Monday, March 9, 2020

Police find meth and baby squirrel in woman’s purse during traffic stop

Glenpool, Oklahoma Police say they made an unusual discovery during a traffic stop last week. Officers pulled over a woman for speeding when they found close to pound of meth, plus scales and baggies.They also found a baby squirrel in her bag, with a dropper of baby formula. The woman told officers her son found the squirrel as he was working at his tree trimming job. The Oklahoma Game Warden brought the squirrel to a state certified rehabilitation agent, and arrested the woman for possession of wildlife during a closed season. The game warden says they won’t prosecute people if they are being a Good Samaritan, but you must contact the game warden office for guidance on how to help the animal and where to bring them. People without proper knowledge of caring for wildlife can make matters worse through improper care. There’s also the risk of domesticating the animal to the point where it can’t fend for itself in the wild. (Fox 23)

Louisiana driver caught with license plate that expired in 1997 told police they’ve been busy and forgot

A Louisiana driver who was recently pulled over for expired tags must have had quite the last two decades. The driver reportedly told police, “Sorry, officer. I’ve been busy lately and totally forgot to renew my vehicle registration. I will take care of it as soon as I get home!” The tag license plate expired in 1997. “We can’t make this stuff up!” the department captioned a photo of the expired plate. “…At least give us a good challenge.” (Slidell Louisiana Police Department Facebook)

Artificial lights are disrupting firefly mating, putting them on the road to extinction

According to a 2019 study, artificial light impacts fireflies in a big way. Fireflies find mates through a courtship process that involves flashing their “lights.” And not just any light: the courting process involves a series of flashes, which are unique to each male and female. Females will choose their mate based on their unique flashing patterns. The females, in turn, will start a flashing “dialogue” with the mate of their choosing. Fireflies rely on light to communicate, which has led scientists to wonder if light pollution impacts them in some way. Prior studies by the researchers confirmed this, as well as a substantial body of research. So the next logical question, and the one that the researchers tackled, was how this lighting impacts fireflies at the most basic level: courtship. Light pollution is one of the fastest growing types of environmental degradation, and more than 99 percent of people living in America and Europe don’t experience a “natural” night sky. As urban areas continue to grow, this problem will only get worse. In early February, researchers at Tufts University released a study pegging light pollution as the second most serious threat to fireflies, according to a survey of 49 experts across the world. Only habitat loss is more dangerous. (Massive Science)

Ex-Nazi living in U.S. for decades to be deported

The U.S. government said Thursday that it is deporting a 94-year-old German ex-Nazi who has been in the United States for decades. An immigration judge ordered Friedrich Karl Berger’s deportation on February 28 after a two-day trial in Memphis, authorities said. It’s unclear when he will be removed. The man has 30 days to appeal the ruling. The government says he was an armed guard at a concentration camp near Meppen, Germany, in 1945. The immigration judge found that the prisoners Berger guarded were held in atrocious conditions and were exploited for forced labor. Berger also was accused of guarding prisoners during a forced evacuation to a main camp that took two weeks and left 70 prisoners dead as they traveled in inhumane conditions, according to two government news releases. The man acknowledged that he never requested a transfer from the concentration camp guard service and that he still gets a pension from Germany. He has been living in the U.S. since 1959. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions unit launched an investigation into Berger in 2017. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center also investigated. (Yahoo News)

Missouri Man Dressed as The Joker Arrested For Making Criminal Threats In Facebook Video

A 51-year-old Missouri man with his face and hair colored to look like The Joker was arrested recently, accused of making death threats on a Facebook livestream. The man threatened to kill five random people, and admitted that he dressed as the supervillain for attention. Law enforcement charged him with five separate counts of making a criminal threat. Police in University City, MO, picked arrested him and is currently being held without bail. His alleged video is no longer available online, but he reportedly dressed like The Joker in it, as well as in his now-viral mugshot. (Comicbook.com)

Lawmakers want to charge officers with felony for turning off body cameras

Memphis, Tennessee Police are required to turn their body cameras on during encounters with the public. But that doesn’t always happen. Now, lawmakers are trying to hold officers accountable by turning the tables and charging them with a felony. Officers have been caught hiding things recently. Most notably, in the Martavious Banks case where the department says three officers turned off their body cameras before shooting a man, who ended up in critical condition. Police say three officers deliberately hid their actions from supervisors by communicating on a radio frequency that dispatch couldn’t hear and turning off their body cameras before the shooting. The officer who pulled the trigger resigned. Three others got suspended. The proposal meant officers would face felony charges for intentionally disabling a body camera, thus ostructing justice. But representatives with the Memphis Police Association say the officers involved in the Banks shooting have already been punished appropriately. The committee should be ready to vote on the bill in the next two weeks. It could then go to the full Tennessee House. Meanwhile, the Memphis Police Association says if this becomes law, cops are threatening to quit. (WREG)

Republican subpoena targeting Bidens

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has scheduled a committee vote for Wednesday (3/11), in which he will ask lawmakers to issue a subpoena related to his investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, concerning Hunter’s previous work for Ukrainian gas company Burisma. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee wants to subpoena Andrii Telizhenko, a former consultant for Blue Star Strategies; the U.S. public affairs firm worked with Burisma. GOP allies allege that Blue Star used Hunter Biden (who previously sat on the board of Burisma) to gain access to the U.S. State Department while his father was vice president. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), who sits on the committee, has expressed skepticism of the probe, saying “There’s no question but that the appearance of looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden appears political.” His vote on the subpoena is pivotal, as Republicans currently have an 8-6 majority on the panel; if Romney votes alongside Democrats, it would end in a 7-7 tie and would fail to obtain the majority needed. (Politico)

Named It

Alexander Mather, a seventh grader from Virginia, has won the Mars 2020 rover naming contest with his entry “Perseverance.” That’s the name that will be given to NASA’s robotic explorer, which is scheduled to launch in July and land on Mars in February of 2021. More than 28,000 students entered the contest, which ended with nine finalists: Endurance, Tenacity, Promise, Perseverance, Fortitude, Vision, Clarity, Ingenuity, and Courage. In explaining his choice, 13-year-old Mather wrote in his essay that “if rovers are to be the qualities of us as a race, we missed the most important thing. Perseverance. We as humans evolved as creatures who could learn to adapt to any situation, no matter how harsh.” Students have also named the Mars rovers Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. (Popular Mechanics)

U.S. employers added 273,000 jobs in February

This makes it a repeat of January, according to data released by the Labor Department on Friday (3/6). Last month’s jump was about 100,000 more jobs than analysts had been forecasting. During February, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent, from 3.6 percent, returning to a 50-year low, the department said. The report comes from survey results completed three weeks ago, which means it may not take into account many job losses caused by the global spread of coronavirus. (Axios)

A man from Port Arthur, Texas, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for licking a tub of ice cream in a store and placing the container back in the freezer

The 24-year-old man also received two years of probation and 100 community service hours for the prank, which was filmed in a video posted online last summer. Once news got out about the stunt, the Walmart store where it happened replaced all of its inventory of Blue Bell half-gallon tubs of vanilla flavor, though police later confirmed that he had gone back and purchased the carton. In January, he pleaded guilty to criminal mischief. (KTRE)

President Trump Signs $8.3 Billion Coronavirus Package

President Trump on Friday (3/6) signed into law an emergency funding package worth roughly $8 billion for the coronavirus outbreak. As the number of people in the U.S. who have tested positive for COVID-19 has surged, the president publicly disputed the World Health Organization’s recent coronavirus death rate estimate of 3.4%. As the global number of coronavirus cases neared 100,000, the director general of the World Health Organization urged international action to confront the outbreak, saying: “This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops.” (One News Page)

President Trump’s Campaign Sues CNN

President Trump’s re-election campaign filed a libel lawsuit against CNN on Friday (3/6) for publishing “false and defamatory” statements about seeking Russia’s help in the 2020 election. “The complaint alleges CNN was aware of the falsity at the time it published them but did so for the intentional purpose of hurting the campaign while misleading its own readers in the process… the campaign filed this lawsuit against CNN and the preceding suits against The New York Times and The Washington Post to hold the publishers accountable for their reckless false reporting and also to establish the truth,” Senior Legal Adviser to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. said in a statement to the press. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia where CNN is located. It states in part that CNN claimed Trump’s campaign “assessed the potential risks and benefits of again seeking Russia’s help in 2020 and has decided to leave that option on the table.” (Fox News)

Monday Shines It’s Light In Our Face With:

• Barbie Day
• Fill Our Staplers Day (Always Day after Daylight Savings Ends)
• Get Over It Day
• Joe Franklin Day
• Napping Day (Monday after daylight savings times)
• National Urban Ballroom Dancing Day (2nd Saturday)
• National Urban Educator Day
• Panic Day
• Purim
• Ta’Anit Esther