Society's ChildS

Info

US, California: Militant Makes Death Threat Against David Letterman

Image
© Reuters/Jessica RinaldiLate night television host David Letterman waves to the crowd as he accepts The Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence at ''The Comedy Awards'' in New York City March 26, 2011
A Muslim militant has urged American followers to assassinate talk show host David Letterman, saying his tongue deserved to be cut out, a U.S. intelligence monitoring group said on Wednesday.

The SITE intelligence group said the death threat was posted on an online website used by militants after the writer became upset by a joke Letterman made about the death of a leading member of al Qaeda killed in an air strike in Pakistan.

The militant called on Muslims in the United States to "cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever," the threat against Letterman said, according to a translation by SITE. The popular late-night television host is not Jewish.

The FBI said it was taking the threat seriously.

The writer was angered by watching Letterman on his show drawing his finger across his neck while talking about the June death of senior al Qaeda figure Ilyas Kashmiri.

2 + 2 = 4

US, Florida: Race Separating Brother and Sister in Polk Schools?


Image
Is race keeping a brother and sister from attending the same school? That's the question facing the Polk County School Board.

The students' parents have been fighting for weeks to get their kids in the same magnet school. For the family, it's not about race. They say it's simply about keeping the family together. However, school officials say it's more complicated than that.

"We think this continues to be just swept under the rug," says Chris McLaughlin. He and his wife, Stacey, are taking on the Polk County School Board to stand-up for their kids.

Rising first grader Trip and soon-to-be kindergartener Katie should attend the same school under normal county policy. However, now that Trip has gotten into the top-notch magnet school Lincoln Avenue Academy, a technicality means Katie can't go with him.

Ambulance

US: Food Deliveryman Robbed, Beaten Unconscious In Delaware

police, crime scene
© unknown
Police in Delaware are searching for seven suspects who robbed and attacked a food deliveryman, leaving him unconscious.

The attack happened at about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday in the 500 block of W. 26th Street in Wilmington.

According to investigators, the victim told them he was making a delivery when he was met by an unknown black male. The victim said six other black males appeared and began to strike him in the head and face until he lost consciousness.

Upon waking, the victim discovered that money, personal property and the food order had been taken.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Wilmington Police Criminal Investigation Division at 302-576-3620 or Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333.

Pills

US, Virginia: Arrests Made After Fredericksburg Cancer Patient Beaten, Robbed


Two suspects have been arrested in connection with Monday's home invasion and robbery on Altoona Drive.

With assistance from the Virginia State Police, Christopher Kyle Deviers, 25, and Chad Wallace Lumpkin, 25, both of Spotsylvania, were each arrested at their homes without incident and charged with robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Deviers and Lumpkin are both incarcerated at the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond.

The investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are anticipated.

Stormtrooper

US, New York: Bible Belted: NYPD Seeks Thugs Who Beat Fordham Heights Man, Took Bible

The NYPD is hunting for a vicious trio who have been robbing folks along Creston Avenue in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx.

The brutes are described as African Americans, aged 16-20. They may have a fourth accomplice.

1010 WINS’ Terry Sheridan speaks with the victim


Police say the thugs have struck three times in the same spot: 181st & Creston Avenue, just off the Grand Concourse. They've allegedly robbed people on July 23, August 3 and August 8. In all three cases, the muggings were in the early morning - between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m.

The August 8 attack was caught on tape and is shocking for its senseless brutality.


Crusader

Spain: Student Plotted Attack on Anti-Pope Crowd

Image
© The Associated Press / Emillio Morenatti A demonstrator shouts slogans agains the next visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Madrid Wednesday Aug. 17, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI is due to arrive Thursday for a nearly four-day visit to celebrate World Youth Day, and thousands of protesters railing against his visit marched through central Madrid to the central Sol plaza where they have held months of demonstrations against the government's anti-austerity policies.
A chemistry student working as a volunteer for the pope's visit to Madrid was arrested on suspicion of planning a gas attack targeting protesters opposed to the pontiff's stay, officials said Wednesday.

Pope Benedict XVI is due to arrive Thursday for a nearly four-day visit to celebrate World Youth Day, and thousands of protesters railing against his visit staged their march Wednesday night to Madrid's central Sol plaza where they have held months of demonstrations against Spanish politicians and the government's anti-austerity policies.

A police official said the suspect arrested in Madrid Tuesday is a 24-year-old Mexican student specializing in organic chemistry. She would not say whether investigators believe the man was actually capable of carrying out a gas attack, and did not know if he actually had chemicals that could have been used to assault the protesters.

The detainee was identified by the Mexican Embassy in Madrid as Jose Perez Bautista, which said he was from Puebla state, near Mexico City.

He was arrested at a Madrid convention center where the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims coming to town for the papal visit are supposed to pick up their accreditation, the police official said on condition of anonymity in line with the department's rules.

Dollar

Psychopath Alert! US: Massachusetts Man Accused of Stealing $200,000 from Dates


A married Massachusetts man met four other women online, romanced them over the span of years and then stole more than $200,000 from them by feigning financial and medical problems, authorities said.

Albert Lovering Jr., of Waltham, was indicted Tuesday on 23 counts of larceny. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Lovering, 54, met the women through various dating websites and deceived them into believing he was romantically attached to them, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said. The women loaned Lovering money - including one who gave him more than $100,000 after meeting him just once - with the expectation he would repay them, but he never did, Leone said.

"These allegations are extremely troubling and the defendant's lies spanned several years, targeting numerous victims who were conned into believing the defendant cared for them," Leone said in a statement.

Handcuffs

Canada: Imam at Toronto Mosque Charged with Sexual Assault


A man who taught at a Toronto Islamic centre and travelled to mosques around the world is facing sexual assault charges involving at least five alleged victims.

Police announced Wednesday that Mohammad Masroor, 48, has been charged with 13 offences, including sexual assault and threatening death. Police declined to provide further detail on the charges.

Smoking

US: Tobacco Companies File Lawsuit Over Warning Labels

Image
© The Associated Press / U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationIn this combo made from file images provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows two of nine new warning labels cigarette makers will have to use by the fall of 2012. Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011, over the new graphic cigarette labels, saying the warnings violate their free speech rights and will cost millions of dollars to print.
Tobacco companies want a judge to put a stop to new graphic cigarette labels that include the sewn-up corpse of a smoker and pictures of diseased lungs, saying they unfairly urge adults to shun their legal products and will cost millions to produce.

Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government Tuesday, saying the warnings violate their free speech rights.

"Never before in the United States have producers of a lawful product been required to use their own packaging and advertising to convey an emotionally-charged government message urging adult consumers to shun their products," the companies wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington.

The companies, led by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co., said the warnings no longer simply convey facts to allow people to make a decision on whether to smoke. They instead force them to put government anti-smoking advocacy more prominently on their packs than their own brands, the companies say. They want a judge to stop the labels.

The FDA refused to comment, saying the agency does not discuss pending litigation. But when she announced the new labels in June, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called them frank and honest warnings about the dangers of smoking.

Handcuffs

US, California: Ex-Con Pleads Guilty To Rape, Sodomy, Murder Of Great-Grandmother, 76

Image
© courtesy, California DMVSevera Madrona
A two-time ex-convict pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting and fatally beating a 76-year-old great-grandmother in Gardena.

Thedward Candler, 28, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced Oct. 4 in Torrance Superior Court.

Candler pleaded guilty to murdering Severa Madrona on Sept. 18, 2007. He also admitted the special circumstances of murder during rape, sodomy and kidnapping.

Madrona, a grandmother of 29 and great-grandmother of four, was targeted while out for her customary morning walk, prosecutors said.