Puyallup police have for years been selectively videotaping and watching young women change their clothes and use the toilet while in custody, according to a lawsuit filed today in Pierce County Superior Court.

The lawsuit names as plaintiffs 11 women and one man who claim they were videotaped in various states of undress by officers in the city jail's holding cells.

Attorney James Egan said the plaintiffs were "detained for misdemeanors only to become the victims" of what he called "felony voyeurism." Egan said he began investigating the police department's booking and surveillance practices more than two years ago. He called the practice of observing detainees a "peepshow."

But Puyallup City Attorney Kevin Yamamoto claims that cameras in jail holding cells are nothing new, that all Puyallup detainees are required to change into jail clothes for mug shots and that Egan went through the jailhouse videos and "cherry-picked" for alleged victims.

According to Egan, the plaintiffs all had been detained by Puyallup police on suspicion of driving under the influence.

They were taken to the police station where several plaintiffs claim they were patted down thoroughly and in a sexual manner, according to the suit.

They then were directed into a video-monitored holding cell where they were told to strip and change into jail clothes for their mug shots, according to the lawsuit. Egan said there is no reason to require someone to change their clothes to pose for a mug shot.

When Rory the cat was rushed to the veterinarian in New Zealand after eating rat poison, the doctor turned to the archenemy to save him: a dog.

Veterinarian Kate Heller didn't have cat blood available, and didn't have access to a lab to test Rory to find a match. So, she sought advice, and was told to try dog blood. Rory's owner, Kim Edwards, called a friend and asked if her 18-month-old Labrador Retriever, Macy, could donate the 120ml of blood needed for a rare interspecies transfusion - and it worked.

"It was one of those situations that it was a do-or-die. So, he would have died if we did nothing," said Heller. Within an hour, Rory was recovering, and now, three weeks later, he's feeling like himself again.

"He is not out fetching the newspaper or peeing on power poles or barking yet!" laughed Edwards. "He is just the normal cat that we have - playful, friendly." - Watch it at New Zealand's 3 News

• A U.S. sleep expert has said an increasing number of people have started to use their phone and send text messages while they are asleep

• Sleep texters often have no recollection of sending the messages when they wake up the next morning

• Dr Werber warned the practice prevents people from getting enough deep sleep that helps the brain perform higher functions

Many people rely on their smartphone throughout the day to surf the web, check their email and send messages to friends. But what about during the night?

A sleep expert has said an increasing number of people have started to use their phone and send text messages while they are asleep and often don't remember writing them.

Dr Josh Werber warned sleep texting could have embarrassing consequences as well as leading to health problems as people are not getting enough quality sleep.

Income tax bills will be dropping into letterboxes in the next few days and they will contain an unpleasant surprise for millions of taxpayers.

The avis d'impôt sur le revenu for 2012 will see an increase for many, due to the freezing of inflation-linked income limits, and families could also see a rise in tax due to changes in the quotient familial.

For 50,000 higher earners, a new tax band for those earning more than €150,000 per "part" will also mean a rise in tax.

Some observers say that 15 million people will face rises, but Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says it will be much less.

A new draft law will force auto-entrepreneurs to leave the popular simplified business regime if they earn more than the minimum wage two years running.

Business Minister Sylvia Pinel aims to please the artisan lobby with her proposals, which are expected to drop the upper limit for the regime from €32,600 for services to €19,000 and from €81,500 to €47,500 for sales businesses. Bodies representing artisans, especially in the building trades, have long claimed that auto-entrepreneurs cause "unfair competition".

While these precise figures - mentioned by the minister in June - have been left out of the draft law, which has now been officially presented to the cabinet, Ms Pinel said the levels will correspond to the "Smic" minimum wage (on which the above figures were based).
The final figures will be fixed later by decree after a parliamentary working group, headed by Socialist Laurent Grandguillaume, holds further discussions on the regime, starting this month.

A report by school inspectors has highlighted that schools continue to enforce stereotypes and inequality between the sexes.

The report by the l'inspection générale de l'éducation nationale highlights attitudes such as:

- Choosing girls to look after the class while the teacher is briefly absent because they are more responsible.

- Giving preferential treatment to boys because they are supposed to struggle more at school

- Marking boys in terms of cognitive ability, while marking girls on the basis of positive attitude.

Over half of girls pass through to terminale (ages 17+), without repeating a year, compared to 40% of boys. However girls are much less likely to pursue sciences, compared to their counterparts in Asia and the Middle East.

And they are talking about accidents?!?

Mysterious Explosion at New Jersey Navy station explosion - 8 hurt (ABC Local)

MIDDLETOWN (WABC) - At least eight sailors were injured after an explosion and fire at the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Middletown, New Jersey, Tuesday morning.


Naval officials confirm that some kind of explosion happened during maintenance work on a 35-foot utility vessel in one of the buildings along the waterfront around 9 a.m.

Packs of wild, abandoned dogs are roaming the streets of Detroit, leaving city officials overwhelmed at the prospect of handing an issue that raises both animal rights and safety concerns.

"It was almost post-apocalyptic, where there are no businesses, nothing except people in houses and dogs running around," the Humane Society of the United States director Amanda Arrington told Bloomberg News about a recent visit to Detroit. "The suffering of animals goes hand in hand with the suffering of people."

Bloomberg reports that packs of the dogs have been spotted in groups as large as 20. In one case, Detroit police officer Lapez Moore said the city's animal-control unit recently found several of the dogs inside a flooded basement where thieves had torn out the building's water pipes.

"The dogs were having a pool party," Moore said. "We went in and fished them out."

But the reality of the situation is more dire than an impromptu animal pool party. Local shelters say they are forced to euthanize about 70 percent of the dogs that are brought it, and their facilities are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of abandoned and stray animals.

It's been 50 years since iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream Speech." Although a lot of progress has been made, the struggle continues. Linda So reports.

Twenty-six cents almost cost Sergio Branco his life.

Twenty-six cents.

Most of us could scrape that up from under our couch cushions or on the floor of a car.

Sergio Branco has 26 cents, too. The question was whether or not he would be permitted to pay it.

Branco, a 33-year-old father of three, was a truck driver for Russell Reid, a Keasbey-based waste-management company.

"In his spare time, he would play with his children, liked having barbecues and people over for gatherings," his cousin Sandy Marujo said. "He is a big kid at heart."

In January, Branco wasn't himself. He didn't feel right.

"He complained about bone pains and being extremely fatigued," Marujo said. "He decided to go to the emergency room."

The Edison man underwent several tests, which indicated he had a very weak immune system. It could be leukemia, the doctors said.

A few days later, a bone marrow test confirmed the diagnosis: acute myeloid leukemia. The disease, left untreated, travels fast and can kill within months, or even weeks, of diagnosis.

Branco started a series of treatments including chemotherapy and transfusions, and he took three months off from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Doctors soon said he'd need a bone marrow transplant to prolong his life. They found a 10-point match - the best possible match. The transplant and related care for the disease would cost more than $500,000.

Good thing the family had health insurance through Branco's job, they thought.

But when his three-month leave under FMLA ended, Russell Reid fired him, Branco's family said.