|
National Guard to seek volunteers for border
 Posted 7/2/2009 3:30:00 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is developing plans to seek up to 1,500 National Guard volunteers to step up the military's counter-drug efforts along the Mexican border, senior administration officials said Monday.
The plan is a stopgap measure being worked out between the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department, and comes despite Pentagon concerns about committing more troops to the border — a move some officials worry will be seen as militarizing the region.
Senior administration officials said the Guard program will last no longer than a year and would build on an existing counter-drug operation. They said the program, which would largely be federally funded, would draw on National Guard volunteers from the four border states. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been finalized.
Click to read more
2-year old killed by Python overnight : 911 call
Posted 7/2/2009 3:10:00 PM
Chilling audio tapes of a frantic 911 call placed by a Florida man after his python fatally attacked his girlfriend's 2-year old-daughter Wednesday have been released.
"It's an emergency. The baby's dead," gasped Charles Jason Darnell, 32, of Oxford, Fla., in a call to Sumter County authorities.
Police say Darnell's nearly 9-foot-long python apparently escaped from its aquarium and strangled the 2-year-old in her bedroom.
Barely able to communicate between sobs, Darnell told the operator that his albino Burmese python killed his girlfriend's toddler, Shaunia Hare.
"Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby!" he is heard saying.
Later, referring to his snake, he said, "I'm going to kill the b*tch!"
On the call, Darnell said the snake was about 12-feet-long but later WFTV in Orlando, Fla., reported that the snake was about 8 feet 8 inches.
Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter ...
Study reports an increase in female binge drinking
Posted 7/1/2009 3:28:00 PM
Richard Grucza, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, recently authored a study that researched the binge-drinking tendencies among young females in the U.S. and found increased consumption rates in college aged women.
The study found that although binge drinking has decreased for several demographics, it has increased in women under 34. Of the 18 to 20-year-old female population in 1979, 22 percent reported binge drinking and 20.3 percent of the 21 to 23-year-old age group reported binge drinking. These numbers rose to 30.1 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively, in 2006.
English senior Michelle Cruz said binge drinking among females is seen as a sort of competition.
“It’s more like proving yourself, that I can handle it,” Cruz said. “It’s usually a shot. It’s like, ‘Oh, can you take a shot without a chaser. If you have to take a chaser you’re a girly girl.’”...
Austin officers forgo pay raises in tentative deal
Posted 7/1/2009 3:20:00 PM
Austin police officers would get no raise next year but would instead receive a guaranteed 3 percent pay increase in 2012 under a tentative agreement reached Tuesday between police union and city officials.
The measure, which must be approved by the union's 1,500 members and the City Council, would save the city an estimated $5 million amid a significant budget crunch.
It would be the first year in more than a decade that officers would not receive pay raises.
According to the tentative agreement, officers would forgo their 2.75 percent pay raises next year but would receive a guaranteed 3 percent increase in budget year 2012. They would still get scheduled 3 percent increases in 2011.
Click to read more
Austin Police using CapMetro buses to catch aggresive drivers
Posted 6/30/2009 3:28:00 PM
Some Austin police officers are riding on Capital Metro buses today , as part of a traffic enforcement operation officials are calling the Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks, or TACT Program.
Commander Donald Baker says during today's operation, teams of two officers, including a supervisor, are riding around on buses. He says the supervisor is on the look-out specifically for people who are changing lanes without signaling, cutting people off or tailgating. Commander Baker says the supervisor then calls out on the radio to other patrol officers in the area with the offending vehicle's information.
Baker says last Wednesday, officer rode along on 18-wheelers looking for the same offenses.
"The campaign is about educating the motorist, to please leave more space," says Commander Baker. "The stuff that you learned in Driver's Ed, we're asking you to use that and think about it."
Click to read more
Toll road item may threaten special session
Posted 6/30/2009 3:19:00 PM
The spoiler of Gov. Rick Perry's midsummer's dream of a three-day special session could be the "Nichols language."
The consensus seems to be that few problems exist with the first two items on Perry's session "call" — essentially the allowable agenda for the session — that would extend the life of five state agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation, and allow TxDOT to issue $2 billion in debt.
But there could be trouble with the third and last item, legislation granting a reprieve to a statutory death sentence for private toll road leases.
During the regular session, state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, carried a bill that would have extended by six years the legal authority for TxDOT and regional mobility authorities to sign what have usually been 50-year contracts with private companies to build and operate (and profit from) tollways on public land. Authority for such leases expires Sept. ...
Women Are Better Than Men at Pounding Nails
Posted 6/30/2009 3:16:00 PM
Any man who has ever pounded nails for a living has hit his thumb a time or two. One possible reason: He's just not that good at it. Another factor: He's probably doing it in broad daylight.
Women are more accurate at pounding nails, a new study finds. At least in the light. Women hit the nail on the head more often in lighted conditions in a lab, but in the dark, men did better. Scientists aren't sure why, but they have a provocative idea.
In hammering out the differences between the sexes, the researchers used a mechanical plate that measured force and accuracy. They put small and large targets on the plate, to represent small and large nail heads. Then some test subjects pounded away.
"We filmed how subjects hammered, and how close the subject hammered to the target was an index of accuracy," explained study leader Duncan Irschick ...
Parents to pay for children's crimes
Posted 6/29/2009 3:27:00 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) - Police in Corpus Christi , Texas said it is time to step up the battle against graffiti by suing the parents of habitual taggers.
The City approved an ordinance two years ago that allows it to file civil lawsuits against the parents of those leaving graffiti behind. The ordinance said the parent can be held liable if their children are found vandalizing property.
The police department's graffiti task force coordinator, DeAnna McQueen, said they are getting bombarded with graffiti and it is time to start filing the lawsuits.
"The lawsuits would be in instances of repeat offenders who cause a lot of costly damage," said McQueen.
The City Council will hear a presentation about the plan Tuesday.
Jury awards $5-million to former inmate
Posted 6/29/2009 3:21:00 PM
Houston, Texas (AP) - A federal jury has awarded 5 million to a Houston man who spent 17 years in prison on kidnapping and rape charges that were overturned in 2005.
George Rodriguez, 48, sued after being convicted in 1987 based on evidence from the Houston Police Department crime lab that was later discredited.
His lawyers argued that city officials were deliberately indifferent to a lack of supervision at the crime lab that created a risk that an innocent person could be convicted.
The city argued that Rodriguez's conviction was the result of false testimony given by a former crime lab manager and was not the fault of the city.
Rodriguez said he is satisfied with Thursday's verdict.
Man upset at McDonalds calls 911 repeatedly
Posted 6/29/2009 3:18:00 PM
CLACKAMAS, Ore. - A man upset at the way McDonald's employees handled his order was charged after allegedly calling 911 repeatedly on Friday to report the restaurant had robbed him, authorities said.
Jeremy Lloyd Martin, 23, was charged with improper use of the 911 service, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said. He spent a night in jail over the incident.
According to a tape of the 911 calls released by Clackamas County 911, a man initially told a dispatcher that he was at the McDonald's near the intersection of Southeast Sunnyside Road and Southeast 82nd Avenue and needed help. The man said he had paid $10 in the drive-thru but only received a single burger and a fry before he was told to pull around.
"Sir, this is not a police matter," the dispatcher told him. "You need to take it up with the manager of the McDonald's."
|