Society's ChildS


Health

Pediatrician's body found bound and burning inside her home

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Philadelphia police are investigating the death of a local pediatrician after finding her body tied up and set on fire insider her home on Monday.

Investigators confirmed reports on Tuesday that the victim, 35-year-old Melissa Ketunuti, was taking part in a pediatric fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Ketunuti's body was found with her hands and feet tied behind her and a rope tied around her neck. Police said she was likely strangled to death before being set on fire.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Monday that Ketunuti's dog-walker alerted authorities after finding the body that afternoon. Police said there was no signs of forced entry.

Megaphone

Christian radio host: Planned Parenthood is a 'Hitler kind of killing machine'

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Liberty Council's Mat Starver
To mark the 40th anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court decision recognizing abortion rights for women, Liberty Counsel's Mat Starver took to the airwaves to accuse Planned Parenthood of being a "killing machine" in the tradition mass-murdering dictator Adolf Hitler.

"Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade," Pastor Starver noted on Monday. "A decision in which seven of the nine justices ultimately discovered some so-called right in the Constitution that no one else has ever discovered, that abortion is permissible through all nine months of pregnancy. And from that moment till now, we've slaughtered 55 million children."

Co-host Matt Barber opined that the Obama administration's health care reform law meant that taxpayers would be "in the business of enriching people who make a living killing innocent, unborn children. They are getting filthy rich off of it."

Pistol

At least three people injured after two students opened fire on Texas college campus

At least three people are believed to be injured after two gunmen opened fire on a Texas college campus this afternoon. A spokesperson from Lone Star College in Houston confirmed shots were fired between two people - believed to be students - at the North Harris campus and that one of them had been detained.

Police are currently searching a wooded area north of the college for another gunman who fled the building - which is on lock down and said to be out of danger. One of the injured is believed to be the detained gunman and the others are believed to have been caught in the crossfire. Another man was said to have suffered a heart attack.

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Students huddled in corners and went for shelter as gunshots were heard at the North Harris campus of Lone Star college this morning
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USA

Students' duct-tape joke could get Ohio teacher fired

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Ohio teacher Melissa Cairns
A middle school teacher in Ohio could be fired for posting a picture of what she calls a shared joke with her students online.

WEWS-TV reported on Tuesday that Melissa Cairns has been placed on leave without pay for posting a picture last October of her students with duct tape over their mouths on Facebook with the caption, "Finally found a way to get them to be quiet!!!"

Cairns said the picture was the result of one students' playfully putting tape over her mouth after Cairns offered her some to help fix a broken binder. Some of the girl's classmates, Cairns said, were amused by the display and joined in. But a colleague reportedly saw the picture on Cairns' Facebook page and alerted management.

Ambulance

86-car pileup in Ohio kills 12-year-old girl and leaves at least 20 injured

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Blowing snow and slick, icy roads led to several multiple-car highway accidents in Ohio on Monday, including an 86-car pileup in Cincinnati, Ohio that killed a 12-year-old girl and left more than 20 injured. According to the New York Daily News, the huge crash took place on Interstate 275, close to the Colerain Township suburb. Police were summoned to the scene at around 11:30 a.m. when reports came in of "multiple chain-reaction collisions."

"She's about to die," said one man in horror as he filmed the crowd gathered around the teenage girl from the opposite lane, "Oh, my god." Then, as traffic slowly moved along the line of smashed and broken cars and trucks, he let out a stream of expletives. "Oh, my fucking god," he said, before training off, "Holy shi..." as the line of mangled vehicles stretched on and on.

Stop

Georgia sued for banning 'gay' license plates

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© Photo: Wikimedia Commons
An Atlanta man says that the state of Georgia violated his constitutional rights to free speech when it denied an application for vanity license plates with the word "gay."

Two free-speech attorneys have filed a lawsuit on behalf of James Cyrus Gilbert against Georgia Department of Driver Services Commissioner Robert G. Mikell after the the state refused to issue tags that said 4GAYLIB, GAYPWR and GAYGUY. The state, however, has approved religious plates with similar messages.

"It's not like I was asking for something that was vulgar or over the top," Gilbert told The Atlanta Constitution. "Denying someone the right to put gay on their tag, that's political. If I want I could get a tag that said straight man, but because it had gay on it, it's not available."

Wine n Glass

Lawmakers in Ireland vote to allow 'moderate' drunk-driving

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© Shutterstock
Kerry County Councillors have voted in favour of a motion which would allow people in rural Ireland to have 'two or three' drinks and still drive.

The motion put forward by councillor Danny Healy-Rae calls on the Minister for Justice to allow Gardaí to issue permits to people in the most isolated parts of the country to allow them to drive after drinking some alcohol.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie this evening, Danny Healy-Rae said the idea was to help "those people in every parish who are isolated and who can't get out of their place at night".

Handcuffs

Nurse arrested after allegedly having sex with corpse

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A male nurse in California is accused of necrophilia after he was allegedly caught committing a sex act on a dead woman.

Alejandro Razo, 61, was arrested Sunday at Sherman Oaks Hospital, where he works. Security guards called police after there was an "indication that a deceased patient had somehow been violated by an employee of the hospital," LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman told CBS Los Angeles.

Red Flag

Spanish schoolboy fakes kidnap to avoid parent-teacher conference

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© Photograph: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Spanish civil guard later dismissed the schoolboy's fake kidnap claims as a childish prank.
Police officer's 11-year-old son, who claimed he was being driven away in boot of car, was found hiding in family home.

It was both dramatic and creative - but it was also one of the most over-the-top solutions ever invented for avoiding that well-known childhood nightmare, when parents are called in to talk to their teachers.

Early on Monday afternoon the unnamed 11-year-old son of a Spanish police officer stationed in the north-western town of Xinzo de Limia sent a text message from his mobile phone to tell his father he had been kidnapped.

When his father phoned back, the boy confirmed the worst. He had been snatched off the street as he was putting out the rubbish, he said, and was locked in the boot of a car. He had no idea where his kidnappers were taking him, but knew that the car he was in was a blue Seat.

Bizarro Earth

New Zealander starts campaign to eradicate pet cats

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© Getty ImagesNew Zealand is looking to ban cats in order to save a unique native bird species.
Gareth Morgan has a simple dream: a New Zealand free of cats. But the environmental advocate triggered a claws-out backlash Tuesday with his new anti-feline campaign.

Morgan called on his countrymen Tuesday to make their current cat their last in order to save the nation's unique native birds. He set up a website, called Cats To Go, depicting a tiny kitten with red devil's horns. The opening line: "That little ball of fluff you own is a natural born killer."

He doesn't recommended people euthanize their current cats - "Not necessarily but that is an option" are the site's exact words - but rather neuter them and not replace them when they die. Morgan, an economist and well-known businessman, also suggests people keep cats indoors and that local governments make registration mandatory.

But Morgan's campaign is not sitting well in a country that boasts one of the highest cat ownership rates in the world.