Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Kathleen Edward, Girl Taunted Online While Battling Huntington's Disease, Dies

Kim Carollo
ABC News
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:12 UTC
The 9-year-old Michigan girl taunted on Facebook by neighbors while she suffered from a terminal disease died Wednesday, according to WXYZ-TV.

Kathleen Edward of Trenton, Mich., died from Huntington's disease, the same genetic degenerative brain disorder that took her mother's life in 2009.

Back in late 2010, 33-year-old Jennifer Petkov, who lived on the same block as Kathleen's family, allegedly began cyberbullying the little girl.

On a Facebook page under Petkov's name, there were images of Kathleen's mother, Laura, in the arms of the Grim Reaper and Kathleen above a set of crossbones. Neighbors also accused Petkov and her husband Scott of building a coffin, putting it on their truck and driving past the Edward home, honking the horn.
Read More...
Light Saber

Flashback CyberbullyJennifer Petkov Says 'I'm Sorry,' Wishes to Move On

Nate Stemen
Trenton Patch
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:59 UTC
'It just seems like no matter how quiet I stay that I'm still being accused of doing things that I'm not doing,' the Trenton woman, who used Facebook to post doctored photos of a dying girl, told Patch in an exclusive interview last week.

Jennifer Petkov says she is sorry, and she has a big regret.

Petkov, of Trenton, first made national news in October 2010 when she posted on Facebook photographs she doctored of a 7-year-old girl dying of Huntington's disease and her mother, who died as a result of the disease in 2009.

Though no criminal or civil charges were filed against Petkov for posting the Facebook photos, the story blew up in local and national media. A follow-up story Trenton Patch ran on June 23 was read by about 1 million people.

In the photos, the face of the girl, Kathleen Edward, was superimposed onto a skull and crossbones, and her mother, Laura Edward, 24, was being embraced by the grim reaper.

"The entire world thought I was this evil child-hater, child-taunter," Petkov told Patch in an exclusive interview last week at a restaurant in Trenton.
Read More...
Attention

Revealed: Doctors Routinely Cheating Exams in Uncovered Scandal

Anthony Gucciardi
Natural Society
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:46 UTC
X-Ray
© Natural Society
Utilizing an extensive data bank of answers recorded by those who have taken the test, radiology doctors around the nation from prestigious and little-known programs alike have been cheating the exam system for a very long time. With exam officials openly admitting that the cheating has been going on for a 'long time', the information sheds light on the fact that many radiology doctors may actually be completely unqualified to be dosing up patients with damaging radiation.

Doctors around the country have setup very complex banks of information known as 'recalls', which have been setup by doctors who have previously memorized test questions and shared them for public viewing. With each question meticulously documented and archived by radiology residents, the answers cover just about every program in the county - including highly the highly prestigious and challenging. This system makes even the most respected exam completely worthless in determining the knowledge base of the doctors.
Read More...
Eye 2

Corporations Hate Taxes, So They Let the Children Pay

Paul Bucheit
BuzzFlash
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:03 UTC
corporate tax avoidance
© Unknown
Two recent studies, both rather troubling on their own, are even more disturbing when the relationship between the two is considered.

The first is a study by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) that shows tax avoidance at the state level. The CTJ study, which evaluated 265 large companies, determined that an average of 3% was paid in state taxes, less than half the average state tax rate of 6.2%. The ten states with 10 or more companies in the study all collected between 2.5% and 3.55%: Ohio, Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, California, North Carolina, and New York.

CTJ notes that "these 265 companies avoided a total of $42.7 billion in state corporate income taxes over the three years." That's about $14 billion per year.

The second study, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), reports that "Elementary and high schools are receiving less state funding than last year in at least 37 states, and in at least 30 states school funding now stands below 2008 levels - often far below."
Read More...
Family

US: Arizona Police Investigating Woman for Violating Adultery Law

Alyssa Newcomb
ABC News
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:59 UTC
Image
© KPHO/CBSDave Banks wants his wife criminally charged for allegedly cheating on him.
The story sounds like the beginning of a country music narrative. He called the cops on his cheatin' wife.

In Arizona, adultery remains a class three misdemeanor, which carries the possibility of a $500 fine and up to 30 days in jail.

Glendale, Ariz., police told ABCNews.com they are investigating Dave Banks' claims that his wife of 17 years, Traci Banks, has cheated on him at least seven or eight times in the past 10 years.

"It's certainly much less of a reported criminal violation than a family crime or a sex crime," said Bret Coombs, a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department.

Banks reportedly had no qualms about turning in his wife, with whom he has two sons.
Read More...
Bad Guys

What Happens When People Actually Fall For Those Nigerian Email Scams

Alexander Abad-Santos
The Atlantic Wire
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:08 UTC
Image
© Flickr: B Rosen
Just in case you needed a couple more reasons to delete that Nigerian email scam in your inbox, how about about kidnapping and the stinging international embarrassment for falling for the scam? That's what happened to a South Korean father and daughter who thought they were cashing in on tens of millions of dollars and instead had to be rescued after being held captive by a Nigerian gang.
Read More...
Briefcase

EU: Debt Ratings Cut for 9 Countries Amid Euro Woes

Lis Alderman and Rachel Donadio
The New York Times
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Ian Langsdon/European Pressphoto AgencyDemonstrators from the left-wing Parti de Gauche party held signs outside the offices of Standard and Poor's in Paris on Friday.
Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of France, Italy and seven other European countries on Friday, a move that may have more symbolic than fundamental financial impact but served as a reminder that Europe's economic woes were far from over.

Another memory jog came Friday from Greece, the original source of Europe's debt troubles. Talks hit a snag between the new Greek government and the banks and other private investors that Athens hopes will agree to take losses on their debt so that Greece can avoid a default.

Together, those developments underscore that even as Europe's debt turmoil enters its third year, no clear solutions are yet in sight - despite recent signs that a new lending program by the European Central Bank might be easing financial market pressures.
Read More...
Arrow Down

China: Irate Customers Pelt Beijing Apple Store with Eggs After Failing to Get iPhone 4S

Sterling Wong
Minyanville
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:12 UTC
Unruly Crowd Behaviour
© MinyanvilleThree's a crowd!

Amidst all the controversy about the poor working conditions at the Shenzhen factory that produces its iPhones, Apple officially launched the iPhone 4S at its five mainland China stores Friday morning... only to meet with more controversy.

Like everywhere else in the world, Apple is hugely popular in China, and its stores there "are routinely mobbed for the release of new products," as the Associated Press describes. So, when more than a thousand people turned up to queue outside Apple's flagship store in Beijing for the launch of the iPhone 4S, the company was ordered by the police not to open its store to prevent unrest from breaking up.

Well, that only enraged the crowd, many of whom had waited overnight in freezing weather. When the store did not open on schedule at 7am, some in the irate crowd began pelting the store's trademark clear glass walls with eggs while others mouthed off at employees through the windows, the New York Times reports.

Worth noting is that many of the hundreds who had queued overnight were migrant workers. They were hired by scalpers, who aimed to purchase the coveted phones to resell at jacked-up prices. For a pee of 100 yuan (or $16), migrant workers were bused in to the Beijing store the night before to stand in line.

When the police instructed Apple not to open the store and cordoned off the area with yellow tape, these workers were especially frustrated, because they would now only get a food allowance of 10 yuan after waiting overnight in harsh conditions.
Read More...
Pistol

North Carolina, US: Gunman Kills 3, Injures 1 at Lumber Company


NBC News
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:00 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Star - A man described by witnesses as a disgruntled worker opened fire Friday at a central North Carolina lumber company, killing three people and injuring one before shooting himself, local media reported.

Montgomery County Sheriff Dempsey Owens told WXII 12 that deputies were called to the McBride Lumber Company just after 6 a.m.

He said deputies found four people shot inside the business, three of whom died. One worker was airlifted to a hospital.

The suspect, who fled the scene, was identified by workers at the firm, allowing deputies to track him to his house, WFMY-TV reported.

Owens told WXII that the suspect had shot himself and was airlifted to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known.

Witnesses reported that the gunman was a disgruntled employee, the sheriff told WXII.

Owens said the the shooter left a note, but did not give the details of its contents, according to WFMY.

A man who answered the phone at the company confirmed that there was a shooting but would not give details, according to NBC News.

McBride Lumber Company is a second-generation family-owned business that was started in the 1950s, according to its website. The company specializes in the manufacture of custom pallets for a variety of businesses, including furniture, automotive, masonry and textile.

This is a developing news story.
Read More...
Newspaper

Mario Monti warns Germany it must show more support for austerity measures or face increased hostility from Italy

Wil Longbottom
Mail Online
Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00 UTC
Italy's Premier Mario Monti has warned his country is becoming increasingly hostile to Germany because painful austerity measures it has adopted are not being recognised.

Mr Monti, who met in Berlin today for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Italy's economic reforms do not receive the recognition they deserve.

And he warned Italians could turn their back on Germany and the rest of the EU if they do not see austerity measures lead to progress in the country's financial situation.
Disgruntled
© UnknownDisgruntled: Italian PM Mario Monti is given a military honour guard as he meets Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin this morning

German Support
© RuetersSupport: Mr Monti told Die Welt newspaper Italian would become increasingly hostile to Germans if painful austerity measures were not recognised
Read More...