A Wisconsin woman and her adult son were killed in separate accidents just hours apart in a Milwaukee suburb.
West Allis police say 45-year-old Mary Moore was struck and killed while lying in the street about 1 a.m. Sunday. The driver that hit Moore fled from the scene.
Then, Moore's 22-year-old son, Thomas Olson, died in a car crash as he rushed to the hospital to see his mother. Olson was a passenger in a car that struck three parked cars and overturned about 5:30 a.m. The driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries and has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

Firefighters were called to the Park Monroe Condominiums, 65 E. Monroe St. near Millennium Park, about 9:15 p.m. to rescue a man who was trapped in a stalled elevator between the 21st and 22nd floor of the 49-story building, fire officials said.
A firefighter went up in another elevator in an adjoining shaft, exited through the ceiling hatch to get to the other elevator's hatch, and brought the trapped man into the second elevator, officials said.
Then that elevator became stuck.
The two men then had to be rescued by another firefighter sent up in yet a third elevator

In the summer of 1865, a former slave by the name of Jourdan Anderson sent a letter to his former master. And 147 years later, the document reads as richly as it must have back then.
The roughly 800-word letter, which has resurfaced via various blogs, websites, Twitter and Facebook, is a response to a missive from Colonel P.H. Anderson, Jourdan's former master back in Big Spring, Tennessee. Apparently, Col. Anderson had written Jourdan asking him to come on back to the big house to work.
In a tone that could be described either as "impressively measured" or "the deadest of deadpan comedy," the former slave, in the most genteel manner, basically tells the old slave master to kiss his rear end

A former Massachusetts dentist was sentenced Monday to one year in jail for using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in root canals.
Dr. Michael Clair pleaded guilty earlier this month to a list of charges, including assault and battery, defrauding Medicaid of $130,000, illegally prescribing medications and witness intimidation.
Prosecutors said Clair sometimes used sections of paper clips when performing root canals in an effort to save money. Some of his patients reported infections and other problems

How far would you go for plastic surgery?
Probably not as far as Jayne Fenney. The Daily Mail reports today that a UK woman, dissatisfied with her figure, sold her home to pay for her $47,700 surgery.
Ironically, the procedures were not weight loss procedures -- in fact, Fenney had already lost about 150 pounds on her own. But the dramatic drop left her with excess skin and a sagging upper body in need of a serious lift.
A $47,700 lift, it turns out. Fenney signed herself up for a a "full body lift," an armlift, a breast lift and a thigh lift, which added up to nearly $50K.
So Fenney sold her three-bedroom house plus her TV, her dryer and her bed to fund the surgery extravaganza.

Billy E. Hyatt claims he was fired from Pliant Corp., a plastics factory in northern Georgia near Dalton, after he refused to wear a sticker proclaiming that his factory had been accident-free for 666 days. That number is considered the "mark of the beast" in the Bible's Book of Revelation describing the apocalypse.
Hyatt, who said he's a devout Christian, had worked for the north Georgia plastics company since June 2007 and like other employees wore stickers each day that proclaimed how long the factory had gone without an accident.
But he grew nervous in early 2009 as the number of accident-free days crept into the 600s. As the company's safety calendar approached day 666, Hyatt said he approached a manager and explained that wearing it would force him "to accept the mark of the beast and to be condemned to hell." He said the manager assured him he wouldn't have to wear the number.
When the day came on March 12, 2009, Hyatt sought a manager to discuss his request. He said he was told that his beliefs were "ridiculous" and that he should wear the sticker or serve a three-day suspension.

Doris Birch is having trouble getting a good night's sleep, but she doesn't need Ambien, she needs a ghost buster.
For the last four months, Birch, a 73-year-old grandmother living in the British town of Herne Bay, is reportedly being kept up nights by a ghost who keeps groping her when she is trying to rest

Victoria Childress, who runs her bakery from home, says it's her right as a business owner to turn away customers."I said, 'I'll tell you I'm a Christian, and I do have convictions.' And I said, 'I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm not going to be able to do your cake," Childress, who met the couple during a taste-testing appointment, said. "I didn't do the cake because of my convictions for their lifestyle. It is my right, and it's not to discriminate against them. It's not so much to do with them, it's to do with me and my walk with God and what I will answer [to] Him for."

Ann Lussier, of Attleboro, says that a man impersonating a Florida photographer used the Internet phone application Skype to dupe her into thinking she had entered a mother-daughter bikini contest with a $20,000 grand prize, according to the Attleboro Sun Chronicle.
Sitting in front of their computer, Lussier allegedly demanded her 10-year-old daughter to strip down to her bra and underwear before insisting she completely disrobe. The man on the other side of the camera, who police identified as Joshua Dunfee, of Oxford Junction, Iowa., hid his identity by teling Lussier that his web cam had broken.
"There are sickos out there, and they let them go. But I get locked up. I'm a victim," Lussier told the local newspaper.

A historian has been arrested in central Russia after police found the corpses of 29 women, dressed as dolls, in his apartment, authorities said this week.
The 45-year-old man, who police did not identify, has been charged with desecrating bodies and graves, officials said.
Video released by police showed an eerie collection of what looks like life-sized dolls, outfitted in shabby dresses and headscarves, their hands and faces wrapped in fabric

Seven dogs starved of food and water for two weeks are suspected of eating their Indonesian owner after he returned to his hometown in Manado from a holiday, local media reported on Tuesday.
A neighborhood guard was curious when he saw luggage lined up at the front of Andre Lumboga's house, days after the 50-year old arrived back home. He approached the house, smelled something foul and called the police, according to a report.
"His skull was found in the kitchen, and his body was found in the front of his house,"

The decision came after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement obtained surveillance video that appears to show an Orlando police pickup truck pushing the van into other officers' vehicles.
A passenger in the pickup was OPD Sgt. Rhonda Huckelbery, who suspected that men in the van stole her husband's credit cards the day before and used them to buy nearly $1,000 in electronics

Drawing a team of nearly 40 of the most talented artists in the world, Blankenberge's Sand Sculpture Festival is a world-renowned event that continues to grow each year. In 2010, it set the world record for the longest sculpture promenade at 841.80 meters – more than a two hour walk!

While past festival themes have taken inspiration from Disney elements, the recreation of an entire Disney theme park in 125 sand sculptures is a first

A Brooklyn, Connecticut man was arrested by state police Monday on charges he threatened two Connecticut Light & Power contractors with a firearm.
Kyle Wojcik, 30, was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment, threatening and disorderly conduct.
According to state police, two utility workers from Michigan hired by CL&P went to a home on Bailey Street to check whether the power was on. The workers were confronted by the armed homeowner who ordered them off the property. The workers turned around to leave, and were followed down the driveway

A woman has been arrested, accused of planting a hoax bomb that prompted an evacuation at Miami International Airport on Tuesday.
Miami-Dade police said Danisa Landaeta, 30, of Miami, drew a picture of a bomb and wrote the word "boom" on the luggage of her friend

Jon Hutt was doing logging work all alone in a remote Colorado forest when his six-ton trailer fell onto his right foot.
The pain was excruciating, no one was around to hear his cries for help and he couldn't free himself from the big piece of equipment. So he pulled out his 3-inch pocket knife and cut off his toes to get free

Black bears in residential neighborhoods aren’t exactly unheard of in Juneau. While many people stay inside when bears are about, one local woman says she had a different instinct when she saw her dog was in trouble

The worn leather book might be riddled with tiny wormholes and have pages that are yellowed by time.
But two centuries after being part of Camden's very first lending library, Oliver Goldsmith's 1790 "History of England, Vol. 1," has come home at last to the delight of astonished local librarians

Owners and trainers of service dogs are increasingly angry at pet owners who pass their animals off as service dogs by using phony credentials.
The imposters go to the Internet to buy vests, ID cards and certificates for their dogs. The deception allows their pets to live in restricted housing, accompany them into restaurants and hotels or fly free in airplane cabins rather than in cargo holds.
"I don't want to say it's a scam, but it is a scam," said Nick Kutsukos, 72, who runs the Elite K9 Academy in Jupiter and has trained service dogs for 40 years.
People who fake a disability and/or pretend their pet is a service animal risk at least a fine or, in extreme cases, federal fraud charges

An Indonesian lawmaker quit politics Monday after he was caught watching pornography on his tablet computer during a parliament session.
"As a pioneer in my party, I am drawn to take responsibility [for my actions] for the sake of the continuity and good image of my party," Arifinto, who goes by one name, said. "I would also like to apologize to all Prosperous Justice Party [PKS] cadres and lawmakers. My decision is made clearly on my own. It does not involve any intervention and pressure from anybody," he added.

South Korean police have sniffed out a total of 11 billion won ($9.6 million) in cash buried in remote garlic fields and have confiscated the haul.
TV footage showed plastic containers brimming with jaw-dropping wads of cash being excavated one after another in the south-western city of Gimje.
Media reports said two brothers who had made the money from an illegal internet gambling operation asked their brother-in-law, surnamed Lee, to hide the cash as police began closing in on them.

The mother of a Broward middle school student is upset after her 13-year-old daughter told her a teacher placed tape over her mouth.
"I came home from a hard day's work to hear that my daughter had her mouth taped up unwillingly," said Leah Freel.
Jazlyn Freel attends New Renaissance Middle School. She said on Thursday her teacher placed tape over her mouth. "She asked me to stop talking, and then a couple minutes went by, and I started to talk again, and she came to me and put it on my mouth," Jazlyn said. "I had to cough, so I took the first piece off, so she went into her desk, and she took another piece out, and she put it on my mouth again."
Jazlyn said the teacher also taped another student's mouth, and they went to an administrator.
According to the 13-year-old student, the teacher "told me to keep the tape on my mouth, and she told me that what happened in her classroom stayed in her classroom, and it was just a joke."

The New Jersey State Police responded to a call from a concerned bus driver Tuesday night who found what he thought was a suspicious package in one of the luggage compartments on his bus.

Using the utmost caution, they carefully steered a remote controlled robot toward the quietly threatening bundle, gingerly removing it from the compartment and then exploding it with a smaller charge, a standard safety protocol according to Sergeant Steve Jones.

Detectives investigated the ragged shreds of what remained, which though it was almost completely obliterated, they were able to determine had been a fruit basket.

Meet Dr. Ted Eisenberg, holder of the world record for the most breast surgeries performed in a lifetime.

Rest assured, ladies -- you're probably in safe hands.

Not content with handling scalpels all day, in his spare time Eisenberg is a competitive knife thrower.

In what can only be described as the ultimate Crying Game shocker scene of reality TV, "Thailand's Got Talent" hopeful Nantita Khumpiramon auditioned this week for the show crooning both parts of a duet ("I'm going to sing two songs which I've remixed myself," Nantita cryptically announced)--and the results were so stunning, people all over the world are now talking about this most unusual, two-sided contestant.
Be sure to watch until the end, because trust me, it gets better.

Ollie's Place, a cat adoption center operated by Mighty Mutts in New York City, recently found a unique way to celebrate a special bond between two adoptable cats: It held the world's first same-sex cat wedding.

The "tail-joining" ceremony united Solomon and Bruno, two adult males who depend on each other and are looking for a forever home they can go to together.

A Christian couple opposed to homosexuality have lost a court battle over their right to become foster carers.
Eunice and Owen Johns, 62 and 65, of Derby, said the city council did not want them to look after children because of their traditional views.

ATM under guard after spitting out free money
Up to 40 ATMs said to be affected by glitch
Police warn taking money is committing fraud.

TITS out Tuesday is not adult entertainment, it is just young men and women "having a laugh."
That is what lawyer John Lawrence told the Licensing Commission.
The infamous wet T-shirt competition at a Darwin nightclub - known by patrons as Tits out Tuesday - is on trial for allegedly breaching adult entertainment guidelines.

Police say a brawl between roommates over Girl Scout cookies led to assault charges against one of them. According to the Naples Daily News, the Collier County Sheriff's Office reports that 31-year-old Hersha Howard woke up her roommate early Sunday and accused her of eating her Thin Mints.
They argued and deputies say that it turned physical with Howard chasing her roommate with scissors and hitting her repeatedly with a board and then a sign.

After floodwaters receded from her home, a Brazilian woman was shocked to find a most unwelcome house guest: a 5-foot (1.5-meter) alligator lying tamely in the living room as her 3-year-old son petted the reptile's head.

Phoenix police say they removed a gun from the home of actor Frankie Muniz after a domestic dispute with his girlfriend.

A police report says Elycia Turnbow claims Muniz pulled out a gun and held it against his head last Friday night after the two were arguing about prior relationships.

Baldwin Borough Manager John Barrett said during Tuesday's meeting that the cross on Behr's lawn and possibly another on his roof are in violation of the borough's ordinance for the installation of structures, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Barrett could not be reached for comment early Wednesday, but the permit won't likely be granted because the cross doesn't comply with size and placement requirements, WTAE.com reports.

Residents of a California neighborhood say a cat has a habit of stealing items from neighbors. "Dusty" has apparently stolen more than 600 items from his San Mateo neighbors over the years.

What's it really like in a coroner's office? The truth is, it's nothing like what you see on television.

Last week, The Telegraph published the tale of Charlie, a 14-year-old white cat who bears a frightening resemblance to Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort. Charlie was abandoned by his original owners, but someone found him and took him to a vet, where his ears and nose were removed to save him from skin cancer. Now he looks like he could be Ralph Fiennes' understudy as Voldemort in the Potter films.

"It is still widely accepted," Negar Farshidi writes, "that a groom can make his marriage conditional on the bride remaining a virgin, and cancel it if it turns out she isn't. Traditionally, a bloodstained sheet was produced after the wedding night as evidence of an intact hymen, but nowadays many men and their families ask for a 'virginity certificate' in advance."

A PRE-school teacher with 20 years' experience sprayed air freshener on Asian children - referring to Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in the UK - under her care because they smelled of curry, a tribunal heard.

Now that nurse Sarah Casareto has resigned from Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, she'll probably never work in the medical profession again. Of course, it doesn't help that she appears to have used most of the anesthesia intended for one of her patient having kidney stones removed, and told him that he was just going to have to "man up" during the operation.

Kansas legislators during the last session approved a number of changes to the state's concealed carry law. One of them was that people who are renewing their license no longer have to take any sort of test to prove they're still proficient with a firearm.
The changes also removed language from the law that gave the attorney general the right to deny applicants a license if they "suffer from a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling of a weapon."
A spokesman for Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt — whose office oversees the concealed carry program — conceded this week that the office is uncertain whether it has the authority to deny a concealed carry license renewal for any physical reason, even if the applicant is blind.

A man who fled his trial on drug and racketeering charges in 1979 and eluded police in several different countries while on the run was arrested Thursday at a Florida senior living community, U.S. Marshals said.
Mark Steven Phillips was arrested at the West Palm Beach, Florida, apartments by a U.S. Marshals "Cold Case Fugitive Squad," authorities said. Authorities woke him while he was sleeping, the statement said, and the lead deputy marshal told him, "The judge wants to see you, Mark."
"The judge wants to see me from 30 years ago?" Phillips replied.

>A member of Oklahoma's Board of Education drew heated reaction Thursday after saying a newly hired administrator would be "worthless" as a legislative liaison if she took immediate maternity leave.
Shortly after the board voted to hire Jessica Russell, who is due to give birth in April, former state Sen. Herb Rozell noted that she was pregnant and questioned whether she would be around for key days of the upcoming legislative session.
Russell was hired to represent the state Department of Education's interests at the Capitol. The Oklahoma Legislature reconvenes Feb. 7 and must end its business by May 27.
"If she has that baby in April and takes off six weeks, she's worthless to us," Rozell said.

Boulder police arrested a 19-year-old man after he allegedly bit his girlfriend's hand because she wouldn't buy him beer.
The suspect, Stephen Edward Siebold, is also accused of hitting the woman on the head with a skateboard and attempting to strangle her, according to the police blotter.
Boulder police Sgt. Kristi Peterson said the incident happened around 7 p.m. Wednesday in the 1200 block of Elder Avenue. According to a police report, the man was at home with his 21-year-old girlfriend and attacked her after she refused to buy him beer. Police said they think he was under the influence of narcotics.

When Diane Potts of Gateshead in northern England checked her voice mail on Jan. 20, she found a moving surprise.

It was a 90-second message from an emotional soldier in Afghanistan, The Daily Mail reported. He spoke of his pain at seeing a fellow soldier killed and his hopes for their future together.

"I love you so much, I love you with all my heart and I was going to ask you, don't answer, obviously you can't answer, but will you marry me?" the soldier asks.

There was just one problem: Potts has no idea who the man is. He had the wrong number.

For every homeless person like Ted Williams, who rises to sudden celebrity, there is a Debbie Clark, who has experienced the heights of fame only to lose everything except her dignity.

California resident Victor Murillo was recently awakened at 3:00 in the morning by a loud metallic thud outside his apartment window. Thinking the sound was made by a garbage truck, he rolled over and went back to sleep. But when he emerged from his apartment to go to work and started up his Toyota Tacoma, the engine sounded like a small volcano erupting. The din was loud enough to wake a neighbor, and while Murillo shut off the truck and wondered what could possibly be making so much racket, the neighbor emerged and delivered bad news.

"I know that noise," he said. "That's the sound of a stolen catalytic converter."

In less than the three minutes it took a thief to unbolt the converter and take off, Murillo was out $250 in theft insurance deductable dollars and had to do without his work truck for the two days it took the local mechanic to install a new unit.

Out of nowhere, 79-year-old Connie Newell got a call this month on her cell phone from a man telling her she had won $1 million and needed to send him $100 in order to collect.
A widow from South County, Newell didn't fall for the scam. She told the man she wasn't interested, but before she could hang up he made this threat:
"Do you want someone to put a bullet in you? We know exactly where you live."
She told him she didn't have any money, but he persisted. Newell hung up, and he called back. She said he warned: "You will be killed." Then he asked the mother of four, who also has four grandchildren, if she lived alone.

The Illinois Eavesdropping Act has been on the books for years. It makes it a criminal offense to audio-record either private or public conversations without the consent of all parties...
Although law-enforcement officials can legally record civilians in private or public, audio-recording a law-enforcement officer, state's attorney, assistant state's attorney, attorney general, assistant attorney general or judge in the performance of his or her duties is a Class 1 felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The A.C.L.U. filed its lawsuit after several people throughout Illinois were charged in recent years with eavesdropping for making audio recordings of public conversations with the police. The A.C.L.U. argued that the act violates the First Amendment and hinders citizens from monitoring the public behavior of police officers and other officials.

The sale of Valentine's Day gifts by shops, and the promotion in any way of the annual day for sweethearts, has been banned by Iranian authorites, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency. The February 14 celebration itself isn't officially banned, but conservative hardliners have warned about the corrupting permeation of Western values. Under Iran's Sharia law, unwed couples are not even allowed to mingle. The printing owners' union issued a directive on the ban which encompasses "Printing and producing any goods related to this day including posters, boxes and cards emblazoned with hearts or half-hearts, red roses and any activities promoting this day."

Brazen thieves apparently stole a handbag from a woman as she lay dying in the street, police in Britain say.

Lindsay Plumb, 47, collapsed early Friday after leaving a pub near her home in Sale, near Manchester, England. Her husband had left the pub to go for fish and chips. When he returned and found that his wife had left, he went looking for her and found her lying in the street, Greater Manchester Police said in a statement.

Plumb was taken Wythenshawe Hospital, where she died hours later.

Her husband later realized that her purse, silver Nokia phone and other personal items were missing, police said.

Runes of Magic player "augustus87" has somehow managed to hack the game's database and is demanding its German owners to meet his demands -- in the meantime he'll be holding the information he's taken from the database hostage.
The player has hacked the servers of the game's Western owners, Frogster. He's claimed that he currently has the data of over 3.5 million users, and will release it in waves until his demands are met.

Nurse loses license for 20 years over sex with hospice patient The Oklahoma Nursing Board in August disciplined Amber Van Brunt, 33, of Shawnee, for unprofessional conduct. Now, she is asking an Oklahoma County judge to reverse the board's order "to correct this miscarriage of justice."
A hearing is set for Wednesday.
At the heart of the appeal is an ethical question: Is it ever right for a nurse to have sex with a patient?

A pet cat has been summoned for jury duty - and has been told by courts he 'must attend'Despite owner Anna Esposito's protestations that a mistake has been made, a jury commissioner has ruled that Sal must attend the court.
She wrote that Sal was 'unable to speak and understand English' - and included a letter from her vet saying that the animal was a 'domestic short-haired neutered feline'.

The United Commercial (UCO) Bank has opened the country's first lockless branch at Shani Shinganapur in Maharashtra, even as the Centre has made hi-tech security mandatory for all nationalized and private sector banks. Shani Shinganapur is a small village in Ahmednagar district whose presiding deity is Lord Shani. More than 5,000 devotees visit the temple every day, while on weekends the number crosses the 1 lakh mark.

"We took note of the general belief and faith of the people. Ever since the most revered temple came into existence several years ago, the village has not witnessed a single crime. In fact, all houses in the entire village have no doors. We took the risk and started the lockless bank a week ago," a senior bank official said

What is your life expectancy? There are a lot of factors that influence one's life expectancy. This test will help you calculate yours.

The United States government's debt surpassed the $14 trillion mark on Saturday, inching closer to the $14.3 trillion debt limit.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner earlier this month asked that Congress act quickly to raise the limit.

"Default would effectively impose a significant and long-lasting tax on all Americans and all American businesses and could lead to the loss of millions of American jobs," Geithner wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. "Even a very short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades."

Three members of a San Bernardino family were killed Friday when they came into contact with the electric current from a 12,000-volt power line that had fallen into their backyard amid 50-mph winds.

Steven Vego, a 44-year-old plumber, went into the yard Friday morning after he and his family were jolted by two loud explosions. From inside the home, Kayli Vego saw her father step over the line and stumble to the ground.

She called to her mother, Sharon, who was in the frontyard putting out two fires apparently caused by falling power lines. Sharon sprinted to the backyard. But when she touched her husband, she collapsed as well. Her 21-year old son darted out next. He too tumbled to the ground when he touched one of his fallen family members.

An Australian couple were rescued from Melbourne's flooded Yarra River today after hitting a rough patch of water during their inflatable sex doll rafting trip. Afterward, police issued a reminder that latex sex dolls are "not recognised flotation devices."

"Occult crime happens all over the world and it's growing," said Rimer.

Holly McPherson, spokeswoman for the Newport News Police Department, said she wasn't aware of any occult-related crimes in that city.

Rimer, who consults with police departments, said the last major investigation he assisted with on the Peninsula was in September 2007 in which Jonathan Barron – a self-proclaimed vampire – was kidnapped from Huntington Park by acquaintances he met through a Norfolk store that caters to Wiccan and pagan activities.

Barron was taken to Colonial National Historic Park in York County where he was beaten, stabbed, had his hair set on fire and was injected with silver thermal compound and Barbicide disinfectant through a marinade needle. He also was hit by a car before being left for dead.

Barron survived and four people, including a man who was described as a werewolf in court, pled guilty to felonies and are in prison for their respective roles in the assault.

Within the next week, TV Land celebrates the 45th anniversary of the birth of Tabitha Stephens (Jan. 13) and the 58th anniversary of the birth of Little Ricky Ricardo (Jan. 19).

And those 'Bewitched' and 'I Love Lucy' babes got us to thinking about the all-time greatest TV baby births, which, of course, include a lot of nervous daddies, uptight mommies, meddling relatives, one presidential election and, in one of the funniest, most bizarre births, a party sandwich and a two liter bottle of orange soda.

Check out our countdown of 20 of TV's most famous baby births ...

Honorable Mention: Pebbles Flintstone, 'The Flintstones (born Feb. 22, 1963
The babies in our countdown are all "real" non-animated, but we couldn't leave out adorable little Pebbles entirely. Fun facts: She was almost a boy Hanna Barbera was convinced a toy company to change Fred and Wilma's child to a girl, and her name was chosen via a national "Name the Flintstones Baby" contest.

An MTA bus driver could be in trouble after video obtain exclusively by Fox 5 News shows him forcibly removing a disruptive passenger from his bus in Brooklyn.
A B-35 bus stopped on Nostrand Avenue Thursday because passengers complained that a woman lit up a cigarette.
The video shows her smoking. Passengers are heard insisting she put out the cigarette or get off, but she refuses.

Amanda Byrne, 18 of Rowe, N.M., apparently was listening to music on an earpiece or headset as she was jogging along the tracks in Rowe, New Mexico on Friday afternoon and did not hear the train's warning horn as it approached her from behind, Lt. Eric Garcia said Saturday. Byrne also was wearing a headband that covered her ears.

When Holly Lahti came forward to claim her half of a $380 million lottery jackpot, it looked like one of those rags-to-riches stories come true, featuring a 29-year-old single mother of two girls, working as a bank teller and living in a tiny Idaho town.

Then along came her estranged husband. And now the story features a mug shot of Lahti sporting a black eye, and reports that she may have to split her winnings with her husband, who has been arrested on charges ranging from second-degree kidnapping to domestic battery and DUI.

The phantom ringing sounds heard by about 40 million people in the U.S. today are caused by brains that try, but fail to protect their human hosts against overwhelming auditory stimuli, the researchers say in the January 13th issue of Neuron. They add that the same process may be responsible for chronic pain and other perceptual disorders.
The researchers say that the absence of sound caused by hearing loss in certain frequencies, due to normal aging, loud-noise exposure, or to an accident, forces the brain to produce sounds to replace what is now missing. But when the brain's limbic system, which is involved in processing emotions and other functions, fails to stop these sounds from reaching conscious auditory processing, tinnitus results.

A dog, "Leao", sits for a second consecutive day, next to the grave of her owner, Cristina Maria Cesario Santana, who died in the week's catastrophic landslides in Brazil.

Feeding homeless people BANNED IN HOUSTON

Remember the United States of TV map that assigned a show to each of the 50 United States? My Food Looks Funny did that with food, assigning a representative dish to each state. I can't argue with fried chicken for Kentucky, but I think of catfish or barbecue for Tennessee instead of tomatoes.

In one of the more amusing calls you'll ever hear, a four-year-old Florida boy dialed 911 to report that his father had "been very bad," and asked a police operator to write a message to Santa Claus to report his parent's behavior.
The January 2 call, handled by a Niceville Police Department operator, can be heard here:

When the operator asked the boy what his father did, the child replied, "When you're bad you get a big rock and you have to put it under your house." "Okay," the operator replied.

If NASA put out the word that it was looking for volunteers to suit up for the first manned mission to Mars, the line outside Cape Canaveral might stretch from there to the moon.

But what if they said it was a nine-month trip on a cramped spaceship and there was a possibility you wouldn't be coming home?

Despite the possibility of those conditions, at least 400 brave souls have said "yes" in response to a new book, "The Human Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet" Cosmology Science Publishers

One of the largest and most powerful predatory birds in the Americas has returned to Belize for the first time in over 60 years. Scientists recently confirmed the sighting of a Harpy eagle nest in the Maya Mountains with as many as five birds, in an area where the birds had become extinct due to human activity. This may be the most northerly breeding Harpy pair, signaling a comeback for the species in Central America.

It was all going so well for Natsuki Terada. The Japanese runner was leading a recent marathon, but then he took a wrong turn ... with only about 200 feet left to race.

Here's a little surprise about a seemingly innocent product, your everyday cup of tea: some of the world's biggest tea manufacturers engage in some pretty cruel animal testing. According to PETA, Lipton has been testing tea on animals so that it can make health claims about its products, despite that such tests are not sufficient to meet regulation standards for proving a product's health claims.
PETA explains some of the things done to animals including rabbits, mice, rats, and piglets (but be prepared for some horrifying stuff):

Darco Sangermano, a 28-year-old Italian man, was partying and celebrating on New Years Eve. Just like you and me. But unlike us, he was partying in Naples where things can get a little wild—down in Naples, they fire guns with live ammunition to ring in the new year. Unfortunately for ol' Darco, he was shot in the face by a stray bullet during one of those celebrations.
Obviously worried for his life, Darco—bloody face and all—rushed to the hospital in hopes that doctors could save him. Turns out they didn't have to. When he got to the hospital, a big whooping sneeze overcame him and out came snot and that .22 caliber bullet he got shot with. From his nose. The doctors were absolutely stunned.

Medics say a Pennsylvania man rushing home after his daughter suffered a seizure struck the ambulance carrying the girl, injuring several people.
Ambulance company volunteers say the man crashed nearly head-on into the emergency vehicle Friday night in northeastern Pennsylvania.

A proposal to conduct random drug tests of young students in one New Jersey town is raising some eyebrows.
Students at Belvidere Elementary School could be adding drug testing to their list of lessons when they move into middle school.
The Board of Education will vote Wednesday on a plan to randomly test sixth, seventh and eighth graders to see if they are under the influence of drugs. School administrators said they were confident the proposal would pass.
Elementary School Principal Sandra Szabocsik said school officials want to use the testing "as a deterrent.".

A South Elgin man was accused Sunday of hitting another man in the face with a glass while the two argued about whose school is better, police said.
Police say the altercation occurred around 11 p.m. at Buffalo Wild Wings Grill in the 400 block of Randall Road and ended with the arrest of Kevin M. Page.

AN elderly New Zealand farmer has been found dead in a sewage pond and family members were reported to believe he met his gruesome end after jumping into the mire to save a trapped lamb

Police in New Mexico said a naked burglar who climbed a 6-foot fence and smashed a glass door told officers he was on acid.

A suicidal man jumped from a building in New York City and fell nine stories -- but was saved when he landed on a huge pile of garbage that had piled up since last week's blizzard.

Spanish police have detained a woman who faked her own kidnapping to test whether her husband would pay ranson, sending him a photograph of herself with bound hands and feet, police said Monday.
The man received the photo on his mobile phone from someone claiming to be one of the kidnappers along with a text message demanding a ransom of 20,000 euros (26,000 dollars) for her release, they said in a statement.
The ransom request was repeated in later text messages as well as warnings that the man not go to police, which he ignored.

Some people are very sensitive about showing their underwear.
These do not necessarily include people who wear extremely short skirts, droopy jeans, or minuscule tank tops. Lady Gaga is not included either.
However, a Japanese woman is reportedly so incensed by seeing private items on her washing line appear on the very public Google Street View that she has decided to sue the company.
The Telegraph references Japan's Mainichi newspaper, which quoted the woman from district court proceedings: "I was overwhelmed with anxiety that I might be the target of a sex crime. It caused me to lose my job, and I had to change my residence."

Michael R. Shartle doesn't go to school and doesn't go to work. But according to Spokane County Sheriff's Deputies, the 19-year-old from rural Chattaroy thinks his family should give him $50 a day in allowance for sitting on his ass. Earlier this week, Shartle's school bus-driving mom and grandma turned off the faucet. They refused to shell out any more dough. Shartle didn't like that. And what followed the refusal is one of the sickest cases of alleged animal cruelty and general scumbagliness that's crossed our desk in some time.