Emergency Management released the audio tape of Freedom Industries reporting the Jan. 9 chemical spill that shut down access to public water for 300,000 people in the Charleston area.

The remarkably laconic late-morning phone conversation between a company representative and a hotline operator named Laverne reveals Freedom Industries minimizing the extent of the spill and making several flat-out misstatements about what's transpiring. It's safe to predict that this tape will become Exhibit A in pending civil litigation accusing Freedom of negligence and in any potential criminal charges related to the spill. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Charleston has said that it has launched a wide-ranging probe of the incident. Freedom Industries and its executives have denied any wrongdoing.

The caller from Freedom Industries, identifying himself as Bob Reynolds, says on the audio tape that the substance being released isn't toxic or hazardous and isn't escaping into the Elk River. A containment wall has blocked the spill from spreading, he adds. Both statements were incorrect.

Before the lawsuits and the retreat into federal bankruptcy court, before the change in ownership in a veiled roll-up by an out-of-state coal baron, before the Justice Department's environmental-crimes investigation, the presidentially declared emergency, and the National Guard's arrival - nine years before all of that - the co-founder of Freedom Industries, the company at the center of the Jan. 9 chemical spill that cut off tap water for 300,000 West Virginians, was convicted of siphoning payroll tax withholdings to splurge on sports cars, a private plane, and real estate in the Bahamas. And 18 years before that, in 1987, before he started Freedom Industries, Carl Kennedy II was convicted of conspiring to sell cocaine in a scandal that brought down the mayor of Charleston.

Little known, even locally, Freedom was born and operated in a felonious milieu populated by old friends who seemed better suited to bartending at the Charleston-area saloons they also owned. "These people who were running Freedom Industries weren't the sort you'd put in charge of something like chemical storage that could affect the whole community," Danny Jones, Charleston's current mayor, says. "Who are these guys, anyway?"

Good question. Kennedy kept the books for bars and restaurants, including a rib house Mayor Jones used to own, although he hadn't gotten to know him well. "He was pleasant enough," Jones says. Until the spill, the mayor had no idea his former accountant had been enmeshed with Freedom. That really seems troubling, Jones says, "especially with the cocaine stuff in his history."

A cafeteria manager has been put on paid administrative leave following an incident that saw up to 40 students with unpaid school meal tabs having their lunches seized and thrown away.

Salt Lake City School District officials investigating the seizure warn that more employees could be put on leave.

Officials originally said the decision to trash the lunches was made by a district-level "child nutrition manager," but now say that the investigation could implicate people higher up on the chain of command.

The seizure, which occurred Tuesday at Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City, prompted cries of outrage from parents, local and state politicians and social media, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Utah state Sens. Jim Dabakis, a Democrat, and Todd Weiler, a Republican, held a press conference outside the school Thursday before joining the students for lunch.

Weiler condemned the decision to take lunches from students, calling it "bullying."

Would you like to buy a house for one dollar?

If someone came up to you on the street and asked you that question, you would probably respond by saying that it sounds too good to be true. But this is actually happening in economically-depressed cities all over America. Of course there are a number of reasons why you might want to think twice before buying any of these homes, and I will get into those reasons in just a little bit. First, however, it is worth noting that many of the cities where these "free houses" are available were once some of the most prosperous cities in the entire country. In fact, the city of Detroit once had the highest per capita income in the entire nation. But as millions of good jobs have been shipped overseas, these once prosperous communities have degenerated into rotting, decaying hellholes. Now homes that once housed thriving middle class families cannot even be given away. This is happening all over America, and what we are witnessing right now is only just the beginning.

The photo that I have posted was sent to me by a reader just the other day. It is a photo of a house in Yakima, Washington that is apparently being given away for free. At one time it was probably quite a lovely home, but now nobody seems to want it...

This piqued my curiosity, so I started doing some research and I discovered that homes all over the nation are being sold off for a dollar or less. The following are just a few examples...

-Buffalo, New York: "The Urban Homestead Program that is offered by the City of Buffalo enables qualified buyers to purchase a home that has been deemed 'homestead eligible' for $1.00 and there are plenty of properties left. There are three main requirements when purchasing a homestead property; the owner must fix all code violations within 18 months, have immediate access to at least $5000, and live there for at least three years. You also have to cover the closing costs of the purchase."

A disgruntled former Mormon has convinced an English court to file two summonses to appear against Thomas S. Monson, the current president of the Mormon Church.

Tom Phillips based his complaint on the Fraud Act of 2006, a British law that outlaws making a profit off of false representations. According to Phillips, this is precisely what the Mormon Church does - it uses statements it knows to be factually untrue in order to secure tithes from members of the Church.

The facts in question, court records show, are tenets of the Mormon faith, including that Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates, that Native Americans are descendants of a family of Israelites, and that death didn't exist on this planet until 6,000 years ago.

"These are not statements of mere 'beliefs' or opinions or theories," Phillips wrote. "They are made as actual facts and their truthfulness can be objectively tested with evidence."

Want to pick up a pack of cigarettes with your prescription refill? A major U.S. pharmacy chain is breaking that habit.

CVS Caremark announced Wednesday it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its CVS/pharmacy stores by October 1.

The retailer said the move makes CVS/pharmacy the first chain of national pharmacies to take tobacco products off the shelves.

"Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health," Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Caremark, said in a statement. "Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose."

CVS Caremark is the largest pharmacy in the United States based on total prescription revenue, according to the company. It operates more than 7,600 CVS/pharmacy stores nationwide in addition to more than 800 MinuteClinics, which are medical clinics within the pharmacy locations.

Health-oriented organizations and President Barack Obama praised the move.

Strip searches seem to be on the rise in this country. They don't even have to suspect that you're hiding something "criminal" like a gun or drugs. If you have a suspended registration, or you're a trucker driving in the left lane, that's all some police need to perform a strip search on you in public in the middle of the day for all the other drivers to see.

A naked man possessing what authorities described as superhuman-like strength died Tuesday night after he assaulted a retired police officer, bit another man on the face and was then shot during a confrontation with deputies near Delray Beach, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.

It was not immediately clear whether the man died from gunshot wounds or from a medical condition, Bradshaw said. Neither the names of the deceased man nor the assault victims were released late Tuesday.

The scene unfolded at about 8:30 p.m. on South Military Trail, north of Lake Ida Road and near The Colony at Delray Beach community. The man, who was not wearing any clothing, was walking north on Military Trail when, for reasons unknown, he assaulted a 66-year-old retired New York City police officer, Bradshaw said.

The retired officer was rushed to Delray Medical Center with serious injuries. The naked man, described as being about 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, then continued north on Military toward the entrance to the Colony where began chasing a man and the man's 10-year-old son. At some point, the man began fighting with an 18-year-old man and he started biting the 18-year-old on the face, Bradshaw said.

Thirty-two carriages containing liquefied gas derailed in the Kirov Region, Central Russia, with a dozen bursting into flames. More than 700 local residents and workers from a nearby factory were evacuated from the fire zone.

The 72-car train derailed on Wednesday morning due to an outbreak of fire as a result of an overhead system failure. Eleven other carriages caught fire as a result.

The fire was localized after nearly six hours of firefighting. However, it spread to 30 garages near the railway line, and one warehouse was also engulfed. No deaths or injuries were reported, the Emergencies Ministry confirmed.

The accident caused serious problems with transport connections in the region. Arrivals were delayed and several train itineraries were changed. Railway traffic on the way from Balezino to Kotelnich has been halted.

The Emergencies Ministry has dismissed fears of ecological problems in the region resulting from the accident. The liquefied gas leakage has not reached nearby Vyatka River, said the head of regional department of EMERCOM, an organization engaged in humanitarian and rescue activity.

Sochi is ready for its Olympic debut. When the world tunes in to watch the 2014 Winter Games, it will see futuristic, state-of-the-art stadiums nestled next to the Black Sea, breathtaking views from world-class ski resorts in the snow-capped Caucasus mountains, and a sprawling new Olympic Park framed by subtropical palm trees.

It has been an epic seven-year adventure to prepare for the Games, which organ-isers hope will formally introduce the "new " to global audiences as a modern, dynamic country.

The is all the more remarkable as none of the facilities existed a few years ago. When the Sochi bid was selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2007, there was much grumbling that its defeated rivals Pyeongchang in South Korea and Salzburg in Austria were more worthy choices. Both could point to existing facilities ideal for Games events.