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Health

Man attacked by coyotes in Washington State


Huffington Post
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:32 UTC
Three coyotes attacked a Washington man in his own backyard last week, prompting officials to warn people who are vulnerable to encountering potential "urban coyote issues" to be more vigilant.

According to Q13Fox.com, Faron Scarberry of Kent, Wash., was ambushed by the three coyotes last Friday while he was out with his dog in his backyard.

"They were coming around the bush and I guess they were going after my puggle," Scarberry, whose house is located close to a school, told KCPQ-TV.

"One of them lunged up toward me and I kind of pushed it away with my hand and its front claws scratched my hand and wrist," Scarberry said of the encounter. "Then one of the grabbed me by the pant leg and started shaking my leg so I just started kicking and hitting at them to get them off of me and they ran back under the fence."

Following the attack, Scarberry rushed to the emergency room, where he was treated for a coyote bite and scratches. He reportedly got 24 rabies shots in his leg and two in his hip.
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Evil Rays

Breeder Abby Conder says man sexually abused her miniature horses

David Lohr
Huffington Post
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:23 UTC
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Joy, a 2-year-old horse, was the first animal attacked and injured at Abby Conder's farm.
An owner and breeder of world-class miniature horses in Florida is hoping video surveillance footage will help identify the person suspected of sexually assaulting several of her horses and killing her watchdog.

The sexual assaults have been ongoing since May 2012, according to Abby Conder, of Marion County.

"Since May, we have had someone come into our barn on several occasions in the middle of the night and take our miniature show horses and sexually attack them," Conder told The Huffington Post.

On Sunday, Conder got her first glimpse of the apparent perpetrator when she reviewed video footage from inside her barn recorded earlier that morning.

"Someone's got to know this man," Conder said. "He's been in this area at least eight months now. These are babies I have raised and it's affected them psychologically. It's hard to get in a stall with them and I can't get near their rear ends to put a harness on them."

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Handcuffs

Paraguay police arrest 4 alleged parrot smugglers with 211 wild birds, many taken from nests


The Republic
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:13 UTC
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© AP Photo/Paraguay's Environmental MinistryIn this Dec. 15, 2012 photo provided by Paraguay's Environmental Ministry, rescued Blue-fronted Amazons parrots, whose scientific name is Amazona aestiva, are taken from a box by veterinarian Carlos Britos, right, at the Teniente Agripino Enciso National Park in Paraguay on the border with Bolivia border
Police have rescued 211 protected parrots taken from the remote forests of Paraguay, and made four arrests.

Veterinarian Carlos Britos of Paraguay's environmental ministry identifies the rescued birds as blue-fronted Amazon parrots, whose scientific name is Amazona aestiva. He says many are still juveniles and were taken from their nests.

He said Wednesday that the birds are being cared for by government biologists in a national park, and will be returned to the wild once they can fly.
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USA

6 year-old suspended for pretend gunshot

Matt Connolly
Washington Examiner
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:21 UTC
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A Montgomery County elementary school student was suspended for a pretend gunshot a week after Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The 6-year-old, who attends Roscoe R. Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring, made a gun with his hands, pointed it at another student and said "pow," according to Robin Ficker, the boy's attorney. He was given a one-day suspension, with a conference on the matter planned for Jan. 2, the day students return to school from winter break.

"What they're doing is looking at the worst possible interpretation of a young, naive 6-year-old," Ficker said. "This is a little child who can't form the intent to do anything like that."

According to a letter sent by Assistant Principal Renee Garraway to the child's parents, this was not the first time something like this had happened.

"Your son ... was involved in a serious incident," Garraway wrote. "[He] threatened to shoot a student. He was spoken to earlier today about a similar incident."

Ficker said the boy's family was never told about any previous issues. "They won't say what the similar incident is," Ficker said. "It just shows the overreaction."
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Ambulance

Woman dies on plane from Brazil to Texas


Global Post
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:57 UTC
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A passenger died aboard an American Airlines flight to Texas. The passenger, a 25-year-old woman, showed no signs of trauma, the Associated Press reported. The flight was diverted to Houston after her death.

American Airlines officials said the flight later continued to Dallas, its original destination, The Houston Chronicle reported.
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Life Preserver

Brazilian teen puts virginity on sale


wafb.com
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:46 UTC
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© CNNA Brazilian teen is auctioning off her virginity to help care for her bed-ridden mother.
A Brazilian teen is placing her virginity up for auction to the highest bidder.

Rebecca Bernardo,18, made the decision out of desperation to care for her bed-ridden mother.

"I made up my mind right after my 18th birthday," said Bernardo through a translator. "That's when my mother suffered a stroke."

While Bernardo tried other forms of employment, the money she earned barely covered the costs of a caretaker.

She was inspired by the virginity auction of another Brazilian woman, Catarina Migilorini.

Migilorini offered to sell her virginity through an Australian website. She received widespread publicity and was offered modeling contracts.

"There comes a time when you have to make decisions to get what you want," said Bernardo. "You have to be strong."
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Syringe

Indiana hospital fires eight veteran nurses because they refused to take flu shot for religious reasons


Daily Mail
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:15 UTC
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© IU Health.orgFired: IU Health Goshen said its decision to fire workers who don't take the flu vaccine is backed up by the CDC
An Indiana hospital has fired eight employees, many of them veteran nurses, because they refused to take the flu vaccine.
IU Health Goshen is just the latest hospital to force its employees to receive the jab and fire or discipline the ones who object. At least four of the nurses who was terminated tried to appeal the vaccine on religious grounds with the help of a lawyer. The hospital rejected their arguments and fired them anyway.

The Elkhart Truth reports that the hospital informed its staff in early September that vaccinations would be mandatory for all employees. The hospital said it was following guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association, which both recommend mandatory vaccinations for employees.

'As a hospital and health system, our top priority is and should be patient safety, and we know that hospitalized people with compromised immune systems are at a greater risk for illness and death from the flu,' hospital spokeswoman Melanie McDonald told the newspaper.

'The flu has the highest death rate of any vaccine preventable disease, and it would be irresponsible from our perspective for health care providers to ignore that.'
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Ambulance

Mom: Boy didn't steal plane in crash

Phillip Rawls
ABC News
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:50 UTC
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A teen pilot killed along with two friends in an Alabama plane crash had his own key to the aircraft and had flown it many times, his mother said Wednesday, denying authorities' assertion that the plane had been taken without permission.

Sherrie Smith said her 17-year-old son Jordan Smith was the one flying the plane that went down in the Alabama woods Tuesday night, killing the him and two other male teens. The Federal Aviation Administration said the Piper PA 30 crashed less than a mile from the Walker County Airport in Jasper, which is northwest of Birmingham.

Smith says the owner of the plane had let her son fly it many other times and had given her son his own key.

"He had used the plane many times before," she said.

She said her son was a high school junior who fell in love with flying at an early age and was one test short of earning his private pilot's license.
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Brick Wall

The Colombian village I've come to know

Mathew Mulholland
Huffington Post Canada
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:31 UTC
I am in a remote village on the Pacific coast of Colombia. One road leads in and out, extending as far as the next village. It is a thoroughfare for cocaine transportation -- processed deep in the jungle, transported up the coast, en-route to Panama -- a ruthless commodity akin to conflict minerals or diamonds. Fuelling both addiction and war, affecting the lives of every person in this area.

There exists a palpable sense of death here. At the very least, a recognition of one's mortality -- it seeps through the air. Ten people have lost their lives in so many days. Eight trapped in their rooms on a passenger ship sunk off the coast, two murdered and four wounded in narco-trafficking conflicts and domestic disputes. Yet life goes on. Death is, for the residents, a practical outcome of the day to day -- dogs hang their heads in the street, gaunt, homeless, searching for scraps of food. Cows show ribs and chickens spotted with featherless patches roam aimlessly. The military casually occupies benches in the town centre equipped with all manner of assault rifles, sidearms and even rocket launchers.
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Bad Guys

Twice unlucky for jailed Mormon cult leader


3 News
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:17 UTC
Warren Jeffs
© 3 NewsWarren Jeffs in his police mugshot.
The leader of a breakaway Mormon sect has incorrectly prophesied the end of the world for the second time in as many months.

Warren Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), issued his latest edict last week, saying the apocalypse would occur before the New Year.

CNN reports on December 31 authorities in Colorado City, where the church is based, were preparing for the worst.

"Jim Jones, Koresh, history has showed us that these things happen when religious zealots take charge of a group of people," said Sam Brower, a private investigator who has worked on cases for ex-FLDS members.
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