8-Year Old Brings WWII Grenade To Elementary School

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A local school was sent up in panic when an 8-year old student brought a genuine World War II hand grenade for the class’s show and tell.

The weapon, an Mk2 grenade, was found in the backpack of a third-grade student, who admitted bringing the item to show the entire class of the Ezra Baker School.

Upon learning of the grenade, the student’ teacher immediately notified the principal Kevin Depin.

The event caused authorities to call for an immediate evacuation of the entire school, sending its 400 students out onto the lawn.

According to Cape Cod Today, the device was eventually identified as inert, as the explosive charge and the detonator had been removed. Also, a hole had been cut in the bottom, rendering it safe for officials to apprehend and dispose.

The student’s mother was notified of the incident, and after being interviewed the family’s residence was searched for other potential weapons. No others were found.

Officers reportedly decided to not press charges against the student, and that any other administrative decisions would be left to the school.

The UPI reported that letters were sent to the parents of students, reminding them to do a check of their children’s bags every morning.

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Student flashes Taj Mahal

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A Dutch student has provoked an international incident by posting on YouTube a clip of him flashing his penis at the Taj Mahal.

The director of his school, the Euro College in Rotterdam, has formally apologised to the Indian Ambassador to Holland.

And the school is also considering legal action against the student for damaging their proud reputation, reports GVA.

The young man is seen on the clip giggling as he takes his penis out of his trousers. The camera then pans around to show the famous backdrop.

The student was suspended immediately when teachers found out about the incident which happened during a school trip to India.

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World’s Oldest Tree Found In Sweden

What could be one of the world’s oldest trees may have been found in the northern Swedish province of Dalecarlia.

According to scientists, who sent samples of the tree to a laboratory in Miami, Florida, the Norwegian spruce dates back to nearly 8,000 years. It grows at a height of 950 meters above sea level, is more than two meters (6.5 feet) tall and about 20 centimeters (8 inches) in width.

Lars Hedlund, a local councilor from Dalecarlia where the tree was found, told Swedish Radio that the tree was one of the first to grow following the end of the ice age.

The Norway spruce is one of the most common spruces, often used as Christmas trees.

Based on the Guinness Book of Records, the oldest living tree is 4,768 years old and is a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, ‘Methuselah,’ located in the White Mountains of California.

Postal Workers Attacked by Wild Turkeys

Rather than rain or snow, or even dogs, postal workers in a West Side neighborhood near Owen Conservation Park are being pestered by wild turkeys this spring. Mara Wilhite, manager of the Hilldale Station Post Office, said she expected to deal with all manner of issues when she went to work for the U.S. Post Office. But that was not one of them.”Just when you thought you’d heard it all,” she said.

About five to 10 of the birds have been pecking at the postal workers as they make their rounds, and some of the birds have attacked the letter carriers with the sharp spurs on their legs. One of the birds went through the open door of a mail truck and scratched the driver.

Wilhite sought help in the matter from Eric Lobner, regional wildlife program supervisor for the state Department of Natural Resources.

Lobner said the behavior is clearly tied to the breeding season, which started recently and runs through about mid-May.

Color plays an important role in turkey breeding, he said, with the color of the male’s head during mating season changes from gaudy blue to white to red. Lobner speculated that perhaps the turkeys are attracted to the red, white and blue postal trucks.

Postal workers were armed with water pistols. But Lober said that, while the squirts of water worked for a while, the turkeys now seem accustomed to it.

Some workers have been using long sticks to fend off the birds, he said, adding that he will meet with Wilhite next week to discuss other possible solutions.

Part of the problem, Lobner said, is that residents around Owen Conservation Park around the Parkwood Hills neighborhood may be feeding the turkeys, which makes the birds less afraid of humans. He said pamphlets have been circulated in the neighborhood to discourage people from feeding the birds.

Brazil opens condom factory to help preserve Amazon Rain Forest

The Brazilian government has inaugurated on Monday a condom factory that is aimed at providing livelihood to hundreds of Brazilian rubber tappers and at the same time help preserve the Amazon rain forest.

In a statement, Brazil’s Health Ministry said the factory in Xapuri, in the northwestern part of the capital Sao Paulo, has the capacity to produce 100 million condoms a year.

The ministry adds that small time rubber tappers would provide the rubber requirement to the plant. By giving them livelihood, these poor rubber tappers were expected to protect the towering jungle trees in the Chico Mendes forest reserve which would eventually preserve the country’s rain forest.

The condom factory is projected to provide livelihood to 500 families of rubber tappers in the region and provide at least 150 jobs.

Driver Climbs on Roof of Van, Crashes

A Reading man whose minivan crashed after he climbed on its roof while driving about 55 miles per hour is in fair condition this weekend.

Police in West Reading say the 38-year-old man later stripped naked and led them on a chase along the highway.

Authorities are not identifying the man, who is not charged.

He remains in a Reading hospital recovering from what witnesses call a deep gash in his side.

Police say they used Taser jolts and pepper spray during the chase Friday but only subdued the man when they tackled him.

Woman Bites Dog Who Attacked Her Dog

Amy Rice feared for her dog’s life when a pit bull jumped over a fence into her yard and attacked her pooch. So she took matters into her own mouth.

Rice says she bit the pit bull on the nose Friday after trying to pull the dog’s jaws off her Labrador retriever, Ella. The dog had jumped a fence to get into Rice’s northeast Minneapolis yard, and Rice says she feared the pit bull would kill Ella.

Rice says she drew blood when she bit the dog, and her doctor will have to determine whether she should get shots for rabies.

The pit bull was quarantined. Ella is recovering with staples and stitches to her head and a crushed ear canal.

Man Steals Guitar by Placing It in Pants

Police are searching for a man accused of shoving an electric guitar in his pants and walking out of a store in Lewiston, Maine.Police say the theft occurred last week and they’re looking for three men. One of the men shoved a Fender Stratocaster in his pants and pulled a sweatshirt over the top. The other two acted as lookouts.

All three can be seen on footage from video surveillance.

Strangely enough, the music shop has seen the method before. A man did the same thing in 2006 but was caught as he tried to walk out.

Holland Kid Headed For China By Bike

Collin Baker is an average 16-year-old. Or is he? According to latest news Collin has been finally caught in Poland on his way to China. Apparently Colin ran away from home on a bike with nothing but £6 and a bag of crisps.

Police have been looking for him for six days since he set out by bike from his home in Holland.

He managed to pedal through Germany and into Poland unnoticed. He had only a book, a map, some crisps and a bottle of mineral water.

That’s where his journey has ended. Residents in Przemkow, noticed him and phoned the local police. According to local news “residents reported discovering a boy who ‘looked lost’, and spoke no Polish, at a bus stop.”

“It turned out that he had been cycling for 6 days and had covered 600 miles cycling along small country roads,” said the local police spokesperson Daria Solinska.

Collin Said that he had left home and is heading for China because he did not like his mother’s new husband. He was determined to get to China by bike even though he had only £6 with him: “I want to go there, because I’ve never been there,” he said.

At the moment he is in a care center for minors, before local police decides what they’ll do with him.

Dallas Police Say Mom Throws 2 Kids From Overpass, Then Jumps

A woman threw her two young children from a freeway overpass during Wednesday’s morning rush before leaping off herself, police said, and all three somehow survived the 22-foot fall into traffic.

The 27-year-old woman and her sons, ages 8 and 6, were in stable condition at Dallas hospitals, said Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse, a police spokesman.

Janse said he didn’t know if any of the three had been hit by a vehicle. Sgt. David Burroughs said in Wednesday’s online edition of The Dallas Morning News that the woman was struck.

“I don’t really have an explanation” for how the three survived, Janse said.

Janse said the mother and her sons were in a vehicle with her father when they stopped for gas. The woman took her two sons to the overpass while her father was paying for gas, Janse said.

Investigators were still trying to find out what led to the incident, Janse said. He said police weren’t immediately releasing identities.

Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills Calif. Firefighter

Murrieta Fire Capt. Matt Moore, a 17-year veteran of the department who had been hospitalized for months with a rare infection from a parasitic amoeba, died Monday. He was 43.

“Matt was one of our best,” Murrieta Fire Chief Paul Christman said Tuesday. “He was involved in just about every aspect of our department. We’re going to miss his presence within our ranks greatly.

“He maintained hope and courage right to the end, as we knew he would,” Christman said. “Matt was that kind of a guy.”

Mr. Moore died at about 11:30 p.m. Monday in the critical care unit at UC San Diego Medical Center Hillcrest from complications of meningoencephalitis, the Fire Department announced Tuesday in a news release.

Mr. Moore had been hospitalized on and off since November, but doctors confirmed only recently that his illness was caused by the parasite Balamuthia mandrillaris. Infection by this amoeba, which invades the brain, is usually fatal.

Fire officials said Mr. Moore was surrounded by family, including his wife, Sherry; his teenage children Alyssa, Trent and Branden; his parents, Carol and Phil Moore; brother, Mark, also a Murrieta fire captain, and many friends.

A formal procession to the England Family Mortuary in Temecula will depart from the hospital in San Diego about 10 a.m. today. The procession will exit the freeway at Murrieta Hot Springs Road, travel south on Jefferson Avenue to Buecking Drive and east to Madison Avenue. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Illinois Mother on Trial for Leaving Child in Car

Treffly Coyne was out of her car for just minutes and no more than 10 yards away.

But that was long and far enough to land her in court after a police officer spotted her sleeping 2-year-old daughter alone in the vehicle; Coyne had taken her two older daughters to pour $8.29 in coins into a Salvation Army kettle.

Minutes later, she was under arrest — the focus of both a police investigation and a probe by the state’s child welfare agency. Now the case that has become an Internet flash point for people who either blast police for overstepping their authority or Coyne for putting a child in danger.

The 36-year-old suburban mother is preparing to go on trial Thursday on misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and obstructing a peace officer. If convicted, she could be sentenced to a year in jail and fined $2,500, even though child welfare workers found no credible evidence of abuse or neglect.

On Dec. 8 Coyne decided to drive to Wal-Mart in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood so her children and a young friend could donate the coins they’d collected at her husband’s office.

Even as she buckled 2-year-old Phoebe into the car, the girl was asleep. When Coyne arrived at the store, she found a spot to park in a loading zone, right behind someone tying a Christmas tree onto a car.

“It’s sleeting out, it’s not pleasant, I don’t want to disturb her, wake her up,” Coyne said this week. “It was safer to leave her in the safety and warmth of an alarmed car than take her.”
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Man Clinging to Boat: Save My Dog First

Life jackets are made for people, not dogs. So, when Randy Earl’s small boat capsized while he was fishing with his dog Lacy, a black spaniel mix, he stayed in the water with his life jacket while making sure Lacy was OK.

“When the boat flipped over, I put the dog on top of the boat,” Earl told The Dominion Post of Morgantown.

While waiting for someone to rescue them on Mason Lake in northern West Virginia, Earl clung to the 12-foot boat’s hull. The water temperature was about 50 degrees, said J.M. Crawley, a senior conservation officer for the Division of Natural Resources.

Another fisherman, Jan Thorn, watched from shore as a state trooper paddled out to rescue Earl and Lacy.

“He asked the state trooper to take the dog first,” Thorn said. “It was very touching.”

Earl, 53, said Lacy means a lot to him and his wife since they lost both of their children in a car accident 15 years ago.

“That dog is like a child to us,” he said.