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Police Fatally Shoot a Man Brandishing a Knife in Times Square

Colin Moynihan and Marc Santora
The New York Times
Sat, 11 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Lincoln Rocha
The police approached a man wielding a knife on Saturday on Seventh Avenue.
US, New York - When the tourists and shoppers thronging Times Square on Saturday afternoon first saw the police officers, guns drawn, confronting a knife-wielding man, many thought they had stumbled onto a movie set.

But it was quickly apparent this was no celluloid fantasy.

As the man fled, weaving through crowds and darting between cars, he threatened bystanders, witnesses said. The police gave chase, eventually cornering him near 37th Street and Seventh Avenue and killing him in a fusillade of bullets.

No identification for the man was released right away.

"He was swinging at people as he ran," said Jobby Nogver, 17, visiting from Boston. Mr. Nogver watched as about a dozen police officers finally surrounded the man and shots were fired. "I can't tell you how many shots," he said. "It was a lot."

The police confirmed that the man was killed but would not comment on how many shots the officers fired, and the department did not immediately provide a description of what prompted the shots.

The confrontation began on the pedestrian plaza near the Hard Rock Cafe on 43rd Street and Seventh Avenue, in the heart of Times Square.
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Wolf

$200K Bond For Chicago Teacher Charged With Beating Dog To Death


CBS News Chicago
Sat, 11 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Chicago Canine Rescue Foundation
Derek Fierro and Doc when he adopted the previously abused chow/lab mix.
Bond was set on Saturday at $200,000 for a 4th-grade teacher charged with beating his dog to death early Friday at his Lake View home. As a special condition of the bail, 25-year-old Derek Fierro was also ordered not to possess or have any contact with any animals.

Fierro had adopted the dog from a pet rescue organization that took it in after it was removed from an abusive home.

He could have called the organization at any time if he was having trouble with the dog, and they would have gladly taken it back, the group's founder said on Friday.

"It's so unfortunate how this ended up," Lisa Klotnia of the Chicago Canine Rescue Foundation said. "This guy could have called us at any time to help him out."

Instead, Fierro, of the 500 block of West Roscoe Street is charged with aggravated animal cruelty, police said.

About 3 a.m. Friday, Chicago Police received a call from a man saying he had been angry when he killed his dog and placed it in the trunk of his car, News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.
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Syringe

Family Prevented from Being Foster Parents Due to their Anti-Vax Choice

Crystal Cruz
azFamily.com
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:40 UTC
Anti Vaccination
© azFamily.com
Phoenix -- A Valley family has a lot of room in their home and hearts for more children, especially those in need. The Van Tienderen's are hoping to adopt a child, but there's been a slight snag in their plan.

"It breaks my heart that some kids don't have a family, but it's just halted now," said Susann Van Tienderen, 27.

Susann and her husband Dan's hopes of fostering children and then adopting them were recently dashed because their daughter's aren't fully vaccinated for philisophical reasons, not religious.

According to a spokesperson with the state's Department of Economic Security, or DES, the state requires that each child residing in the foster home have all childhood immunizations appropriate to the child's age and health.

"I feel like if I knew every ingredient that was in each shot I would comfortable to make an educated decision," said Susann.

The family selected what they believe to be the most important vaccinations for their children and had them given to them.

According to DES's website, as of 2011 more than 11,000 children were placed in out-of-home care due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.

Of these children more than 2,000 had a case plan goal of adoption. African-American teen boys are in need the most of homes.

The Van Tienderen's would love to adopt two boys.
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Gear

Revealed: UK Church Sells Olive Oil and Blackcurrant Squash as Miracle 'Cure' for Cancer and HIV

Richard Wheatstone
Manchester Evening News
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:24 UTC
Pastor Mbenga
© Manchester Evening News
MIRACLE MAN: Pastor Mbenga, lead pastor at the Victorious Pentecostal Assembly in Gorton, defended his church’s use of blackcurrant squash and olive oil to ‘cure’ serious illnesses.
A church has been slammed for 'exploiting' the vulnerable by selling blackcurrant squash and olive oil which it claims can cure cancer.

The Victorious Pentecostal Assembly sells the blackcurrant drink along with supermarket olive oil, claiming once they are blessed by a pastor they can cure serious illnesses including cancer, HIV and diabetes.

An M.E.N. investigation found that within 15 minutes of entering the VPA's church on Hyde Road, Gorton, we were offered a one litre bottle of the drink and a 500ml bottle of supermarket olive oil for £14.

We were told that if a terminally ill family member drank a mixture of the squash and the olive oil once a day after it was blessed by a pastor the cancer would be cured. A church leader who identified himself as 'Pastor Mbenga' also claimed to have previously cured diabetes and a brain tumour using the blackcurrant juice and oil.

He said the mixture would 'do what no man can do' through divine intervention and guaranteed the cancer would be cured.

The products retail in several supermarkets for less than £6. Any advertisement, including verbal claims, promoting products as treatments or cures for cancer is illegal under the Cancer Act 1939.

Trading standards officers have pledged to examine the evidence raised during our probe and may launch a full investigation.
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2 + 2 = 4

Children School Their Parents in Gender Nonconformity

Ruth Padawer
NYTimes.com
Wed, 08 Aug 2012 08:52 UTC
Image
© Lindsay Morris
Above, a boy prepares for a fashion show at a camp for gender-variant children and their families.
The night before Susan and Rob allowed their son to go to preschool in a dress, they sent an e-mail to parents of his classmates. Alex, they wrote, "has been gender-fluid for as long as we can remember, and at the moment he is equally passionate about and identified with soccer players and princesses, superheroes and ballerinas (not to mention lava and unicorns, dinosaurs and glitter rainbows)." They explained that Alex had recently become inconsolable about his parents' ban on wearing dresses beyond dress-up time. After consulting their pediatrician, a psychologist and parents of other gender-nonconforming children, they concluded that "the important thing was to teach him not to be ashamed of who he feels he is." Thus, the purple-pink-and-yellow-striped dress he would be wearing that next morning. For good measure, their e-mail included a link to information on gender-variant children.
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Pistol

DC Superior Court Judge Robbed at Gunpoint

Paul Wagner
MyFox DC
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:52 UTC

A D.C. Superior Court judge, who recently presided over a high-profile murder case, was robbed at gunpoint last Friday while walking with two others through an upper Northwest D.C. neighborhood.

Judge Ronna Beck was walking with her law clerk and the clerk's boyfriend when two men with guns approached from behind and announced a robbery.

Judge Beck, who recently presided over the trial of five men convicted in the South Capitol Street drive-by murders, did what the robbers wanted and was not hurt in the holdup.

In fact, all three turned over their valuables, telling police the men jumped into a car and fled east toward 16th Street.

According to a police report, the judge and two companions had just left a tennis match over at 16th Street and Kennedy Streets and were walking near the intersection of 17th and Crittenden Streets when two men with guns came up from behind and said "Turn around, give me all your money, drop it."
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Heart - Black

Elderly Woman, 84, Raped; Husband, 93, Savagely Beaten Inside South Kansas City Home

DeAnn Smith and Dave Jordan
WSMV
Tue, 31 Jul 2012 09:28 UTC

An elderly couple is recovering Tuesday after they were brutally beaten inside their south Kansas City home.

The woman was also raped, according to a police report.

Tony L. Putman, 18, of Kansas City was charged with six felonies Tuesday afternoon. The charges include one count of rape and two counts of robbery.

The couple's ordeal began about 1:30 p.m. Monday when a man broke into their home near 73rd Street and Campbell Avenue. Entry was gained through a basement window, which was broken.

The 93-year-old man was home alone when the suspect began to ransack the house and attacked him, police said.

Putman hit the man in the face and bound him with belts, according to court documents.

In the meantime, the man's 84-year-old wife came home. She had been at the bank where she had gotten $400.
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Laptop

James Holmes Tumblr 'Holmies' Shock Internet

Joann Pan
Yahoo! News
Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Mashable
Holmies Blog
In the wake of the shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., a support group has rallied around the alleged gunman, James Holmes.

More than two dozen Holmes-related Tumblr pages have sprouted up since the shooting. Referring to themselves as "Holmies," many supporters use the suspect's pictures in avatars. Most of the bloggers are teenagers, sharing and reblogging mugshots and signs that say "I Love The Holmies."

Holmes, 24, was charged with a total of 142 criminal counts including 24 counts of first-degree murder on Monday. He was arrested on July 20, after allegedly killing 12 people and wounding 58 at a local midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.
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Padlock

AWOL Soldier Gets Life Term for Fort Hood Plot


CBS News
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:08 UTC
Naser Jason Abdo
© The Associated Press
This June 14, 2011, file photo shows Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo in Nashville, Tenn.
Waco, Texas - An AWOL soldier convicted of planning to blow up a restaurant full of Fort Hood troops has been sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Texas.

Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo received the punishment Friday in Waco.

Abdo told authorities he planned to make bombs as part of a "massive attack" against Fort Hood soldiers last year. He was convicted in May on six federal charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The 22-year-old represented himself at the sentencing.

Abdo was AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., when he was arrested with bomb-making materials last summer at a Fort Hood-area motel.

Source: The Associated Press
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Padlock

Two Ex-Border Patrol Agents Convicted of Human Smuggling


USA Today
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press/Gregory Bull
A Border Patrol agent drives his vehicle along the international border in Tijuana, Mexico.
San Diego - Two former Border Patrol agents were found guilty Friday of smuggling hundreds of people into the U.S. in Border Patrol vehicles.

Raul and Fidel Villarreal were convicted of charges that they brought illegal immigrants into the U.S. for money and received bribes by public officials, and counts of conspiracy to launder money. Prosecutors said Raul Villarreal started a ring that smuggled in Mexicans and Brazilians and made Fidel Villarreal, his older brother and a fellow agent, one of his first recruits.

Both brothers pleaded not guilty in one of the highest-profile corruption cases to sting the Border Patrol since it went on a hiring spree during the last decade. Raul Villarreal had been a public face of the patrol, frequently appearing on television as an agency spokesman.

The federal probe began in May 2005 with an informant's tip to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Investigators installed cameras on poles in areas where migrants were dropped off, planted undercover recording devices, put tracking instruments on Border Patrol vehicles and followed a smuggling load by airplane.
      Read More...
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