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The dog ate it, the computer exploded, I spilt spaghetti bolognaise over it. School children have been coming up with excuses for failing to hand in their homework since the concept was invented. Now a frustrated 3rd grade teacher in Tucson, Arizona, has decided to recognise the art of homework dodging by giving out a Catastrophe Award to the student who wriggled out of handing in homework the most.

PHILADELPHIA - July 18, 2011 (WPVI) -- Sources confirmed to Action News on Monday that Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, will step down on Tuesday and his successor will be named. That successor will be Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver, those sources confirmed.

UPPER PROVIDENCE — First-grade teacher and day camp director David Devine will be released on bail once electronic home monitoring is set up at his mother’s Chester Heights home. Devine, 34, who is suspended from his teaching position with the West Chester Area School District, on Tuesday waived his preliminary hearing on 500 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility. District Judge Nicholas Lippincott reduced Devine’s bail to 10 percent of $50,000, with conditions. Although a resident of Media, Devine must stay with his mother in Chester Heights because Devine’s home...

Police said they are searching for a car that was stolen Wednesday night as two children were sleeping in the back seat. The car was reported stolen at about 7 p.m. from the 3300 block of Baring Street in the Powelton section of Philadelphia, police said. Police in the 16th District said it's believed that the vehicle was left running when it was stolen, and investigators were asking the public to look outside of their homes. The missing vehicle was described as a silver, 2005 X-5 BMW SUV with Pennsylvania tags GDF-1692. It was last seen on its way toward...

TRENTON, N.J. -- Parents concerned about possible vaccine dangers and government intrusion are trying to block New Jersey from becoming the first state to require flu shots for preschoolers. The Public Health Council on Monday is set to consider whether New Jersey should require flu shots as well as three additional vaccines. If approved, New Jersey would become the first state to require annual flu shots for children attending licensed preschool or day care centers. State health department officials also want to require a pneumococcal vaccine for preschoolers, a booster shot to fight whooping cough for sixth-graders, and meningitis shots...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A former police officer who confessed to sexually molesting 4-year-old twins has been charged a day before his scheduled sentencing with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old. Instead of sentencing of 34-year-old Michael Fernsler, of Annville, on Wednesday, Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover revoked his $50,000 bail. Sentencing is postponed until Jan. 22 to allow time to respond to a report evaluating him as a sexually violent predator. Fernsler is a former North Londonderry Township patrolman and had served as a Skippack University police officer. He had performed at churches and day cares as a clown. Police said Fernsler...

CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police shot a family's fenced-in pet to death Tuesday. Troopers later admitted they weren't supposed to be in that yard in the first place. State troopers were in the neighborhood, trying to serve a warrant on someone. They sent a couple of extra troopers around to guard the back door. Those officers, however, cut through a neighbor's yard, and that's when they came across Sheeba, a very protective family dog, NBC 10's Tim Furlong reported. "She was doing her job. That's what she does, she protects us," said DiQuan Dill said. DiQuan and his...

Former Boy Scout troop leader David Mayberry was sentenced for having unprotected sex with a 14-year-old boy. Mayberry, 52, committed the crime knowing he was HIV-positive. A teary Mayberry cried in court when he saw the more than a dozen family members and friends there to support him. The Montgomery County man, a former Boy Scout leader, admitted to soliciting a 14-year-old online. The two met in a parking lot where the boy performed a sex act on Mayberry. Prosecutors said the crime was made more horrific because Mayberry is HIV-positive and he knew his health status when he met...

TACOMA, Wash. -- Twelve-year-old Zina Linnik had been sent down the alley behind her home to bring back some of her siblings, who had been watching neighbors set off July 4 fireworks, police say. Her father, Mikhail Linnik, heard her scream, found a single flip flop on the ground and saw a boxy gray van driving away. His description of that van eventually led authorities to a man jailed this week on an immigration complaint -- and information from that man led them to the little girl's body. At a brief news conference Thursday night, Police Chief Don Ramsdell said...

A child's tantrum on board a Delta commuter flight forced a pilot to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Chopper 10 was over the scene. The forced landing was caused by a fight over apple juice. A 4-year-old wanted apple juice and when the stewardess didn't get it quick enough, the child threw a tantrum, NBC 10 reported. The Delta commuter flight landed around 5 p.m. Tuesday. The flight originated in New York and was headed to North Carolina before the incident. Passengers were spending the night in Philadelphia, NBC 10 reported. Authorities said there would be no...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Health code violations led officials to close the city's only abortion clinic, a state health department spokesman said. State inspectors began conducting a full survey of Alternatives on Pacific Avenue on Monday after they found problems with infection control, documentation and "the facility itself," said Health and Human Services spokesman Tom Slater. An anonymous complaint about change of ownership issues prompted the investigation, which was first reported in Tuesday's editions of The Press of Atlantic City. Slater would not say what the original complaint was about, but said that it was unfounded. Instead, he said, problems...

Nagin Sang Different Tune During Recent Visit To City PHILADELPHIA -- New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin criticized the cleanliness of Philadelphia after a visit to the city last week. "Let me tell you something. You ought to go to Philly and you will appreciate how clean New Orleans is," Nagin said Saturday to a crowd of New Orleans residents concerned about the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. "Just go and walk around Philly a little bit and you will appreciate," Nagin said. " ... We still have some work to do but we definitely beat them by a long shot."...

UNION, N.J. -- Former Gov. James E. McGreevey is teaching ethics, law and leadership at Kean University. The Star-Ledger of Newark reported the nation's first openly gay governor earns $17,500 and has been an executive in residence since Nov. 1. When he was in office, McGreevey was often criticized for the appearance of ethical lapses. "It seems to me, Jim McGreevey teaching law and ethics is a little bit like Doctor Kevorkian teaching health maintenance," state Republican chairman Tom Wilson told the newspaper. The job requires McGreevey to work up to 15 hours a week and helps the 49-year-old accrue...

Fred Phelps and his merry band of misanthropes at Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket the funerals of those killed in the Virginia Tech shootings, according to a message on their website: "WBC will preach at the funerals of the Virginia Tech students killed on campus during a shooting rampage April 16, 2007. You describe this as monumental horror, but you know nothing of horror -- yet. Your bloody tyrant Bush says he is 'horrified' by it all. You know nothing of horror -- yet. Your true horror is coming. 'They shall also gird themselves with sackloth, and horror shall...

Teacher Initially Faced More Than 20 First-Degree Rape Counts WILMINGTON, Del. -- A sixth-grade science teacher who was accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Rachel L. Holt, 35, had pleaded guilty to second-degree rape. She sobbed in court Friday as Superior Court Judge Calvin L. Scott gave her the mandatory minimum sentence. Prosecutors had wanted Scott to sentence Holt to the maximum of 25 years. Holt was initially charged with more than 20 counts of first-degree rape. Police accused her of having sex with the boy 28 times during an...

BRICK, N.J. -- New Jersey residents who buy their cigarettes over the Internet are experiencing a big reason to quit: huge sales tax bills. The state is cracking down on residents who buy their smokes online in order to avoid state sales tax, a development that has caught many Garden State smokers by surprise. Brick resident Craig Mathews, 57, quit smoking last April, but not before racking up a $10,426.11 sales tax bill for buying cigarettes over the Web for years. Another Brick resident, Tim Nolan, 52, received a sales tax bill from the state for $4,115.28 for the Pall...

CAMDEN, N.J. -- It's a choice no family wants to face. But one mother said Cooper University Hospital was trying to force them to turn off life-support machines that have kept her son alive. Matthew Bollinger was walking on the side of the street to a friend's house Wednesday night when he was struck by a car. "I think he deserves a chance, and I'm going to give it to him. I mean, they're going to try to do this without my permission. I'm his mother," said Karen Kennedy. The family said they know Bollinger's injuries are serious and his...

Man Also Escaped From Jail MIAMI -- A man convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl pleaded guilty Thursday to five other sexual assaults and to charges of escaping from jail last year. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Barbara Areces sentenced Reynaldo E. Rapalo, 35, to between 15 and 45 years in prison for each of the five attacks, as well as the December escape. The sentences will run concurrently with the life term he was given last month for the attack on the girl. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped charges against two people who had been accused of...

Plea Agreement Helps Avoid Death Penalty PHILADELPHIA -- A man was convicted Tuesday of strangling his pregnant girlfriend, allegedly because she would not have an abortion. In a nonjury trial, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina found Stephen Poaches, 27, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa and her fetus. Poaches waived his right to appeal and, in exchange, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. He was given an automatic life sentence with no parole. Click here to find out more! Figueroa was five-months pregnant when she disappeared in 2005. Her...

It's been more than three years since the Dixie Chicks sparked a media firestorm by announcing they were "ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Now, the embattled country stars are reigniting the blaze with a highly controversial documentary featuring lead singer Natalie Maines calling President Bush a "dumb f---." According to Entertainment Weekly, one memorable scene from "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing" shows the singers watching a news report on President Bush's reaction to their infamous on-stage comment. In the report, Bush says ''the Dixie Chicks are free to speak their mind,'' adding, ''they shouldn't...