Tommasino, an Italian cat, has become the third richest animal in the world after inheriting almost $15 million after his wealthy owner died and left him the entire family fortune.
Tommasino’s owner, Maria Assunta, died last month aged 94 years old and according to lawyers entrusted with her estate left the fortune in property to her stray cat she had found and looked after because of her love for animals.
Maria Assunta had a large property portfolio with homes and villas across Italy, as well as several bulging bank accounts and share portfolios but no living relatives.
Lawyers Anna Orecchioni and Giacinto Canzona who are representing Maria Assunta say that she left the fortune to Tommasino in a will she wrote and deposited with them in their office in Rome in October 2009.
Anna Orecchioni explained that, under Italian law, Tommassino is not entitled to inherit the money directly and the will also asked for the money to be given to a “worthy animal association, if one could be found”.
The lawyer added: “We had requests from several organizations but in the end we did not find any that we thought were suitable.
“Then earlier this year Maria told us about her nurse called Stefania who looked after her and who like her had a love of animals and in particular cats. We also could find no living relatives of her at all anywhere.
“In the end we decided that Stefania was the most suitable person to administer the money that Maria had left in her will.
“To be honest he doesn’t need all that money he is happy with a saucer of milk and some biscuits.”
Stefania herself said: “I had no idea that she was worth so much money.”
The world’s richest animal is thought to be Gunter, a German shepherd who received $140 million after his wealthy and slightly barking heiress owner Karlotta Liebenstien died and left him her fortune.
In 1988 British recluse Ben Rea left his fortune of $14 million to his cat Blackie.
One man died on a Hollywood street after he was shot by an off-duty police officer working on a nearby film set.
Three other people were injured, one critically, during the mid-morning incident yesterday at the famed Hollywood intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.
The shooter, a 26-year-old Hispanic dressed in a white sweat vest, was filmed from an office block standing in the middle of the road firing on pedestrians and motorists.
At first, witnesses didn’t know if the shooting was part of movie. Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling’s crime drama, Gangster Squad, is being filmed nearby.
But when bullets shattered glass and ricocheted in the street, they soon ran for cover.
The shooter, a 26-year-old Hispanic dressed in a white sweat vest, was filmed from an office block standing in the middle of the road firing on pedestrians and motorists
Micah Williams told the local KCAL-9 news station he had been walking with a friend when the gunman began shooting “in every which direction”.
He added: “Then the third one ricocheted right by our head and I was like <<Dude, they’re shooting at us>>.”
A 40-year-old driver in a silver Mercedes was shot in the jaw. He is in critical condition at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Two other men suffered minor injuries, one was grazed by a bullet and the other as glass from a car window shattered near his face.
Gregory Bojorquez was on the way to his bank when the gunfire erupted. He said: “At first it seemed like a movie but then you could hear the shots hitting metal.”
Gregory Bojorquez saw a plainclothes detective emerge from a squad car and order the gunman to get on the ground and surrender, but the man appeared to ignore him.
“He was screaming he was going to die and that he wanted to die,” Gregory Bojorquez said.
An off-duty police motorcycle officer working as security on a film set also rushed to the scene to join the confrontation.
He shot the suspect after he ran out of bullets and produced a knife, according to witnesses. His name has not been released.
It is unknown if the actors were on set during the real-life shooting, but they would have heard the gunfire.
In the Los Angeles area, every movie production is required to have a permit, so if there is shooting, or a movie, locals are notified for any loud noises and big signs are placed on street corners.
At least 13 people were killed, including two children after small plane has crashed in the Philippines into a school building in Paranaque near the capital, Manila, police and Red Cross officials say.
Paranaque’s Mayor, Florencio Bernabe, said no classes were in session when the plane crash landed shortly after take-off from an airport in Manila.
A fire at the school quickly spread to surrounding shanty houses. It is not clear how many people were on board.
At least 13 people were killed, including two children after small plane has crashed in the Philippines into a school building in Paranaque
Gwendolyn Pang, of the Philippine Red Cross, told the AFP news agency:
“The crash set fire to at least 30 houses. These are shanties, made of light materials.”
According to Ramon Gutierrez, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the light plane had sent out a distress call shortly after take-off, AP news agency reports.
The plane, bound for Mindoro Island, crashed at about 14:30 local time.
A resident told The Philippine Star newspaper that a Christmas party has just been held at the school.
Mayor Florencio Bernabe said at least 20 people had been taken to hospital with injuries, AFP reports.
Over 25,000 protesters have gathered so far in Moscow in a show of anger over disputed parliamentary polls.
The opposition says the protest – on an island just south of the Kremlin – could become the largest the country has seen in two decades.
Smaller rallies have taken place in cities across the country.
Protesters allege there was widespread fraud in Sunday’s polls – though the ruling United Russia party saw its share of the vote fall sharply.
Hundreds of people have been arrested during anti-Putin protests over the past week, mainly in Moscow and St Petersburg.
At least 50,000 police and riot troops were deployed in Moscow ahead of Saturday’s protests.
Authorities have permitted up to 30,000 to attend the demonstration dubbed “For Fair Elections”.
Thousands have turned out for rallies in cities across the Urals and Siberia and as Far East as Vladivostok.
According to police, at least 25,000 people – among them communists, nationalists and liberals – have so far thronged in Moscow, and more crowds are heading towards the rally.
Protesters allege there was widespread fraud in Sunday's polls - though the ruling United Russia party saw its share of the vote fall sharply
In Moscow, the two sides reached a deal by which authorities would allow a high turnout if the rally was relocated from central Revolution Square to Bolotnaya Square, a narrow island in the Moscow River where access points can be easily controlled.
Hundreds of police are standing by to make sure they do not rally in Revolution Square, though Reuters news agency said hundreds of people had gathered there anyway.
“This is history in the making for Russia,” Reuters quoted a 41-year-old employee in the financial services sector, who gave his name only as Anton, as saying at Revolution Square.
“The people are coming out to demand justice for the first time in two decades, justice in the elections.”
If the protests come even close to expectations, they will shake the 12-year-long political domination of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The authorities permitted demonstrations to take place in specific locations in certain cities after negotiations with opposition leaders.
In St. Petersburg, 13,000 people have pledged on the social networking site Vkontakte to take part in protests, with another 20,000 saying they might take part.
Authorities have granted permission for a demonstration in one location, but say protests anywhere else will be illegal and will be dealt with.
Earlier in Vladivostok, seven time zones to the east of Moscow, several hundred people marched. At least 20 people were detained following a protest in the far-eastern city of Khabarovsk, local news agencies said.
The official results of the elections to Russia’s Duma showed that the ruling United Russia party saw its share of the vote fall from 64% to 49%, though it remained easily the biggest party.
But there is a widespread view, fuelled by mobile phone videos and accounts on internet social networking sites, that there was wholesale election fraud and that Vladimir Putin’s party cheated its way to victory.
On Friday, the presidential Council for Human Rights advising President Dmitry Medvedev said the reports of vote-rigging were of deep concern, and that the elections should be rerun if they were confirmed.
However the council has no power to order a fresh ballot.
Earlier this week, security experts said attempts had been made to counter online dissent in Russia, with hijacked PCs being used to drown out online chat on Twitter.
Analysis of the many pro-Kremlin messages posted to some discussions suggested they were sent by machines, according to security firm Trend Micro.
These are the most significant street protests against Vladimir Putin since he took power, but at this point they are not drawing the big numbers they would need to really put the Kremlin in trouble.
It will be a question of seeing whether the momentum builds and spreads from the metropolitan middle classes.
Even so, our correspondent adds, it is an extraordinary thing to witness Vladimir Putin under fire like this.
Vladimir Putin, who was president between 2000 and 2008, remains widely predicted to win a presidential election in March.
On Thursday, Vladimir Putin blamed the US for stoking the recent unrest, after Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed reservations over the poll.
The prime minister said Hilary Clinton’s remarks had “set the tone for some opposition activists”.
Ross Truett Ashley, a Radford University student, has been identified as the gunman who shot a Virginia Tech police officer and then turned the gun on himself.
Ross Truett Ashley, 22, killed Deriek Crouse on Thursday after he had stolen a car the day before from a real estate office in Radford, which was found on the Virginia Tech campus after the attack, officials says.
Police have managed to piece together his last movements but not his motive.
Ross Truett Ashley, a Radford University student, has been identified as the gunman who shot a Virginia Tech police officer and then turned the gun on himself
According to police, Ross Truett Ashley, who was enrolled part-time at Radford, entered a real estate office with a handgun and demanded the keys to an employee’s vehicle.
The vehicle, a Mercedes SUV, was found the next day on Virginia Tech’s campus following the shooting.
According to police, Ross Truett Ashley shot Deriek Crouse while the officer was sitting in his car at about 12:15 EST on Thursday, before fleeing on foot.
Ross Truett Ashley’s body was found in a nearby car park by a police officer. He had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators have so far found no link between the gunman and Deriek Crouse, a married father of five and 39-year-old army veteran.
Virginia Tech was the site of the deadliest US school shooting in the country’s history, in 2007, when a gunman killed 32 people and himself.
About 150 students gathered in a candlelight vigil on Thursday evening at the campus memorial for the shootings of four years ago.
“Our hearts are broken again,” the university president, Charles W. Steger, said.
An official vigil was planned on Friday night.
Deriek Crouse was one of about 50 officers on the campus force and had served there for four years, joining about six months after the 2007 massacre.
Thirty-two people died in April 2007 when a 23-year-old South Korean, Seung-Hui Cho, went on a gun rampage before killing himself.
Deriek Crouse’s death came on the same day Virginia Tech appealed against a $55,000 fine imposed by the government for not reacting quickly enough to the 2007 massacre.
Cheryl L. Nemetz, a 49-year-old disabled woman from Port Orange, Florida, allegedly had sex with her 14-year-old neighbour five or six times, before the boy’s friend told his mother.
The sexual relationship between Cheryl L. Nemetz and the teenager allegedly lasted around three months.
During this time the teenger got poor grades and had been suspended from school after getting caught with marijuana seeds, according to an affidavit.
Cheryl L. Nemetz allegedly took the boy to Daytona Beach to buy marijuana, and also offered him prescription drugs which he declined, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The boy said he was never compelled to have sex with the older woman, but “was confused on whether he should continue or stop”.
The teen said he was being paid $50 a week to sleep with the older woman, police were told.
Cheryl L. Nemetz acknowledged she owed the boy $50, but claimed it was a fee for moving furniture.
Cheryl L. Nemetz, 49, allegedly had sex with her 14-year-old neighbour five or six times, before the boy's friend told his mother
The boy said Cheryl L. Nemetz told him he should tell police nothing happened.
“I’ll go to jail and I’ll never see my kid again,” the woman told the boy.
“I’m disabled. I can’t go to jail.
“I’ll die there.”
Cheryl L. Nemetz is charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child younger than 16. She is being held without bail in the Volusia County Branch Jail near Daytona Beach.
Ford has decided to recall 128,616 of its Mercury Milan and top-selling Ford Fusion amid concerns their 17-inch steel wheels may fall off – while the vehicle is moving.
In some vehicles from model years 2010 and 2011, the wheel studs may fracture and make the car shake.
If ignored, the wheels may fall off a moving car, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a posting on its website.
Ford, the No. 2 U.S. carmaker, said the issue may stem from wheel mounting pads or rear brake discs that have been incorrectly built and cannot support the wheel.
Ford has decided to recall 128,616 of its Mercury Milan and top-selling Ford Fusion amid concerns their 17-inch steel wheels may fall off - while the vehicle is moving
The sedans were built at Ford’s Hermosillo stamping and assembly plant in Mexico in April 2009 and from December 2009 through November 13, 2010, reports Reuters.
One front wheel was affected and the other five incidents involved a rear wheel.
Cars with alloy wheels are not affected.
Ford said that 128,616 cars were affected by the recall.
Ford’s sales have rebounded partly because of the improved quality of its lineup, according to Reuters.
Ford Fusion sales were up about 15 percent for the first 11 months of 2011.
The sedan competes against Honda Motor Co’s Accord and Toyota Motor Co’s Camry.
Paul Browne, a man who was suspected of groping a teenage girl and another woman in a subway station was shot in buttocks by an off-duty officer on the train platform when he tried to run away.
The incident happened in Harlem, New York, at the 125th Street station in front of dozens of horrified passengers.
According to police, the mother of a teenage girl yelled for officers at about 12:30 p.m. in the station.
The off-duty transit officer, who happened to be nearby, came to the woman’s aid.
Another woman also told the officer she was groped by the same man, nbcnewyork.com reports.
The mother called 911 from a pay phone inside the train station after the officer told her to call for backup.
There were shouts of “police – get down” before one shot was fired, witnesses said.
Paul Browne was hit once in the buttocks and was in a stable condition in hospital Friday afternoon.
Witness Orbit Clanton said: “He had the suspect face down, facing north. And when the trains entered the station, what happened was the suspect tried in an aggressive move to get up.”
Police said that in the preliminary stages of their investigation it was unclear whether the officer fired the gun or if it went off in the struggle with the suspect.
A knife was found on the tracks nearby but it was not clear whether the knife was part of the interaction between the officer and Paul Browne, the department’s chief spokesman, said.
The incident resulted in delays on four subway lines afterwards.
There were residual subway delays Friday evening along the A, B, C and D lines.
Kris Humphries gave his first television interview on Good Morning America since his split from Kim Kardashian.
Kris Humphries, 26, feebly attempted to deflect questions about his personal life on Good Morning America today.
The NBA star was grilled by host Josh Elliot, who would not let up as Kris Humphries tried to turn the conversation around to sport and charity awareness.
Sources close to Kris Humphries say he is “livid” in wake of the sit down chat and he was not expecting to be so heavily laden with questions about his estranged wife Kim Kardashian, who split from him after just 72 days of marriage.
Kris Humphries was accompanied by his mother Debra, who held his hands at times during the chat.
Kris Humphries gave his first television interview on Good Morning America since his split from Kim Kardashian
The NBA star repeatedly avoided questions about his divorce from Kim Kardashian, 31, only saying he was trying to “move forward” with his life when asked if he was still in love with her.
“I’m not focused on that, right now I’m focused on basketball,” Kris Humphries said when asked about his proposed annulment from his short-lived marriage.
Kris Humphries also revealed that he is not watching himself on the Kardashian’s reality show, Kourtney & Kim Take New York.
When asked by the host if it was tough for him to watch himself on the reality show – considering he already knew the ending – Kris Humphries said: “The only things I watch of myself on TV are me playing basketball.
“I have never really been someone to watch the show, on TV, or anything like that.”
Kris Humphries’ mother added: “The important thing is that we stay close as a family – it’s our faith in God that carries us through all of these times.
“We have so much to be thankful for right now. We’re looking forward not backward.”
TMZ reports Kris Humphries only agreed to take part in the show to plug his “foundation” and his mother’s “cookie bake”.
Good Morning America sources told TMZ that no ground rules were set on the line of questioning.
Kris Humphries says that he is fighting childhood obesity with his foundation: “Life is more about giving back,” the NBA star said.
When asked if he thought his public image had taken a hit, Kris Humphries replied: “If people know me and they know who I am and what I stand for I think that they’ll know that I love to give back, and I, you know, I’m a fun guy.
“You know I don’t really play into all the gossip and things that take place, but you know, that’s life.”
The circadian rhythm (time clock) of human body has to be respected in order to be in a good state of health. Repeated lack of sleep, working at night can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, high blood sugar, type 2 diabetes and depression.
Researchers from Boston, Massachusetts, have conducted a study that enrolled two groups of women, for almost 20 years. The study, which appeared this December in PLoS Medicine, showed that women who worked rotating night shifts had greater risk of type 2 diabetes than women with regular hours. The risk increases in time, longer they have worked, greater the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
“The association is quite strong and very consistent between the two cohorts. For nurses who spent a couple of years working rotating night shifts, there was a minimal increase in risk. But, for those with a very long duration of rotating shifts, the risk was almost 60 percent higher. This provides pretty strong evidence that the longer the rotating night shift work, the greater the risk of diabetes,” said Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
In the study, rotating shift work means working three or more nights a month, plus days and evenings. An Pan, Eva S. Schernhammer, Qi Sun, Frank B. Hu conducted the U.S. Nurses’ Health Studies I and II. In NHS I 69,269 women aged 42–67 were enrolled, and 107,915 women aged 25–42 in NHS II. They had no diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer and were followed for almost 20 years. In this period of time, 6,165 women in the NHS I and 3,961 women in the second group developed type 2 diabetes.
Women who did rotating shift work were compared with women who did not. Women who did one to two years of shift work had a 5 percent increase in type 2 diabetes, those who worked shifts for 3 to 9 years had a 20 percent, and nurses who worked for 10 to 19 years on rotating shifts had a 40 percent greater risk of type 2 diabetes. Women with more than 20 years on a rotating night shift had the highest risk, with a 58 percent increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The medical scientists adjusted the data to account for body mass index and the linkage between shift work and type 2 diabetes was reduced. Overweight and especially obesity appeared to be greater risks for diabetes.
The researchers said “results suggest that an extended period of rotating night shift work is associated with a modestly increased risk of type 2 diabetes in women, which appears to be partly mediated through body weight. Proper screening and intervention strategies in rotating night shift workers are needed for prevention of diabetes“.
Nurses who did night shifts for over 20 years had a 58 percent risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a recently published study shows.
An association between varying or unusual work schedules and obesity and metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and insulin resistance, was pointed out by some studies. Those factors are linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Several studies on Japanese men showed a link between working the night shift and type 2 diabetes, but the linkage for men is still to be documented.
An Institute of Medicine report on breast cancer and environmental factors cited this week “growing evidence” that rotating shift work is “probably associated with increase risk for breast cancer“. They said more research is needed to establish the linkage and to find out what measures (aside from renouncing rotating shifts job) could lower these effects.
Why rotating shift work can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and breast cancer?
Probably there are biological and behavioral reasons. Rotating shift work unbalance the body’s circadian rhythm (its natural time clock), the body’s ability to balance its need for energy is affected. This can lead to high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and insulin resistance, both the key notes of type 2 diabetes.
Working on rotating shifts also disrupts eating and sleeping behaviors, and there was a tendency to smoke more between those who worked rotating shifts.
The hormonal balance (their secretion and their function) is disturbed by irregular sleep patterns, scientists think. Also “clock genes” are affected by lack of sleep or irregular sleep patterns, and this may set off cancerous cell growth in the breast tissue.
Obesity is a common factor in type 2 diabetes and in breast cancer, and shift workers appear to be at greater risk of weight gain, cause they eat at night.
“Shift work is an important risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes. This study increases the awareness of diabetes risk among people who work on a rotating shift, and the importance of diabetes screening, detection and prevention in this high risk group,” Dr. Frank Hu said.
However, more research is needed to confirm the findings, the scientists said.
Around 346 million persons have diabetes worldwide. Lots of them have type 2 diabetes, commonly caused by excess body weight, sedentary life, and lack of exercise. Untreated diabetes can damage eyes, arteries, heart, kidneys and nerves.
Apparently rotating shift work is becoming more common in an industrial society, thus is necessary to find a balance between work an rest, sleep and activity, to try to exercise at least two times a week, to have healthy meals and to see a general practitioner regularly.
Bautista Riera, a 12-year-old boy from Argentina, is in a critical condition being paralyzed from the neck down after going on a sudden-drop ride at Disneyland Paris.
Bautista Riera is in intensive care after riding the amusement park’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction which simulates a lift plunging 199 ft after being hit by lightning.
According to reports, x-rays showed the boy suffered a “spine and bone contusion”.
Bautista Riera reportedly complained to his father, a doctor, that he felt sick shortly after leaving the ride and was taken to the park’s infirmary.
The boy’s condition rapidly deteriorated and he was taken to Paris’ Necker hospital for children.
By the time Bautista Riera arrived at the hospital’s neurology unit he was already paralyzed in his upper limbs.
The paralysis quickly spread to his lower limbs and he suffered respiratory arrest before being rushed to intensive care.
According to a report in the Buenos Aires Herald, Bautista Riera suffered spinal cord injuries and is in a serious condition.
Bautista Riera, 12, is in a critical condition being paralyzed from the neck down after going on a sudden-drop ride at Disneyland Paris
Bautista Riera’s uncle told the paper that the boy’s condition has stabilized although he is breathing with the help of an artificial respirator after suffering complications and pneumonia.
Disneyland Paris is Europe’s most popular tourist attraction and the Tower of Terror, which was opened in 2008, is one of its most adrenalin-fuelled rides.
On its website Disneyland Paris states: “Prepare yourself for a mind-blowing adrenalin rush The ascent is followed by a dizzying drop faster than the speed of gravity. The abyss awaits you – Drop in if you dare!”
According to the boy’s family, Bautista Riera was in good health and played rugby, basketball and practiced martial arts.
A spokesman for Disneyland Paris said Bautista Riera had been on three rides at Walt Disney Studios before feeling unwell.
The spokesman said: “When he was accompanied to the care centre, the child could walk.”
In 2009, a British teenager claimed that going on an almost identical Disney ride at the Florida park had caused her to suffer a heart attack.
In 2005, the then 16-year-old Leanne Deacon’s heart stopped and she suffered a brain hemorrhage after riding the Disney World-MGM Studios’ The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride several times.
RQ-170 Sentinel, the U.S.’ most sophisticated spy plane, was captured by Iran and it was paraded on Iranian state television earlier today in near mint condition.
Iran claims the lost RQ-170 Sentinel was on a surveillance mission last week when it was detected by Iranians over Kashmar and was downed by their armed forces.
But the drone appears to be in good shape contradicting Iran’s claim it was shot down – and backing up U.S. claims that Tehran did not bring it down through electronic, cyber or any other means.
A senior U.S. official confirmed it was the drone earlier today.
“Yep, that’s it – it’s intact,” a source told Fox News.
“This is a big prize in terms of technology.”
Meanwhile the official added that President Obama decided not to retrieve or destroy the drone because that could have been seen as an act of war.
Iran displays the alleged captured US drone RQ-170 Sentinel in near mint condition on national TV
U.S. officials have admitted the drone was lost on a mission last week, but say it was probably because of a malfunction on board.
The officials also pointed out it would have probably been badly damaged – and therefore less sensitive – if it had fallen from a height of up to 50,000 ft. However the video shows the drone pretty much intact.
The tour of the drone on Press TV is clearly political maneuvering by Iran as the U.S. tries to find out more about the country’s nuclear programme.
Iran claims the drones are a violation of its sovereignty and feels they are an aggressive act against them, reported Yahoo News.
U.S. said earlier this week the drone was only supposed to fly over Afghanistan looking for insurgents then flew off course.
U.S. officials are concerned about the Iranians potentially sharing or selling what they could have recovered of the aircraft to China or Russia.
These fears will be heightened following the broadcast, as it shows the cream-coloured drone seemingly intact despite its crash.
Press TV also reported that Iran will now “carry out reverse engineering” on the drone, which was manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
The RQ-170 was used to watch former Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden during the Navy SEAL mission that killed him, reported ABC News.
A senior U.S. official claimed any capture shines a light on the U.S. spying mission, but will not tell Iran much it did not already know.
Experts and officials acknowledge that there is no self-destruct mechanism on the Sentinels, which are used both by the military and the CIA.
This is bound to raise questions about why an aircraft would be developed that stays intact when it crashes and could get into anybody’s hands.
Iranian state radio reported on Wednesday that the country would soon broadcast video footage of the downed drone. It was shown on Thursday.
Downtown Portland Macy’s store has decided to forego years of tradition, booting out truly old Saint Nicks who have been posing as Kris Kringle for decades in favor of agency Santas.
The new Father Christmases come from a national vendor instead of the much beloved community Santas, and families who have been coming to get their holiday photos with the same Santas are livid.
The worst part – the agency Santas have costume beards.
Joe Hawes, 54, owns The Portland Santa Company, which outfitted Meier and Frank and Macy’s with authentic, beard-sporting Santas. He says the style the new East coast company does is a “caricature of Santa”.
“We’ve always had naturally bearded Santas who play the role of Santa for year after year. The experience is dramatically different.
“The children come in and identify with an individual rather than a costumed character.”
The two current Santas – Santa Tom and Santa Phil – have been working for the company for seven and twelve years, respectively, and have taken great pride in maintaining their festive personas all year round.
The men groom their white beards, are jolly throughout the year, and pretend to be “on vacation” when they run into youngsters during the summer months.
Families have been bringing their children to Santaland at Macy’s for years and have looked forward to seeing the same jolly and plump face during each Christmas
“I’ve been doing this my whole adult life, so it’s a real personal loss to me not to be involved with Santaland this year,” Joe Hawes told Today.com.
“This year they notified us that, for the sake of corporate uniformity, they’re going to have the Santas look like they do on the East coast – costume-bearded Santas, so every Santa can look the same in every Macy’s store.”
Families have been bringing their children to Santaland at Macy’s for years and have looked forward to seeing the same jolly and plump face during each Christmas.
“We’ve been visiting Santa every year for 18 years,” Portland resident Peggy Friedl-Yee wrote on Santaland’s Facebook page.
“first at Meier & Frank and then at Macy’s. Macy’s this is unbelievable! You have ruined a favourite family tradition. We’ll be seeing Santa at Pioneer Square. Shame on you.”
Nikki DeShane also took to Facebook to complain about the new, fake-bearded St Nicks.
“We have been taking our kids to see this Santa for 14 years, our oldest is 18 and youngest two. We will continue to see our “real” Santa on the bricks.”
Veteran Santas are setting up shop at a rival Santa display a block away from the Macy’s Santaland. The event will start December 14 in nearby Pioneer Square.
Macy’s told Today.com that the new Santaland “has a new look while retaining its holiday traditions”. They also said Santa is attired in “a classic St Nick suit”, but declined to comment on the lack of real facial hair.
Joe Hawes told Today.com that getting a portrait taken with Santa is “such a personal thing”.
Joe Hawes added: “It’s not just a public display that’s inanimate. It’s personal and emotional, especially for young children, and for people who have built this into their annual family traditions, it’s very significant.”
Heidi Damon from Florida, the victim of a brutal sexual assault confronted her attacker Javon Cooper in court and told him: “I am not the victim, I’m the victor.”
Heidi Damon, 40, waived her right to anonymity and allowed to be filmed in court unleashing her anger as her attacker Javon Cooper, 18, was jailed for 15 years after attempting to kill and rape her.
She told Javon Cooper: “I just want to tell you – and I want you to look at me when I address you – I woke up ecstatic today, happier than ever.
‘You know why? Because I’m alive. I’m alive, alive, alive.
“You have not broken my spirit. You have not changed my belief in God. If anything, you’ve strengthened both. I am not a victim. I am the victor, the stronger and the winner.”
Heidi Damon, 40, waived her right to anonymity and allowed to be filmed in court unleashing her anger as her attacker Javon Cooper, 18, was jailed for 15 years after attempting to kill and rape her
As Heidi Damon spoke, Javon Cooper, dressed in a prison issue orange jumpsuit, shifted uncomfortably and tried to avert his gaze from his victim.
Javon Cooper had pleaded guilty to attempted murder and attempted sexual battery.
The attacker was 16 when he pounced on Heidi Damon in a multi-storey car park in Ybor City, Florida, in August 2009.
Javon Cooper choked Heidi Damon until she blacked out, and stripped her off her trousers and underwear.
Such was the force of the strangling that her eyes turned red and she was covered in bruises.
Heidi Damon was out of work for a year and still suffers from chronic headaches. She told the court she is still afraid.
At his sentencing Heidi Damon stood a few feet from her attacker as she lashed out at him.
Heidi Damon told her attacker: “My desire to be all that I can be cannot be broken by you or anyone. I survived.”
The woman told Javon Cooper that he will always be a boy, that a man could never do what he had done.
Heidi Damon said: “I will never forgive you because what you have done to me is never forgivable.
“I contribute to my community. You help decay yours.
“My life will never be the same. You know why? It’s going to be better than itwas before.
“My tears are out of joy.
“Because I’ll never see you again. Ever.
“Oh and by the way, I do have one more thing.
“My name is Heidi Elizabeth Damon. I have a name. I have a name that will go on forever.
“You have a number and the title of the crimes that you’ve committed. Your name is Sex Offender, Attempted Murderer. Nice to put you away.”
Javon Cooper, 18, was jailed for 15 years after attempting to kill and rape Heidi Damon
Heidi Damon said she agreed to waive her anonymity as she wanted to speak out for other “silent victims” of rape.
“I feel proud because I was able to stand there and get what I wanted out and articulate it without falling apart.
“I’m satisfied with the fact that he’s going away. I’m ecstatic that I lived to tell the story, and he was caught and that I potentially saved someone’s life that day by being the one that was chosen to be attacked, and I lived through it.”
Javon Cooper was jailed for 15 years and ten years probation.
The judge told him he would have liked to lock him up for life.
Timothy Grimmer, the 10-year-old boy who was shot by his mother during a standoff at a Texas welfare office on Monday has died – 24 hours after his sister, Ramie Marie Grimmer lost her life.
According to Laredo police spokesman Joe Baeza, Timothy Grimmer died Thursday at a San Antonio hospital.
Timothy Grimer’ sister, Ramie, 12, died of her wounds the day before.
The children’s mother, Rachelle Grimmer, 38, was found dead on Monday inside the office in Laredo.
Authorities say Rachelle Grimmer killed herself after shooting her children during a seven-hour standoff with police, after she had been denied for food stamps.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services said the agency rejected Rachelle Grimmer’s application because she did not submit enough information.
Rachelle Grimmer had been embroiled in a battle with the welfare department to try to gain benefits for her family since July.
The woman took her children to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission office in Laredo on Monday at 5pm and demanded to speak to a supervisor.
Rachelle Grimmer then pulled out a handgun and began threatening several employees, authorities said.
The mother held two employees hostage until a male supervisor stepped in and stayed with Grimmer while she released the other workers.
She took the man and her two children into another room while a SWAT team managed to evacuate 30 people.
Rachelle Grimmer released the supervisor at 7:45 p.m. but remained in the building with her children.
During the seven-hour stand-off, the apparent Facebook profile of Ramie Marie Grimmer was updated regularly.
Hostage negotiators were in communication with Rachelle Grimmer but it was intermittent as she frequently hung up, according to police.
Officer Joe Baeza said Tuesday: “About 11:45 last night, she hung up the phone with negotiators, and a little bit later, negotiators heard three shots.”
The SWAT team at the front of the building heard children crying and officers stormed in, finding the three in the front office.
The children were airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio in critical condition. The mother was dead at the scene.
Two days ago, the eccentric Irish singer Sinead O’Connor announced she would wed her unknown boyfriend of three months in a ceremony on Thursday.
Sinead O’Connor tied the knot for the fourth time in a quickie Las Vegas wedding on her 45th birthday yesterday.
The singer walked down the aisle with Irish therapist Barry Herridge, who she met online, at the famous Little White Wedding Chapel in Nevada’s Sin City.
The wedding ceremony lasted just 15 minutes and the couple invited no guests – even Sinead O’Connor’s four children – apart from the cameramen.
Sinead O’Connor dressed unusually girly and looked to have lost weight, looking more like her Nothing Compares 2 U heyday in the 1990s.
She wore a strapless pastel pink maxi dress and chunky pink metallic and silver heels.
Sinead O’Connor failed to conceal her numerous tattoos, including a massive design on her chest, and is still sporting her trademark shaved head.
Sinead O’Connor tied the knot for the fourth time with Irish therapist Barry Herridge in a quickie Las Vegas wedding on her 45th birthday
Barry Herridge wore a suit over a pink shirt that matched Sinead O’Connor’s dress and had a red rose in his lapel that matched her bouquet.
The couple looked smitten with one another, sharing a passionate kiss for the cameras and staring into each other’s eyes as they walked sown the isle after being pronounced husband and wife.
The newlyweds cuddled up on a pink Cadillac – reminiscent of Elvis Presley’s iconic car – before heading to a hotel in the gambling capital of America.
Sinead O’Connor even shed a few tears as she sat with her new husband before they headed to a hotel for their wedding night.
The singer has only been dating Barry Herridge, who works as a counselor for people with addiction problems in Dublin, for three months.
Barry Herridge replied after Sinead O’Connor wrote on her blog in September that she was “sex-starved” and asked potential suitors to apply online.
“Barry sent me this wonderful email, which just took my heart away,” Sinead O’Connor told the Irish Independent before flying out from Heathrow to the U.S yesterday.
“It had to be him… I had no intention of getting married again but Barry was extremely persuasive. He proposed to me on every single date we have had since August. He is extremely persuasive – and other unprintable things.”
Sinead O’Connor and Barry Herridge met up at a coffee shop and apparently “talked for hours”.
He revealed the contents of the email to the paper.
“I was getting off a train at Connolly Station one morning when I saw this woman acting strangely on the platform,” Barry Herridge said.
“At first I didn’t know what she was doing, and then I realized she was playing hopscotch. It wasn’t Sinead but a business woman in a suit and in her 30s, just having a bit of fun.
“I wondered why more women that age weren’t doing the same thing? And it struck me that this was exactly what Sinead was doing with her search for love, having fun, and I told Sinead about this woman in my first email.”
Barry Herridge added: “I love Sinead more than anyone I have ever met, or anybody I will ever meet. I am going to look after her.”
Sinead O’Connor said she didn’t want a big ceremony.
“I’ve been married before, but I’ve never had my dream wedding in Vegas. I wanted to do it there because it’s casual, quick, not religious and, most of all, very romantic.
“People always complain, <<you never invited me to your wedding>>, but I prefer casual weddings. I’m so happy.”
The newlyweds have no time for a honeymoon as Sinead O’Connor is due back in Dublin tomorrow to attend the aftershow party for a concert marking the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International.
The Little White Chapel has been the venue for several celebrity weddings, including that between Britney Spears and childhood friend Jason Alexander in 2004.
Other notable ceremonies include the wedding of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore in 1987, that between Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow in 1966, and Judy Garland and Mark Herron in 1965.
Sinead O’Connor announced on her blog on Wednesday she was marrying Barry Herridge in an “undisclosed location”, although reports speculated they would be walking down the aisle in Las Vegas.
The singer wrote: “With enormous joy myself and my beloved boyfriend Barry Herridge will be getting married tomorrow, December 8th 2011 at <<an un-disclosed location>> in my absolute dream wedding ceremony.
“We will post a photo or two here on the site as soon as possible afterward. Very happy girl. : )”
Sinead O’Connor also posted a picture up of the couple beaming at the camera.
She kept the happy news quiet when she appeared on the Ian Dempsey breakfast radio show on Today FM the day before, telling him she had no gossip to share.
But Barry Herridge rang back into the show on Wednesday morning to reveal all to the host about the wedding.
Ian Dempsey wrote on his Twitter page following their chat: “So Sinead O’Connor was holding back yesterday. Boyfriend Barry Herridge got back to us today to reveal that they will wed tomorrow.
“And it’s Sinead’s birthday tomorrow too. Congrats to them both. And Sinead’s new album is sounding great too.”
Sinead O’Connor shocked the nation by writing a series of candid blog posts on her website earlier this year, detailing specific requirements she was looking for in a man.
The singer wrote in September that she was in “desperate need of a very sweet sex-starved man”, but specified that they “must be no younger than 44, must not be named Brian or Nigel, must be blind enough to think I’m gorgeous, has to be employed and he has to like his mother”.
And it seems Sinead O’Connor is found her perfect partner in Barry Herridge after a whirlwind romance.
Sinead O’Connor has been married three times before – including to music producer John Reynolds, journalist Nicholas Sommerlad and most recently to Steve Cooney, who she wed in July 2010, but divorced in April this year.
Sinead O’Connor has four children from various relationships.
Angelina Jolie has confessed during an interview with U.S. Marie Claire that there is at least one thing missing in her life – female friends.
In the interview with the new issue of Marie Claire, Angelina Jolie spoke frankly to the magazine about her lack of female confidantes.
“It was nice for me to play with other girls; I don’t really have girlfriends in movies, if you’ve noticed,” she said.
“Well, I have a few girlfriends, I just… I stay at home a lot. I’m just not very social. I don’t do a lot with them, and I’m very homebound.”
Angelina Jolie, actress, director and mother-of six, who looks stunning in a blue top and gold statement ring, has previously bemoaned the fact that she really only chats with her partner, Brad Pitt.
“I’ll talk to my family,”Angelina Jolie said.
“I talk to Brad … But I don’t know, I don’t have a lot of friends I talk to. He is really the only person I talk to.”
Angelina Jolie‘s reputation as the ultimate man-eater and husband-stealer may account for her lack of gal pals.
The actress famously enticed Brad Pitt away from his wife, Jennifer Aniston, and her second husband Billy Bob Thornton broke off his engagement to Laura Dern to elope with his Pushing Tin co-star.
In the interview with the new issue of Marie Claire, Angelina Jolie spoke frankly to the magazine about her lack of female confidantes
One of the few close female friends that is not deterred by Angelina Jolie’s reputation is singer Gwen Stefani.
Earlier this year Angelina Jolie were spied with Gwen Stefani getting together at Gwen’s home in London for a fun-filled playdate .
“All of the kids are very close in age. They’ve attended each other’s birthday parties and gotten together several times at each other’s homes,” a source to Yahoo news at the time.
Angelina Jolie and Gwen Stefani have been friends since 1998.
“Somehow Gwen and I keep ending up pregnant at the exact same time,” Angelina Jolie has explained.
Best known for action films such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Wanted, Angelina Jolie also reveals that she may want to move on from acting.
“I woke up one day realizing, God, I’m an actor,” she said.
“I don’t think I intended to be an actor. I think my mother wanted it for me.
“I loved telling stories, and I enjoyed the profession, but is it too late to be something else?”
When asked whether she and partner Brad Pitt were planning to extend their already considerable brood, she would only say: “Nothing planned at the moment, but we just don’t know. I could end up pregnant.”
Angelina Jolie credits Brad Pitt with helping her juggle her career with raising children.
“I have a wonderful partner in Brad and we take turns working always,” the actress said in the interview.
Angelina Jolie also touched on the subject of her children wanting her to marry long-term love Brad Pitt, 47.
“They have mentioned it, yes,” the actress admitted.
The star also opened up about her daughter Vivienne being a “girly girl”, divulging: “She is so elegant and delicate. Vivi will pick flowers from the garden and put them in her hair.
“She likes to get her nails done and collects stuffed animals.”
Angelina Jolie added: “It’s very funny for me to have to buy all things pink and watch princess movies!”
“Knox is very much a dude. Very physical, tough. He loves dinosaurs and swords.”
Angelina Jolie also gushed about her happiness saying: “Brad has expanded my life in ways I never imagined. We built a family. He is not just the love of my life, he is my family. I hold that very dear.
“I suppose what I’ve learned from Brad is to be able to have the kind of family whose happiness and well-being comes before your own.
“I’m very, very grateful to have such a loving family, and I wouldn’t have that without him.”
Speaking about the subject of her film Angelina Jolie said: “I think it’s still hard to understand what happened and how it could happen 40 minutes away from Italy in the ’90s at the time Schindler’s List came out.”
Explaining the inspiration for the movie Angelina Jolie said: “It began as a private exercise, an excuse to get out some of my frustrations with international community and justice issues.
“Some of the very darkest sections of the film were conceived in Shiloh’s art class; I was in the back waiting for the kids to finish.”
Angelina Jolie has also revealed she plans to do another war film focusing on Afghanistan, where she made humanitarian trips to recently.
In the Land of Blood and Honey is is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 23.
The new issue of Marie Claire is on newsstands Tuesday December 13.
High Court of Australia has decided to lift the ban on the sale of Samsung’s tablet, Galaxy Tab, in the country in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Apple won a ban on Galaxy Tab, claiming Samsung had copied its iPhone and iPad.
South Korean Samsung had been unable to sell products in Australia since July.
Apple and Samsung are engaged in legal battles in more than 10 countries since April accusing each other of infringing smartphone and tablet patents.
Apple won a ban on Galaxy Tab, claiming Samsung had copied its iPhone and iPad
Last month, Samsung won an appeal against a temporary ban on sales.
However, Apple was awarded a stay of the orders. On Friday Apple’s bid to extend the ban was turned down by the High Court.
The ruling is a rare win for Samsung as it allows the company to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in time for the busy Christmas shopping season, a lucrative time for the industry.
The decision comes after a US court ruled against Apple’s bid to ban Galaxy phones and tablets, another win for Samsung. Apple has appealed against that ruling.
However, the legal tussle in other markets is not going as well for Samsung.
The company said on Friday that a French court had turned down its request to ban sale of the latest iPhone in that country.
Indian officials say at least 73 people have been killed in a fire that broke out in a hospital in the city of Calcutta (Kolkata).
Many of the dead people were patients who were trapped after the flames spread through the AMRI hospital in the southern part of Calcutta.
The fire started early on Friday in the multi-storey hospital’s basement, where flammable materials were stored.
Fire engines fought the blaze for five hours before bringing it under control.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the license of the hospital had been cancelled.
Mamata Banerjee said fire was an “unforgivable crime” and that those responsible would be given the harshest punishment.
Officials say the death toll is likely to rise as rescue workers are trying to reach the upper floors of the six-storey hospital in Dhakuria.
A Upadhay, a senior vice-president of the AMRI hospital company, told Associated Press there were 160 patients in the 190-bed hospital.
West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said many of the patients who died had suffocated on fumes.
A number were rescued. “We have taken 50 patients to an adjacent hospital. The situation is grim at the moment,” fire brigade chief Gopal Bhattacharya told Agence France-Presse news agency.
Bodies of patients wrapped in white sheets have been brought out by rescue workers, BBC reported.
Local people climbed into the hospital compound to rescue patients before fire engines arrived, our correspondent says.
The narrow surrounding streets made it difficult for the rescue service to arrive quickly.
The fire spread swiftly from the basement to the upper floors of the private hospital.
Television pictures showed patients being carried out on stretchers, with distraught relatives of trapped patients crowded outside the building.
One rescued patient said: “The attendants woke me up and dragged me down the stairs. I saw 10-15 patients at the top of the stairs trying to get down.”
Ananya Das, 35, who underwent surgery at the hospital on Thursday, said she was recovering when the fire broke out.
“I managed to walk towards an exit and then climb out of a window. I saw a lot of bodies,” she said.
More than 40 people died in a huge fire in a historic building in Calcutta in March last year.
Fires in high-rise buildings are fairly common in the city. There have been at least 10 major incidents since 2008.
Electrical short circuits have been responsible for most of these fires.
The first signs of the ultra-elusive Higgs boson particle have been detected by teams working at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland.
Existence of Higgs boson particle – believed to have given shape to the universe after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago – was proposed some four decades ago.
Two separate LHC teams – using the ATLAS and CMS detectors – have smashed protons in 350 trillion collisions this year, hoping to see the Higgs in the debris.
The CERN scientists are now reporting that “significant progress” has been made in tracking it down with a big press conference taking place next Tuesday in which the teams will announce what they’ve found.
Needless to say, the world of physics is breathless with excitement at this news.
The Higgs particle is essentially a missing piece of the “Standard Model” of physics jigsaw, which explains how the universe is glued together.
So far, it’s the only elementary particle predicted by this model that scientists have not been able to create with atom smashers.
Rolf Heuer, general director of CERN, said recently that he doesn’t think confirmation of Higgs boson particle’s existence will be made until around October 2012.
Two separate LHC teams – using the ATLAS and CMS detectors – have smashed protons in 350 trillion collisions this year, hoping to see the Higgs in the debris
However, reports from inside the LHC suggest that its scientists are on the brink of something monumental, with Professor John Ellis, a former head of theoretical physics at CERN, telling the BBC that he expects to see the “first glimpse” of the God particle next week.
Prof. John Ellis said: “There seem to be some hints emerging there… and that’s what we’re going to learn on Tuesday.”
The veracity of the results has been ensured by two separate teams, each comprising of hundreds of researchers, searching using different experiments.
One team, using scientists from 169 universities, has been working on the ATLAS detector, which at 148 feet long and 82 feet high, is the biggest ever constructed.
The other team is using the CMS – or Compact Muon Solenoid – a 13,000-ton detector that sits 330 feet underground.
However, there are some scientists, who have poured cold water on the news, with Nobel Prize winner Martinus Veltman from the Universities of Michigan and Utrecht telling the Guardian that “there is no Higgs”.
French television has broadcasted today the incredible live images of New York Sofitel’s chamber maid Nafissatou Diallo reporting Dominique Strauss-Kahn for alleged attempted rape victim.
The CCTV images were taken inside New York’s Sofitel hotel and show Nafissatou Diallo, 32, some 40 minutes after performing oral sex on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62.
Pictures shot inside the Times Square hotel on May 14th shows a clearly shocked Nafissatou Diallo gesticulating wildly as she tells colleagues about what happened.
In turn, other images show DSK checking out of the hotel, and heading off for lunch with his daughter in a yellow cab.
Sofitel released the images through French TV news channel BFMTV because they want to put an end to conspiracy theories claiming DSK was set up by French government agents because he wanted to be the country’s next Socialist president.
Part of the footage shows two male hotel workers appearing to take part in some kind of “victory dance” before high-fiving each other in a 13-second segment.
It is not clear why Sofitel workers celebrate together, but reports of the episode fuelled speculation that DSK was set up by his political enemies.
U.S. investigative journalist Edward Epstein had claimed their “celebration” lasted some three minutes, and made it look as though they had executed a trap to perfection.
In fact the tapes show that the “victory dance” lasted less than 10 seconds, with the hotel staff allegedly celebrating a “sporting result”, according to a spokesman for the Sofitel.
Edward Epstein has since admitted a “mistake”, with the New York Review of Books, which originally published his conspiracy theory, publishing a correction.
Henri Leclerc, a lawyer for DSK, admitted today: “I have no proof that there is a conspiracy. I have no evidence that there is a conspiracy.”
DSK was arrested by U.S. police on May 14th and imprisoned, but after a lengthy legal process was finally cleared and returned home to Paris.
DSK admitted having a sexual encounter with Nafissatou Diallo, but said it was consensual.
Back in France, DSK was accused by writer Tristane Banon, now 32, of trying to rape her in 2001, but the statute of time limitations on the case meant it could not be reopened.
Last week, DSK claimed that his “uninhibited” sex life cost him his chance to become president.
He is at the centre of a judicial inquiry into a vice-girl ring operating out of a hotel in Lille, northern France.
DSK has admitted attending “sex parties” but said: “I have a horror of prostitution and pimping. Can you imagine the damage caused to my wife, our children?”
At the weekend, France’s Interior Minister Claude Gueant revealed that Dominique Strauss-Kahn was stopped by police in the Bois de Boulogne, a notorious red light area after dark, five years ago.
Claude Gueant also rubbished conspiracy theories linking President Nicolas Sarkozy with a bid to undermine his political rival.
Virginia Tech campus is on lockdown after two people – including a police officer – are shot dead by a crazed gunman who went on a shooting rampage this afternoon.
According to Virginia Tech, a police officer pulled someone over for a routine traffic stop and was shot and killed. The ganman ran toward a nearby parking lot, where he gunned down the second victim, believed to be a student.
Montgomery County Schools are now on lockdown, sparking fears the gunman may have left the campus.
Virginia Tech campus is on lockdown after two people - including a police officer - are shot dead by a crazed gunman who went on a shooting rampage this afternoon
The suspect was described as a white male wearing gray sweat pants, a gray hat with neon green brim, a maroon hoodie and backpack.
TV footage showed heavily armed officers walking around campus. Caravans of SWAT vehicles and other police cars with emergency lights flashing patrolled nearby as students remained on lockdown.
Police were tracking several white males on campus who fit the description but it was unclear if any of them were the suspect.
It was the first shooting on campus since 33 people were killed in 2007 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
FBI agents were called to the Performance Arts Building where they believed the gunman was hiding, but it turned out to be a false alarm as a student wearing similar clothes surrendered.
A SWAT team was placed at the Squires Student Centre but left after finding no suspicious persons inside.
Senior Virginia Tech police and university officials were all in Washington DC today to appeal the $55,000 fine for the way they handled the 2007 shooting.
Police are investigating if an armed robbery in the area which occurred at 11:25 a.m. is related.
Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski held a news conference and told reporters they have all hands on deck and are dealing with the situation in the most efficient, effective way possible. He told all students to stay inside and keep doors locked.
The university issued a statement saying: “Shortly after noon today, a Virginia Tech police officer stopped a vehicle on campus during a routine traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot near McComas Hall.
“During the traffic stop, the officer was shot and killed. There were witnesses to this shooting.
“Witnesses reported to police the shooter fled on foot heading toward the Cage, a parking lot near Duck Pond Drive. At that parking lot, a second person was found. That person is also deceased.
“Several law enforcement agencies have responded to assist. Virginia State Police has been requested to take lead in the investigation.
“The status of the shooter is unknown. The campus community should continue to shelter in place and visitors should not come to campus.”
The shooting came the same day as Virginia Tech was appealing a $55,000 fine by the U.S. Education Department in connection with the university’s response to the 2007 rampage, when a student gunman killed 32 students and faculty and then shot himself.
A report of a possible gunman at Virginia Tech on August 4 set off the longest, most extensive lockdown and search on campus since the 2007 bloodbath led the university to overhaul its emergency procedures.
No gunman was found, and the school gave the all-clear about five hours after sirens began wailing and students and staff members started receiving warnings by phone, email and text message to lock themselves indoors.
Alerts were also posted on the university’s website and Twitter accounts.
The emergency was triggered by three teens who were attending a summer programme on campus and told police they saw a man walking quickly across the grounds with what might have been a handgun covered by a cloth, authorities said.
Police searched some 150 buildings on the square-mile campus and issued a composite sketch of a baby-faced man who was said to be wearing shorts and sandals, but they found no sign of him. They continued to patrol the grounds as a precaution even after the lockdown was lifted.
“We’re in a new era. Obviously this campus experienced something pretty terrible four years ago,” Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said at the time.
“Regardless of what your intuition and your experience as a public safety officer tells you, you are really forced to issue an alert.”
That incident marked the first time the entire campus was locked down since the 2007 shooting, and the second major test of Virginia Tech’s improved emergency alert system.
The system was revamped to add the use of text messages and other means besides email of warning students.
It was also put to the test in 2008, when an exploding nail gun cartridge was mistaken for gunfire. But only one dorm was locked down during that emergency, and it reopened two hours later.
Virginia Tech has opened a student help line on (540) 231-3787 and a police tip line on (540) 231-6411.
Dorothy Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant coach’s wife has arranged his $250,000 bail today – after one accuser claimed she was upstairs while her husband allegedly tried to rape young boys at their home.
Jerry Sandusky had spent the night in jail following a new round of sexual abuse charges from two new victims were filed against him.
Dorothy Sandusky handed over a $50,000 cheque in addition to Jerry Sandusky using $200,000 in real estate holdings to post the bail, according to online court records.
Jerry Sandusky remained at the jail in Bellefonte as of late morning and the warden said he was quiet and cooperative during his overnight stay, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The former coach was hauled away from his home in handcuffs yesterday after prosecutors filed amid startling new testimony has emerged from one of his latest alleged victims.
The ninth alleged victim said in sworn testimony that he suffered abuse at Sandusky’s hands for years, often in the basement of the coach’s house.
He said Jerry Sandusky made him perform oral sex multiple times and tried to anally rape him at least 16 times and succeeded a number of times.
During one of those incidents, the victim screamed for help knowing that Dorothy Sandusky was upstairs, but no one ever came down to help him.
It’s not the first time Dorothy “Dottie” Gross Sandusky’s name has come up in the allegations.
Dorothy Sandusky, 68, attempted to call one of the victims in the weeks leading up to his testimony, despite the fact the now 26-year-old had cut off all contact with Sandusky two years prior.
Dorothy Sandusky left a message on Victim 7’s phone saying the matter was “very important” but the man, who told the Grand Jury that as a 10-year-old in 1994, Sandusky hugged and inappropriately touched him, did not return the call.
Part of that alleged abuse took place in the Sandusky family’s home, in which Dorothy and Jerry raised their six adopted children.
Jerry Sandusky claimed he and his wife could not have any of their own.
Over the years Jerry and Dorothy Sandusky became the parents to Ray, now 46, a businessman living in Nashville, EJ, 41, former Nittany Lions player, and now a football coach at West Chester University, Kara, 38, a Penn State graduate, Jeff, 35, a former Marine, and 33-year-olds Matt, a Penn State graduate and Jon, who is Director of Player Personnel for the Cleveland Browns.
Quite how much any of them knew about the sexual abuse, which occurred between 1994 and 2009 with a number of incidents at the family home, is now under scrutiny.
The number of boys Jerry Sandusky is accused of molesting now stands at ten.
Natalie Johnson, a Macy’s worker at a San Antonio store was fired for refusing to allow a transgender customer to use the women’s fitting room.
Natalie Johnson, 27, admits she was watching the customer from the start, claiming she could tell he was a man shopping for women’s clothes.
When the transgender tried to go into the women’s fitting room, Natalie Johnson stopped him from entering.
The woman told KSAT 12: “I had to just straight forward tell him, <<You’re a man>>, and of course that really got him steamed.”
Macy’s has a policy in place that allows transgendered individuals to use the fitting room of the gender they have chosen.
Natalie Johnson, a Macy’s worker at a San Antonio store was fired for refusing to allow a transgender customer to use the women's fitting room
Natalie Johnson was fired last week after telling her manager that she refused to go along with the policy, citing her devout Christian beliefs.
Natalie Johnson told KSAT 12 that she has filed a complaint with the federal employment commission, saying her views on religion prevent her from recognizing transgendered people.
“There are no transgenders in the world. A guy can dress up as a woman all he wants, that’s still not going to make you a woman,” Natalie Johnson said.
Liberty Council, a conservative Christian organization dedicated to religious freedoms, sided with Natalie Johnson, arguing Macy’s policy should be changed.
Matthew Staver, Liberty Council founder and CEO, said in a statement: “This policy will cause significant problems and will alienate the majority of Macy’s customers.
“Macy’s has essentially opened women’s dressing rooms to every man. The LGBT agenda has become the theater of the absurd.”
Macy’s would not comment on this specific case, but released a statement of their own that said: “At Macy’s, we recognize and appreciate the diversity of our customers and associates.”
12-year-old Ramie Marie Grimmer, who was shot by her mother during a standoff at a Texas welfare office, has died yesterday.
According to a Laredo police spokesman said Ramie Marie Grimmer died yesterday at a San Antonio hospital.
Her 10-year-old brother is still in a critical condition.
Rachelle Grimmer, 38, the mother of children was found dead on Monday inside the office in Laredo.
Rachelle Grimmer shot her children and then she killed herself during a seven-hour standoff with police, after she was denied for food stamps.
Ramie Grimmer’s Facebook profile had been updated to read “may die 2day” just hours before the shootings.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services says the agency rejected Rachelle Grimmer’s application because she did not submit enough information.
Rachelle Grimmer had been embroiled in a battle with the welfare department to try to gain benefits for her family since July.
The woman took her children to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission office in Laredo on Monday at 5:00 p.m. and demanded to speak to a supervisor.
Rachelle Grimmer then pulled out a handgun and began threatening several employees, authorities said.
Rachelle Grimmer held two employees hostage until a male supervisor stepped in and stayed with her while she released the other workers.
The mother took the man and her two children into another room while a SWAT team managed to evacuate 30 people.
Rachelle Grimmer released the supervisor at 7:45 p.m. but remained in the building with her children.
Laredo police spokesman said Ramie Marie Grimmer died yesterday at a San Antonio hospital
During the seven-hour stand-off, the apparent Facebook profile of Ramie Marie Grimmer was updated regularly.
At 7:50 p.m., the girl wrote: “May die 2day” on her wall. She then accepted a friend request before writing “I’m bored” at 10:34 p.m. and tagged her location as Laredo, Texas.
The girl then “liked” the band Evanescence and wrote “ahhhhhhhhhhahhhhhh” at 10:52 p.m.
At 11:28 p.m., Ramie Grimmer wrote “tear gas seriasly”. [sic]
Hostage negotiators were in communication with Rachelle Grimmer but it was intermittent as she frequently hung up, according to police.
Joe Baeza of the Laredo Police Department reported on Tuesday: “About 11:45 last night, she hung up the phone with negotiators, and a little bit later, negotiators heard three shots.”
The SWAT team at the front of the building heard children crying and officers stormed in, finding the three in the front office.
The children were airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio in critical condition and the mother was dead at the scene.
Officer Joe Baeza said: “She had issues and felt that she had been let down by social services in general.
“She was making all sorts of outlandish claims.”
Authorities said Rachelle Grimmer, from Ohio, had arrived in Laredo about eight months ago and had lived with her kids in several locations around the border city.
The children’s grandmother, Mary Lee Shepherd said Rachelle Grimmer “was mentally ill” and she tried to get her help.
Mary Lee Shepherd said her son Dale Grimmer, the children’s father, was flying Wednesday from Montana to San Antonio hospital to be with the children.
Dale and Rachelle Grimmer divorced six or seven years ago, after she and the children moved from Montana to Ohio, Mary Lee Shepherd said.
Dale Grimmer also moved to Ohio and was able to visit the children from time to time, but Rachelle Grimmer moved and did not inform him or the court, Mary Lee Shepherd said.
The grandmother said she or her son contacted social workers in Montana twice and in Ohio once because they were concerned that Rachelle Grimmer could harm the children.
Mary Lee Shepherd declined to detail her former daughter-in-law’s mental problems or say what caused them to make those calls.
Her claims could not immediately be verified Wednesday with state child welfare officials in Montana and Ohio.
However, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services reported finding two cases Wednesday involving Rachelle Grimmer and her children.
In the first case, reported September 15, 2010, the department received a possible neglect report after Rachelle Grimmer and her two children were found living in a tent on a South Texas beach.
Investigators found no evidence of neglect and closed the case, spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.
In a report made last June, Corpus Christi police said Rachelle Grimmer had come to police headquarters with her two children and reported that she had been a domestic violence victim.
Caseworkers checked on her and the children, determined the children were not at risk and took no further action, Patrick Crimmins said.
Patrick Crimminis said the findings had been delayed until Wednesday because Rachelle Grimmer’s surname was spelled differently in the department database, and she was listed under a different first name.
Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Commission, confirmed that Grimmer applied for food stamps in July and was denied.
The spokeswoman said Rachelle Grimmer’s application was incomplete and that she was not sure whether the woman qualified for assistance.
