NBey6's Blog

Daughter was sent on 10-mile trek after truck got stuck on Christmas Day

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - The father of an 11-year-old girl who died, likely of hypothermia, after trying to walk 10 miles  in the snow on Christmas Day has been charged with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child.

Robert Aragon, 55, of Jerome, made an initial appearance Monday in 5th District Court, where Judge Mark Ingram appointed a public defender for him. The judge denied Aragon's request to lower his $500,000 bond. He was being held in the Blaine County Jail.

Aragon was emotional during the short hearing. He banged his head on the defendant's table as Ingram read the charges against him, The Times-News reported. After Ingram noted that second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Aragon said "Oh my God" as he banged his head on the table one final time.

Sage Aragon and her 12-year-old brother, Bear, were with their father on Thursday when his truck got stuck in a snow drift on a highway north of Shoshone in southcentral Idaho, according to the Lincoln County sheriff's office.

The children live with Aragon in Jerome and he was taking them to visit their mother, JoLeta Jenks, in West Magic.

After the truck got caught in the snow, authorities allege Aragon let the children out to walk to their mother's house while he and another adult stayed behind to free the vehicle.

Jenks said she called Aragon because she was concerned after no one arrived at her home on Thursday. Aragon had driven back to Jerome after letting the kids out to walk to her house, Jenks said.

"They didn't even call me, telling me they were walking," she told the Times-News.

 

Jenks called the police and a Blaine County search and rescue team found the boy at a rest area near the highway shortly before 10 p.m. on Thursday night.

Adults in the search effort described the snow as knee-deep for them.

The boy was found wearing only long underwear, Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said in a news release. Apparently delusional from hypothermia, the child had discarded his jacket, pants and shoes, the sheriff's office said. He was treated and released at a nearby hospital.

The rest area was about 4.5 miles from where the children started walking.

At some point the children separated and their mother said her son told her they disagreed about whether to keep going or turn back.

"(Bear) kept on telling her: 'Let's go, Sage, let's go, Sage,'" Jenks said, recalling what her son told her. "She said, 'No, I'm going back.'"

Pajama pants
The little girl was found about 2.7 miles from where the two set out, barely visible under windblown, drifting snow when search dogs located her along a local road about 2 a.m. Friday. She was wearing a brown down coat, black shirt, pink pajama pants and tan snowboots, the sheriff's office statement said.

"I thought she was alive because they said they found her," Jenks said. "I was excited."

The girl was pronounced dead at a Ketchum hospital; preliminary autopsy results indicate she died of hypothermia.

Officials say temperatures in the area at the time the girl was missing ranged from 27 degrees above zero to minus 5 Fahrenheit (minus 20 to minus 3 Celsius).

Jenks and Aragon are not married. While she said she doesn't understand the decision Aragon is accused of making in letting the children walk to her house, Jenks added, "I don't need to sit and yell. I know he's going through hell right now."

Natural disasters 'killed over 220,000' in 2008
Dec 29 09:39 AM US/Eastern

Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record and underlining the need for a global climate deal, the world's number two reinsurer said Monday. Although the number of natural disasters was lower than in 2007, the catastrophes that occurred proved to be more destructive in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused, Germany-based Munich Re said in its annual assessment. "This continues the long-term trend we have been observing. Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes," Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said. Most devastating in terms of human fatalities was Cyclone Nargis, which lashed Myanmar on May 2-3 to kill more than 135,000 people and leave more than one million homeless. Just days later an earthquake shook China's Sichuan province, leaving 70,000 dead, 18,000 missing and almost five million homeless, according to official figures, Munich Re said.   Around 1,000 people died in a severe cold snap in January in Afghanistan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan, while 635 perished in August and September in floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Typhoon Fengshen killed 557 people in China and the Philippines in June, while earthquakes in Pakistan in October left 300 dead. Six tropical cyclones also slammed into the southern United States, including Ike which, with insured losses of 10 billion dollars, was the industry's costliest catastrophe of the year. In Europe, an intense low-pressure system called Emma caused two billion dollars worth of damage in March, while a storm dubbed Hilal in late May and early June left 1.1 billion dollars' worth. The earthquake in Sichuan province was the most expensive overall single catastrophe of 2008, causing around 85 billion dollars worth of damage, helping to make the year the third most expensive on record, Munich Re said. With 200 billion dollars' worth of damage, only 2005, when a large number of hurricanes slammed into the southern United States, and 1995, year of the Kobe earthquake in Japan, wreaked more destruction since records began in 1900. According to provisional estimates from the World Meteorological Organization, 2008 was the tenth warmest year since the beginning of routine temperature recording and the eighth warmest in the northern hemisphere. This means that the ten warmest years ever recorded have all occurred in the last 12 years, Munich Re said.   "It is now very probable that the progressive warming of the atmosphere is due to the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity. The weather machine is running in top gear, bringing more intense severe weather events," it said. The number of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic in 2008 was much higher than the long-term average, and in terms of both the total number of storms and the number of major hurricanes, 2008 was the fourth most severe hurricane season since reliable data have been available, it said. The world needed "effective and binding rules on CO2 emissions, so that climate change is curbed and future generations do not have to live with weather scenarios that are difficult to control," board member Jeworrek said. Last December, the international community agreed in Bali on a two-year roadmap culminating in a new global climate deal to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009. Unprecedented in scale and complexity, this accord, due to take effect from 2012, is meant to rein in the greenhouse gases that stoke global warming and throw a lifeline to poor countries exposed to mutated weather patterns.

Bosnian asks Allah's forgiveness for robbing mosque
Dec 28 03:07 PM US/Eastern

An unknown perpetrator broke into a mosque in central Bosnia, stole money from a charity box and left a note asking God's forgiveness for the act, a Sarajevo daily said on Sunday. "I was shocked when I entered the mosque for the morning prayer," Kenan Bajric, the imam of the mosque in Han Ploca village, told the Dnevni Avaz newspaper. "The entrance doors were wide open, the charity box broken and empty, and on the floor I found a large piece of paper saying 'May dear Allah forgive me for stealing this money'," he said. The papers published a copy of the letter. The imam could not say how much money was taken, saying the box had not been checked for several weeks.

Tuesday 12-30-08

430, 958, 786, 323, 330, 634, 328, 709, 054, 940, 449

661, 342, 411, 202, 047, 779, 731, 790, 258, 190

912, 078, 440, 290, 367, 242, 064, 994, 724 

111, 666, 1111, 6616, 1161, 5432, 5703

 

Sarah Palin's daughter gives birth to son

ANCHORAGE - The teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has given birth to a son, People magazine reported Monday.

Bristol Palin, 18, gave birth to Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston on Sunday, the magazine said.  He weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces. Colleen Jones, the sister of Bristol's grandmother, told the magazine that "the baby is fine and Bristol is doing well."

The governor's office said it would not release information because it considers the baby's birth a private family matter.

The father is Levi Johnston, a former hockey player at Alaska's Wasilla High School.

Palin announced on Sept. 1, the first day of the Republican National Convention, that her unwed daughter was pregnant. The campaign issued a statement saying Bristol "and the young man" would get married.

Levi Johnston's mother eventually disclosed that her 18-year-old son was the father. The following week, the young man attended the convention in St. Paul, Minn. when Palin accepted the nomination as John McCain's running mate.

The announcement that Bristol, 17 at the time, was pregnant immediately drew concerns that it could damage Palin's credibility as a religious conservative. It also foreshadowed a troubled campaign for Palin, who drew large crowds at rallies but was criticized for her composure in news interviews and for her experience level.

Summer wedding?
Sherry Johnston, Levi's mother, said in October that Bristol and her son were considering a summer wedding.

Levi Johnston told The Associated Press that month that he and Bristol loved each other and wanted to get married. Johnston, who dropped out of high school to take a job on the North Slope oil fields as an apprentice electrician, said he was a little shocked to learn that Bristol was pregnant but quickly warmed to the idea of being a father.

He said the two had planned to get married even before Bristol became pregnant.

Johnston, an avid hunter, hinted at the time that they were expecting a boy. He said he was already looking forward to taking the boy hunting and fishing.

Johnston's mother was arrested on felony drug charges this month after state troopers served a search warrant at her Wasilla home. According to authorities, she sent text messages to two police informants in which she discusses making drug transactions involving OxyContin, a strong prescription painkiller.

Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, have five children ranging in age from Trig, 7 months, to Track, 19. In between are Willow, 14; Piper, 7; and Bristol.

Monday 12-29-08

721, 746, 298, 836, 894, 925, 929, 693, 398, 944

994, 394, 455, 459, 496, 526, 296, 663, 835, 792

637, 497, 458, 249, 436, 456, 627, 445, 345, 593

Baskin-Robbins offers 'healthy' ice cream

NEW YORK - Ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins said Monday it is launching a new line of better-for-you ice cream treats just in time to help New Year's dieters trim their waistlines.

The line, called BRight Choices, will include light and reduced fat, no sugar added ice cream as well as dairy-free sorbet and fat-free frozen yogurt. It will be sold in stores beginning today.

The chain said its new Premium Churned Light Ice Cream has 50 percent less fat and 20 percent fewer calories than its regular ice cream. The new Premium Churned Reduced Fat No Sugar Added ice cream, meanwhile, has 25 percent less fat than regular Baskin-Robbins ice cream.

According to nutritional information on the company's Web site, a regular 4-ounce scoop of vanilla ice cream has 260 calories and 16 grams of fat.

All the BRight Choices offerings will be indicated with a pink star decal, Baskin-Robbins added.

The chain will offer a free scoop of any BRight Choices flavor on Jan. 15 to any consumer who can show proof of a gym membership.

Canton, Mass.-based Baskin-Robbins is owned by Dunkin' Brands Inc. The parent company also operates the Dunkin' Donuts chain.

Youths who promise abstinence are also less likely to use protection

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

"Taking a pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior," said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. "But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking."

The study is the latest in a series that have raised questions about programs that focus on encouraging abstinence until marriage, including those that specifically ask students to publicly declare their intention to remain virgins. The new analysis, however, goes beyond earlier analyses by focusing on teens who had similar values about sex and other issues before they took a virginity pledge.

"Previous studies would compare a mixture of apples and oranges," Rosenbaum said. "I tried to pull out the apples and compare only the apples to other apples."

The findings are reigniting the debate about the effectiveness of abstinence-focused sexual education just as Congress and the new Obama administration are about to reconsider the more than $176 million in annual funding for such programs.

"This study again raises the issue of why the federal government is continuing to invest in abstinence-only programs," said Sarah Brown of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "What have we gained if we only encourage young people to delay sex until they are older, but then when they do become sexually active — and most do well before marriage — they don't protect themselves or their partners?"

'Get real about sex education'
James Wagoner of the advocacy group Advocates for Youth agreed: "The Democratic Congress needs to get its head out of the sand and get real about sex education in America."

Proponents of such programs, however, dismissed the study as flawed and argued that programs that focus on abstinence go much further than simply asking youths to make a one-time promise to remain virgins.

"It is remarkable that an author who employs rigorous research methodology would then compromise those standards by making wild, ideologically tainted and inaccurate analysis regarding the content of abstinence education programs," said Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association.

Rosenbaum analyzed data collected by the federal government's National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which gathered detailed information from a representative sample of about 11,000 students in grades seven through 12 in 1995, 1996 and 2001.

Although researchers have analyzed data from that survey before to examine abstinence education programs, the new study is the first to use a more stringent method to account for other factors that could influence the teens' behavior, such as their attitudes about sex before they took the pledge.

100 variables
Rosenbaum focused on about 3,400 students who had not had sex or taken a virginity pledge in 1995. She compared 289 students who were 17 years old on average in 1996, when they took a virginity pledge, with 645 who did not take a pledge but were otherwise similar. She based that judgment on about 100 variables, including their attitudes and their parents' attitudes about sex and their perception of their friends' attitudes about sex and birth control.

"This study came about because somebody who decides to take a virginity pledge tends to be different from the average American teenager. The pledgers tend to be more religious. They tend to be more conservative. They tend to be less positive about sex. There are some striking differences," Rosenbaum said. "So comparing pledgers to all non-pledgers doesn't make a lot of sense."

By 2001, Rosenbaum found, 82 percent of those who had taken a pledge had retracted their promises, and there was no significant difference in the proportion of students in both groups who had engaged in any type of sexual activity, including giving or receiving oral sex, vaginal intercourse, the age at which they first had sex, or their number of sexual partners. More than half of both groups had engaged in various types of sexual activity, had an average of about three sexual partners and had had sex for the first time by age 21 even if they were unmarried.

"It seems that pledgers aren't really internalizing the pledge," Rosenbaum said. "Participating in a program doesn't appear to be motivating them to change their behavior. It seems like abstinence has to come from an individual conviction rather than participating in a program."

'Negative views about condoms'
While there was no difference in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the two groups, the percentage of students who reported condom use was about 10 points lower for those who had taken the pledge, and they were about 6 percentage points less likely to use any form of contraception. For example, about 24 percent of those who had taken a pledge said they always used a condom, compared with about 34 percent of those who had not.

Rosenbaum attributed the difference to what youths learn about condoms in abstinence-focused programs.

"There's been a lot of work that has found that teenagers who take part in abstinence-only education have more negative views about condoms," she said. "They tend not to give accurate information about condoms and birth control."

But Huber disputed that charge.

"Abstinence education programs provide accurate information on the level of protection offered through the typical use of condoms and contraception," she said. "Students understand that while condoms may reduce the risk of infection and/or pregnancy, they do not remove the risk."

'Man of three centuries' tried to enlist in U.S. Army during World War I

SAN FRANCISCO - George Francis, the nation's oldest man, who lived through both world wars, man's first walk on the moon and the election of the first black president, has died. He was 112.

Francis died Saturday of congestive heart failure at a nursing home in Sacramento, his son, Anthony Francis, said Sunday.

"He lived four years in the 19th century, 100 years in the 20th century, and 8 years in the 21st century. We call him the man of three centuries," said the younger Francis, 81.

UCLA gerontologist Dr. Stephen Coles, who maintains a list of the world's oldest people, said Francis lived 112 years and 204 days.

With Francis' death, Walter Breuning of Montana, who is 112 years, 98 days old, becomes the country's oldest living man. At 114, Gertrude Baines of Los Angeles is the nation's oldest living person. The world's oldest person is Maria de Jesus of Portugal, who is 115 years, 109 days old, and the oldest man is Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, who is 113 years, 101 days, Coles said.

Francis, who at his prime barely weighed more than 100 pounds, was born June 6, 1896, in New Orleans. As an African-American in the South, he felt the sting of the Jim Crow-era segregation laws in his early life.

'Mental and physical toughness'
His son said Francis tried to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War I but was turned down because of his stature.

"We always attributed his longevity to his mental and physical toughness," Anthony Francis said.

George Francis quit school after the sixth grade, became an amateur boxer as a young man and later worked as a chauffeur, an auto mechanic and a barber.

He and his wife, Josephine Johnson Francis, had a son and three daughters. Josephine Francis died of cancer in 1964.

 

Even in his waning days, Francis never lost his passion for politics, his family said. He voted for Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s and for Barack Obama in 2008.

In an interview with The Associated Press after Obama's victory, Francis, who used a wheelchair, said he felt like jumping up and down.

"He is going to give black men a break in the world, and give them a better opportunity to live and make more money," he said. "For people who say voting doesn't matter, I think that's crazy."

Anthony Francis said his father was devoted to his family and that he attributed his longevity to them.

"He said, 'My children and my friends, I live off of them,'" he said.

Besides his four children, Francis is survived by 18 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great grandchildren.

Sunday, December 28, 2008
Browns to fire Crennel after Savage ousted
By Chris Mortensen
ESPN.com

Cleveland Browns senior vice president and general manager Phil Savage was fired on Sunday and team sources said that coach Romeo Crennel will also lose his job.

 

After the Browns lost their final six games of the year, the team confirmed Savage's ouster. An official announcement on the GM and the coach is expected as early as Monday and no later than Tuesday.

 

Browns owner Randy Lerner told Savage by phone before the team left Pittsburgh after losing a 31-0 season finale to the Steelers. The Browns finished the season with a 4-12 record, dropping to a last-place finish in the AFC North behind the Cincinnati Bengals (4-11-1).

 

Lerner is expected to make a run at former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, but there has been no indication that Cowher would embrace a job in Cleveland.

 

The Browns must adhere to the Rooney Rule and also interview minority candidates for the head coaching vacancy.

 

 

If Cowher rebuffs Lerner, sources say the owner wants to go through a thorough process and is expected to interview a handful of candidates for the GM and head coaching positions. League sources have speculated that Patriots vice president of personnel Scott Pioli is a potential successor to Savage. Lerner does not have a prior relationship with Pioli.

 

If Pioli is hired, head coaching candidates are expected to be Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz.

 

Lerner was unavailable for immediate comment Sunday and a Browns spokesman also had no comment. Savage also could not be reached for comment.

 

It was believed that Savage's future was somewhat secure, but in the past week, sources say he was notified by Lerner that he may not be involved in the franchise's process to address the future.

 

The Browns had high expectations after a 10-6 season in 2007 that resulted in lucrative contract extensions for both Savage and Crennel. Savage received a new four-year deal worth $2.7 million annually and Crennel got a two-year extension through 2011. Crennel has between $9-and-$10 million remaining on his contract, a source said.

 

Savage has had well-acclaimed drafts since he became the GM in 2004. In April 2007, he drafted Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas with the third overall pick and traded back into the first round to choose Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn. The Browns have had 10-12 players who were either selected to the Pro Bowl or who were Pro Bowl alternates during the past two years.

 

However, injuries and uneven play on offense and defense contributed to a dismal start that headed downhill after Quinn's season ended with a broken finger on his throwing hand on Nov. 17 in a Monday night 29-27 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

 

That was the last game the Cleveland offense produced a touchdown during the six-game losing streak to end the season.

 

Shortly after the Buffalo game, Savage had a nasty e-mail exchange with a disgruntled Browns fan that became public. Earlier, he was embroiled in a dispute with tight end Kellen Winslow, who claimed he was discouraged from disclosing that he had been sidelined by a staph infection, an ongoing dilemma for the team in recent years.

After a disappointing lost to the New York Giants last Sunday, the Carolina Panthers went on to beat the New Orlean Saints today ( score 33 - 31) to clinch the NFC South Division Title and a first-round bye. I'm happy that the Queen City will be hosting a playoff game this year and I hope it's with a huge win to boot!!!

Go Carolina Panthers!!!

  
January 10th or 11th, 2009

Among top 12 contenders were Vladimir Lenin and Ivan the Terrible

MOSCOW - Television viewers have voted Soviet dictator Josef Stalin — who sent millions to their deaths in the Great Purge of the 1930s — Russia's third-greatest historical figure.

Rights activists have blasted Stalin's inclusion in the 90-day, nationwide project by the state-run Rossiya channel. They say authorities are trying to gloss over Stalin's atrocities and glorify his tyranny.

The project, called "The Name of Russia," culminated with the announcement Sunday night that Russian medieval leader Alexander Nevsky had been voted the greatest Russian, with more than 524,000 Internet and SMS votes. Stalin garnered more than 519,000 votes, and even led in early voting.

Nevsky defeated various European invaders during his 13th-century reign and was subsequently canonized.

Stolypin in second place
In second place was Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister early in the 20th century under Czar Nicholas II. Stolypin was recognized for land reform but gained notoriety for his brutal quashing of leftist revolutionaries. He saw to it that thousands were hanged for attempting to overthrow the imperial rulers. Stolypin received more than 523,000 votes,

The 12-person shortlist for Sunday's final vote featured various historical heavyweights from writers Alexander Pushkin and Fyodor Dostoyevsky to Soviet father Lenin and Ivan the Terrible.

Similar votes have been run by television channels in a number of other countries.

The rules excluded any living person, including Russia's popular ruling tandem of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In presenting Stalin, the project's Web site, http://www.nameofrussia.ru, refers to the terror he imposed, and acknowledges that millions died of starvation and in the large network of hard labor camps he created to punish so-called "enemies of the people" and scare the population into obedience.

It goes on to say, however, that: "For all the defects of the Stalin modernization, it should be recognized that all the tasks set before the country were completed."

Critics of Stalin vote
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki human rights watchdog, has called Stalin's inclusion a "requiem for humanitarian education."

Medvedev and Putin, who was previously president, have faced constant criticism for gradually reintroducing authoritarian policies that many associate with the repressive society of the former Soviet Union.

In the latest such move, a bill that Putin's cabinet submitted earlier this month calls for a redefinition of state treason. If the law is passed by the subservient chambers of parliament, any act or inaction that is considered to have harmed the state can be classified as treason — punishable by 20 years in prison.

All babies, four girls and one boy, are doing well, spokesman says

NEW YORK - They're first-time parents — five times over.

A set of quintuplets was born Saturday at Staten Island University Hospital, spokesman Christian Preston said. He said the four girls, one boy and their mother were doing well.

Preston declined to give the family's name, but Tony Scherillo told the Staten Island Advance the parents are his daughter and son-in-law, Jamie and Kevin Ferrante.

"Everybody was ecstatic" on learning that the new parents were expecting five babies, said Scherillo, 67. "Nobody could believe it."

The babies — all delivered within six minutes by Caesarean section — ranged in weight from 1 pound, 8 ounces, to about 2 pounds, 4 ounces, the newspaper said. It gave their names as Allesia Louise, Amanda Frances, Ella Lilliana, Emily Ann and Matthew Sabatino.

Fertility treatments have made multiple births more common in recent decades, but quintuplets remain rare. The federal government's National Center for Health Statistics tallied 68 quintuplet and higher-order births in 2005, compared to more than 400 quadruplets, 133,000 twins and 4.1 million births overall.

Hospitals in Houston, Phoenix and Annapolis, Md., also reported quintuplet births this year.

Saturday's quintuplet birth was a first for the Staten Island hospital, Preston said.

Midday & Evening

** until 12-30-08 **

030, 031, 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 038, 039

580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589

820, 821, 822, 823, 824, 825, 826, 827, 828, 829

200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209

 

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." 

                                                           - Mahatma Gandhi -