NY teacher scolded for making kids write to inmate

(kids sending letters to an inmate who had child porn? what could possibly go wrong with this plan?)

NEW YORK — A teacher has received a warning letter from the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board for making her fifth graders write Christmas cards to a friend serving time in prison.

The cards contained the children's names and in some cases addresses. They were intercepted by a corrections officer.

According to The New York Times ( http://nyti.ms/QEZqUw), Melissa Dean escaped harsher punishment because she resigned in June.

Dean taught at P.S. 143 in Queens. Last December she told her class to write the cards to people who were lonely.

Instead, she sent the cards to a friend, John Coccarelli, serving time for illegal weapons possession. Prosecutors say he was also charged with possessing child pornography but it was not brought to trial because he pleaded guilty to a charge calling for a longer sentence.

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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/

Dog survives 110-mile ride on pickup's engine

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — A dog has survived a 110-mile ride on the hot engine of a pickup truck during a Southern California heat wave.

The driver of a Chevrolet Silverado felt the pickup move slightly after he stopped in San Clemente on Monday. He had just driven from Chino to Orange and Camp Pendleton.

The Orange County Register (bit.ly/QFtxvg) says 52-year-old Jaime Magaña noticed fur above the left front tire and he opened the hood to find a 25-pound dog atop the engine.

Temperatures outside were nudging 100 degrees.

Magaña called for help and an animal control officer put the dog, nicknamed Chevy, into her air conditioned truck.

It perked right up.

Magaña says he's seen the dog in his Chino neighborhood.

The hunt is on for the dog's owner.

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Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com/

Girls barred from Utah dance for short dresses

(now that's just cruel and unusual. )

TOOELE, Utah — A Utah high school principal has apologized to dozens of teens who were turned away from their homecoming dance because their dresses were deemed too short.

Stansbury High principal Kendall Topham held four assemblies Monday, telling students the school's dress code policy was too vague to be properly enforced and vowing to hold a free dance to make up for Saturday's dress debacle.

Students and parents took to Facebook over the weekend to protest what they called a "homecoming spirit massacre." They posted examples of sparkly dresses an inch or two above the knee that school officials said broke the rules.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports as many as half the students who planned to go to the dance in Tooele (too-WILL'-uh) left after their friends were turned away.

Ex-Ala. prof wants to be tried in brother's death

(interesting she seemingly has no desire to deny killing a whole mess of people on purpose but her brother? that was an accident.  apparently guns accidentily go off and kill people when she handles them. not that she shoots people on purpose with the intent to kill them. )

By DENISE LAVOIE, AP

BOSTON — The former University of Alabama-Huntsville professor sentenced to life in prison for killing three of her colleagues in a shooting rampage wants to go on trial in the 1986 death of her brother in Massachusetts, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Court documents filed by Amy Bishop's lawyer say she objects to a decision by Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey to decline to prosecute her in the killing of 18-year-old Seth Bishop.

Attorney Larry Tipton says Bishop wants to prove at trial that she had a "loving and caring relationship" with her brother and that the shooting was accidental.

"She wants to use a trial to help demonstrate that she's innocent. She never intended to kill her brother," Tipton said Tuesday.

Morrissey said last week that he decided not to move forward with the murder indictment against Bishop because she has already received a sentence of life in prison without parole in the 2010 Alabama killings.

"The penalty we would seek for a first-degree murder conviction is already in place," he said.

Morrissey said the indictment would be withdrawn "without prejudice," meaning he could reinstate it if something went wrong with the Alabama sentence, though he said he considered that unlikely.

Bishop claims she accidentally shot her brother while trying to unload her father's shotgun in the family's Braintree home. Bishop's mother, who witnessed the shooting, backed up her claim.

Authorities initially ruled the shooting accidental, but the investigation was re-opened after Bishop was charged with opening fire during a faculty meeting at the university in Feb. 2010, killing three of her co-workers and wounding three others.

In court documents filed Monday, Tipton argued that inquest and grand jury proceedings that led to Amy Bishop's indictment in Seth Bishop's death were "one-sided" and tilted in favor of prosecutors. He said prosecutors would be unable to present evidence of a motive or intent by Bishop to kill her brother, while the defense would present evidence that she and her brother had a good relationship and credible evidence that she accidentally shot him.

Tipton said the shotgun has a documented history of malfunctioning and misfiring, evidence he said was discounted or ignored by authorities.

He also argues that Morrissey's plan to file a "nolle prosequi," or declaration that he does not intend to prosecute, is an "abuse of authority."

David Traub, a spokesman for Morrissey, said Bishop's filing of her objection "is legally meaningless

Squirrel dinner prep maybe sparked Michigan fire

(cooking a squirrel with a propane torch… an age old tradition)

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Authorities say a blaze that displaced dozens of people from a southwest Michigan apartment complex may have been sparked by a resident trying to cook a squirrel with a propane torch.

Fire Chief Jim Kohsel tells MLive.com that the resident apparently planned to eat the animal and was burning off its fur on a third-floor deck at the building in Ottawa County's Holland Township when the fire broke out Wednesday. Flames spread to the roof. Kohsel says eight apartments are destroyed and others damaged.

The resident's name wasn't immediately released.

Kohsel says a firefighter broke a toe. No residents were injured.

Resident Tiffany Camburn told The Holland Sentinel that she and her neighbors had to evacuate their apartments.

The American Red Cross arranged temporary shelter and clothing for displaced residents

Welsh restaurant sorry for serving booze to child

(and now I have yet another reason to visit Wales.)

LONDON — A restaurant chain has apologized for accidentally serving alcohol to a toddler in Wales, calling it a case of human error.

The BBC reported that 2-year-old Sonny Rees was taken to a hospital emergency room after drinking whiskey at his second birthday party at a Frankie and Benny's restaurant in Swansea.

His mother said he was clearly intoxicated. She said she tasted his drink after noticing that he was making a funny face. At the hospital, the staff monitored his vital signs and later gave him the all-clear.

Frankie and Benny's said Thursday it was extremely sorry for Saturday's incident and is looking into what systems need to be put in place to ensure that it does not happen again.

Maine drivers warned of zombie danger

(who can say how many lives were saved by this daring do gooder? Keeping public zombie awareness active is everyone’s duty.

So remember kids if you feel the zombie menace approaching you run around and yell “ZOMBIE!!!” as loud as you can, armed responders will be sent immediately to quell the threat.)

PORTLAND, Maine — Drivers may have gotten a chuckle out of an electronic message board in Maine warning of zombies, but city officials were not amused.

The sign at a Portland road construction site was changed by a hacker to read "Warning Zombies Ahead!" on Wednesday morning. It originally read "Night work 8 pm-6 am. Expect delays."

City spokeswoman Nicole Clegg says the signs are a safety precaution and changing it could have led to driver distraction.

She tells The Portland Press Herald ( http://bit.ly/SSDZ51) tampering with a safety device is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

She says it's not clear who changed the sign, but it's not the first time it has happened.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com/