Society's ChildS


Pistol

Hysteria: Nerf guns, lego guns, bubble guns and paper guns: Schools go into gun panic mode

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News reports like these make it seem that wolves would probably do a better job of running American public schools than its grotesquely overpaid administrators do. These incidents have their funny side, but administrators are terrorizing and traumatizing students because of a national media panic and their own incompetence.

Case 1: The Nerf Gun unleashes a panic that makes Cold War nuke drills seem mild by comparison.

Mail

Postal Service plans to end Saturday mail delivery by August

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The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it plans to stop delivering mail on Saturdays starting the week of Aug. 5 - but will continue delivering packages.

Unless forbidden to do so by Congress, which has moved in the past to prohibit five-day-a-week delivery, the agency for the first time will delivery mail only Monday through Friday. The move will save about $2 billion a year for the Postal Service, which has suffered tens of billions of dollars in losses in recent years with the advent of the Internet and e-commerce, officials said.

"The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation," Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe said at a news conference. "The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail."

Health

Fictitious 'hispanic male' blamed after Texas woman accidentally shot in the back by reckless friend

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© screengrab via KENS 5
San Antonio police say a woman was accidentally shot in the back late Tuesday night. However, detectives say her friends concocted a robbery story to shift the blame.

The shooting happened in the 15000 block of Chase Hill Blvd. inside of a car just before midnight.

Investigators say three men and two women went to pick up a gun. A 19-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was reportedly handling the gun recklessly when the gun accidentally went off.

Clipboard

German employment agency sends teen to work in brothel

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© photo via Augsburger Allgemeine
A German teenager looking for a job was told to report for duty in a brothel by the local labor office, the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old woman said she was horrified when she opened a job placement letter from the German Labor Office in Augsburg on Saturday informing her that it had lined up a waitressing job for her at the Augsburg Colosseum brothel.

Treasure Chest

Spanish police seize 4.5 tons of cocaine hidden in cow hides

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© AFP Photo
Spanish police said Wednesday they had seized 4.1 tonnes of cocaine worth nearly a quarter of a billion euros in one of the biggest ever seizures of the drug in the country.

The cocaine was found at a warehouse in the eastern city of Elche, hidden in containers of cow hides that came by boat from Colombia and were to be delivered to a shoe maker, police said in a statement.

The cocaine was stored in thousands of packages containing just over a kilo (two pounds) of the drug each, enough for around 82 million doses.

The cocaine is worth nearly 242 million euros ($327 million) and was destined for distribution in Spain and across Europe.

Dollars

India: Soaring food prices hurt family budget

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The prices of rice varieties, the staple diet for most of the families, have skyrocketed with retailers claiming that the wholesalers are hoarding it and seek government intervention to regulate the foodgrains trade.
Prices of boiled and raw rice have gone through the roof. They have witnessed a steep increase this month with a 25-kg bag of the moderately priced variety of Ponni crossing '1,000.

Homemakers are concerned about the increased prices of staple commodities, as they are forced to shell out more. Retail traders attribute it to illegal hoarding by wholesalers and seek government intervention to streamline the trade.

Though the prices of rice has been going north since the last few months, it has gone up significantly this month, by Rs 4- Rs 6 a kg across all varieties, say retailers.

"For instance, the fast selling boiled Ponni rice, which sold for Rs 900-Rs 950 a bag, is now being sold for Rs 1,100- Rs 1,150. White Ponni's price has touched Rs 1,250 from Rs 1,050," informed Mr S.P. Soruban, president, TN Maligai Vyab­arigal Sangam.

Arrow Up

South Africa: Price of food 'set to soar'

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A woman protester shouts out as she and others protest against low wages paid by farmers.
Prepare for the price of food to rocket following the 52-percent minimum-wage increase for farmworkers announced on Monday.

After negotiations with farmers, the Department of Labour and workers, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant almost doubled the minimum wage from R69 to R105 a day, promulgated for a three-year period. During years two and three, wages would be increased by the consumer price index plus 1.5 percent.

However, she said, the wage did not amount to a "balanced daily food plate" for workers but her department and the Employment Conditions Commission were mindful of the findings of the Bureau for Food and Agriculture Policy report, which stated that the increase meant farmers "were unable to cover their operating costs or pay back borrowing".

Ambulance

Three killed during tanker truck explosion in Georgia

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© 13WMAZ TV/AP PhotoIn this image made from video and provided by 13WMAZ TV, black smoke rises above a fiery crash on Interstate 16 near Montrose, Ga., about 40 miles southeast of Macon, Feb. 6, 2013, after several vehicles collided, killing at least three people.
More than two dozen vehicles collided in a fiery pileup on a foggy Georgia interstate on Wednesday morning, killing at least three people and leaving several others hurt, officials said.

Laurens County EMS director Terry Cobb, who is at the scene on Interstate 16 in central Georgia, told The Associated Press at least six vehicles were still on fire when crews arrived. Emergency officials encountered fog on the way to the crash site, though it was not immediately known if that was a factor in the wreck, Cobb said.

"Once we got there, the fog was kind of lifted at the scene," he said.

A total of 27 vehicles were involved in four separate accidents around 8:10 a.m., the Georgia State Patrol said in a news release.

Ambulance

Two 'young children,' one woman dead in Denver murder-suicide shooting

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Police are investigating a shooting in Denver that left three people dead and another injured.

Denver Police said that that one woman and two children under the age of 10 were found dead at the 4900 block of Pearl Street, according to KCNC. Police described the incident as an apparent murder-suicide involving the mother of the children. There was no indication of additional shooters.

Bizarro Earth

Hysteria: Second-grade student suspended for imaginary weapon

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© screengrab via KDVR
A 7-year-old Mary Blair Elementary School student says he's confused about getting in trouble for trying to save the world from evil, though Thompson School District officials contend that the boy broke one of the school's "absolutes."

Parent Mandie Watkins said Mary Blair principal Valerie Lara-Black called her Friday afternoon to inform her that her second-grade son, Alex, had been suspended for throwing an imaginary grenade during recess on the playground.

Alex did not have anything in his hand at the time and made no threats toward other people, Watkins reportedly was told.

Watkins said Alex's story matched up with the principal's account: He threw the pretend grenade at an imaginary box that had something evil inside.