A Texas judge in the county that sends more inmates to death row than any other in the nation is apparently taking a stand.
Texas judge says death penalty unconstitutional
Friday, March 5, 2010
Texas judge says death penalty unconstitutional
A Texas judge in the county that sends more inmates to death row than any other in the nation is apparently taking a stand.
Texas judge says death penalty unconstitutional
Jobless Rate Holds Steady, Raising Hopes of Recovery
Bolstering hopes that a still-sputtering recovery was beginning to gain momentum.
The government’s monthly snapshot of the job market found that another 36,000 jobs disappeared in February — hardly cause for a celebration.
Yet compared to the monthly losses of more than 650,000 jobs a year ago ...
A 62m cannabis gang facing prison
A gang believed to be Britain's most prolific importers of skunk cannabis are facing jail.
Full StoryThe junk food sellers aren't too happy with this development, you know.
Teen arrested listening to lewd lyrics
From the "Go do some real police work" Department:
A teen has been arrested for listening to what police deem offensive rap music.
Rap fan arrested listening to lewd lyrics
While rap is crap this is a bit on the stupid side.
OK, a way far bit on the stupid side!
A teen has been arrested for listening to what police deem offensive rap music.
Rap fan arrested listening to lewd lyrics
While rap is crap this is a bit on the stupid side.
OK, a way far bit on the stupid side!
More sick on virus-plagued cruise ship
Passengers have again fallen ill with a stomach bug aboard a cruise ship hit by a virus last month on its previous trip from South Carolina.
More sick on virus-plagued cruise ship
More sick on virus-plagued cruise ship
Police dog detects drugs in cheeseburger
Police say an alert drug-sniffing dog was not interested in a double cheeseburger but in the crack cocaine it concealed, leading to the arrest of three people Thursday night.
Police dog detects drugs in cheeseburger
Police dog detects drugs in cheeseburger
Man sent to prison for 15 years gets new trial after jury didn't take oath to be honest
A Michigan man sent to prison for 15 years is getting a new trial after the judge failed to do a routine procedure - ask the jury to take an oath.
Michigan man sent to prison for 15 years gets new trial after jury didn't take oath to be honest
Michigan man sent to prison for 15 years gets new trial after jury didn't take oath to be honest
Stock market psychic busted by SEC
Perhaps he should have seen it coming.
A man claiming to be a stock market psychic is charged with bilking $6 million from more than 100 investors.
Stock market psychic busted by SEC
A man claiming to be a stock market psychic is charged with bilking $6 million from more than 100 investors.
Stock market psychic busted by SEC
Ever Wonder What A $28M Apartment Looks Like?
It's a shocker even for New York City's posh Fifth Avenue.
At the former Stanhope Hotel, which has been revamped into a fancy residence over the past few years, the last apartment is for sale - and going for a whopping $28.5 million.
Ever Wonder What A $28M Apartment Looks Like?
At the former Stanhope Hotel, which has been revamped into a fancy residence over the past few years, the last apartment is for sale - and going for a whopping $28.5 million.
Ever Wonder What A $28M Apartment Looks Like?
Possible Meteor Citing Near Hudson
How to tap the 'secret' job market
How to tap the 'secret' job market
By one estimate, about 80% of all job openings aren't advertised online or anywhere else.
Things men wish women knew about them
Things men wish women knew about them
Guys like being reminded why their girlfriends chose them in the first place.
Woman quits to save coworker's job
Woman quits to save coworker's job
Patricia Overy volunteers to be laid off so another woman can remain employed.
Biggest free-agent prize has a new team
Biggest free-agent prize has a new team
Former Pro Bowl lineman Julius Peppers is leaving Carolina for a reported six-year deal.
Cash-strapped states delay tax refunds
Cash-strapped states delay tax refunds
Taxpayers in these states shouldn't expect a timely refund check this year.
Best and worst cities for auto repairs
Best and worst cities for auto repairs
Mystery shoppers investigate 600 repair shops across the country to find out how they rank.
11-year-old owns $44 million in real estate
11-year-old owns $44 million in real estate
The son of Azerbaijan's leader reportedly is tied to deals for nine Dubai mansions.
Abrupt fall of a onetime NFL star
Abrupt fall of a onetime NFL star
Just one year after getting a fat new contract, Carolina's Jake Delhomme is unemployed.
Intriguing figure looms over health fight
Intriguing figure looms over health fight
A relatively unknown congressman now suddenly wields huge power on Capitol Hill.
Finally: What really killed the dinosaurs
Finally: What really killed the dinosaurs
For decades, scientists debated if it was an asteroid or volcanic activity that caused the mass extinction.
Pentagon shooter 'distrubed'
Shooter had a history of mental illness
The parents of a man who opened fire outside the Pentagon tried to warn police that he was unstable.
The unhealthiest restaurant salads
The unhealthiest restaurant salads
You may not be making the best choice when you order a salad at these chains.
Secret millionaire donates her fortune
Secret millionaire donates her fortune
A 100-year-old ex-secretary who lived in a tiny cottage leaves behind a stunning surprise.
Conventional Wisdom May Worsen Savannah Droughts
From Treehugger:
Image credit: iluvrhinestones/Flickr
From Texas to South Africa, farmers and ranchers on the drought-plagued Savannah know that cutting down water-hungry shrubs and trees helps keep more moisture in the soil. This conventional wisdom has ruled land management for generations but there is one problem—it may not be true.
According to new findings by researchers at Texas A&M University in College Station, the exact opposite might be the case.
Article continues: Conventional Wisdom May Worsen Savannah Droughts
Siphonophorae
The star of the latest CreatureCast, created by evolutionary biologist Casey Dunn and his students at Brown University, is the psychedelic siphonophore. Casey writes, "It is difficult to explain how beautiful these animals are, so we put together some clips from our friend Steve Haddock at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute with a voiceover by Phil Pugh, who has described more species of siphonophores than any biologist in history."
CreatureCast: Diving for Jellies
CreatureCast: Diving for Jellies
Learning to speak microbe
Far from being silent loners, bacteria are little chatterboxes – when they're not snooping on us. Perhaps we should brush up our conversational skills.Bugging bugs
Dark, dangerous asteroids found lurking near Earth
NASA's WISE mission has spotted 16 near-Earth objects that had previously been hidden in the dark.Dark, dangerous asteroids found lurking near Earth
Repugicans counting on voter's short memory
The repugicans seem to be counting on the voters having a short memory this election year.
They don't want you to remember that repugicans were the ones who crashed the economy.
They don't want you to remember that repugicans started two wars that we are still paying for.
They don't want you to remember that bank bailouts (TARP) happened on their watch.
Repugicans are now going to start using fear to distract voters from the fact the the Democrats are succeeding in turning America around and reversing the damage of the shrub cabal.
Cop News
In Cop News
Officers charged in $1 million perfume heist
Two New York City police officers are among five people charged with robbing about $1 million of perfume from a northern New Jersey warehouse.
Illinois cop doesn't like the way he was treated ... by cops in another jurisdiction
After spending years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs, Detroit officials admit that their long-promised computer system for identifying problem cops doesn't work
New scandal-tainted New York state police chief takes over for old scandal-tainted state police chief
Kentucky cop is busted as alleged marijuana dealer
Fired (pending appeal) Minnesota cop gets 30 days after breaking and entering is pled down to disorderly conduct and damage to property
Illinois cop doesn't like the way he was treated ... by cops in another jurisdiction
After spending years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs, Detroit officials admit that their long-promised computer system for identifying problem cops doesn't work
New scandal-tainted New York state police chief takes over for old scandal-tainted state police chief
Kentucky cop is busted as alleged marijuana dealer
Fired (pending appeal) Minnesota cop gets 30 days after breaking and entering is pled down to disorderly conduct and damage to property
Prosecutor won't file charges over R-rated Films in Movie Rental Kiosks
A southern Indiana prosecutor says he won’t pursue charges against stores that offer R-rated films in movie rental kiosks accessible by minors.Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco (pictured) announced his decision Friday, just days after he warned area stores that he was considering action.
Levco says he reviewed Indiana law and decided a trial would likely end in the stores’ favor. He says the kiosks have enough safeguards to protect children under 17 from accessing adult films.
Indiana law says providing matter harmful to minors is a felony.
A Union City, Ind., McDonald’s agreed to remove R-rated movies in 2007 after city officials threatened to press a public nuisance violation. Officials in nearby Winchester raised the issue with a Walmart store a year later.
The Vanderburgh County, Indiana, County Prosecutor is trying to save the children by banning anything above a "G" rating from Redbox, and other inexpensive, automated video rental systems—going so far as to backhandedly threaten a grocery store with a Class D felony.
But, as Consumerist points out, the real "brains" behind this effort isn't parents, or even a particularly zealous religious group. It's video rental stores, which stand to profit if $1-per-DVD-per-day Redbox can't dispense anything other than cartoons.
"I'm not on a crusade," said Paul Black, an Evansville attorney who says he suggested the inquiry to Levco's office on behalf of a client who operates several video store locations. "We're just looking for a level playing field here."
Tarzana woman gets life sentence for burning dancer
A San Fernando Valley woman was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for dousing a bikini dancer with gasoline and setting her on fire at a club called "Babes & Beer."Rianne Theriault-Odom, 28, was sentenced in Van Nuys Superior Court for the Feb. 5, 2009 attack on Roberta Busby. The Simi Valley woman received burns over 40 percent of her body and has had more than two dozen skin grafts.
The badly-scarred victim tearfully asked the judge to issue the maximum sentence for an act of "drunken rage."
"Now you're going to feel the same heartache that I felt when I couldn't hug, kiss or play with my kids or even talk to my kids," the 28-year-old mother of two told her attacker, reading from a letter in court.
"I guess I'll never know what was going through your mind that night, but one day you'll have to answer to God, and that's more justice than any prison can do to you," Busby said.
Odom, who has four children, requested a psychiatrist and said she was mentally unprepared for the sentence. Superior Court Judge turned down a request to postpone the sentencing.
Prosecutors say the two women had been feuding when Theriault-Odom doused Busby with gasoline from a soda bottle and set her ablaze at the Tarzana club.
Busby ran inside, and employees and patrons used curtains to douse the flames.
Theriault-Odom, who'd been refused a job as a dancer at the club, claimed someone else set the woman on fire.
Last month, a jury convicted her of torture and aggravated mayhem but acquitted her of attempted murder.
House Passes Tax Breaks For New Hires
Despite doubts among many lawmakers that it will create many jobs, the House on Thursday passed legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break.
House Passes Tax Breaks For New Hires
House Passes Tax Breaks For New Hires
Personal Shopper for North Korea Dictator Speaks
A North Korean colonel who spent two decades going on European shopping sprees for his country's rulers said Thursday the late dictator Kim Il Sung lived in luxury while many people struggled to survive in his impoverished nation.
Utah man determined to get arrested gets his wish
A man rebuffed in an attempt to get arrested, finally got his wish when he went for an officer's handgun.
Utah man determined to get arrested gets his wish
Utah man determined to get arrested gets his wish
'Frugal Felon' Turns Down Extra Cash
From the "Now this is something you don't find everyday" Department:
FBI detectives are searching for a "Frugal Felon" - a bank robber who turned down extra cash offered by a teller during the heist.
'Frugal Felon' Turns Down Extra Cash
FBI detectives are searching for a "Frugal Felon" - a bank robber who turned down extra cash offered by a teller during the heist.
'Frugal Felon' Turns Down Extra Cash
Shots fired outside Pentagon
From ABC:
Two police officers were injured by a gunman firing shots outside the Pentagon tonight. Hundreds of employees there were ordered to go into "Code Red" -- the entire building locked down, with no one allowed to enter or leave.
ABC's Steven Portnoy reported that Pentagon police had a suspect in custody. ABC's Martha Raddatz reported that three ambulances were on the scene, and all parking lots at the massive Defense Department headquarters were closed off.
The shooting occurred at the Pentagon Metro Station, which is just outside the Pentagon's main entrance.
As you can imagine the building is on lockdown.
FDA warns companies about false food labels
It is truly amazing what a new team can do.
U.S. health regulators warned units of Nestle and more than a dozen other food-makers about overstating or misstating the nutritional value of baby food, nuts and other products on their labels.
Most of the letters made public on Wednesday accuse the companies of making claims on their food packages and websites over trans fat content, antioxidant advantages, and omega-3 benefits that fail to Food and Drug Administration guidelines.
The warnings come as the FDA is set to push for new package labeling to make it easier for people to understand the nutritional content of food.
Panthers release Jake Delhomme
The Carolina Panthers have released quarterback Jake Delhomme, a day after they signed Matt Moore.The Panthers are still on the hook for $13 million in guaranteed money.
What's the real unemployment rate?
What's the real unemployment rate?
The national jobless rate is well into double digits when underemployed workers are added.
Delicious-looking foods to avoid now
Delicious-looking foods to avoid now
Chances are good the asparagus and tomatoes in stores now will disappoint.
Surprising client for janitor facing eviction
Surprising client for janitor facing eviction
Rosalina Gomez was cleaning the house of the CEO whose bank bought her foreclosed home.
Saudi Arabian Woman to be lashed for Unchaperoned Court Appearance
Welcome to the 12th Century
or is that the 9th Century ...
or is that the 9th Century ...
A Saudi Arabian woman, Sawsan Salim, has been sentenced to 300 lashings and one and a half years in prison for filing harassment complaints about government officials and appearing in court in the northern Qasim region without a male guardian present. In 2007, Salim filed 118 harassment complaints against local officials, who allegedly mistreated her when she appeared in their offices unchaperoned, according to Business Week. Salim appeared without a male guardian because her husband, her sole male family member, was in prison at the time. She initially approached a local court in 2004, when she sought help to release her husband from prison.
The legal guardianship system in Saudi Arabia requires that women, both minors and adults, must be accompanied by a male guardian outside the home. If women wish to conduct themselves in public business, work, or to drive, they must obtain permission from or be accompanied by their male guardian, who may be her husband, father, brother, or even a minor son, according to Human Rights Watch. The Saudi Arabian government promised in June 2009 to follow United Nations suggestions to remove this restrictive system, but has not made this change.
"In Saudi Arabia, being a woman going about her legitimate business without a man's protection is apparently a crime," said Nadya Khalife, a women's rights researcher for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to free Sawsan Salim and keep its promise to end this discriminatory system."
A similar case occurred in March 2009, when Khamisa Sawadi, an elderly Saudi woman, was accused of fraternization with men after two men outside of her family brought her bread. She was sentenced to 40 lashings, 4 months jail time and deportation. In February 2008, an American business woman was arrested for being in the family section of a Starbucks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a male colleague.
Breakfast sales sink with the economy
Breakfast sales sink with the economy
Fast-food breakfast sales used to be a $57 billion business for the big chains.
Why the mail should come every other day
Why the mail should come every other day
Drowning in red ink, the U.S. Postal Service needs to make radical changes to stay in business.
What's next for Vancouver's athlete village
What's next for Vancouver's athlete village
The city's post-Olympic plans for the $1.1 billion condominium complex have one blogger skeptical.
Today is ...
Today is Friday, March 5, the 64th day of 2010.
There are 301 days left in the year.
Today In History March 5
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Name Tag Day
There are 301 days left in the year.
Today In History March 5
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Name Tag Day
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Athens, Attiki, Greece
Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
Cairo, Al Qahirah, Egypt
Prague, Hlavni Mesto Praha, Czech Republic
Neuss, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
as well as Australia, and the United States in cities such as Orwell, Bismarck, Eau Claire, Potsdam, Hoboken, Brewster, Cheboygan and more.
Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Athens, Attiki, Greece
Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
Cairo, Al Qahirah, Egypt
Prague, Hlavni Mesto Praha, Czech Republic
Neuss, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
as well as Australia, and the United States in cities such as Orwell, Bismarck, Eau Claire, Potsdam, Hoboken, Brewster, Cheboygan and more.
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
If you weren't up late last night, exchanging life histories with someone who was honestly fascinated by hearing everything that happened when you were ten, you should have been.
Fortunately, it's not too late.
You're still quite willing to reveal everything about yourself -- and a certain person will be only too happy to reciprocate.
Better take a power nap after work.
Naps are good.
If you weren't up late last night, exchanging life histories with someone who was honestly fascinated by hearing everything that happened when you were ten, you should have been.
Fortunately, it's not too late.
You're still quite willing to reveal everything about yourself -- and a certain person will be only too happy to reciprocate.
Better take a power nap after work.
Naps are good.
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