FIND FACTS- 2/29/12- WEDNESDAY- OHIO SHOOTING

CHARDON, Ohio — The fatal shooting rampage in a high school in this quiet suburb of Cleveland remained a puzzle on Tuesday, with prosecutors saying that a student had confessed to the killings and had told them that he did not know his victims and chose them at random.

.T. J. Lane, 17, being escorted into court on Tuesday. The authorities have until Thursday to file charges against him in the shooting.
Prosecutors said the student, T. J. Lane, 17, admitted taking a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic pistol to Chardon High School on Monday and firing 10 rounds at four students at a cafeteria table. He has not been formally charged, but prosecutors said it was likely that he would be tried in an adult court.

Three of the victims — Russell King Jr., Demetrius Hewlin and Daniel Parmertor have died. Two others were wounded. One has been released from the hospital.

“This is not about bullying, this is not about drugs,” said David P. Joyce, the Geauga County prosecutor. “This was an effect of one lone gunman. He chose his victims at random.”

Mr. Lane appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday, wincing as the prosecutors read the accusations against him. Dressed in a crisp khaki-colored shirt and dark low-slung pants with a thick belt, he sat in a wooden chair with his back straight, speaking in barely audible tones to the judge, Timothy J. Grendell, in Geauga County Juvenile Court. His face crumpled briefly into tears as he was led away, and he appeared to whisper the words “I am so sorry” to two aunts and his grandfather, Jack Nolan, who is also his legal guardian.

The authorities have until Thursday to charge Mr. Lane.

The day brought more questions than answers to this blue-collar town of 5,000 east of Cleveland. Mr. Lane is a sophomore at Lake Academy, an alternative high school for at-risk youths, some of whom take a bus from Chardon High School. Students interviewed at both schools described him as quiet but friendly, and interested in Nascar and hunting.

CNN reported on Tuesday that Mr. Lane had taken the gun from a family member, who had bought it legally, but Mr. Joyce said he could not confirm that.

“By all accounts, T. J. is a fairly quiet and a good kid,” said Robert N. Farinacci, the Lanes’ lawyer, who added that he had not been in trouble before.

David Rafail, 17, of Willoughby, Ohio, a student at a vocational school next to Lake Academy, said he used to take smoking breaks with Mr. Lane. He called him a quiet student who “was always alone.”

Jarod Mausolf, 17, a student at Lake Academy, said he had taken American history with Mr. Lane and called him a good student, though far more quiet than most.

“He never talked at all,” Mr. Mausolf said. “The expression on his face, it was sad. A sad face. Kind of blank.”

Another student, Damien Stewart, 16, a sophomore at Lake Academy, said he had an English class with Mr. Lane.

“He was pretty cool,” Mr. Stewart said. “Very quiet. Nobody really talked to him. Not because we didn’t like him, he just wasn’t a talker. He was very sweet, very nice, very friendly.”

Mr. Lane’s lawyer said the teenager had no prior trouble with the law. Mr. Lane’s father, Thomas Lane, was arrested in 2002 on charges of attempted murder, and a restraining order was imposed forbidding him to contact his former wife, according to court records. Mr. Lane struck a plea bargain for a lesser charge and was sentenced to four years in jail. He served nine months of his sentence and was released in June 2003.

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FIND FACTS- MONDAY-2/27/12- GIRL RUNS TO DEATH

The story of a 9-year-old girl in Alabama who died after allegedly being forced to run for three hours as punishment for lying to her grandmother will likely leave you raging mad or speechless or wondering how in the world evil monsters like this should be allowed to mix in with normal members of society and procreate. Or maybe even all of the above.

According to witnesses, little Savannah Hardin was told to run laps around the yard and not allowed to stop for three hours on Friday. Her stepmother called 911 because she began seizing and then became unresponsive; she died days later allegedly from dehydration and low sodium levels.

Right about now, you're wondering what this little girl could have possibly done to warrant such a severe punishment, and you won't believe it when you hear it ...

She ate candy bars on the school bus. But wait. The story gets even more infuriating. Hardin's grandmother and stepmother offered this baseless defense as to why her "punishment" Because Savannah had a bladder condition and eating chocolate caused health problems for her, they were worried she would hurt herself.

And yet they would force her to run around the yard for hours with no water because THAT is a safe and healthy activity?

I hate to say it because this story is so very sad and tragic, but you've got to wonder if Savannah is better off now. Obviously, these women are cruel and incredibly dumb and have no business taking care of a child. (Savannah has a father, but he was working overseas.) To be forced to live under the "care" of these women who can't tell the difference between abuse and discipline, As for the grandmother and stepmom, they're in jail facing murder charges. Hopefully, a long, long stint behind bars is in their future.

Do you think the grandmother and stepmother are guilty of murder?
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FIND FACTS- SECOND SPECIAL BLOG-2/24/12-FRIDAY

EAGLE POINT, Ore. — Last weekend, 14-year-old Ashley Long told her parents she was going to a slumber party. But instead of spending the night watching videos and eating popcorn two blocks away, she piled into a car with a bunch of her friends and rode to a condo in Medford, Ore., where police say the big sister of one of her friends was throwing a party with booze and marijuana.

After drinking on the drive, and downing more drinks in the condo, it came time for Ashley to take her turn on a tank of helium that everyone else was inhaling to make their voices sound funny.

"That helium tank got going around," said Ashley's stepfather, Justin Earp, who learned what happened from talking to Ashley's friends at the party. "It got to my daughter. My daughter didn't want to do it. It was peer pressure. They put a mask up to her face. They said it would be OK. 'It's not gonna hurt you. It'll just make you laugh and talk funny.'"

Instead, she passed out and later died at a hospital, the result of an obstruction in a blood vessel caused by inhaling helium from a pressurized tank.

"It blew her lungs out," Earp said. "It exploded them. It created air pockets in her veins. Then it went up into her brain and blew it up."

It's a common party trick — someone sucks in helium to give their voice a cartoon character sound.

But the death exposes the rare but real dangers of inhaling helium, especially from a pressurized tank. The gas is also commonly seen in suicide kits — mail-order hoods sold out of Oregon and elsewhere that can be attached to a helium tank by people who want to kill themselves.

Death from inhaling helium is so rare that the American Association Poison Control Centers lumps it in with other gases, such as methane and propane. Only three deaths from simple asphyxiants were recorded in 2010, said spokeswoman Loreeta Canton.

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FIND FACTS-2/24/12- FRIDAY

The wandering spider, commonly known as a banana spider, was spotted crawling out of the fruit in Asda's Chesser branch on Tuesday.

A shop worker caught the female arachnid in a plastic jar before calling the Scottish SPCA.

The spider, with a 10cm leg span, was taken to the Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World where it later died.

Shop worker, Petra Merriman, 45, caught the spider.

She said her male colleagues had been "in panic" after discovering the spider.

She said: "All the boys were running round like headless chickens.

"One of the chaps who was putting a box of bananas in the display took a lid off a box and saw it was curled around a banana.

"We got a phone call in the back office saying come and deal with this spider.

"The guys all said 'I'm not going.' I said I would. I'm not arachnophobic at all."

She added: "I brought a pot with a secure lid down with me, and I just popped it in.

"I didn't have to touch it, I just put the pot underneath it.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here before."

Kevin Thom, of Edinburgh Butterfly and Insect World, said: "It isn't deadly but its venom contains high levels of serotonin.

"If bitten you would experience pain, swelling, muscle spasms and flu-like symptoms which could be very unpleasant, depending on the amount of venom that was injected.

"These spiders can survive transport from abroad by shutting down and becoming very cold.

"They awaken when they warm up, which is often under bright shop lights.

"This female has possibly suffered shock in transit or it may simply have been her time to die."
What would you do if this insect was crawling in your bed? up your arm? or in your clothes? Please write in complete sentences and don't forget spell check!

FIND FACTS- WEDNESDAY-2/22/12

Bobby Brown is set to write a revealing book about his ex-wife Whitney Houston, it is reported.

The Huffington Post claims that the singer may cash in on the late singer's death because he needs the money.

Bobby apparently had a book ready for release in 2008 but because there was limited interest at the time for such a tome, the tell-all was never published.

But after the I Will Always Love you star died on February 11 aged 48 in the bathroom of the Beverly Hilton hotel, there is now renewed curiosity.

"Back in 2008, the interest in a book on Whitney Houston wasn't that great," a source told the website. "Whitney had fallen off the radar back then."

"But now, following her tragic death, the market has changed. Now is the time for a book that details an honest look into the life of Whitney."

Apparently Bobby may have signed a confidentiality agreement as part of his divorce with Whitney back in 2007 but it is rumoured he may try to find a way around that now that she has passed away.

"This is a man who left his ex-wife's funeral because he didn't like his seats and went to a paying gig that night," a friend of Whitney's stated.

"He didn't get on stage that night because he needed to sing his greatest hits or because Whitney would have wanted him to entertain his fans, he did it to get a paycheck - the same reason he now wants to write a tell-all book."

Is this the right thing to do? Is it just about money?Or does Bobby want the public to cherish Whitney's memory?
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FIND FACTS- MONDAY 2/20/12- MARDI GRAS TIME

The beads are ready to be tossed, the costumed crowds are in the mood to party and tourism officials are smiling.

It can only mean one thing: It’s Mardi Gras time in New Orleans.

“It is the event of the year. It’s our largest, in terms of economic benefit. It is probably the most iconic celebration for the city,” said Jennifer Day-Sully, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.

About a million people are expected to take part in the festivities over the 12 days leading up to Fat Tuesday, which falls on Feb. 21 this year, Day-Sully said. The city doesn’t break that number down into out-of-town visitors and local attendees.

“We’re working 24/7 to make sure that happens,” he said. “I think the numbers are moving in that direction.”

There’s a lot at stake for the city. A Tulane University study showed the economic impact of Mardi Gras on New Orleans amounted to $300 million in 2011, Romig said. For every $1 the city spent on services to support Mardi Gras — such as sanitation and security — it received $8.50 back in tax revenue. So officials are happy to see the party recover to pre-Hurricane Katrina level.

If you could go to the Mardi Gras...would you do it? And who would you take along?
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FIND FACTS-2/15/12-WEDNESDAY-POST OFFICE CLOSINGS

Postal officials were blunt in December when they stood before 120 residents in Dedham, Iowa, to tell them why their town's post office has to close. The Internet, officials said, was killing the U.S. Postal Service.

"Well, I have no Internet," resident Judy Ankenbauer said at the meeting. Like many of Dedham's 280 residents, Ankenbauer said she still relies on the post office to buy stamps and send letters and packages.

Dedham is hardly alone in its dependence on the Postal Service. Some of America's poorest communities - many of them with spotty broadband Internet coverage - stand to suffer most if the struggling agency moves ahead with plans to shutter thousands of post offices later this year, a Reuters analysis found. Nearly 80 percent of the 3,830 post offices under consideration are in sparsely populated rural areas where poverty rates are higher than the national average, demographic data analyzed by Reuters shows.

Moreover, about one-third of the offices slated for closure fall in areas with limited or no wired broadband Internet, Reuters found.

"We're not the ones in the big cities who are just emailing everything to everybody. We're the ones that are actually still sending our Christmas cards and our birthday cards," said Sarah Clyden, who runs a feed store in Oakwood, Okla., where the agency is considering closing the post office.

Federal law requires the Postal Service to provide "a maximum degree of effective and regular postal services" to rural areas and small towns. Today, with 32,000 retail locations and 150 million delivery points, the Postal Service has a larger footprint in the U.S. than McDonald's, Starbucks and Wal-Mart combined, according to its website.

Even so, the rise of email, a drop-off in first-class mail, onerous labor costs and the growth of shippers such as UPS and FedEx have left the Postal Service hemorrhaging money. By fall, postal officials have warned, they may not be able to borrow money.

The Postal Service is not studying the economic impact on communities where post offices are slated to close, spokesman David Partenheimer said. But in the 3,004 rural communities across 48 states where post offices may close, many residents fear the impact will be pronounced.

About 2.9 million people live in the rural communities where the post office that may close is either the only one or one of two post offices serving their zip code area. For many rural residents, that would translate into longer drives to mail packages, pay bills or buy stamps.

Like all of the post offices on the closure lists, the post offices in Dedham and Oakwood wouldn't close until mid-May, thanks to a temporary moratorium on closings put in place in December. The moratorium was intended to give Congress a window to pass legislation offering the Postal Service some relief. But with lawmakers still deeply divided over how to address the Postal Service's financial woes, state and local government officials worry thousands of closings are on the way.

Advertise | AdChoices"The Postal Service is supposed to be a universal service available to people wherever they live in America," said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who pushed hard for the moratorium. "What they're doing is going against that premise."

DO YOU THINK THIS IS PROGRESS? OR HAVE WE MADE A MISTAKE WITH CLOSING THIS PART OF AMERICAN HISTORY?
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FIND FACTS- 2/13/12- MONDAY-REMEMBER WHITNEY

The Grammys will honor the memory of Whitney Houston on Sunday night, and it appears Jennifer Hudson will lead the charge.

However, viewers won’t see the show turn into a “full-blown tribute,” according to the show’s executive producer.
“We had a long-term association with Whitney. Whitney was a multi-Grammy winner. She appeared on the show a number of times ... obviously we are very saddened. We don’t want to rush to anything that wouldn’t be respectful,” Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich told CNN on Sunday night of the music awards show’s plan to honor Houston, who died on Saturday at age 48.

What do you remember about Whitney Houston? Did any of her songs or movies ever touch your life?
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FIND FACTS-2/8/12-WEDNESDAY- DANCES LIKE MICHAEL

A 9-year-old Minnesota boy was suspended from school for performing a Michael Jackson dance routine during a fundraiser -- complete with the late King of Pop's signature groin grab.

Lenny Boberg and his mother, Mindy Boberg, were approached Thursday immediately after the "Billie Jean" performance by St. Stanislaus Principal Pal Bowlin, who Mindy Boberg said told her the move constituted gross misconduct, the Winona Daily News reported.

Mindy Boberg said her son had performed similar Michael Jackson routines the past two years, and this year's performance had been approved by school officials at a Tuesday rehearsal.

What do you think should happen to this child? Is he wrong or right, in your eyes?
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FIND FACTS- MONDAY-2/6/12

Karaoke can get you nearly killed. That’s what a Shingletown, Calif. man learned on Thursday of last week (Jan. 26) when his 70-year-old father shot him because he was annoyed by a country song he was singing on karaoke.
According to Redding.com, William Henry Oller, Sr., 70, was arraigned Monday in Shasta County Superior Court on attempted murder and other charges related to the shooting of his son, William Carr Oller, Jr., 50.

Oller, Sr., who lives in the Sacramento area, has a court-appointed attorney who entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 14. Bail is set at $750,000, up from the initial $500,000.

Here’s what happened: The younger Oller told the authorities that he and his father battled over his country karaoke music when the elder Oller visited his home. Oller, Sr. apparently told his son, “I’m going to shut you up” before leaving to grab a semi-automatic weapon from his truck, which he then pointed at his son, who had come outside to discuss things.

The son re-entered his home and locked the door. When he believed he was safe and that his father was no longer on his front porch, he opened the door, only to be confronted once again by his pistol-packing pop. A fight ensued, and the younger Oller was shot several times, with wounds to his arm, shoulder and chest. He also suffered a head injury, while his father was shot in the leg during the tussle.

The original report did not indicate which particular country song causes the domestic dust-up, though later updates revealed that the son was singing a Kenny Chesney song — and that he does not want to press charges on his dad.
What would you do if your parents had this type of attitude towards you? Would you do this to your child? Please write in complete sentences and don't forget spell check.