Baton Rouge - The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say a rare amoeba that caused the August death of a child in south Louisiana has been found in five locations in a north Louisiana water system.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals said Tuesday the CDC confirmed the presence of the Naegleria fowleri amoeba in five places in DeSoto Parish Waterworks District No. 1, which is one of 14 water systems in the parish.

State health officials say there are no known current cases of illness related to the discovery in DeSoto or elsewhere in Louisiana.

DHH began testing the DeSoto system as a precaution after St. Bernard Parish's water system tested positive. DeSotor was the site of one of two 2011 amoeba-related deaths in Louisiana.

Source: Associated Press

A New York middle school has banned footballs for fear that children might get hurt. There's more to the story than that, of course, but that's the basic gist: Weber Middle School in Long Island, New York, has banned hard footballs, baseballs, lacrosse balls and other recreational equipment, as well as some kinds of play, in an effort to help protect students from injury.

Overprotective nannying designed to reduce liability at the expense of kids' enjoyment? A responsible measure designed to protect developing bodies from concussions? There are arguments for both sides, but either way, Weber Middle's policy will start arguments.

The ban includes "hard" balls such as footballs, soccer balls and baseballs. Soft footballs are permitted. Also banned: "hard" forms of tag and other tackling games, as well as cartwheels without an adult present.

School officials cited injury rates as a reason for the policy shift.

A gas-like odor reported by dozens of people in northwest Richmond Tuesday afternoon has dissipated, and no source has been found, fire and hazardous materials officials said.

"As far as we know, the odor was just here for a brief period of time, but eventually it dissipated into the atmosphere," Richmond fire Chief Michael Banks said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find the source."

Fire crews responded to an influx of calls around 2 p.m. about a strong gas odor throughout northwest Richmond Tuesday afternoon, fire officials said.

Banks said some callers complained of headaches and breathing issues after smelling the odor, and a couple of people went to the hospital to be evaluated as a precaution.

Police in New York investigating the cold case of an unidentified dead child dubbed "Baby Hope" have said that they have identified the girl's mother through an anonymous tip and DNA testing.

The mother is not a suspect in the child's death and police are looking for the little girl's father, police said.

The body of the girl was found inside a cooler in a wooded area near the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood in 1991. Police said that the girl, who was between 3 and 5 years old, had been malnourished and was sexually abused.

"We have been able to identify the mother of Baby Hope," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said today. "A DNA match was made with the mother and the mother is cooperating."

The NYPD began a new push this summer after they reopened the case that has haunted detectives for over two decades. After canvassing Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood and distributing fliers, detectives were able to identify the girl's mother.

Police say a 17-year-old girl died Saturday after leaping from a minivan being driven by her stepfather. Her mother was also a passenger in the vehicle. Laikyn Field, a sophomore at Jennings County High School, reportedly hit the pavement so hard that she later died from head injuries.

It's been reported that the teen jumped from the van's rear passenger side after becoming upset, although Police are trying to verify what was going on inside the vehicle that may have contributed to her decision.

An off-duty undercover cop who claimed he took no active role as fellow bikers pulled a Manhattan dad from his SUV and beat him to a pulp actually furiously slapped the car's back window so hard that it shattered at the height of the bloody road-rage attack, sources told The Post.

The cop, a seven-year veteran, had told investigators he didn't help the injured man because he rode up to the scene as the beating was nearly over, sources said.

The development came as another biker who helped in driver Alexian Lien's beat-down was arraigned in Manhattan Court on Tuesday.

Craig Wright, 29, of Brooklyn can allegedly be seen on video throwing punches through the shattered driver's-side window of the 33-year-old victim's Range Rover in front of Lien's terrified wife and 2-year-old daughter. Wright is also seen allegedly kicking Lien outside the SUV. He was held on $100,000 bail Tuesday.

Americans trail adults in other countries in math, literacy, problem-solving.

Americans have been hearing for years that their kids are lagging behind the rest of the developed world in skills. Now it's the adults' turn for a reality check.

A first-ever international comparison of the labor force in 23 industrialized nations shows that Americans ages 16 to 65 fall below international averages in basic problem-solving, reading and math skills, with gaps between the more- and less-educated in the USA larger than those of many other countries.

The findings, out Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Education, could add new urgency to U.S. schools' efforts to help students compete globally.

The new test was given to about 5,000 Americans between August 2011 and April 2012. The results show that the typical American's literacy score falls below the international average, with adults in 12 countries scoring higher and only five (Poland, Ireland, France, Spain and Italy) scoring lower. In math, 18 countries scored higher, with only two (Italy and Spain) scoring lower. In both cases, several countries' scores were statistically even with the USA.

Jack Lamar Roberson, 43, was gunned down by Waycross, Georgia police on October 4 after his family called 911 for an ambulance due to issues with his diabetes, First Coast News reports.

Waycross police officers claim they responded to a report of attempted suicide and were told that Roberson was combative.

Upon arrival, Roberson allegedly "lunged" at the officers with two "weapons" and refused to drop them. That's when they fired, claims Police Chief Tony Tanner.

Roberson's family tells a different story.

An Ohio school district has agreed to keep a portrait of Jesus Christ off school property and pay a $95,000 fine in the face of legal pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Jackson City School District, located in Jackson, reached a deal on Friday after the ACLU, along with the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, sued the district in February, citing "unconstitutional" actions and charging that students and visitors to the school "will continue to suffer permanent, severe and irreparable harm and injury," according to the lawsuit.

The picture had been hanging in Jackson's high school since 1947 as part of a "Hall of Honor" display meant to highlight famous historical figures.

Those who cut themselves - many as young as 10 - are often dismissed as attention-seekers. But their distress is real, and their numbers are increasing, reports Kate Hilpern
Chloe was just 12 when she started self-harming. "I was very quiet and an easy target for bullies. My brother was unwell, so I didn't want to bother my parents, and I had very few friends. One day in class, I dug my nails into my arm to stop me crying, and I was surprised by how much the physical pain distracted me from the emotional pain. Before long, I was regularly scratching myself, deeper each time."

The following year, on another particularly bad day, Chloe came home to find a knife on the kitchen side. "It felt almost instinctive to cut myself and afterwards, I felt so much better. By the time I was 15, I was using scissors or blades several times a day and never left home without something sharp."

Chloe hid her scars, but one day a friend saw her diary. This led to Chloe's mum, Jo, finding out. "It was a big shock," says Jo. "Chloe, who is now 17, has always been a very sensible, studious young lady. I didn't even know she was unhappy. Making matters worse was the fact that I got such bad advice. I was told not to discuss anything with Chloe, just to march her into treatment. It didn't work."

Last week, official statistics revealed an alarming rise in children who self-harm. These figures show that in the past year, NHS hospitals treated more than 18,000 girls and 4,600 boys between 10 and 19 after they had deliberately harmed themselves - a rise of 11 per cent. During the same period, cases involving children between 10 and 14 rose from 4,008 to 5,192 - a rise of 30 per cent.

According to Sarah Brennan, chief executive of YoungMinds, "An equally striking finding, which reflects Jo's experience, was the lack of confidence among parents and professionals about how to deal with it."

So what's going on? Why are so many young people - children, for goodness sake - self-harming? And where did the phenomenon, one that many people hadn't even heard of until recently, come from anyway?

Rachel Welch, project manager at selfharm.co.uk, isn't convinced self-harming is on the rise. It's just we are more aware of it, says the 35-year-old. Indeed, even the Bible includes stories about self-harming and the World Health Organisation has long recognised it as a problem, not just in the West but in developing countries.