Friday, July 28, 2006
Colorado man says he commited 48 murders
A man serving a life sentence in Colorado for murdering a teenage girl has claimed responsibility for as many as 48 slayings across the country dating back more than three decades, authorities said Thursday.
Robert Charles Browne, 53, told authorities the slayings occurred from 1970 until his arrest in 1995. He was in court Thursday to plead guilty to one of those killings _ the death of another girl in Colorado in 1987.
Authorities so far have been able to corroborate his detailed claims in six slayings _ three in Louisiana, two in Texas and one in Arkansas, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said.
He said Browne's claim of 48 murders could be credible.
"It's possible he's exaggerating, but I don't think you can conduct business assuming he's exaggerating," Maketa said. "We'll continue to pursue leads."
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Teen shot at vehicles to 'relieve pressure'
A teenager who confessed to a series of highway shootings had been on a hunting trip in the area and drove off in anger after arguing with relatives shortly before the attacks, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Police believe the 17-year-old went to a nearby overpass outside Seymour early Sunday, aimed his rifle over the trunk of his vehicle and began shooting at trucks on Interstate 65 about 60 miles south of Indianapolis.
One bullet killed a passenger in a pickup and another wounded a man. Two hours later, a tractor-trailer and unoccupied sport utility vehicle were hit by bullets about 100 miles to the north, close to the teenager's home.
Zachariah Blanton of Gaston was arrested Tuesday on preliminary charges of murder, attempted murder and criminal recklessness. He was due in court later Wednesday.
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Seattle Guard Accused of Favors for Sex
A female guard at a juvenile detention facility has been charged with giving food, candy and other favors to two teenage inmates in exchange for sex, and four other guards are under investigation, officials said.
Lydia Korolak, 34, an 11-year veteran of the King County juvenile lockup, was charged Tuesday with four counts of custodial misconduct. She was on paid leave pending arraignment Aug. 1.
The four other guards also are on paid leave as the investigation continues.
"I wanted our juvenile facility cleaned up once and for all," King County Executive Ron Sims told reporters Tuesday at a news conference. Officials said guards who avoid criminal charges still could lose their jobs or be disciplined.
Each charge against Korolak carries a standard sentence of about five years. She does not have a listed phone number.
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Ex-con with bones in yard denies murders
An ex-con who lived on property where authorities found as many as 12 sets of human remains pleaded not guilty Thursday to killing a pharmacist and the man's girlfriend. Prosecutors said they planned to seek the death penalty against Hugo Selenski, 32. Police unearthed the bodies of Michael Kerkowski, a pharmacist linked to drug dealing, and Tammy Lynn Fassett three years ago on Selenski's property north of Wilkes-Barre. Court documents said Selenski strangled Kerkowski and Fassett, both 37, at Kerkowski's home in May 2002, and later stole tens of thousands of dollars that Kerkowski had given to his father for safekeeping. Kerkowski, who once called Selenski his best friend, had pleaded guilty to selling more than 330,000 doses of painkillers without prescriptions and was awaiting sentencing when he and Fassett disappeared. Police were led to Selenski's property by Paul Weakley, who said he helped Selenski move Kerkowski's and Fassett's bodies from their original burial place behind a school.
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Man Accused Of Manufacturing THC-Laced Gumballs
Another person was arrested in connection with gumballs laced with marijuana, according to Arlington County police. Police said 20-year-old Paul C. Coffer Jr. of the 1600 block of South Eads Street manufactured gumballs laced with marijuana. He was arrested Saturday after police were called to his apartment building for the report of a man with a gun. When officers arrived, they found Coffer trying to break into an apartment in the same building where he lives. When police went into Coffer's apartment, they found hundreds of gumballs, and further investigation revealed Coffer was manufacturing gumballs laced with THC, also known as "greenades," authorities said. The gumballs had the tops cut off and were being filled with THC. In Ellicott City, Md., three Howard High School students were caught with two greenades and have been charged, police said. Officials from the Maryland State Police forensic lab said they have never seen anything like them, News4's Cheryl Butler reported. The lab recently received the two yellow gumballs, each with a smiley face printed on the side and filled with marijuana.
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Eddie Van Halen Scores Porn
Eddie Van Halen has teamed up with adult video director Michael Ninn to write and perform two songs for his upcoming Ninn Worx production, Sacred Sin. The rocker makes no excuses for his decision to work in the adult industry. "I'm working with a friend -- very simple," Van Halen told adult site AVN.com. "I like his work. Michael Ninn is like a Spielberg to me: the imagery, the way he makes things look, just...sensual." To Ninn's "sensual" cinematography, Van Halen will add two tracks tracks, "Rise" and "Catherine," the latter of which is a remix of the theme to a Ninn film of the same name and has "a 'Kashmir'-Led Zeppelin kind of feel to it now," Ninn told AVN. Sacred Sin, which Ninn said is aimed at the "couples market," will be available on Sept. 13 and will feature music videos for both Van Halen songs. But Van Halen fans who prefer their sex tapes soft-core needn't worry: Ninn is also cutting a non-explicit version of the movie which will be called Rise. No release date has been set.
Listeners Upset Over Radio Format Change
Some call it revolutionary. Some call it offensive. But for now, it's gone. A formal complaint is on it's way to the Federal Government, in response to controversial change to a valley radio station. A popular Christian radio station suddenly switched to playing sexually suggestive songs. The switch surprised and angered listeners. The federal government may get involved in the local radio business after a provocative stunt introduced the valley to new ownership on the FM dial. A Kingsburg-based station turned the valley into a test market for so-called porn radio, featuring sexually suggestive songs and tracked moans and groans. But Thursday afternoon, an announcement replaced the music. The dramatic shift came on one of the former homes of K-LOVE 106.3 FM. Listeners used to tune in to the Kingsburg based station for Christian music and sermons, but it switched to porn radio. It went off the air Thursday after five days, but the valley may not have heard the last of the radio format. Legendary radio consultant Jerry Clifton bought the station earlier this month. Porn radio is his brainchild, and he is well-known in the business for stunt radio. It's a tried-and-true way to get new listeners when you change formats.
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Eyeful of breast-feeding mom sparks outrage
NEW YORK - "I was SHOCKED to see a giant breast on the cover of your magazine," one person wrote. "I immediately turned the magazine face down," wrote another. "Gross," said a third.
These readers weren't complaining about a sexually explicit cover, but rather one of a baby nursing, on a wholesome parenting magazine — yet another sign that Americans are squeamish over the sight of a nursing breast, even as breast-feeding itself gains greater support from the government and medical community.
Babytalk is a free magazine whose readership is overwhelmingly mothers of babies. Yet in a poll of more than 4,000 readers, a quarter of responses to the cover were negative, calling the photo — a baby and part of a woman's breast, in profile — inappropriate.
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Saw 3
In this installment, Jigsaw is gone. Not actually out of the picture, though. He and his new apprentice Amanda, played by Shawnee Smith, have left town. The police are looking for him, but until they find him some gory fun and games will of course ensue.
It looks like Jigsaw is just about ready to kick the bucket in the movie, but before he does he plans to wreak some more havoc. After finishing her shift at the hospital, Dr. Lynn Denlon, played by Bahar Soomekh, is kidnapped and taken to the abandoned warehouse where Jigsaw lays bedridden. She is instructed to keep him alive long enough for another victim, Jeff (Angus Macfayden) to finish his game. Both try their hardest to keep themselves alive, but are unaware of the bigger plan he has for them.
Sorry, that's all for now. You'll have to wait until you see the movie for more! Don't' worry, you won't have to wait too long. Saw III is set to hit theaters this Halloween.
It looks like Jigsaw is just about ready to kick the bucket in the movie, but before he does he plans to wreak some more havoc. After finishing her shift at the hospital, Dr. Lynn Denlon, played by Bahar Soomekh, is kidnapped and taken to the abandoned warehouse where Jigsaw lays bedridden. She is instructed to keep him alive long enough for another victim, Jeff (Angus Macfayden) to finish his game. Both try their hardest to keep themselves alive, but are unaware of the bigger plan he has for them.
Sorry, that's all for now. You'll have to wait until you see the movie for more! Don't' worry, you won't have to wait too long. Saw III is set to hit theaters this Halloween.
Rubber pavements give pedestrians more bounce
Locals who thought they had a new spring in their step might be surprised to learn the United States capital city is trying out sidewalks made of recycled tyres, officials say. Tougher and more environmentally friendly than concrete, the sidewalks are made by a company cashing in on the 34-million used tyres tossed into the trash in California each year. Rubbersidewalks has put its non-slip product on the ground in some areas of US cities such as Seattle, Washington, San Francisco and Savannah, Georgia. In Washington, they have been installed for a test. "We'll keep an eye on it through the winter and see how they behave with the snow and the ice," said Wasi Khan, materials engineer at the city's department of transportation. Though more expensive than concrete, rubber walkways have their pros because, as the roots of large trees grow, they can crack concrete. But rubber bends. "Oak roots can crack the concrete after two years," Khan said, noting that the recycled sidewalks were "environmentally attractive". They might go easier on joggers' knees, as well.
Hungry men like big women
MEN who have skipped lunch find larger women more attractive than their slimmer counterparts, new research has revealed.
A team of psychologists established that men who are hungry are attracted to plumper women, but the researchers found that, once they had eaten, men's taste in women reverted to those with slimmer figures.
The academics suggest the phenomenon arises from primeval associations between larger body sizes and health and survival.
The latest study in the British Journal of Psychology suggests that although modern western cultures are dominated by images of skinny models, men still have an evolutionary preference for more rounded women.
The results indicated that this preference can still be triggered by pangs of hunger. Viren Swami, a psychologist at Liverpool University's Department of Public Health, said: "Hungry men are much more tolerant and rate obese women more positively than men who have eaten.
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