drunk driving

This week a 16-year-old, Ethan  Couch, was drunk driving and got into a crash that killed 4 people. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The parents are part to blame, said the police, they never gave the boy limits and instead, gave him everything he wanted and let him do what he wanted to do. The four people were on the side of the road, helping someone with a car that had broken down. His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit; .24.
He ended up with no jail time, although he could face up to 10 years if he violates the terms of the probation. The victims' parents were shocked with the judges decision and said that he basically got away with murder.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/justice/texas-teen-dwi-wreck/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Pleads not Guilty

Philip Chism pleaded not guilty to murder, aggravated rape, and robbery on Wednesday. He was accused of murdering his math teacher, Colleen Ritzer back in October with a box cutter in the girls bathroom. A classmate of his told the police that he became very upset when Colleen spoke after class about his hometown of Tennessee. People could see that he was getting upset so she stopped talking about it, this happened the day of the crime. In court, after he pleaded not guilty, he was ordered held without bail. Philip' s next court date will be on January 30th, 2014. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/04/justice/massachusetts-chism-plea/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

"knockout game"

On Thursday in New York, police were investigating s sucker-punch assault on a 23-year-old. They were doing this to look further into a possible series of attacks known as the "knockout game." People are walking around and punching people, trying to knock them out in one punch. The police have multiple videos of people walking around punch people. They do not know if they know the victims or if it is just random. They are trying to figure it out. Attacks have been reported in at least four states in the last three years. Just in New York there have been 7 attacks. They are afraid that if they keep talking about and continue to investigate this crime, will bring copycats.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/28/justice/new-york-knockout-game-assault/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

McStay Family is Found

About three years ago a while family disappeared, they were finally found in a desert in California. On Monday they found the remains of Joseph McStay and his wife Summer in shallow graves that had been dug. They were identified through dental records. Nearby, they found remains of what looks to be their two sons. They have been killed, no suspects have been identified yet and they did not say how they died. February 2010 was the last time that anyone saw the family. When the police went into the house about ten days later, there were eggs on the counter, popcorn in the living room, the dogs were still in the house, but the McStay's were no where to be found. They found their car 4 days later and surveillance cameras show a family (could be the McStay's) walking into Mexico. The FBI will work with the police men to find the suspects. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/us/california-bodies-found/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Guilty for Murder

Martin MacNeill was found guilty for his wife's murder on Saturday morning. He said that the death was an accident but it was not. He first convinced his wife to have plastic surgery, then used the medication from it to drug her. After that MacNeill drowned her in a bathtub at their house in 2007. He did this so he could be with another woman. MacNeill and his wife had eight kids and more than one of them came up and accused their father of killing their mother. He now faces 15 years to life in  prison because of the murder. He could also be sentenced up to 15 years for obstruction of justice.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/justice/martin-macneill-trial-verdict/index.html?hpt=ju_c1

Burned Body

Emani Moss, a ten year old girl, was found. Her body was burned and shoved into a trashcan. Her father was the one that pointed it out to the police officers. It started on Saturday when the police officers got a call from a man who wanted to commit suicide. He told the police officers that his daughter was dead and in his area, he said that she drank some type of chemical and died. They went inside the apartment that the man was standing outside of, there was no one else in the apartment. After that, the father and the girls stepmother were arrested. They will be charged with felony murder, concealing a body, and first-degree cruelty to children.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/02/us/georgia-girl-burned-body/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Algebra Teacher Murdered

A 14 year old named Phillip Chism allegedly killed his algebra teacher at his school. He was in the final class of the day, which happened to be Colleen Ritzer’s algebra class. He was drawing unusual pictures and listening to music when the teacher asked him to stay after class. After they were done talking, she went into a girls bathroom on the second level of the school. Phillip followed her in and killed her using a box cutter. Her body was later found in the woods outside of school. Phillip put her body in a recycling bin and rolled it down to the woods.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/25/justice/massachusetts-danvers-school-killing/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Obesity

Helen Casillas, is just one example of the many people that are obese in America. She had diabetes and the doctor told her that she needed to lose weight in order to stay healthy...but she didnt listen. She ended up dying of a heart-attack at the age of 44. "This is the problem within the Hispanic community," Dieppa wrote on the blog. "We love our curves, but the line between beautiful and deadly curves is blurred." Hispanic and African American girls are less likely to think that they are overweight, even when they are. Latinos are also the "most vulnerable" which makes them more likely to become obese. Diabetes is a main concern in the Latino community. They need to learn what is healthy and what is not healthy.

Gym Mat Death

Kendrick Johnson, 17 years old, was killed in January. His body was found rolled up in a gym mat in his high school gym. He was suffocated when he was reaching for his sneaker. They say that he died form positional asphyxia and that the death was accidental. But they did a second autopsy and found that he died because of a "unexplained, apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma." The county sheriff has declared the case closed but Micheal Moore, the U.S. attorney for the district is reviewing the case and deciding if he should open his own investigation. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/10/justice/georgia-gym-mat-death/index.html?hpt=ju_c2 

Bride Pushes her Husband off a Cliff

On July 7th, Jordan Graham and her husband went for a walk through a national park. They were fighting before they went for the walk and continued to fight while on it. The fight of physical and Jordan ended up pushing her husband off of the cliff to fall to his death. They had only been married for 8 days prior to the push. Her friends say that she showed no emotion after what happened. Her attorney said that the groom's  death was an accident. A federal grand jury charged her with first and second-degree murder, also making a false statement. She pleaded not guilty and was released like she had been before. She will return  to court on October 15th.

The Murder of Two Children

Two weeks ago the children of Mark Edge were found dead in a hotel room. The authorities say that the mother of the children poisoned them. The children were 13 and 10. The two parents were fighting a custody battle for about a year and it finally got settled in September. The mother was to give the children over to the father, when she heard this in the court room she stormed out in the middle of it. When she finally earned visitation rights, the children went with her to California. She poisoned them in a hotel that they were staying at and the police found her in her car that had been rammed into a pole a couple of blocks down the road. They think she was trying to kill herself. She has been charged with two felony counts of special circumstance murder; multiple murders and murder by poison. If the court convicts her, she will spend the rest of her life in prison without parole.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/us/california-chidren-killed/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

The Hiccup Girl

A woman was found guilty for first-degree murder. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In October 2010, when she was 19 she was first arrested. She met Shannon Griffin on a social networking site and made him go to a vacant home a couple of days later. They do not believe that they knew each other before the online talking. The murder happened behind the house where Jenifer Mee led him. two men armed and ready, shot Griffin multiple times. Police arrested all three of the people involved about 3 hours after finding the body. Mee was not put in jail because she "didn't pull the trier," but later sentenced to life in prison.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/justice/hiccup-girl-murder-verdict/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Shooting in Time Square

An "emotionally disturbed" man, named Glenn Broadnax triggered a shooting in Time Square on Saturday, September 14th. He was standing in the road facing oncoming traffic and the police officers were trying to get him out of the road. When they did this, Broadnax started to run. He put his hand in his pocket to "grab something" and when he took his hands out he used them to make a gun and "shot" and the officers. "At some time he reached into his pocket, took out his hand and simulated as if he was shooting at them," Kelly told reporters late Saturday. Doing this made the police officers shoot their actual guns, hitting two pedestrians and injuring them both. They shot three times before finally getting close enough to use a taser. Glenn is now in the Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital and is in there as an "emotionally disturbed person". He will be charged with riot, criminal possession of a controlled substance, menacing, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct.  These charges could change once he goes to court. 
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/15/justice/times-square-police-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

Tamu Massif

An underwater volcano was found about 1,000 miles east of Japan. They call it Tamu Massif. It is the new largest volcano in the world and is also one of the largest in the Solar System. A professor at the University of Huston, William Sager took a team of other scientist to discover this volcano. "Its shape is different from any other sub-marine volcano found on Earth, and it's very possible it can give us some clues about how massive volcanoes can form," Sager stated. They say that it is 145 million years old and became active within a couple million years after it was formed. Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano is approximately 2,000 square miles, that is nothing compared to Tamu Massif. About 120,000 square miles is the area that this new volcano covers. This all ties together with the French word "massif" meaning massive, or in a scientific matter it means large mountain mass. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/06/world/biggest-volcano/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Gephyrophobia: fear of bridges.

Gephyrophobia is when people have a fear of bridges. They have a hard time crossing high bridges. Some people have dreams about bridges that go up and never come down, others have fears that the bridge with collapse when they drive over it and with the news showing all of the bridges that do collapse, it gives them even more anxiety. These people don’t trust the safety of the bridge or have a hard time believe that there is an end of it if they can’t see it at first. At Johns Hopkins University they help people get over their fears by having people imagine that they are going over the bridge and then eventually getting them to go over it. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/31/travel/scary-high-bridges-climbers/index.html?hpt=hp_t5