Society's ChildS


Nuke

US: Radiation found in basement of Missouri art museum

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© Wikimedia
Columbia | The University of Missouri is asking a federal agency for more time to clean up radiation in a former chemistry building that now houses a museum.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that inspectors removed radioactive material from the basement and attic of Pickard Hall but contamination ago [still] remains in pipes and air ducts. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires such contaminated buildings to be cleaned within two years.

The building on Francis Quadrangle is now home to the Museum of Art and Archaeology and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The university wants the NRC to indefinitely extend its cleanup timeline. The agency scheduled a public hearing Thursday night on campus to discuss that request.

Nuke

Are Seattle-area babies dying because of Fukushima radiation?

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© Getty Images

A recent report from Al Jazeera English presented troubling sets of data about life since the Fukushima meltdown in Japan earlier this year. One of the most shocking details: A combined 35 percent increase in infant-mortality rates in several Northwest cities, including Seattle.

Now, a writer with Scientific American is taking that report to task. Michael Moyer writes that Al Jazeera reported infant-mortality for just eight cities: San Jose, Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Portland, Seattle, and Boise. And the report cited, authored by Doctor Janette Sherman and epidemiologist Joseph Mangano, only used four weeks of data to establish a pre-Fukishima trend.

And that just doesn't add up, according to Moyer:

Beaker

Canada: Police arrest Montreal man in 16-year-old murder cold case thanks to DNA

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© The Canadian Press / HO-Lavala PoliceEric Daudelin, 37, of Montreal, is shown in a Laval Police handout photo. Police say they've solved a 16-year-old murder case thanks in part to new DNA evidence.Joleil Campeau was nine years old when she disappeared in 1995. Her body turned up days later in a creek near her Montreal-area home.
A Montreal man has been charged in a 16-year-old murder case thanks to new DNA evidence turned up by police.

Eric Daudelin, 37, appeared in court Thursday on charges of first-degree murder, sexual assault and unlawful confinement.

His alleged victim, Joleil Campeau, was nine years old when she disappeared in 1995. Her body turned up days later in a creek near her Laval home.

Police said the suspect lived in Laval at the time of Campeau's disappearance and has a prior criminal record.

Daudelin had been questioned by police at the time of the grisly discovery, but he was released at the time due to a lack of evidence.

"When the body of Joleil Campeau was found ... the technology wasn't advanced enough at the time to allow us to gather scientific evidence or to uncover a clear DNA match," said Laval police spokeswoman Nathalie Lorrain.

Wine

US - GOP lawmaker gets drunk, steals truck, wrecks it, then takes nap

A Republican state Senator from Idaho was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning and charged with grand theft auto and driving under the influence, according to police reports.

State Sen. John McGee, currently the majority caucus chair for the Idaho State Senate, had been drinking on a golf course late Saturday night, when he apparently decided to leave on foot.

After walking for miles without shoes, he came upon a truck and trailer that had its keys inside.

He didn't get far though: Residents of the neighborhood were alarmed around 3 a.m. to discover the truck jackknifed in the back yard of a home down the street.

Heart

Spanish Mother and Baby Reunited After Breastfeeding Row

Social services removed infant Alma for three weeks after criticising mother Habiba for breastfeeding on demand.

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© Yui Mok/PABaby Alma was removed from her mother Habiba because she breastfed on demand
A mother who was criticised by Spanish social workers for breastfeeding her child on demand has won back custody of her 15-month-old infant after an international campaign backed by childcare guru Sheila Kitzinger and others.

Habiba and baby Alma, as they are being called, were reunited on Wednesday night after three weeks of forced separation when a Madrid social services committee overturned an earlier decision to temporarily remove the infant.

"It was an amazing re-encounter between mother and child," said Habiba's lawyer, Juan Ignacio de la Mata. "The child wouldn't leave her mother alone and you could see both of them slowly being transformed by the encounter. It was moving and very beautiful."

Pistol

Loss of health insurance sparked fast and horrific fall for accused pharmacy killer David Laffer

pharmacy killer David Laffer
© Andrew Theodorakis/News'He looked like death,' said one neighbor of David Laffer, who is seen being taken to Brookhaven Hospital Wednesday after his arrest in Long Island bloodbath.
David Laffer's life began falling apart two weeks ago.

The former Army private, who worked for years as a shipping clerk at scale manufacturer Cosa Xentaur in Yaphank, L.I., was fired, reportedly for stealing.

That meant no more health insurance - and no more prescription pills.

The loss of health coverage was a blow, said Joanna Martino, a one-time friend of Laffer's pill-popping wife, Melinda Brady.

"This past weekend, Melinda was trying to find out if anyone knew what hospital she can go to to get a 'scrip for pain pills," Martino said.

There were other signs of desperation: Laffer, who'd had minor tax judgments against him in the past, signed up for food stamps Friday, Newsday reported.

As Laffer and his wife were taken away in handcuffs Wednesday, those who knew them struggled to understand how he could have fallen so far.

Bad Guys

US: Serial Killer in South Carolina Shot Dead, Identified as Former Felon

South Carolina law enforcement officials have identified the serial killing suspect slain in North Carolina as a felon with a lengthy record who was paroled in April after seven years in prison.

They say Patrick Tracy Burris was the man responsible for shooting five people to death in a killing spree that has terrorized residents in and around Gaffney.

He was shot by police responding to a burglary complaint in Gastonia, N.C., early Monday. They say bullets in his gun matched those used to kill residents in and around Gaffney some 30 miles away.

Authorities did not immediately say where Burris was from.

North Carolina prison records show the 41-year-old served more than seven years for felony breaking and entering and larceny. He has a lengthy record.

Bizarro Earth

Fox 5 reporter Arnold Diaz sued by ice cream chain D'Lites Emporium for 'Shame, Shame, Shame' piece

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© Fox5Arnold Diaz in the 'Shame Shame Shame' segment at the heart of the D'Lites Emporium lawsuit.
A "Shame, Shame, Shame" segment aimed at an ice cream chain that bills itself as a "healthier alternative" to the frozen delight was "lame, lame, lame," according to a new lawsuit.

Television reporter Arnold Diaz is being sued by the owner of three D'Lites Emporium stores after the Fox 5 consumer advocate inducted the chain into his "Hall of Shame" for allegedly misleading consumers about the nutritional content of its ice cream.

Matthew Prince, who operates D'Lites stores in Bayside, Babylon and Commack, contends he was shamed last month in a "grossly irresponsible" eight-minute segment that accused the chain of selling products that aren't "low carbs" or "low in sugar."

Bell

US - Teenage girl stabbed in the chest by ex-boyfriend who raped her

A teenage girl was in critical condition after being stabbed Monday inside a Queens grocery store by a jealous ex-boyfriend who raped her two months ago, police sources said.

The 20-year-old suspect, Daniel Paguay, out on bail, fought with the girl and her new boyfriend, his cousin, outside a Corona supermarket.

Bizarro Earth

US - Heiress Huguette Clark leaves $33M to nurse, $500,000 to convicted sex offender, and ZILCH to family

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© UnknownReclusive heiress Huguette Clark died at age 104 in May.
Reclusive Manhattan copper heiress Huguette Clark stiffed her relatives in her will, leaving the bulk of her $400 million fortune to charity - and a whopping $33 million to her nurse.

Clark, who died May 24 at Beth Israel Medical Center at the age of 104, also left $500,000 each to her lawyer, Wallace (Wally) Bock, 79, and her accountant, Irving Kamsler, 64, a convicted sex offender. The Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating Bock and Kamsler for possibly mishandling her riches.

"I intentionally make no provision in this, my Last Will and Testament, for any members of my family, whether on my paternal or maternal side, having had minimal contacts with them over the years," Clark wrote in her will filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Clark's will was executed in April 2005, when she was 98 and purportedly of sound mind.

The closest person to a relative to benefit from Clark's last wishes was goddaughter Wanda Styka, who was bequeathed $12 million after taxes.