Woman accused of beating fiance at prenup party

Woman accused of beating fiance at prenup party


POULSBO, Wash. (AP) -- A Poulsbo woman was jailed after being accused of beating up her fiance at their prenuptial party. Kitsap County sheriff's deputies said the woman's 12-year-old son told her he saw her fiance kissing one of her women friends early Thursday morning.

Deputies said the woman, 31, gave her friends the boot, told her fiance to leave, too, and then started hitting him in the face.

When he left the house, they say, she tackled him football-style, punched him some more, threw his watch into the bushes and broke his glasses.

Responding to a 911 call from her son, deputies arrested the woman for investigation of fourth-degree assault.

Sheriff's Lt. Kathy Collings said the woman was released from jail later Thursday.

There's no word on whether the marriage took place.

BB gun attack brings arrest

BB gun attack brings arrest
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/16/2008 01:53:00 AM MDT

Salt Lake City police arrested a 60-year-old man after he allegedly shot a BB gun into a group of six people, including two children, on Wednesday evening, injuring one man. According to an affidavit filed with the Salt Lake County jail, the man, described by witnesses as "very intoxicated," walked out of his apartment and fired a BB rifle into the crowd.
The shot caused only a welt and soreness on one man's arm, but it endangered an 11-year-old and a 2-year-old who were with the group. The man denied firing shots, but police found a BB rifle in his house.
The man was booked into jail and could face charges ranging from aggravated assault to reckless endangerment and public intoxication.

• Video: Spy Cam In Wal-Mart Set To Beam Credit Card Numbers To Thieves

Spy Cam In Wal-Mart Set To Beam Credit Card Numbers To Thieves

Camera In Place For Hour Before Being Noticed

POSTED: 12:08 am EDT August 15, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A mysterious box with an antenna found hidden inside a Wal-Mart was a planted spy camera set up to beam customer credit card numbers to thieves in the parking lot, police said.

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IMAGES: More strange stories, images

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Officers evacuated the Wal-Mart store located on Turkey Lake Road near Sand Lake Road Thursday night after someone noticed the box wrapped in black tape near a counter.The bomb squad was called to the store and no explosives were found.When officers investigated the box, they found it contained a spy camera set to capture credit card numbers as people used them inside the business.Deputies said the images were apparently beamed to a van in the store's parking lot.The camera was in place for about an hour, Local 6 has learned.Deputies said they were not sure if the thieves were able to get anyone's credit card numbers during the time the box was in place.Surveillance video shows the box being placed on the camera and will be possibly be released Friday.

Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian throws away medal in Olympic hissy fit

While an Olympic medal would be seen by most athletes as the ultimate reward for a lifetime's work, Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian was less than pleased with the bronze he won at the Chinese Agricultural University Gym.

By Andy Hooper and agencies
Last Updated: 10:52AM BST 15 Aug 2008

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Unwanted: Abrahamian's discarded medal Photo: Reuters

Under the cosh: Andrea Minguzzi gets to grips with the Swede Photo: AP

Head to head: Abrahamian furious at judge Photo: Reuters

Confrontation: Abrahamian blasts judges after defeat Photo: AP

Worthless: Abrahamian looks at his token of defeat Photo: Reuters

You can keep your medal: Abrahamian storms out of presentation ceremony Photo: Getty Images

Abrahamian threw down his 84kg greco-roman bronze in disgust after his shot at gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as "politics".

Abrahamian took the medal from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the mat before storming off.

The Swedish wrestler had to be restrained by team-mates earlier as a row erupted with judges over the decision in a semi-final bout with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on to the take gold.

Abrhamian, who won silver at the Athens 2004 Games, shouted at the referee, then went over to confront judges, angrily throwing off the restraining arm of a team official.

Swedish fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the arena. Abrahamian said nothing to waiting reporters but whacked an aluminium barricade with his fist as he left the hall.

"It's all politics," said Swedish coach Leo Myllari.

Myllari did not say if he intended to lodge a formal protest over the decision by referee Jean-Marc Petoud of Switzerland, judge Lee Ronald Mackay of Canada, and mat chairman Guillermo Orestes Molina of Cuba.

Other favourites went out in the semi-finals or earlier. Athens 96kg gold medallist Karam Gaber of Egypt failed to make it to the quarter-finals. Aleksey Mishin of Russia, who took Athens gold in the 84kg class, was beaten by Minguzzi.

Ramaz Nozazde of Georgia, who took silver in Athens, succumbed to Marek Svec of the Czech Republic, still fighting at age 35. Svec then lost to Russia's European champion Aslanbek Kushtov, who caught him with a spectacular fall.

In the heavyweight 120kg class, Armenia's Yuri Patrikeev and Dremiel Byers of the United States, both favoured as finalists, failed to go through.

Third donkey found wandering around Tenn. town

DYERSBURG, Tenn. (AP) -- Swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Buzzards flock to Hinckley, Ohio. Now, donkeys seem to be ambling into downtown Dyersburg.

When animal control officers captured a young female donkey at Dyersburg Intermediate School on Monday, it marked the third animal of the breed that had been found on the loose in the city in two months.

Animal control officer Barry McCord said the incident came about two months after a mother donkey and her baby were found wandering downtown.

McCord said he thinks hard economic times may be to blame, theorizing people may be turning animals loose.

Owners have not come forward in either case.

McCord said he was called out Wednesday night to tranquilize what he termed a "mean" 2,000-pound bull at the Dyersburg Golf Course.

Its owner had called for help.

AP Photo: Protesters dressed as Tinker Bell and Minnie Mouse wait to be taken away after being...

Slideshow: Protesters dressed as Disney characters arrested

32 protesters arrested outside Disneyland

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 15, 3:28 AM ET

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Cinderella, Snow White, Tinkerbell and other fictional fixtures of modern-day childhood were handcuffed, frisked and loaded into police vans Thursday at the culmination of a labor protest that brought a touch of reality to the Happiest Place on Earth.

The arrest of the 32 protesters, many of whom wore costumes representing famous Disney characters, came at the end of an hour-long march to Disneyland's gates from one of three Disney-owned hotels at the center of a labor dispute.

Those who were arrested sat in a circle on a busy intersection outside the park holding hands until they were placed in plastic handcuffs and led to two police vans while hundreds of hotel workers cheered and chanted.

The protesters were arrested on a misdemeanor count of failure to obey a police officer and two traffic infractions, said Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim police. They were cited and released, Sgt. Chris Schneider said.

Bewildered tourists in Disney T-shirts and caps, some pushing strollers, filed past the commotion and gawked at the costumed picketers getting hauled away. The protest shut down a major thoroughfare outside Disneyland and California Adventure for nearly an hour.

"It's changing my opinion of Disneyland," said tourist Amanda Kosato, who was visiting from north of Melbourne, Australia. "Taking away entitlements stinks."

The dispute involves about 2,300 maids, bell hops, cooks and dishwashers at three Disney-owned hotels: the Paradise Pier, the Grand Californian and the Disneyland Hotel.

The workers' contract expired in February and their union says Disney's latest proposal makes health care unaffordable for hundreds of employees and creates an unfair two-tier wage system. The union also says Disney wants to create a new category of part-time employees who would receive greatly reduced benefits.

"The other hotels around the area all have health care that is provided by the boss and have been able to get wage increases," said Ada Briceno, president of Unite Here Local 681, which represents the workers.

"At the other hotels in the same classification, for the same work, the workers get paid $2 to $3 an hour more."

Disney spokeswoman Lisa Haines said Disney and the union are in negotiations and nothing has been finalized. She said workers have protested 14 times but sat down to negotiate only 11 times in the past six months.

"Clearly we're disappointed that Unite Here Local 681 has spent more time protesting," she said. "Publicity stunts are not productive and are extremely disruptive to the resort district."

Before the arrests, the picketers marched and chanted outside Paradise Pier, holding signs that read, "Disney is unfaithful," and "Mickey, shame on you." They were joined by community activists and religious leaders from local churches.

Luz Vasquez, who works in the bakery at Disneyland Hotel, said she can't afford to lose many of her benefits. She said it's already hard to care for her three grandchildren and aging mother while earning $14.32 an hour.

"Disneyland is being unfair with us because we're fighting for our health care and they're trying to take it away," said Vasquez, 45. "They're trying to cut our hours and take away our seniority."

Co-worker Diane Dominguez, 50, said she was worried about losing health care because of the heavy labor involved in lifting mattresses, moving furniture and making dozens of beds a day. She also said rising prices and the cost of gas were eating into her salary of $11.11 an hour.

"The most important is health care. We need that and they want to take it away," she said.

At the heart of the issue is a free health care plan that has been provided to Disney hotel workers through a trust fund that Disney and other unionized hotels in the area pay into.

Briceno said that in exchange for the free medical plan, union members agreed in previous contracts to a lower wage for hotel workers in the first three years of their employment.

But Disney now wants to eliminate the free health plan for new hires and wants to create a new class of workers who put in less than 30 hours a week, said Briceno. Those part-time workers would receive no sick or vacation pay and not be given holidays, she said.

The company also wants to increase the number of hours full-time employees must work before qualifying for the health plan, she said.

"At the end of the day what it means is that workers are going to be priced out of health care," she said.

Haines said the majority of other employees at Disneyland pay for a share of their health plan, even though the resort shoulders about 75 percent of the overall cost. She said it's important to negotiate a contract that's fair to those other unions, too.

"We do remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement that's both fair and equitable, providing that union leadership is reasonable and realistic in its approach," Haines said.

(CORRECTS spelling of Briceno's first name to Ada, sted Ava.)

House in Detroit Sells for $1

Wednesday, August 13, 2008
House in Detroit Sells for $1

In what might be considered a new low for the housing market, a home in Detroit sold for $1.

The home, located at 8111 Traverse Street, close to the Detroit City Airport, was foreclosed upon last summer, after it was purchased for $65,000 in 2006, according to an article in The Detroit News.

The bank was so eager to sell the foreclosed property, it lowered the price to $1 in a final attempt to find a buyer. According to the newspaper, 14 days after the property was listed for $1, a local woman purchased the house as “an investment property." The property taxes will run the new owner $3,900, in 2009.

At the time of sale, the home had been stripped of its siding, fence, light fixtures, copper plumbing—even the kitchen sink had been taken. Boards that were used to board up the windows were also stolen and used to board up a house down the street, according to The Detroit News.