300,000 pennies was stolen, man cannot figure out how because how much they weighed

(CHESTERTON, Ind.) After 30 years of collecting 300,000 pennies, Craig Stueber discovered Monday someone had stolen all of them, according to a police report.Stueber told the Chesterton (Ind.) Police Department he had spent the past three decades collecting the pennies in a cast iron milk jug, which few people knew about, according to the report. Stueber had to use a dolly the last time he moved the jug, according to the report.Whoever took it likely would have needed help to move it in one batch. According to the MegaPenny Project Web site, which tells the size and weights of various large amounts of pennies, 300,000 pennies would weigh about 1,842 pounds - slightly less than a ton.Stueber reported that he found the pennies missing when he returned to his home in the northern Indiana town at about 4:30 p.m. Monday. According to the report, Stueber doesn't normally check the jar but saw the lid was sitting on his entertainment center.Nothing else was missing from the house.The jar was not clear, so no one would know it held thousands of pennies without looking inside or if someone had told them about. Stueber said no one other than family members knew about the jug.

84-year-old pensioner has been banned from driving for the next 1000 years

AN 84-year-old pensioner has been banned from driving for the next 1000 years.

Luba Relic, who in her early 80s clashed with her neighbours in court 78 times, has hit her mid 80s with an appearance for negligent driving, driving without a licence and failing to give particulars.

The Warriewood pensioner was already banned from driving until 2999 when she fronted Manly Court but a magistrate added a year for her latest misdemeanours.

Her licence had been suspended by the RTA for "medical reasons," the court heard. But she crashed into a Honda Civic outside a St Vincent De Paul shop in Oxford Rd, Brookvale in September.

"I saw the cars coming very close together and heard a crunching noise," witness James Pollet said.

Defending herself, she pleaded not guilty but a magistrate fined her $1000, ordered her to pay costs and added a year to her licence ban.

Fayette furlough request would have to be unanimous

Fayette County school officials insisted Tuesday that any talk of asking employees to voluntarily give back their raises is just that.

And any such plan would have to get unanimous approval from all the county’s employees, not just teachers, in a survey to soon be distributed.

In these economic times, would you be willing to return a raise to keep your employer afloat?
Yes, sacrifices are called for.
No, I'm struggling too.

Georgia teachers taken aback by Fayette proposal
Fayette: All would have to agree on raise give-backs
• Fayette County news “In order for it to be even considered, we would have to have 100 percent of all of our employees agree on the survey,” said school spokeswoman Melinda Berry-Dreisbach. “We feel like we owe it to our employees to let them tell us. If we don’t get 100 percent, it wouldn’t be fair to look at it.”

The county’s roughly 1,800 teachers were abuzz with talk during Tuesday’s first teaching day of the new year.

Several felt blindsided by the news, but declined to be interviewed for this story.

On Monday night, school board members discussed asking teachers to give back the 2.5 percent pay raises they would receive for the second half of this school year. That giveback, members said, would help the cash-strapped school system stay solvent through the current 2008-09 school year and avoid layoffs.

The raises totaled $4 million from school coffers. The state had been scheduled to pay for half, but reneged after slashing state education budgets.

The voluntary contributions would not be retroactive to the start of the school year, Berry-Dreisbach said.

If county employees choose to donate their pending raise money, the county would recoup $2 million. Current projections estimate Fayette County schools are en route to a budget deficit of roughly $1.8 million. State law requires each school system to have a balanced budget.

In return for giving up their raises, employees would take furloughed days. No employee would pony up any cash.

The request highlights the severe difficulties facing the Fayette County school system in the wake of unexpected state budget cuts and diminished property tax revenues in a struggling economy. more

Garbage Dump Searched for Baby's Remains

Police are searching garbage dumps in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for the body of a baby that was apparently thrown out with the trash at Jersey City's Christ Hospital.

Watch VideoInvestigators are saying a dead baby's remains were accidently tossed in the trash in New Jersey.

Dead Baby's Remains Thrown in Hospital Trash

Hospital spokeswoman Barbara Davy said the baby was stillborn on Dec. 21 and the body was placed in the hospital morgue. The body was gone when a funeral home employee came to pick it up on Jan. 2.

The baby's mother said he was born alive and died after doctors worked to stabilize him for 20 minutes.

Kalynn Moore's attorney, Michael Anise, said a nurse cleaned up the baby, dressed him in a hat and blanket and gave the baby to the mom to hold.

Moore named her son Bashere Davon Moyd Jr.

Whether the child was born is important because Hudson County's prosecutor said a stillborn is not considered a person under New Jersey law.

240,000 dollars awarded to man forced to cover Arab T-shirt

An airline passenger forced to cover his T-shirt because it displayed Arabic script has been awarded 240,000 dollars in compensation, campaigners said Monday.
Raed Jarrar received the pay out on Friday from two US Transportation Security Authority officials and from JetBlue Airways following the August 2006 incident at New York's JFK Airport, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced.
"The outcome of this case is a victory for free speech and a blow to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling," said Aden Fine, a lawyer with ACLU.
Jarrar, a US resident, was apprehended as he waited to board a JetBlue flight from New York to Oakland, California, and told to remove his shirt, which had written on it in Arabic: "We will not be silent."
He was told other passengers felt uncomfortable because an Arabic-inscribed T-shirt in an airport was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, I am a robber,'" the ACLU said.
Jarrar eventually agreed to cover his shirt with another provided by JetBlue. He was allowed aboard but his seat was changed from the front to the back of the aircraft.
Last week, nine Muslims, including three children, were ordered off a domestic US flight after passengers heard what they believed were suspicious remarks about security.
Although the passengers, eight of them US citizens, were cleared by the FBI, they were reportedly still barred from the AirTran flight.
Security has been at a high level in US airports since the September 11, 2001 hijacked airliner attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
However, rights groups and representatives of the Muslim community say the security measures have led to frequent discrimination and harassment.

Angry 4 year old shoots babysitter

JACKSON, Ohio (AP) - Police say an angry 4-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter.
Eighteen-year-old Nathan Beavers was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Police say another teen was also injured.
Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot. Beavers was watching the child at a mobile home in Jackson with several other teenagers and several other children.
Jackson County Sheriff John Shashteen says authorities are investigating. The child has not been charged.

Student Dressed as German Soldier Shot to Death by Police

SEATTLE — A college student dressed in a vintage German military uniform who was fatally shot by police on New Year's Day was a harmless, eccentric history buff, his family and friends said Friday.

Miles Murphy, a University of Washington senior, was shot several times at his apartment early Thursday after police said he pointed a rifle affixed with a bayonet at officers and refused orders to drop the weapon.

Seattle police had converged on Murphy's apartment after receiving complaints that several men were firing rifle and shotgun rounds into the air. Murphy emerged from inside and pointed what was later identified as a World War II Kar 98 German infantry rifle at the officers, police said.

When he refused several orders to drop the weapon, two officers fired seven shots, police Officer Jeff Kappel said. Murphy was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.

A witness told some officers at the scene that Murphy had been firing blanks that night.

Police searching the house found alcohol, live ammunition and a large collection of German, Russian and Nazi memorabilia including photographs and uniforms, Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said.

But Murphy "wasn't a Nazi," Hattie Taylor, a friend, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "He was just fascinated with the past... He liked to dress up and have fun." more