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Curses, Foiled Again
Armed with a handgun and an assault rifle, Terry “T.J.” Newman, 25, and John “Pimp” Roberts invaded a home in San Antonio, Texas, and demanded money. Authorities said that when the homeowner’s son came out of a bedroom with his own assault rifle and started firing, the two robbers fled, leaving their getaway car idling in front of the house. They returned 15 minutes later for the car, by which time members of the household had armed themselves with a second assault rifle and opened fire. Police arrived, only to have Newman ram their patrol vehicle with a second vehicle. He was arrested and convicted of aggravated assault. (San Antonio Express-News) Authorities quickly identified three youths who broke into a house in Newton County, Ga., because they left behind pictures of themselves on the homeowner’s camera. (Atlanta’s WSB-TV)
Fatastic News
Plastic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Hartog announced the opening of a fat bank in Seminole County, Fla., where patients who have had fat removed during liposuction can store it for future cosmetic use, such as plumping up body parts affected by aging. The service spares the patient having to undergo liposuction, which requires anesthesia, a second or third time to obtain the fat. “Fat banking takes {liposuction} to a whole new level,” Hartog said. “We put the patient to sleep once. Do the lipo. Get the fat out once and have as much as we need for later injections.” He explained the fat is drained, cleaned, put in containers for freezing by a “patented process” and stored at his Liquid Gold center, located next to his cosmetic-surgery clinic. The cost to store 250 to 300 cubic centimeters of fat—enough to fill a coffee cup—is $900 for the first year and $200 a year after that. (Orlando Sentinel) Janet Hardt, 63, died after injecting heated beef fat into her face around her mouth and chin. She’d gone to the hospital complaining that her face felt like it was burning. Authorities in Cook County, Ill., said that, judging from infections in her mouth and lip and scarring from the injections, she apparently had performed the procedure several times, trying to reduce wrinkling. Although Hardt’s face reportedly looked “grotesque,” it had few wrinkles. Neither the injections nor the infections caused her death, however; an autopsy determined she died of peritoni tis, a severe abdominal infection. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Friends Indeed
After Cumberland County, Pa., District Judge Thomas A, Placey ordered a continuance for Barry Horn Jr., who’s accused in a standoff with police, several court observers Googled Placey’s Facebook page and learned he’s a Facebook friend with the defendant. Placey said he knew Horn’s father, a former county sheriff’s deputy, but has never socialized with the defendant. He insisted the two aren’t real friends, only Facebook friends, adding that he accepts every friend request he gets. “Someone says you want to be my friend, I say yes,” Placey said. “You could be a Facebook friend of mine, I wouldn’t know it.” (Harrisburg’s The Patriot-News) Police in Greeley, Colo., accused Juan Gonzales Jr., 22, of breaking into a woman’s home and stealing her cellphone.
After using the phone signal to trace the phone to Gonzales, investigators found that the suspect had sent the victim a friend request on Facebook. (Greeley’s The Tribune) A new Internet site called MyMicrobes offers to connect people based entirely on similarities in their gut bacteria. According to the science journal Nature, German biochemist Peer Bork, one of the site’s founders, got the idea for MyMicrobes after receiving nearly a hundred emails from people concerned about their gastrointestinal problems. “They were long emails,” he said. “There must be a lot of frustrated people out there.” The site lets people with similar digestive profiles share and gather information about their digestive health. Joining the site costs $2,100, which covers the cost of sequencing gut bacteria.
(Mother Nature Network)
Waste Makes Taste
Authorities in China’s Zhejiang province detained 32 people accused of operating a criminal network selling “poisonous and harmful cooking oil” made from used grease dredged from drains behind restaurants. Noting the enterprise did business in 14 provinces, the ministry of public safety said police confiscated more than 100 tons of “gutter oil.” (Reuters)
Second-Amendment Follies
Alfonsia O’Bryant, 85, was trying to remove an opossum that had gotten into a chicken pen in Augusta, Ga., when his friend fired a .32-caliber pistol at the animal. Richmond County sheriff’s officials said the bullet missed the possum but wounded O’Bryant in the face. (The Augusta Chronicle) Police in Louisville, Ky., reported that John Berthiaume, 53, seriously injured his right arm, buttock and leg when his homemade potato gun exploded. Tony Berthiaume said his brother apparently put too much black powder into the gun. (Louisville’s WLKY-TV) John Champion, 21, was hunting alone from his ATV in Levy County, Fla., when he shot himself in the foot with a crossbow. Florida Fish and Wildlife investigators said Champion, who is a paraplegic, was cocking his crossbow when he accidentally fired the bolt through his left foot, pinning it to the ATV’s floor. Unable to free himself, he tried to drive out but became stuck on some brush. Other hunters and family members eventually found him and took him to the hospital for treatment. (Tampa Bay’s WTSP-TV)
Homeland Insecurity
Terrorists could start boarding airliners with surgically implanted explosive devices, a Department of Homeland Security senior official warned, adding the agency has already informed foreign governments of the potential threat. “New intelligence indicated at least a fresh look at this possible tactic,” the DHS official said, linking the threat to al-Qaida. Noting that scanning equipment used in airports can’t penetrate skin and couldn’t detect implanted devices, Transportation Security Agency official Greg Soule said the agency would rely on behavior-detection officers to help identify travelers with embedded body bombs. (The New York Times)
Money Talks
Police in Prince George’s County, Md., attributed the 12.1 percent decline in violent crimes during the first nine months of 2011 to paying off 67 known offenders. “We basically called them in,” Police Chief Mark Magaw said, “and basically said, ‘What do you need?’” Magaw explained the targeted violent offenders, who were identified by parole and probation records, were offered everything from food stamps to job programs.” Magaw said that since the initiative, none of the targeted offenders has been arrested. (Washington’s WUSA-TV) School officials in Camden, N.J., offered 66 high school students $100 apiece not to skip school. The program, dubbed “I Can End Truancy,” or “ICE-T,” is funded by a state grant. (The Washington Times)
Road to Recovery
Britain’s government has concluded that the best way to get the economy moving is to raise the highway speed limit. Noting the current limit of 70 miles per hour is 50 years old, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond declared, “Increasing the motorway speed limit to 80 mph would generate economic benefits of hundreds of millions of pounds through shorter journey times.” (Reuters)
Why Space Exploration Matters
After astronomers announced the discovery of a planet some 200 light years from Earth that has two suns, a member of the discovery team, Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, announced the finding’s implications: “It’d be a weird cocktail hour. The sun would go down and you’d have a drink and then, a few hours later, the other sun would go down while you have another drink.” (The Washington Post)
Charge or Charge?
Money is disappearing, according to the Treasury Department, which last year printed the fewest $1, $5 and $10 bills in 30 years. Two reasons for lower demand are the increased use of credit and debit cards, which people are using more instead of money, and the increased longevity of circulating bills. The average dollar bill lasts 2.2 times longer than 20 years ago, according to Federal Reserve estimates.
Bucking the trend is the $100 bill, which is a leading American export and is hoarded like gold in unstable places. Last year, the Treasury Department printed more $100 bills than dollar bills for the first time, and the Federal Reserve estimates that foreigners hold two-thirds of the 7 billion $100 bills in circulation. (The New York Times)
What Could Go Wrong?
Fresh from beating human contestants on television’s Jeopardy!, IBM’s Watson supercomputer system has been hired by health insurer WellPoint Inc. to help diagnose medical problems and authorize treatments for its 34.2 million members. (Associated Press) Scientists announced they have genetically engineered grass able to withstand the “prodigious amounts” of herbicide needed to kill Roundup-resistant “superweeds.” Developed by chemical and seed company Monsanto, the strain of Kentucky bluegrass isn’t subject to federal regulations because instead of relying on bacteria, which the USDA does regulate, Monsanto scientists used a “gene gun” to shoot the modified gene into the grass’s DNA. (Wired, The New York Times)
News and Blues is compiled from the nation’s press. To contribute, submit original clippings, citing date and source, to Roland Sweet in care of The New Times.
