Archive for April, 2012

Husband beats wife’s Facebook friend to death with bat

Monday, April 9, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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(LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

A jealous Taiwanese husband led an assault on a Facebook user who had flirted with his wife online, beating him to death with baseball clubs, police said Monday, according to Agence France-Presse:

Chou You-huang, a 34-year-old resident of south Taiwan’s Pingtung county, told police that he had requested a meeting with the 40-year-old victim, Chuang Shih-chang, after he found out about the online relationship.

When Chuang turned up at the agreed spot outside a restaurant early Saturday morning, Chou and two of his friends attacked him with baseball bats, according to police.

The three men beat him ferociously and then left him there, believing he had not suffered life-threatening injuries, according to police statements.

The China Post reported one of the Facebook exchanges:

Chen (wife of Chou You-huang), in a Facebook status update, wrote, “I want to get McDonalds! Which nice man will take me there?” Chuang responded: “I am about to arrive at your house!”

In his Internet posts, Chuang also frequently referred to Chen as his “wife.”

The China Post also reported that when questioned by the police, Chou said Chuang “had been drunk and had a horrible attitude and refused to admit his wrongdoings.” He further said he thought Chuang was just in a coma when they left him on the road.

The cult of the Peep: Wacky ideas for Easter’s favorite candy

Saturday, April 7, 2012 by:Staff
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It’s Easter which means Peeps, those sugary marshmallow treats synonymous with the holiday, are everywhere, and I mean everywhere.

Found in Easter baskets far and wide, next to the dyed eggs, they also turn up on top of cupcakes, on plates covered with chocolate bunnies, and become decorations on cakes.

But for some, they have become more than just a treat, they have attained a cult-like status. Peeps are eaten, baked, decorated, nuked, and photographed.

We have complied a slideshow of photos that have been uploaded to Flickr showing some of the wacky ways people have fun with their Peeps.

What do you do with your Peeps? Let us know in the comments!

Woman dies saving grandson from alleged hit-and-run driver

Friday, April 6, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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A Staten Island woman pushed her 8-year-old grandson out of the way before being struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver as the two walked home from church Thursday night, according to NBC New York.

Clara Almazo, 57, and her grandson, Brian Herrera-Ramirez, were crossing Cary Avenue in West Brighton just before 10 p.m. when a black Ford Escape came barreling toward them, police say.

Witnesses said Almazo was thrown 10 to 20 feet by the impact. She was later pronounced dead at Richmond University Hospital. Her grandson suffered scratches and bruises.

The alleged driver, Brian McGurk, 40, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and a long beard, said nothing at a Staten Island court hearing where prosecutors charged that he disappeared for three hours after fatally striking Almazo, the New York Daily News reported.

‘Billionaire’ video mocks lavish fed spending

Friday, April 6, 2012 by:Vanessa Ho
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Days after a scandal erupted over a federal agency’s lavish spending on parties, fancy dinners, resort suites and rented tuxes, a music video has emerged by one of the agency’s employees, mocking the spending.

The video was made for an employee talent contest for the General Services Administration’s 2010 conference in Las Vegas, reported The Washington Post.

A report earlier this week showed the agency had spent $820,000 on the four-day, 300-person event, which included a $95-per-person dinner, $7,000 in sushi, $3,200 for a mind reader, $5,600 for in-room parties and $2,800 in water bottles, the Associated Press reported.

The spending, done at the height of the recession, prompted the resignation of a senior agency official and dismissal of two deputies. The GSA is a large agency that oversees office space and supplies and management duties.

The video, which surfaced Thursday, added more fuel to the scandal. It shows a GSA worker from Hawaii strumming a ukelele to the tune of Travie McCoy & Bruno Mars’s “Billionaire.”

“Donate my vacation, love to the nation, I’ll never be under OIG investigation,” the employee then raps.

The video won the GSA’s talent contest and was showcased at the agency’s awards ceremony at the Las Vegas conference, the Post reported.

Forget pink slime: We’ve moved on to poultry

Friday, April 6, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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(Fotolia.com)

Now that the pink slime controversy has come and gone, we’re now seeing some serious complaints in the U.S. poultry processing industry, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to eliminate 800 poultry inspector positions and allow poultry companies to speed up processing operations. A lot, according to The Daily.

Elisabeth Hagen (AP Photo/USDA, Bob Nichols)

The USDA estimates the faster line speeds will result in an annual windfall of $257 million for the industry.

Officials insist that food safety will not suffer.

“One thing I want to be crystal clear about is that we are not turning over the keys, as far as food safety goes, to industry,” Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Elisabeth Hagen told The Daily.

But inspectors on the inside vehemently disagree, according to reports.

The Food Integrity Campaign reports that USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service inspectors at plants across the United States see significant threats to food safety.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is responsible for examining all poultry carcasses for blemishes or visible defects before they are further processed, according to Food Safety News. Under the proposed rule, the agency would transfer much of this quality-assurance task over to the poultry plants so that it can devote more of its employees to evaluating the companies’ pathogen-prevention plans and bacteria-testing programs.

The Government Accountability Project‘s Amanda Hitt claims “The new standard for poultry isn’t ‘would you eat it’ but ‘will it kill you or make you sick.’ ” There’s some pretty revolting claims from whistle-blowers and inspectors on this page. For example:

Under traditional inspection methods, inspectors can see all sides (and the inside) of the bird. But inspectors at HIMP plants can only see the backside of the bird – not the front (where the breast meat is) that may clearly show tumors or scabs. Nor can HIMP inspectors see the inside of the bird, where fecal matter and other disease causing abnormalities are found.

Really? They may miss a tumor that will end up in my cacciatore? How unsettling is this to you?

Maryland woman now says she lost Mega Millions ticket

Friday, April 6, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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Mirlande Wilson, center, who has claimed that she has the Maryland Mega Millions ticket, appears at a news conference with attorney Edward Smith Jr., left, Wednesday, April 4, 2012, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Sarah Brumfield)

A Maryland woman who claimed she was one of the winners of the $656 million Mega Millions lottery told NBC News on Thursday that she has lost the ticket.

Mirlande Wilson, 37, claims she bought the winning ticket at a 7-Eleven in Baltimore, but so far none of the three winners — the two others were in Illinois and Kansas — has actually come forward to claim the money.

Asked by NBC Washington’s Shomari Stone whether she was going to ask for her share, Wilson said, “if I find it [the ticket].”

Stone then asked Wilson if she had lost the ticket and she replied, “I misplaced it.”

She was reportedly responsible for a McDonald’s employee pool of Mega Millions tickets, but has said that the winning ticket wasn’t part of the pool.

Five face charges after Chinese teen sells kidney for iPhone, iPad

Friday, April 6, 2012 by:Dan McGraw
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Five people face charges for intentional injury for buying a kidney from a 17-year-old boy who later used the money to buy an iPhone and an iPad, Reuters reported.

According to the story, the five people, including a surgeon, removed a kidney from the Chinese teenager in April 2011, four years after the country banned selling organs. One of the defendants received about $35,000 to arrange the transplant, and the 17-year-old received about $3,500 for selling his kidney.

The boy used the money to buy an iPhone and iPad. He later admitted to his mother that he got the money for the highly-coveted electronics by selling his kidney.

The boy, who lives in Anhui, one of China’s poorest provinces, is now suffering from renal deficiency, according to Reuters.

Airline asks crew members to watch their weight

Thursday, April 5, 2012 by:Peter Hockaday
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Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary (AP)

Budget European airline Ryanair will do anything — anything — to save money. Among the cost-saving measures, a spokesman told London’s Daily Telegraph, “we even encourage staff to watch their weight – with the motivation of appearing in the annual Ryanair calendar.”

The airline supports a “fat tax” for overweight passengers, considered removing armrests, and started printing its in-flight magazine on smaller paper. It also cut the amount of ice used onboard and reduced the weight of seats.

Ryanair isn’t the first airline to ask crew members to lose weight. In 2010, Turkish Airlines gave 28 flight attendants an ultimatum: Six months to lose weight or face reassignment.

It also isn’t the first time Ryanair and CEO Michael O’Leary have proposed crazy cost-saving measures. The airline once considered charging for toilet use before dropping the idea. Other schemes have included standing-room-only seats and reducing the number of toilets to one.

Next they’ll be asking passengers to fly the planes. That 80-year-old Wisconsin lady is ready.

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