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Rape Victim Can Sue Sheriff for Denying Emergency Contraception

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A federal judge has ruled that a woman can sue the Hillsborough County, Fla. Sheriff for preventing her from taking emergency contraception after she was raped.

The woman, who is listed as "R.W." in court documents to protect her anonymity, was allegedly raped in January of 2007. After being examined at Tampa's Rape Crisis Center, she was given emergency contraception. She took one pill immediately, and planned to take the other in twelve hours as she'd been directed to.

Unfortunately, R.W. had an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to repay restitution and failure to appear in court. Despite allegedly having been raped, she was booked into Hillsborough County Jail on the outstanding warrants, and staff there confiscated her pill.

According to R.W.'s lawsuit, guard Michele Spinelli refused to allow the woman to take the second pill, because "it was against [Spinelli's] religious beliefs."

Pistol

Gunmen Ram Van into Microsoft's Greek Headquarters

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© Agence France-Presse
A man walks out from the damaged Microsoft offices in an Athens northern suburb.
Gunmen rammed a van packed with gas canisters into Microsoft's Greek headquarters in Athens and then set the vehicle on fire, causing damage but no injuries, police said on Wednesday.

At least two people wielding pistols and a machine gun kept security guards away as they carried out the attack at about 0145 GMT, police said.

Arson attacks against banks, foreign firms and local politicians have become more frequent in Greece in recent years as the country battles soaring unemployment and struggles through a recession deepened by austerity policies imposed by foreign lenders.

Padlock

Texas Man Gets 40 Year Sentence in Stand-Your-Ground Case

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© The Associated Press/Houston Chronicle
June 25, 2012: Raul Rodriguez weeps in the beginning of his trial at Harris County Criminal Courthouse in Houston.
Houston - A man who claimed Texas' version of a stand-your-ground law allowed him to fatally shoot a neighbor after an argument about a noisy party was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years for murder.

Raul Rodriguez, 46, had faced up to life in prison for the 2010 killing of Kelly Danaher.

Rodriguez, a retired Houston-area firefighter, was angry about the noise coming from a birthday party at his neighbor's home. He went over and got into an argument with 36-year-old elementary school teacher Danaher and two other men at the party.

In a 22-minute video he recorded on the night of the shooting, Rodriguez can be heard telling a police dispatcher "my life is in danger now" and "these people are going to go try and kill me." He then said, "I'm standing my ground here," and fatally shot Danaher and wounded the other two men.

Attention

Medical Examiner Rules Out Bath Salts in Miami Face-Chewing Attack

Rudy Eugene, Ronald Poppo
© The Associated Press/Miami-Dade Police Dept.
Rudy Eugene, 31, left, who police shot and killed as he ate the face of Ronald Poppo, 65, right, during a horrific attack

Miami - A Florida medical examiner says only marijuana was found in the system of a Florida man shot while chewing another man's face.

The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's released the toxicology results Tuesday on 31-year-old Rudy Eugene. Lab results found marijuana in his system, but not any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs.

The department has ruled out the most common components found in the street drugs known as bath salts. An outside forensic toxicology lab also confirmed the results.

Surveillance video captured 65-year-old Ronald Poppo being attacked by Eugene on May 26. A police officer shot and killed Eugene, who bit into Poppo's face in broad daylight alongside a busy highway. Police have not released a motive for the attack on Poppo, who had been homeless for decades.

Poppo has undergone several surgeries and remains hospitalized.

Source: The Associated Press

Comment: Is Solar and Cosmic Radiation Playing Havoc With Life on Planet Earth?


Bad Guys

Children's Book Author Maurice Sendak Fantasized About Bush and Cheney's Death

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© Unknown
Where the Wild Things Are author and illustrator Maurice Sendak gave an interview to Gary Groth in The Comics Journal shortly before his death last month.

In his final interview, Sendak shared his fantasy of blowing up former president George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush and former vice president Dick Cheney.

Sendak said: "Bush was president, I thought, 'Be brave. Tie a bomb to your shirt. Insist on going to the White House.' And I wanna have a big hug with the Vice President, definitely. And his wife, and the President, and his wife, and anybody else that can fit into the love hug."

Bizarro Earth

Elmo Goes Off On Zionists To Unsuspecting Crowds and Gets Arrested

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© Unknown
Elmo says the banking industry is a neo-Zionist conspiracy to subjugate the gentiles.

The homeless eccentric known in New York City as "Anti-Semitic Elmo" ended up in hand cuffs last week after a clash with police. Police had to restrain the lovable but racist Sesame Street character in the vicinity of the Central Park Zoo during one of his more vicious tirades.

The middle-aged man was removed from his suit and carted off to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for observation and psych evaluation, according to The Smoking Gun.

Alarm Clock

Homophobic Man Targets Two Lesbians For Murder

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© Unknown
Two young women were victims of a suspected hate crime near the south Texas town of Portland over the weekend. An unknown gunman allegedly targeted the two women in a public park because they were gay, according to the Daily News.

Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, were discovered by police near a scenic lookout in Portland Park around 9 a.m. last Saturday. Olgin was pronounced dead at the scene, but Chapa still clings to life in a local hospital after undergoing risky surgery.

Friends of the teenage couple said that Chapa and Olgin had been dating for around five months. Olgin was a student at nearby Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Chapa was a resident of Sinton, Texas.

Bizarro Earth

Doctor Battles State Board For 10 Year-Olds Birth Rights

The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, the governing body that regulates the practice of medicine in the state, stripped the medical license of a woman who refused to force a mentally-ill 10 year old to give birth.

As Robin Marty reports, Dr. Ann Neuhaus became the target of domestic terror group Operation Rescue after her colleague, Dr. George Tiller, was murdered. Neuhaus assisted Tiller by providing second opinions for mental health exceptions for late-term abortions.

Operation Rescue filed a negligence complaint against Neuhaus alleging that her exams were not thorough enough to support her medical conclusions and her follow-up care was inadequate because she did not recommend counseling or hospitalization after each procedure.

Dollar

Stockton, California to File for Bankruptcy

  • Bankruptcy could be filed as soon as Wednesday
  • Stockton has $700 mln outstanding debt
  • Talks with 18 creditors ended Monday without concessions (Recasts, adds comments)
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© unknown
Stockton, California will become the largest U.S. city to seek protection from its creditors after its leaders approved a budget on Tuesday night based on the city filing for bankruptcy.

A Chapter 9 bankruptcy by the city of nearly 300,000 in California's Central Valley, about 85 miles (135 km) east of San Francisco, could come as early as Wednesday.

Stockton's city council voted six to one in favor of the 2012-2013 budget after a contentious five-hour meeting where angry retired city workers pressed council members to reject the $155 million spending plan. It proposes eliminating retirees' medical benefits to help fill a $26 million budget deficit.

Retired police department employee Geri Ridge said she fears not being able to afford health-care insurance.

"I don't have that kind of income," said Ridge, 56, noting she is concerned a large share of her $1,895 monthly pension payment could be consumed by large insurance costs due to her history of heart attacks.

The council's vote followed three months of confidential talks between Stockton and its creditors aimed at averting bankruptcy. The negotiations ended on Monday with the city failing to win enough concessions to help close its shortfall for the fiscal year starting on July 1.

Bad Guys

Christian Megachurch Founder Diverts Sg$23m from Charitable Projects to Launch Music Career

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© Getty
The church, which has affiliates in neighbouring Malaysia and other countries, is famous for services that resemble pop concerts
The founder of one of Singapore's richest churches has been arrested on allegations he misused at least £11.5 million in donations from his congregation of more than 30,000.

Pastor Kong Hee and four senior executives of the City Harvest Church - a Christian group registered as a charity - were arrested by Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department, a police unit set up to fight financial crime.

Officials said they were suspected of diverting at least Sg$23 million earmarked for charitable projects and spent money on a bid by the pastor's wife, Ho Yeow Sun, to launch an evangelical music career in the United States.

The church, which has affiliates in neighbouring Malaysia and other countries, is famous for services that resemble pop concerts.