truesee's Blog

Rahm Emanuel ventured to the Capitol Friday evening to hash out health care strategy with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a White House aide confirmed.

The meeting comes as Democrats are searching for a way to get to the health care finish line, though neither chamber wants to move first. Senate leaders want the House to pass the Senate bill first, after which the Senate would use reconciliation to fix the legislation to the liking of the Senate. House leaders contend that the votes aren't there for the Senate bill if the upper chamber doesn't move. The House, after two centuries of watching the Senate lag behind, doesn't trust that it'll act.

Senior Hill aides speculated to HuffPost that Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, would bring the message that the House must move first, with a pledge from Senate Democrats that they would follow. It's hard to make amendments to a law through reconciliation if that law hasn't been made official yet, they argue.

Pelosi's office wouldn't confirm that the meeting, which was still ongoing as of the early evening, was taking place or comment on what Pelosi's reaction might be. A White House aide said he was unsure what message Emanuel would deliver.

The meeting comes after Pelosi got under the skin of Senate Democrats on Wednesday by making a veiled challenge at a press conference. "We can't say to [the American people], at the end of the day, well, we had an idea, we had a vision, we had a majority, but the process did not allow us to make a change for your lives," she said. "We need to have the courage to get the job done, and I think we will. And I think today took us a step closer to passing health care."

Beer-drinking, smoking chimp sent to rehab

The former performer reportedly pesters zoo passers-by for booze

Tanya Ustinova and Amie Ferris-Rotman

updated 12:02 p.m. ET,

Fri., Feb. 26, 2010

  A Russian chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, a popular daily reported on Friday.

An ex-performer, Zhora became aggressive at his circus and was transferred to a zoo in the southern Russian city of Rostov, where he fathered several baby chimps, learned to draw with markers and picked up his two vices.

"The beer and cigarettes were ruining him. He would pester passers-by for booze," the Komsomolskaya Pravda paper said.

It added he has now been transferred to the city of Kazan, about 500 miles east of Moscow, for rehabilitation treatment.

 Richard Peterson's appearance on 'Springer' landed him in hot water. 

                                            Richard Peterson 

 Richard Peterson's appearance on 'Springer' landed him in hot water. 

 Richard Peterson's appearance on 'Springer' landed him in hot

         From Jerry Springer to jail

February 24, 2010 4:59 PM

Diane Turbyfill

LINCOLNTON — Richard Peterson’s 15 minutes of fame cost him 72 hours in jail.

The Lincolnton man appeared on a recent episode of “The Jerry Springer Show.” Bragging rights could’ve been what led him into trouble with his probation officer.

Peterson told District Court Judge Anna Foster Wednesday that he boasted about being on the show with the topic, “It was the greatest one-night stand.”

He told Foster he’s no longer crowing.

Probation Officer Melissa Seals told the judge how she came to learn of Peterson’s brush with infamy.

“I was at lunch the other day and found out he was at the show,” Seals said.

Seals confirmed Peterson’s appearance on the show filmed in Stamford, Conn., by looking it up on Springer’s Web site.

The show featured people who had cheated on their significant other. Peterson revealed the truth of his one-night stand to his girlfriend on the show.

A video clip on Springer’s Web site shows Peterson running around the stage dodging swings from his girlfriend.

While the couple fought, a stripper started twirling around a pole and flashed her censored breasts to the audience. When Peterson’s girlfriend learned that the stripper was the “other woman,” the women followed Springer Show etiquette and engaged in a fistfight.

Peterson admitted his cameo on the show during court. The 30-hour all-expenses-paid trip for Peterson and his girlfriend was hardly worth it, he told the judge.

Peterson stood before Foster in an orange jumpsuit often holding the chains that connected his handcuffs to his leg shackles.

The courtroom erupted in laughter as Peterson told of the circumstances that led him to the Jerry Springer stage.

Peterson and his father are big fans of the show. When he called producers to nominate a neighbor for one of the topics, Peterson said he was approached about flying up for a taping.

“They really suckered us into the whole deal, and I feel like an idiot for going,” said Peterson. “They made me look like an idiot.”

The courtroom lost its serious tone as Peterson told his story. Everyone in the room laughed at least once.

“This might be my most humorous time as a judge in 11 years,” Foster said.

But Foster also addressed the seriousness of Peterson’s infraction, violating his probation by traveling outside the state without permission.

Peterson was serving a year’s probation for possession of marijuana and resisting a public officer. The 30-year-old man broke into tears a couple of times while telling the judge about his attempts to change the direction of his life. He spoke of getting sober and earning an associate’s degree.

Peterson’s probation officer confirmed that he always made appointments, passed drug tests and paid most of his payments.

Foster showed some concern that Peterson didn’t use money he earned from the Springer Show to pay his debt.

Peterson said the production paid him $150, which he split with his girlfriend.

Foster ruled to release Peterson after 72 hours in jail and imposed a $161 fine

80-year-old woman gets 3-year sentence for Torrance burglary

Larry Altman and Denise Nix

Staff Writers

02/24/2010 08:19:42 PM PST
   

 80-year-old Doris Thompson has a long rap sheet. 

Thompson said she deserved a longer prison sentence.

Police arrested her Feb. 4 as in the burglary at the Children's Medical Group office at 3440 Lomita Blvd.

Employees at the doctor's office believe she slipped inside as a male employee worked Dec. 19, and stayed inside when the worker left.

"She just kind of came through and ransacked the drawers and stole money," an employee said. "She was very sly and quiet."

Thompson had plenty of experience with crime.

State Department of Corrections records - which list her as Betty March, one of 27 aliases - show her first offense as "disturbing the peace" in 1955.

For more than five decades to follow, Thompson spent time in and out of lockup for crimes ranging from petty theft to burglary.

Records show that in 1957, police arrested her in connection with a homicide, but she was deemed insane and committed to a hospital.

In 1965, she received 90 days in jail for petty theft, and another seven days for a theft in Beverly Hills. In 1967, it was second-degree burglary and a prison sentence.

In 1969, forgery and theft convictions landed her in jail for 180 days. In 1972, another 44 days in prison for burglary.

The arrests and sentences continued: Grand theft property in Glendale in 1975, misdemeanor theft in Beverly Hills in 1977, and burglary again in Beverly Hills in 1980.

She moved north to Redwood City and San Mateo, where she was held for burglary but never prosecuted.

Thompson received another six months in jail for burglary and receiving stolen property in Pasadena in 1981. Then there were two years in state prison in 1983 for second-degree burglary in Los Angeles; and another 30 days in 1984 for burglary.

She reportedly escaped from jail for that one, but went back in 1985 following a sentence for petty theft in San Francisco in 1985.

In 1990, she went back to prison when prosecutors say she cracked open a safe in Los Angeles.

When she got out, she committed more crimes in Newport Beach in 1993. A judge sent her to prison for 20 more months in 1999 for burglaries in Orange.

As she moved into her 70 s, Thompson went to prison in 2002 on a four-year sentence for receiving stolen property. She was released in 2006, but went straight back to jail for a two-year sentence for burglary in 2008 in Beverly Hills.

Thompson was released on parole in October.

Shortly after the December crime, a detective in Torrance remembered the elderly woman when he saw the surveillance video from the doctor's office. He remembered the wanted flier he received from Beverly Hills police a couple of years ago.

"We worked with Beverly Hills P.D. from their prior cases and were able to identify the suspect as Doris Gamble," Torrance police Sgt. Jeremiah Hart said.

Gamble turned out to be another alias.

During questioning by officers, Thompson told them she had worked as a nanny, cook and clerk. She explained her life of crime by saying she "wouldn't do all this nonsense if the government gave us more money," Deputy District Attorney Paulette Paccione said.

Then, at her first appearance in Torrance court on Feb. 5, she said she wanted to plead guilty "because she does her time like a lady," Paccione said.

Wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, the elderly, 5-foot-3 defendant walked into the courtroom in shackles and sat before the judge.

"I can't hear," she said as the proceeding began. "I have a hearing impairment."

Paccione moved in front of her and talked directly to her. Sokolov spoke loudly from the bench, asking several times "Can you hear me OK?"

In entering her plea, Thompson said she agreed to pay $1,427 to the the Children's Medical Group as reimbursement for her crime.

Before she left the courtroom, Thompson asked Sokolov if she could go to a state prison immediately. County jail, she said, was not a place she wanted to be.

Sokolov granted her request.

"Thank you," she said as she left. "God bless you."

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22669572/

Posted: Feb 23, 2010 10:18 PM EST

Updated: Feb 23, 2010 10:18 PM EST

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - A spitting match between two students at Riverview Elementary School Monday apparently led to a bizarre encounter in the office Tuesday morning.

"She had spit on me so I spit on her back," said second grader Aaliyyah Price.

Price and her grandmother spoke with us from the family's home.  They said 32-year-old Toni Price went to the school to confront the parents of the girl who spit on her daughter.

"She said she went up there to talk to the girl's parents," said Bennie Price.  "But the girl's parents wasn't there."

According to court records, Toni Price ended up inside the school where an employee reported a drunk woman was armed with a sword running through the halls of the school.  She told police Price was threatening to cut her.

Officers who arrived on the scene retrieved a black walking cane in which a long sharp blade is concealed.

"When I got up there I took the cane," said Price's mother, Bennie.  "I had it, police drew guns on me, and I didn't know what was going on."

Price's mother believes she probably had the weapon to ward off pit bulls in the neighborhood and had no idea where she may have gotten such a weapon.

"I don't know," she said.

She said she does know her daughter would have never actually hurt anyone inside the school.

Price told police she drank a 40 ounce bottle of Colt 45 before going to the school.  She's charged with aggravated assault and for having a weapon on school property.  Her bond is set at $4500.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12033987

Woman used young girl in purse-snatching at eatery, police say

Metropolitan police were searching for a woman and a young girl they said acted together to steal a woman's purse at a Northeastside Chuck E. Cheese restaurant on Valentine's Day.

Police say a woman distracted Amanda J. Harrington, 38, while a girl about 5 years old grabbed Harrington's purse from a chair and ran to the exit door about 3:45 p.m. Sunday at the Chuck E. Cheese, 5501 E. 82nd St.

The woman, about 21 years old, then walked out of the restaurant, according to a police report. Security cameras captured the incident, police say.

The two got away with the purse, a digital camera, a cell phone, a Nintendo DS game system and Harrington's wallet with about $52, identification and credit cards.

Police were attempting to gather more surveillance video to try to find a picture of the vehicle the woman and child used, according to the report.

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22666669/

Prison officials mistakenly release attempted murder convict

N.Y. man serving triple life sentence freed from downtown Baltimore facility

   http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-us-health-care-overhaul,0,7184157.story     

Neighbors describe suspect as friendly

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Sadie Gurman and Moriah Balingit

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The last time Lois Watson spoke with Errol Parker Sr. she was headed for a cruise and asked him to look after her house.

"He said, 'Sure, I'd be glad to,' " Ms. Watson said Wednesday, stunned that the man who had been so neighborly was charged in a gunfight with police, just outside her door. Police said he punched a neighbor who asked him to move his car, then swapped gunfire with police officers who responded to the call.

They said Mr. Parker, 61, hid in his house on Ewart Drive in the Hill District, shot at officers who demanded he surrender and was finally subdued with a jolt from a Taser in a struggle that drew neighbors to their porches Tuesday night.

Mr. Parker, an automotive mechanic for Port Authority working in Manchester, was charged with assault on a police officer, attempted homicide and assault. He was placed on leave from his job with pay pending further investigation.

It was not the kind of behavior Ms. Watson said she would expect from Mr. Parker, whom she didn't know well but who never caused her trouble.

"I was shocked," she said. "It's ridiculous. I'm surprised this happened over a parking space."

Police said they had not been called to Mr. Parker's home before, and Allegheny County court records shows he does not have a criminal past.

There is parking on just one side of the 3100 block of Ewart Drive, and it was lined with cars Tuesday night. About 7:30 p.m., Mr. Parker's upstairs neighbor, Lee Allen Smith, asked him to move his vehicle. Mr. Smith told police he had dug snow out of the space so his girlfriend could park there, and Mr. Parker had moved his car when he asked the night before.

"On this particular evening, he became enraged," police Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant said.

The two argued before Mr. Parker punched him in the jaw, police wrote in a criminal complaint. Mr. Parker then pulled a pistol from behind his back and told Mr. Smith, "I will lay you out," according to the complaint.

Officers Bill Kelsch and Thomas Gorecki arrived about 7:45, and knocked on Mr. Parker's door, announcing themselves as police when he wouldn't respond. Officer Gorecki said he could hear walking in the house, and the officers began calling for him to come out over a loudspeaker, the complaint said.

Officer Kelsch discovered the door was unlocked and opened it, to find Mr. Parker walking toward them from a hallway with a drawn gun. The officers yelled at him to drop the gun, but Officer Kelsch could see him standing in the hallway, pointing the gun at him, the complaint said.

"In fear of being shot, I immediately fired one round from my pistol," the officer wrote. Mr. Parker ducked out of sight but did not drop the gun.

Instead, the complaint said, he "charged forward in the hallway" and fired a shot at Officer Kelsch, who returned two shots at Mr. Parker. Mr. Parker's bullet missed the officer, striking the wall he was using to take cover.

Mr. Parker then retreated to a back room, "yelling unintelligible" statements at the officers, police said, then announced that he had put the gun down and wanted to surrender. Officers ordered him out of the room and onto the ground. They stunned him with a Taser when he did not comply, and he struggled against them as they tried to put him in handcuffs.

Officers recovered two pistols and shell casings in a dining room doorway, the complaint said. Police said Mr. Parker fired at the officers with one of the guns and that it may have jammed, preventing him from firing more shots.

Officer Kelsch will not be placed on administrative leave because no one was injured, Chief Bryant said. Mr. Parker remained in the Allegheny County Jail Wednesday night.

LINK TO PHOTO:

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10056/1038476-53.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml#ixzz0gXlplOjm

PETA plans Tiger Woods billboard in Windermere

Ad promotes spay-and-neuter for pets

PETA announces billboard featuring Tiger Woods (PETA)

Eloísa Ruano González

Orlando Sentinel

6:15 p.m. EST, February 24, 2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/americans-want-to-get-bac_n_474487.html

Watch this movie and win $10,000?

NEW DELHI

Tue Feb 23, 2010

10:28am EST 

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Bollywood filmmaker has issued a lucrative challenge to horror movie fans: a $10,000 reward for anyone who can watch his latest supernatural thriller, alone, in a cinema until the closing credits.

Ram Gopal Varma's "Phoonk 2," a sequel to his 2008 film of the same name, is about an evil spirit that traumatizes a family. "Anyone who says the movie cannot scare him is going to be put in a theater by himself," Varma told reporters in Mumbai at an event to promote the movie.

Varma said the film fan who steps up to the challenge will be wired up to a heart monitoring machine as well as a camera that ensures they keep their eyes open during the whole movie.

Readings from the machines will be shown live on a screen outside the cinema, Varma said, and if the contestant succeeds, they will win 500,000 rupees (approximately $10,850).

Varma issued a similar challenge ahead of the release of the original "Phoonk" but the promotional contest was withdrawn after allegations the selection process was rigged.

Varma said the contest winner ran out 30 minutes after the film started, but newspaper reports said a film fan in the southern Indian city of Bangalore booked an entire cinema to prove the director wrong and watched the film alone with a doctor on call and security personnel stationed outside(Writing by Tony Tharakan, editing by Miral Fahmy)

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana woman has pleaded guilty to selling two children for a <snip>atoo and $175 in what her attorney called an attempt to do a good thing that went wrong.

"It was a really clumsy attempt at an adoption proceeding," said Steve Sikich, attorney for Donna Louise Greenwell of Pitkin. "She was trying to help the children and get them situated."

Greenwell, 53, was sentenced Monday to 15 months of hard labor on each of two criminal counts: sale of a minor. The sentences are to run concurrently.

The case centered on a 5-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl in Greenwell's custody.

Investigators said she called Paul J. Romero, 46, and Brandy Lynn Romero, 27, of Evangeline Parish early last year after seeing a flyer they posted offering a <snip>atoo for sale, and offered to deliver the children for about $2,000. When the Romeros said they could not afford that, a deal was stuck for the bird, valued at $1,500, plus cash.

Greenwell had custody of the children for more than a year before meeting the Romeros, Sikich said. Her lawyers have maintained she was just trying to find a better home for them.

"They were undernourished and not well taken care of," Sikich said. "It's my understanding that the mother had requested that she take care of the kids."

Another lawyer for Greenwell had said previously that the children were "abandoned to her care."

Neither the children's mother or father could be located, Sikich said.

The $175 was to cover the cost of an attorney to transfer custody of the children to the Romeros, Sikich said. The <snip>atoo was a gift to Greenwell's granddaughter, he said.

Greenwell's sentences were part of a plea deal worked out with the Evangeline Parish District Attorney's office.

Sikich said Greenwell could have faced up to 10 years on each count and another 20 years as a habitual offender. The district attorney agreed not to file charges against Greenwell as a habitual offender as part of the plea bargain, Sikich said.

"She did not have a good attorney for two previous counts, which left her with a record she didn't really deserve," he said. He said the charges were for issuing worthless checks and second-degree battery.

The Romeros, of Eunice, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sale of a minor child, the district attorney said in an earlier statement. Their five-year prison sentences were suspended in exchange for their testimony against Greenwell, the statement said.

The district attorney's office did not return repeated calls Tuesday for comment.

Greenwell will begin serving her sentence on March 25.