CIARA PERSONAL BLOG 5/18/12- FRIDAY

EL PASO, TX — A man is dead after allegedly suffering from a heart attack at a The Red Parrot Strip Club in east El Paso County Friday night. Our sources say the man most likely suffered from a heart attack while getting a lap dance. He was taken to the hospital where he later died. The El Paso Sheriff’s Office says there were no signs of foul play, but they are still investigating. What do you think about this situation? What if this was someone in your family? What should be done?

FIND FACTS-WEDNESDAY-5/16/12-58 DOGS IN ONE HOUSE

FIND FACTS- MONDAY-5/14/12-MAN STEALS TRACTOR

A Chicago man is accused of stealing a Bobcat tractor early Friday then driving it through the gates of a nearby Family Dollar store to take deodorant, police said. Michael Younger, 50, of the 8100 block of South Vernon, was charged with two counts of felony burglary for stealing the tractor from a West Side construction site and stealing items from the store. He allegedly took the Bobcat from the 5300 block of West Chicago Avenue, the site of the former 15th District police station and the soon-to-be home of a community center. Younger is charged with using the machine to break through the Family Dollar's window and crash into the store. Police said the man was found in the area with stolen gift cards and two cans of deodorant. According to local reports, the man told police he found the gift cards on the ground. Police compared his image to that on store surveillance video and arrested him. No money was taken from the Family Dollar. What do you think of this situation? Was this a bit too extreme? What would you have done if this was a relative of your family? Please use complete sentences and don't forget spell check!

FIND FACTS-5/9/12-WEDNESDAY-55 YEAR OLD CHEERLEADER

Sharon Simmons has wanted to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader since her 20s. Now, at 55, the fitness model is finally reaching for her dreams. “I thought about this when I was about 22 years old. I was a single mom, and I wanted to do it,” said Simmons, a grandmother, in an interview. The 55-year-old cheerleader planned on auditioning decades ago, but money, time, and raising a family delayed her dream for half a lifetime. But last weekend Simmons finally tried out. Joining hundreds of others over the weekend to audition for the squad at Cowboys Stadium, she said: “It literally has been about the journey." "I’ve met incredible people, I’ve learned so many new things.” Fox reports that Simmons has written a book about ageless fitness and has won several competitions in her successful career as a fitness model. She said: “I don’t see a number… If I do, it’s just a number. It’s not that I can’t keep up with [younger women] in the physical part of the training.” If Simmons makes the team, she will be the oldest cheerleader in the league. She won’t be, however, the only grandmother in the NFL, though. Suzie Sanchez of the Oakland Raiders is also a grandma ... though Sanchez is only 37. Laura Vikmanis is currently the oldest NFL cheerleader at 42. Would you do something like this if you were 55? This would be equivalent to Ms. Sue trying to make the cheerleading team! Is it fair? Is it right or wrong? Please use complete sentences and don't forget spell check!

FIND FACTS-MONDAY-5/7/12- LADY ATTACKED BY CHEETAHS

A tourist who, along with a child, was mauled by two cheetahs at the petting area of a wildlife park in South Africa lived to talk about it, saying she decided to play dead in hopes she'd survive. "Something inside me just said, 'Don't move. Don't move at all," Violet D'Mello told the Port Elizabeth Herald. "Don't react, just play dead'." D'Mello, from Scotland, said her husband was taking pictures of her with the cheetahs at the Kragga Kamma Game Park when one grabbed the leg of a nearby child. The girl got free, though with deep scratches that required stitches, and as her brother ran away D'Mello reached out to grab him. As I stopped him, something jumped me from behind," she said. A guide pulled the cheetah off her, but not before it had pawed at her head. Then the second bit D'Mello's legs, keeping her pinned down. "It all happened in just a few minutes," she said of the incident on April 28, "but it was a nightmare." Blood oozes from the neck of Violet D'Mello after the attack. "They weren't being vicious. You could tell they (the cheetahs) were just excited, but it became serious very quickly." The cheetahs are brothers that have been hand-reared since birth. The bitten child, Camryn Malan, had wanted to see the cheetahs after doing a school report on the animals. "They are not sleeping," Samuel Malan said of his children. "They wake up screaming. I keep seeing it ... Just to see that thing biting that lady." What would you have done if this had happened to you? Please use complete sentences and don't forget spell check.

FIND FACTS-WEDNESDAY-5/2/12-HONEYBEES IN ATTIC

CAPE MAY - Honeybee populations may be shrinking around the world, but that wasn't the case at Victoria Clayton's circa 1866 house, where a bee expert spent much of Thursday removing a huge wax honeycomb and 30,000 of the buzzing creatures from an attic crawl space. Clayton and her boyfriend, Richard White, with whom she owns the former bed-and-breakfast on Washington Street, noticed an unusually large number of bees in their well-tended flower and herb gardens this spring. They also spied a constant stream headed toward a third-floor laundry vent. After doing some research - and finding that honeybees are the "good" bees essential to pollinating many of the world's food crops - the couple decided to get help in herding their industrious visitors to a new home. Clayton's infestation may be unusual in a global environment where a syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder began to worry scientists six years ago. Entomologists estimated that between 50 and 90 percent of the world's feral honeybee population had disappeared. Theories for their demise included the effects of decades of urbanization, pesticides, and parasitic mites. But almost as soon as the word went out that bees were in trouble, environmentally concerned members of the public responded by becoming beekeeper hobbyists. Many established backyard apiaries, especially in Cape May County, said Tim Schuler, state apiarist for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. Thanks to a beekeeping course taught statewide by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service and sponsored locally by the Jersey Cape Beekeepers Association, the number of people who propagate bees in the county grew from 20 five years ago to more than 100 now, Schuler said. Statewide about 1,000 individuals belong to the New Jersey Beekeepers Association, double the membership of three years ago. Clayton and White are not apiarists, but they have a close-up familiarity with the area's fauna. "This old house just seems to attract wildlife, so it's good that I really love animals," said Clayton, 52, who regularly sees raccoons and possums, as well as hundreds of tiny black birds - known colloquially as "chimney sweeps" - that swarm her house at dusk, then dive-bomb single file down her dormant brick chimney to roost overnight. What would you do in a situation like this? Would you continually live in a house like this? Would you leave the insects alone? Please use complete sentences and don't forget spell check!

FIND FACTS- MONDAY-4/30/12- CAR CRASH

An out-of-control SUV barreled across several lanes of traffic on a highway overpass Sunday, then plunged more than 50 feet off the side of the road and landed in a ravine on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, killing all seven people aboard, including three children, authorities said. The 2004 Honda Pilot apparently flipped over a 4-foot-high iron fence before landing upside-down on the property of the nation's largest city zoo. The cause of the crash was unclear, and police haven't yet said how fast the SUV was traveling. A city official said the guardrail's height would be one of the safety issues investigated. Police identified the dead adults as Jacob Nunez, 85, and Ana Julia Martinez, 81, both from the Dominican Republic, and their daughters, Maria Gonzalez, 45, and Maria Nunez, 39, and three grandchildren. Police say Gonzalez was driving. The children were identified as Jocelyn Gonzalez, 10, the daughter of the driver, Niely Rosario, 7, and Marly Rosario, 3, both daughters of Nunez. The SUV was headed south on the Bronx River Parkway that cuts through a working-class neighborhood when it bounced off the median, crossed three southbound lanes and hit the curb, causing the vehicle to become airborne, continue over the guardrail and plunge 59 feet, police said. "Obviously, the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed," FDNY deputy Chief Ronald Werner said. "It hit something that caused it to become airborne." The SUV landed in a wooded area on the edge of zoo property that's closed to the public and far from any animal exhibits, zoo spokeswoman Mary Dixon said. The vehicle lay mangled hours later, its right doors ripped off and strewn amid the trees along with items from the car. Next to the heavily wooded area are subway tracks and a train yard. What if this was your family, would you survive? What should be done for these victims? Please use complete sentences and don't forget spell check.