager was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing thousands of DVDs. more

Hulk's Ex-Wife Linda Causes Chaos

Hulk's Ex-Wife Linda Causes Chaos at Robert Redford's Film Festival “Un-American”
Has the Sundance Film Festival lost its prestige? Is it the economy, inauguration or over commercialization of Robert Redford's 25-year-old independent film festival that has alienated the A-list crowd and instead provided a playground for psuedo-celebs to pose and party for well, no real reason at all?
Pop Tarts noticed that the one woman getting most of the attention in the oddly quiet (and much warmer than normal) Park City on Saturday was none other than "Hogan Knows Best" star, Linda Bollea. So what was she doing at a film fest? Like most celebs in town, a whole lot of nothing.
Donning a terrible fur coat and pink lipstick, Bollea paraded her 19-year-old boytoy Charlie Hill up and down Main Street to fully utilize the photo op and at one point traffic controllers had to stop the cars in every direction as so many "fans" and paps were crazily rushing to get a snap of the happy-to-pose twosome. Although perhaps it was more a case of follow the pack as most snappers were asking "Who are we taking a photo of again?"

But Ms. Bollea isn't as "blonde" as she may come across, and the reality star was smart enough to cash in on her (already-expired?) fifteen minutes of fame by stopping off for some swag at Island Def Jam's House of Hype, St. Ives Spa and the Hollywood Life House for a free (of course) Fake Bake tan. Linda even asked the vendors if they wanted to take her picture. How gracious.
Linda's jailbird son Nick also attended the festival and seemed to have no problem with his mama consistently making out with (not to mention canoodling intimately with) her boyfriend who was actually his high school pal. Let's just say their behavior would have been better left for an area of privacy rather than for the pedestrians of Park City.
"He isn't Linda's boytoy anymore," a source close to Bollea told Tarts. "Things between them are very serious."
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Wright praises Obama still angry at press

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, addresses the National Press Club in Washington, DC, in this file photo.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)In a sermon today at Howard University's chapel in Washington, Wright used Obama's life as an example to show how despite challenges as a nation, the country can build a better future.

"He was able to do what nobody of African decent was ever able to do in the 211-year history of this country. ... The Lord stepped into his story and gave him a new attitude," he said.

It was a completely different scene from Wright's defiant appearance at the National Press Club in April. Gone was any hint of anger directed at Obama for denouncing his more controversial sermons and statements, which became fodder for Obama's critics during the presidential campaign.

Related
Obama's Pastor: God Damn AmericaObama Goes Church-Hunting, With CautionWATCH: The Campaign That Might Have BeenIn an exclusive interview with ABC News following the service, Wright showed some of that same fire when he lashed out at the network for breaking the story of his inflammatory sermons, saying he was "not going to kiss anybody's behind."

Wright was visibly angry when speaking about the press, and in particular ABC News, which first presented a "Good Morning America" story about Wright's sermons.


"It was so unfair to my family and ended up hurting my daughter and it was unconscionable," he said. "ABC started a mess that was unconscionable." more

Barack Obama & MLK Lincoln Memorial Celebration

We Are One” Barack Obama & MLK Lincoln Memorial Celebration

Prez-Elect Barack Obama and First Lady Elect Michelle O. arrived to the event to watch the performances and listen to B.O.’s remarks.

Dwyane & Siohvaughn Wade Divorce Gets DIRTY!

The Dwyane/Siohvaughn Wade divorce just got extra grimey. Siohvaughn filed papers yesterday in Miami with her lawyers alleging Dwyane abandoned his children, committed adultery, and infected her with an unspecified sexually transmitted disease. And she wants the names of ”all of his sexual partners” during their six-year marriage. O snap!
O but there’s more:
`Dwyane has dissipated substantial sums of marital property including . . . buying his mother a $2 million church; placing substantial sums of money in an account with another woman; providing numerous friends and family members with unfettered access to accounts with hundreds of thousands of dollars of marital funds from which they made substantial withdrawals . . .’
She says he straight cut her off. Now we all know Gabrielle Union and D-Wade are an official couple now and have moved in together until she gets her own place in the MIA. So is she the initial homewrecker? They were kickin’ it right after Sioh moved back to the Chi. Dwyane’s lawyer says the allegations are false and just pretty f’d up. And to make matters more crazy, today is D-Wade’s 27th birthday. Well I guess these allegations were a Happy Birthday to him.

Pilot may have faked death

MLK's daughter moved to tears

Bernice King says Barack Obama is carrying on the work of her father, Martin Luther King Jr.

SEC under fire

Did the SEC drop the ball in connection with the Bernie Madoff investment scandal? CNN's Abbie Boudreau reports.

Viewers' choices for the top CNN.com videos of the week.

Car trapped on Big Rig

Four people are trapped inside a car which was pinned under a big rig in Seminole County, Florida.

Video Shows the plane crash landing

Boy George sentenced to 15 months for falsely imprisoning a male escort

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Karma caught up with former Culture Club singer Boy George on Friday when a court sentenced the star to 15 months for falsely imprisoning a male escort, a court spokeswoman said.

George O'Dowd, also known as Boy George, arrives at Snaresbrook Crown Court, in east London.

Full details of the sentence weren't immediately clear.
A jury unanimously found the pop star and DJ, whose real name is George O'Dowd, guilty of the charge last month after a seven-day trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in northeast London.
The jury determined O'Dowd, 47, had chained male escort Audun Carlsen to a wall at his apartment in London's hip Shoreditch neighborhood. Carlsen had also said the singer beat him with a metal chain. Watch as Boy George arrives at court »
O'Dowd, who maintained his innocence, came to court Friday sporting a multicolored tattoo on his bald head, none of his trademark makeup, and a black winter coat.
The star quit Culture Club in 1987 after a string of hits with the group, including "Karma Chameleon," "Do you really want to hurt me?" and "Church of the Poison Mind."
He has since become a DJ and revived his singing career, releasing a single last year called "Yes we can," inspired by Barack Obama and featuring clips of the U.S. president-elect.
O'Dowd is no stranger to the law. In August 2006, he spent five days cleaning the streets of Manhattan as part of a community service sentence for falsely reporting a break-in at his New York City home.
He has also publicly battled drug addiction.

Kimora Lee and Djimon Honsou’s pregnant status hit Us Weekly today. Sources say that she’s indeed 4 months pregnant. But this time around it’s a difficult pregnancy. Even though it’s her third one, she’s still insecure about the pregnancy weight–which is why she’s been hiding out and covering up her belly.

Circuit City Liquidation: 567 US Stores Closing

Bankrupt Circuit City Stores Inc., unable to work out a sale of the company, said Friday it will go out of business _ closing its 567 U.S. stores and cutting 30,000 jobs.
The nation's second-biggest consumer electronics retailer is the latest casualty of an unprecedented pullback in consumer spending that has driven other brands such as KB Toys, Mervyns LLC and Linens 'N Things into bankruptcy. Experts believe there will be more to come.

Some people just don't like sex

Asexuality advocates Andrew Hinderliter (left) and David Jay (right) are among those lobbying the psychological community for greater awareness of asexuality as a legitimate sexual orientation.(You Tube/ABC News)
Jay, a 26-year-old graduate student at the Presidio School of Management in San Francisco, acknowledges that his lack of interest in sex may seem unusual to many who view intercourse as the epitome of intimacy.
But research suggests that about 1 percent of the population may share Jay's view on sex. And he said that for many of these people, coming to terms with their feelings about sex can be a major challenge.
"When I was younger, the message I would always hear is that you need sex to be happy," he said. "I realized probably around the age of 14 or 15 that all of my friends were actively talking about sex. I just couldn't relate to it; I had no interest at all."
Jay said that it took him about four years of struggling to adjust to the fact that he simply did not view sex in the same way as most other people.
"It was really scary, really frightening," Jay said. "I think that throughout the asexual community, there are a lot of people who really start in that place of being isolated and confused."
Jay says it's his choice not to engage in sex. To be sure, there are millions of other people who have no interest in sex or are unable to perform sexually who are not at all happy to be members of this club. For them, a variety of psychiatric and medical procedures are available.

But asexuals like Jay are perfectly happy to take a pass on sex. Today, Jay is one of the most prominent voices in the asexuality community. In 2001, he started the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) with the aim of providing a community for people who identify themselves as asexual.
And he said that while one of the primary aims of the group is to foster a greater general understanding of asexuality, this does not mean that there should be less talk about sex. In fact, he believes more such talk is needed.

"The problem is not that there is too much discussion about sex; 99 percent of the world really, really likes sex, so it is something that should be talked about openly and honestly," Jay said. "But we need to have more discussion about how people can not have sex and still be happy."
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Miracle on the Hudson

NEW YORK — After guiding a crippled US Airways jet into the Hudson River and saving all 155 people aboard — a feat many were calling a miracle — the pilot at the helm became an instant hero. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, 57, the pilot of Flight 1549, was honored by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with a key to the city on Friday. Bloomberg also honored the rest of the crew, rescue workers and civilians who helped avert a disaster. Sullenberger, of Danville, Calif., is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft. He has flown for US Airways since 1980 and flew F-4 fighter jets with the Air Force in the 1970s. He then served on a board that investigated aircraft accidents and participated later in several National Transportation Safety Board investigations.

Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger has managed to do something that no one in the history of aviation history has ever done! He was able to ditch a plane, Ditching is a term used to describe landing a plane on water. Landing the plane was not only the trick but everyone surviving was the absolute wonder in this news scene. Now let me say this, Sully your life has just changed from a pilot on duty to a superstar on call!

I feel a movie title coming coming on, how does miracle on the Hudson sound? I wonder what the hold up is on the book? That title should be "How I Landed on the Hudson".

Now if you think that I am dreaming have you seen Mr Sully interviewing yet? No? You can believe this... When he does their will be a price tag involved... He probably has to talk to his agent first.

y wayto my head To begin he will never have to fly again unless he wants to.

Economic Woes in Dubai Halt Work on World's Tallest Skyscraper

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The developer of a skyscraper planned to be the world's tallest said Wednesday it is halting work on the project for a year as the Middle East's business and entertainment capital grapples with the financial crisis.
State-owned builder Nakheel's decision to shelve the landmark development — which it unveiled only in October — came as a leading credit rating firm warned that falling real estate prices will likely hurt banks in Dubai and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates.
Home values in the emirate tumbled 8 percent in the last three months from the previous quarter, a report Tuesday said, marking what analysts say is the first such decline in years.

The halted skyscraper was planned to soar the length of more than 10 American football fields, and analysts had said its unveiling late last year showed a lot of confidence amid the souring global economy.
In response to questions, state-owned Nakheel said in a brief statement that "further work" on its building's foundations "will commence in 12 months." The developer did not say how much work, if any, has already been completed.


"This is part of our readjustment of our immediate business plans to better reflect the current market trends and match supply with demand," the company said.
The skyscraper — billed as nearly two-thirds of a mile tall or more, or the height of more than three of New York's Chrysler Buildings stacked end to end — was designed to top a Dubai rival's nearly complete tower that already is the world's highest.
Nakheel's chief competitor, Emaar Properties, has kept the final height of the silvery steel-and-glass Burj Dubai, or Dubai Tower in Arabic, a closely guarded secret. The company said late last month the building, which is still under construction, had reached a height of 2,559 feet and has more than 160 stories.

HAMBURG TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A Livingston County man has been discovered frozen to death outside his home.

The 41-year-old was discovered Thursday morning behind his home in Hamburg Township, about 35 miles west of Detroit, when a co-worker arrived to pick him up.
Hamburg Township Police Chief Steve Luciano tells The Ann Arbor News it appears the man fell off his deck, was injured and died from exposure to the elements sometime overnight.
The National Weather Service reports the temperature in nearby Howell was 7 below zero Thursday morning.
The man's name was not released pending notification of his family. Police say he lived alone, and there are no obvious signs of foul play.

Couple in jail for spending banks $176,000 dollars

BLOOMSBURG, Pennsylvania — Police say a northeastern Pennsylvania couple did not call the bank when a $1,772.50 deposit showed up in their account as $177,250.
Authorities say 50-year-old Randy Pratt and 36-year-old Melissa Marie Pratt of Bloomsburg took out all the money, quit their jobs and moved to Florida.
The two were arraigned Tuesday and jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail. District Judge Donna Coombe says a public defender and a conflicts lawyer are being assigned.
The pair, now legally separated, faces felony theft charges, counts of receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy to commit theft, Pennsylvania's Press Enterprise reported Wednesday on its Web site.
Police say Melissa Pratt told them her husband often got large checks and she wasn't aware of any banking error.
However, the Press Enterprise reported that police said Randy Pratt was employed as a metal roofing installer and only earned about $3,800 as a roofer all last year.
Police say Melissa Pratt deposited the check at FNB Bank last summer. When the big balance showed up investigators say the two wrote checks to another account, bought a new vehicle and were buying a house in the Orlando area when the mistake was traced.
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lottery winner steps up With less than three days before her ticket expi

HELENA (AP) — With less than three days before her ticket expired, Louise Malvey of Butte claimed a Wild Card jackpot worth $460,096 from the July 16 drawing.The ticket was due to expire Friday, six months after the drawing. Malvey redeemed it Tuesday at Montana Lottery headquarters in Helena.She bought the ticket at RD's Party Shop, 848 W. Park St., on Butte's West Side.Malvey said she was moving and found the ticket."I realized I was almost out of time, so I brought it in," she said.Lottery officials said Malvey declined to have her picture taken, and declined to be interviewed by news media. Information about Malvey, and what she plans to do with the money was unavailable Tuesday afternoon.The ticket contained one line with the five numbers 3-6-10-12-25 and the Wild Card, Queen of Diamonds. That set of numbers was worth $460,095. She also had a second set of numbers that matched only the Wild Card, which added an extra dollar to her prize. more

Nominee for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for himself for four years

President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for himself for four years and employed a housekeeper whose immigration documentation lapsed while in his employ.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus called a meeting with committee members to discuss the matter inside his office Tuesday.
Geithner disclosed to senators earlier in the day that he had failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004, a last-minute complication in an otherwise smooth path to confirmation.
Sources say Geithner also hired a housekeeper whose immigration papers expired during her employment in 2004 and 2005.
The woman, whose name has not been released, eventually obtained a green card to work legally in the U.S., and immigration authorities did not charge her with wrongdoing.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters after the revelations that he still believes Geithner is "extremely well-qualified" for the post.
"There was a few little hiccups, and that's basically what they are. I am not concerned at all," Reid said.
But an aide to finance committee member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the matter is "serious."
"Whether it's disqualifying is to be determined," the aide said.
Before becoming president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner worked for the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003. He paid all of his income taxes on his IMF income, but made a "common mistake" on his tax returns with regard to self-employment taxes, Obama transition aides told reporters Tuesday. more

Father and son try to cut to front of line, go to jail

MUNCIE -- City police said a Frankfort man picked the wrong time to cut in line at the north Walmart store on Sunday, setting the stage for events that landed both him and his father in the Delaware County jail.

Edward R. Pluhar Jr., 26, was preliminarily charged with battery on police officer Chris Kirby, while his father, 61-year-old Edward R. Pluhar Sr., was preliminarily charged with criminal recklessness with a vehicle and intimidation.
According to police reports, officer Kirby was off duty as he waited in Walmart's customer service line with his wife and daughter Sunday afternoon, and watched the younger Pluhar walk past him and directly to the service desk.
The police officer told Pluhar Jr. he needed to wait his turn, but the Frankfort man purportedly refused.
The elder Pluhar then allegedly approached the off-duty officer, told him to mind his own business and asked whether Kirby wanted to take the dispute outside.
When Kirby asked Pluhar Sr. what his intentions were, the Frankfort man purportedly said he would kick Kirby's posterior and also suggested he might shoot him.
Kirby then informed the father and son that he was a police officer and called emergency dispatchers to send an on-duty officer to the scene.
The Pluhars then left the store, at 4801 W. Clara Lane, with Kirby following them to the parking lot and then standing behind their van as they attempted to leave.
The van, driven by the elder Pluhar, allegedly hit the officer's leg. Kirby and the younger Pluhar then fought. more

Ice death family billed for dead brothers' rental car

THE devastated family of two brothers killed in an ice collapse will be slapped with a hefty bill for costs racked up for a rental car stuck at the site of the tragedy.
Akshay Miranda, 22, whose body remains trapped under tonnes of ice, was buried with the keys to the Toyota Tarago when he and his brother Ashish, 24, died at the Fox Glacier on New Zealand's South Island.
But the owner of Wellington car hire firm New Zealand Car Rental Specialists says the family should foot the bill for a new set of keys and the cost of towing the van to Wellington.
Dead Aussie brothers 'ignored warnings'
Businessman Edwin Chan said he would not bow to "emotional blackmail" and would charge the Mirandas for replacement keys and towing costs, which he estimates will be up to $1600.
"Anything we get billed we will pass on to these people," Mr Chan said.
"We are not charging them for the extra days. I do have compassion for them but they can't expect me to pick up the pieces. I don't believe at the end of the day I should have to pay.
"We have a business and we have to pay the bills. No one will say to me you do not have to pay the bills.
"They can't use emotional blackmail. I think it's just blackmail to a company."
Mr Chan said he would waive rental fees for the extra four days the car had been stuck at Fox Glacier and would try to minimise additional costs.
The firm charges $96 a day for the eight-seater vehicle. more

275 pound woman told she was to much, she needs to go to zoo to be weighed

When a 5-foot, 275-pound woman found out she had a tumor on her spine, she was told by her local hospital to go the zoo to have a MRI because a regular MRI machine could not hold her weight,
Carolyn Ragan told the television station she discovered the tumor two years ago and, after the hospital told her she could not use their MRI machine, a medical assistant said he would help her find a solution.
“So he suggested the Kansas City Zoo,” Ragan said. “I thought, I know I’m big, but I’m not as big as an elephant. And my husband got mad.”
The University of Kansas Hospital would not comment on Ragan’s claim, but said its MRI department does not know of any animal MRI in the Kansas City area that would scan a human.
Ragan’s problem was two-fold: She was too heavy for the table and too wide to slide through the opening.
Medical Imaging in Kansas City North, which has both closed and open MRI machines can typically hold up to 440 pounds, but sometimes a person who weighs less can still be out of luck, according to an MRI technician. more

Police say masked man waited in line to rob bank

STOW, Ohio (AP) - A man may have tipped his intentions when he stood in line at an Ohio bank wearing a ski mask before staging a holdup. Police in Stow near Akron say 24-year-old Feliks Goldshtein of Highland Heights was arrested minutes later on Thursday following a brief car chase.
Police say the teller asked the man to take off the mask before being served. At that point the man displayed what turned out to be a toy gun and told the teller to give him all the money. He made off with an undisclosed amount.
Police Captain Rick Myers says it's unusual for a masked robber to wait in line at a bank.
Goldshtein was held at the Summit County Jail Friday on charges of aggravated robbery and failure to comply with a police order. Municipal Court records don't identify an attorney for Goldshtein.

Couple From Normal, Ill., Weds at Taco Bell

NORMAL, Ill. — Wedding bells meant Taco Bell for Paul and Caragh Brooks.
Customers inside the fast-food restaurant continued to order tacos and burritos as the couple sat Friday in an orange booth at Taco Bell and exchanged vows.
"It's appropriate," groom Paul Brooks said. "It's an offbeat relationship."
Employees displayed hot sauce packets labeled with the words "Will you marry me?" They decorated the restaurant with streamers and balloons.
The bride wore a $15 hot pink dress and the entire wedding cost about $200. Several dozen guests looked on as the couple's friend, Ryan Green of Normal, administered the vows while wearing a T-shirt. He was ordained online.
"This is the way to go — there's no stress," said the groom's mother, Kathy Brooks.
Caragh Brooks, 21, of Australia, met Paul Brooks, 30, on an Internet dating Web site. They already had the same last name.
The couple wrote back and forth and talked on the phone for nine months before Caragh Brooks moved to the United States. more

Tiny Alabama Town in Alabama Wants a $375 Million Chunk of the Stimulus

At first glance, the town of Edwardsville, Ala., with a population of 194 people, might raise a few eyebrows with its bid to receive $375 million from the economic stimulus package being assembled by Barack Obama and lawmakers in Congress.

The tiny town, located near the Georgia border and 26 miles from the nearest "big city" of Anniston (population: 24,276), added 33 proposals—about two thirds of them related to "green" energy—to the list of "ready- to- go" projects assembled by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Total sum: $375,076,200.
That comes out to nearly $2 million per Edwardsville resident, although E. D. Phillips, the town's representative to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, says the projects would affect a wider region that comprises about 80,000 people. That number includes residents of nearby rural areas that aren't already incorporated into towns, along with the residents of Talladega Springs (population: 124), which partnered with Edwardsville and local municipal utilities on the projects.
There's certainly no denying that Edwardsville has big ambitions. Through the various proposals, which include a renewable energy museum, scenic railroad, and vineyards, these small Alabama communities envision themselves becoming a cutting-edge demonstration project for energy sustainability and a hub for tourism.
"I know we look like some little Podunk town, and by the census, we are," Phillips says. "But we really think we've done some amazingly progressive things in the past two years."
The town's proposals began to develop more than two years ago, when Phillips and another town official became intrigued by the argument that renewable energy could create a rural renaissance. If any community needed economic revival, it was Edwardsville—even before the recession. At 28.7 percent, the town's poverty level was nearly equal to that of Nepal and more than twice the national average, according to the 2000 census.
Along with the more traditional proposals to replace streetlights with solar-powered lights (cost: $3,479,200), to install solar panels on the town hall (cost: $77,000), and to build solar-powered recharging stations for electric golf carts and vehicles (cost: $620,000), Edwardsville and Talladega Springs have assembled a set of even more far-reaching projects.
An outlay of $50.4 million, for example, would go toward installing water pipelines beneath roads to soak up the sun's rays, transferring heat. That technology is currently being used in the Netherlands, which found that while the cost of installation was double that of normal gas heating, the system halved the amount of energy required. More News

Strip Search Of Chicago Teens Alleged

The Chicago Police Department is investigating allegations that an off-duty officer ordered three girls strip searched in December 2007 after a small fire at their high school. Attorneys for two of the girls say the teens were taken to a washroom at ASPIRA Early College Charter High School by the female officer, who searched under their shirts for a lighter allegedly used by another student to set the fire. They say the officer ordered the girls to drop their pants and underwear. One girl refused. School officials say they've investigated the allegations and disciplined two administrators and the officer, who was working as a security guard. The parents filed suit Thursday against the charter operator, ASPIRA, the school principal, the police officer and the board of education.Lucy and Erica have chosen to withheld their last names in an attempt to protect their daughters' identity.They said what allegedly happened to their teenage daughters, no child should have to endure."She felt violated. She felt ashamed. She was embarrassed," Lucy said. The parents were even more angered by the fact that they were never called, never notified and never gave permission for the strip search to take place. "These are minor children and you don't strip search minor children without first talking to the parents, getting consent, and letting the parents decide if they're going to allow that strip search to happen," Attorney Jim Finnerty said. more

British Airways credit card is UK's most expensive - after hiking interest charge to 46%

Jet set prices: American Express's British Airways Premium Plus card's charges were branded ‘ridiculous'
American Expess has increased the cost of borrowing on one of its credit cards to 46 per cent — more than 30 times the Bank of England base rate.
The company now charges 46 per cent APR on the British Airways Premium Plus card, making it Britain’s most expensive credit card.
Consumer groups said the cost of borrowing on some credit cards had now lost all touch with the base rate.
A series of other cards also have APR over 35 per cent — despite interest rates now being at the lowest level since the Bank of England was set up in 1694.
Other cards include Virgin Money American Express at 37 per cent and Citi MasterCard at 41 per cent.
Consumer group Which!’s credit card expert Martyn Saville said the Amex rate was ‘ridiculous’.
He said: ‘This is over 30 times base rate.
'Credit card interest rates now bear no resemblance to Bank rates — it is just about what companies think they can get away with.

The Amex rate was sent soaring from 36.6 per cent to 46 per cent because the issuer increased the annual charge paid by customers from £120 to £150.
APR calculations take into account the annual fee, prompting the vast rise.

Four of the five cards with high APR have annual fees of up to £300. Amex said the interest charged on transactions had also risen, from 16.9 per cent to 19.9 per cent. more

Patient at Bremerton Hospital Wanted a Smoke Really Bad she started kicking and screaming and was arrested

BREMERTON Police arrested a 26-year-old Olympia woman at Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton after she allegedly became aggressive toward hospital staff.
Police were called to the hospital at 4:27 a.m. Thursday by a hospital employee, who asked that the woman be arrested for assault. When police arrived they were told the woman had been brought into the hospital because of "seizure activity," but she hadn't had a seizure, according to reports.
The woman asked staff if she could have a cigarette and was told no, which made her mad. She started kicking, spitting, scratching and biting staff, according to reports.
Police arrested her on suspicion of third-degree assault. As they took her through the hospital to the police car she started screaming "stop assaulting me," and caused a commotion, the report said.
While in the police car on the way to the Kitsap County jail, the woman continued to yell and hit her head against the partition between the rear and front seats of the police car. She was booked into jail and held on $75,000 bail.

Macy's to close 11 stores

Was this holiday season really as bad as economists expected? It's beginning to look that way.

Macy's said it is shutting the doors to some of its stores, and many other retailers are reporting dismal sales figures for December.

Macy's Inc. said Thursday that it will close 11 stores in 9 states.

Stores in Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Nashville and St. Louis, among others will be closed. The closure will affect 960 employees and cost about $65 million.

Macy's says its December sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, fell 4 percent. That's better than the 5.3 percent drop analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting. However, Macy's is lowering its forecast for the fourth quarter and full year due to heavy markdowns.

Macy's is not alone. Many U.S. retailers reported dismal sales figures in December.

Even Wal-Mart finally posted sales below Wall Street estimates and cut its fourth-quarter earnings outlook.

Sears Holdings Corp., which operates Kmart and Sears stores, Costco Wholesale Corp. and Limited Brands Inc also reported weak sales figures. more

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks : A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . that will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying Forget YOU! I don't give a shit.....Lol

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Fantasia may loose her home to foreclosure

Fanny’s still having housing issues apparently. That $65k she owes on a loan for her $1 mill+ home taxes in Charlotte still hasn’t been paid. North Carolina sheriff’s deputies told the New York Post they’ve been trying “at least a dozen times” to reach Fantasia about the mula about $65K she owes. No one’s even showed up to represent her in court about the big bill, and her mom and reps haven’t offered any explanation. Story The house is being auctioned off on Monday. Wonder what’s really hood with this “situation”…more

Mo 'Nique has a new movie *PUSH*

Mo’Nique has a new movie coming out. It’s called Push with famed black film maker Lee Daniels (who produced Monster’s Ball).

John Gotti neighor who was missing was not a mystery after all

According to papers filed this week in Brooklyn federal court, John Favara was shot to death on orders of the outraged Gambino crime family chief and his body was dissolved in a barrel of acid. Authorities said a cooperating witness identified Charles Carneglia, a 62-year-old former mobster, as the perpetrator in the 1980 incident.

The court documents said Carneglia told another informant that acid was "the best method to use to avoid detection."

Those details, in a 44-page evidence motion by federal prosecutors for a racketeering trial, offered a new twist on the fate of Favara, a 51-year-old furniture warehouse worker who lived near the Gottis in the Howard Beach section of Queens.

Favara was arriving home from work on March 18, 1980, when Gotti's son Frank, riding a minibike, darted in front of his car. The driver told police he was momentarily blinded by the sun and did not see the boy.

The crash was ruled an accident by police, but Favara was subjected to death threats and harassment for months. His car was stolen and later smeared with the word "murderer," and he was threatened by Gotti's bat-wielding wife when he tried to apologize.

Five months later, on July 28, 1980, Favara disappeared after leaving work on Long Island and no trace of him was ever found. Witnesses saw him being beaten and heard tires squealing. The Gottis gave police hotel receipts showing they were in Florida on that date, and no arrests were ever made.

Jerry Capeci, an author and expert on the Mafia who has written extensively on Gotti, said rumors circulated that "Favara's body had been put into a cement-filled oil drum and dropped in the ocean."

John Gotti Sr. at that time was a captain in the Gambino family, already scheming and murdering his way to becoming boss. After two courtroom acquittals that earned him the sobriquet "Teflon Don," the swaggering hoodlum was finally convicted in 1992 of murder, racketeering and a smorgasbord of other crimes. He died in federal prison in 2002.
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