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Data recently released by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that in 2008, the number and per capita rate of firearm accident deaths fell to an all-time low. There were 592 firearm accident deaths (0.19 such accidents per 100,000 population) in 2008, as compared to 613 accidents (.20 per 100,000) in 2007. In 2008, the chance of a child dying in a firearm accident was roughly one in a million. Firearm accidents accounted for 0.5% of all accidental deaths; well below the percentages accounted for by motor vehicle accidents, falls, fires, poisonings, and several other more common types of...

3 men sentenced in fatal Phillies ballpark attackAP – 13 hrs ago PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Three men who fatally attacked a man outside a Philadelphia Phillies game in a brawl police say was sparked by a spilled drink have been sentenced to prison terms. Francis Kirchner, Charles Bowers and James Groves each pleaded guilty in October to voluntary manslaughter and criminal conspiracy in the July 2009 death of 22-year-old David Sale Jr. outside Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies were playing the St. Louis Cardinals. Kirchner, 30, was sentenced Tuesday to consecutive terms totaling nine to 18 years. Bowers, 37,...

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Some California schools are turning away middle and high school students who have not received a required whooping cough vaccine while others are defying a law passed last year after a historic spike in cases of the potentially fatal disease. The law approved last September initially required all students entering grades seven through 12 to get vaccinated by the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Lawmakers passed a 30-day extension this summer as districts worried many students wouldn't meet the deadline.

The death of a homeless man fatally injured during a fight with Fullerton police has captured the attention of the community and affected morale in the department. Kelly Thomas, 37, who was schizophrenic, died July 10, five days after the confrontation with six police officers at the Fullerton Transportation Center. Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said the department has received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails from across California and hundreds turned out to protest Saturday morning at the Fullerton police station. "It's not pleasant to see people in front of the police station calling the officers 'murderers,'" Goodrich said....

The number of fatal firearms accidents for the last six years of record are: 2002 - 762; 2003 - 730; 2004 - 649; 2005 - 630; 2006 - 680. 2007 - 613 I had to hunt a bit for this information, which I think many are interested in. The accidental firearm death rate is down over 94% since 1905. You have to do a bit of work at the link to find the figures in the source.

A U.S. nuclear submarine came within feet of running aground as it left Plymouth naval base, a report has found. The drama unfolded as the USS Minneapolis-St Paul entered rough seas and tried to take evasive action resulting in five crewmen being swept overboard, two of whom died. Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins and Petty Officer Michael Holtz were attached to the submarine with safety lines and had been helping the habour pilot to disembark when the submarine changed direction. They died as they were repeatedly pounded 'like rag dolls' The 2007 Royal Navy report into the incident, released this...

VIRGINIA BEACH The 23-year-old man who died of a gunshot wound after being dropped off at a fire station late Tuesday had been attempting an armed home invasion robbery when he was shot, police said. One of the residents at a home in the 300 block of Rose Marie Avenue shot Shawn Thomas Ross, said Officer Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman. Police have interviewed the shooter and no charges are being filed at this time, Bernstein said. Ross had been carrying a handgun, he said. “It does not appear to be random, but the relationship between the residents of the...

VANCOUVER — The mother of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died after being Tasered multiple times by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport, said Friday she's "pleased" that the officers involved will face perjury charges. "The RCMP should not be investigating itself," she added. "Police officers are not above the law and I will await the verdict of the courts. I hope that justice will finally be achieved in the death of my son." Dziekanski, who spoke no English and had never been on a plane before, was unable to find his mother upon arriving at the airport. He...

A fatal hit-and-run in Hawthorne left one man dead, a good Samaritan injured by another car when she attempted to help, and the motorist who stopped to check on her after allegedly striking her beaten and robbed by a mob of bystanders. The bizarre chain of events unfolded about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on a busy stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard near the 105 Freeway when a southbound driver struck a pedestrian walking across the street outside the crosswalk. Hawthorne Police Lt. Gary Tomatoni said the driver of a white or gray minivan fled the scene and as the injured pedestrian lay...

As if it weren't bad enough that deadly prions can survive boiling and radiation, now comes word that aerosolized forms of the pathogen can enter the nose and find their way to the brain, with fatal consequences. Prions, you may recall, were the reason you avoided beef in Europe in the 1990s. They triggered the infamous mad cow disease epidemic in the U.K., which spread to the rest of Europe and other parts of the world. Prions are proteins that all animals produce, but sometimes, toxic mutant versions are made. These malformed versions can cause ..."

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Fire officials say one person is dead in a shooting at an entrance gate to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. Tampa Fire Rescue officials say they were called to the gate at 6:47 p.m. on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) – The deaths of no fewer than four people after being trampled by cows in the past two months has prompted Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals. Cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs, said the National Farmers Union (NFU). The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows. "The cattle are interested in the dog, not the walker," said Robert Sheasby, Rural Surveyor...

Good Thursday morning. It’s Halloween eve. ABC’s “Good Morning America”: “The Final Hours -- 120 HOURS TO GO: Is the race tightening?” EXCLUSIVE -- BATTING CLEANUP -- BACK IN FLORIDA FOR A PRESIDENTIAL FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2000: Al and Tipper Gore are doing early-vote rallies for Senator Obama tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Chicago Tribune, on Obama election night: “With tickets gone for the Election Night rally in Chicago's Grant Park for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama -- the campaign declined to say how quickly they ran out -- anxious supporters turned … to other...

Fatal Mine Collapse Covered 50 Acres ScienceDaily (Jun. 3, 2008) — New calculations show that the deadly Crandall Canyon mine collapse -- which registered as a magnitude-3.9 earthquake -- began near where miners were excavating coal and quickly grew to a 50-acre cave-in, University of Utah seismologists say in a report on the tragedy. The University of Utah Seismograph Stations estimated the size of the collapse is about four times larger than was thought shortly after the time of the Aug. 6, 2007, disaster that resulted in the deaths of six miners and, 10 days later, three rescuers. The seismologists'...

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Two airplanes collided Friday at the Reno National Championship Air Races, killing one pilot and injuring another in the third fatal crash at the event in four days. Five-time defending champion Gary Hubler, 51, of Caldwell, Idaho, was killed in the crash shortly after 9:30 a.m. at Stead Airport just north of Reno, race officials said. It was the 18th fatality in the 44-year history of the air races and prompted the suspension of the competition for the day. Race officials said they did not know whether the event would continue through the weekend as scheduled....

WETUMPKA, Ala. Three Prattville High School students and a Montgomery teenager have been charged with murder in a fatal shooting that apparently occurred after an argument over whether Wetumpka or Prattville has a better high school football team. Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said the shooting occurred after an argument Friday night at a back-to-school event in Wetumpka. Killed was Ramonda Mitchell, 35, of 114 Crenshaw Drive. Franklin said the shooting occurred about 4:30 a.m. Saturday in the Crenshaw community, just west of Wetumpka. Charged in Mitchell's death are James Gray, 19, of Montgomery, and Justin Edwards, Greg Hall and...

A night that allegedly started pleasurably for one Lake Charles, LA couple turned deadly. The Calcasieu Parish sheriff's office has charged 36 year old Kimberly Grosset with negligent homicide in connection with the shooting death of her boyfriend. Officials say she and 49 year old Robert White were engaged in consensual sexual behavior when he was shot in the head with a gun at his McCindy road home. No bond has been set.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- There is new information about a man accused of driving drunk and crashing into two cars Monday morning on I-40. Federal authorities say the driver, who first said he was Michael Delatorre, is really Ricardo Contreras. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials say Contreras is in the country illegally, and that he had been picked up by ICE officials in California and deported twice in April of 2004. ICE officials have placed a detainer on him at the jail. Contreras made his first court appearance today. State Troopers say he was driving while impaired and crossed the median...

Alex Gonzales, left, and Fernando Olvera, right, members of the band Mana, speak during a news conference while former vice president Al Gore listens Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007, in Los Angeles where Gore announced his climate change concerts. The campaign, Save Our Selves — The Campaign for a Climate in Crisis, hopes to trigger a broad movement to address what the former vice president calls a global climate crisis. More than 100 performers, including Mana, are scheduled to appear at the July concerts. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

advertisementOfficials still aren't saying if a suspected illegal entrant shot and killed Friday by a U.S. Border Patrol agent had a weapon. The details surrounding a fight between the man who was killed, Francisco Javier Dominguez-Rivera, 22, of Puebla, Mexico, and the Border Patrol agent remained hazy Saturday as officials were tight-lipped about the investigation. "The agent thought his life was in danger," said Jesús Rodriguez, a Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. The incident occurred just after 3 p.m. Friday 150 yards north of the border between Bisbee and Douglas, southeast of the Paul Spur Lime plant and Arizona 80,...

Two Coast Guard divers killed in a botched Arctic training dive were loaded with too much weight and were assisted by untrained crew members who had been drinking beer, an official investigation has found. The two divers, from the Seattle-based icebreaker Healy, plunged to about 200 feet - about 10 times deeper than intended - shortly after entering the 29-degree water on Aug. 17, 2006.

NEW YORK - Thousands of protesters, counting in unison from one to 50 to mark the number of shots fired by police in the death of an unarmed Queens man last month, clogged Fifth Avenue on Saturday in a “Shopping for Justice” protest three weeks after the slaying and one week before the Christmas weekend. Trent Benefield, 23, one of the survivors of the Nov. 25 shooting that killed Sean Bell, led the marchers from his wheelchair as they headed south through midtown Manhattan. He was encircled by bodyguards, and followed by a group of clergy and elected officials on...

New York’s anti-cop forces have roared back to life thanks to a fatal police shooting of an unarmed man a week ago. The press is once again fawning over Al Sharpton, Herbert Daughtry, Charles Barron, and sundry other hate-mongers in and out of city government as they accuse the police of widespread mistreatment of blacks and issue barely veiled threats of riots if they do not get “justice.” The allegation that last weekend’s shooting was racially motivated is preposterous. A group of undercover officers working in a gun- and drug-plagued strip joint in Queens had good reason to believe that...

Death behind bars Harold Ledet Jr. was jailed Nov. 21. Five days later, he was dead. His family wonders how, why. By KIM GILLILAND Record Staff Writer Tuesday, November 28, 2006 NEWTON - Harold James Ledet Jr. was awake in his jail cell shortly before 3:30 a.m., prompting a jailer to ask if he was OK. Ten minutes later, he was no longer breathing. A transcript of a 911 call made about 3:36 a.m. shows Ledet was unresponsive and not breathing before being taken from his cell to Catawba Valley Medical Center. He was later pronounced dead. Ledet, 28, died...

NEW YORK - A bouncer was arrested Thursday on charges he shot four people _ killing one _ in an angry frenzy outside a Manhattan nightspot. Stephen Sakai, 30, of Brooklyn, was awaiting arraignment on murder, assault and weapons charges. Police also were investigating whether Sakai was involved in three other fatal shootings, law enforcement officials said Thursday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation had not been completed, said the suspect made statements implicating himself in those slayings. One of the victims had worked as a bouncer at a topless bar in Brooklyn called Sweet...

State wildlife officials field a flood of calls about alligators in the wake of recent fatal gator attacks... As news of fatal alligator attacks spread throughout Florida and the nation, operators at the Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program in Okeechobee are swamped. Operators have stayed late this week to handle the flood of phone calls. They logged 225 calls on Monday, more than double the number of calls they answered a year ago. ''It was nonstop,'' said biologist Lindsey Hord, the program's coordinator. ``As soon as they hung up with one person, they answered another call.'' The call volume increased last...

Tuesday, May 9 at 8/7c To date, there have been no cases of the H5N1 virus in the United States nor has there been a human transmission of the disease in a form that could fuel a pandemic. However, experts around the world are monitoring the Avian Flu situation closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus could begin to spread from person to person. For information on the virus log onto pandemicflu.gov. There are times that test humanity and challenge the soul of a community or a nation. News images and headlines tell stories of rising waters,...

An immigrant smuggler was convicted Tuesday of causing the deaths of three passengers in a June 2003 crash while fleeing authorities. A jury deliberated for nearly six hours before finding Antonio Sanchez, 30, guilty on three counts of second-degree murder. Sanchez, a Mexican citizen, was retried for speeding away from the California Highway Patrol on state Route 78 near Borrego Springs, killing a woman and two men he was trying to smuggle into the country. He was originally convicted in March 2004 on similar charges and sentenced to 53 years to life in prison. But a state appellate court reversed...

A giant sinkhole that swallowed an Alta man in his living room Friday night was still growing Sunday, precluding rescuers from recovering the victim. Family friend Rick Armstrong said the missing man is presumed to be Jason Chellew, 32, though he deferred to authorities for an official identification.

PHOENIX — The federal government charged three men Friday with smuggling people for financial gain after a deadly wreck near Sonoita. They are charged with bringing 21 illegal immigrants into the United States, according to the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. Fernando Montes-Carrillo and David Ezquiel Tellez-Gutierrez, both Mexican citizens born in 1974, and Juan Carols Pineda-Navvaro, a U.S. citizen born in 1986, are charged with being co-conspirators involved with transporting illegal immigrants for private financial gain. Two were allegedly drivers of trucks carrying illegal immigrants, one of which crashed in Santa Cruz County on Thursday, killing...

Landmark legislation offering eventual citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants suffered a potentially fatal blow Friday in the Senate, the latest in a series of election-year setbacks for President Bush and the Republicans who control Congress. "Politics got ahead of policy on this," lamented Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass. an evenhanded assessment that belied the partisan recriminations from all sides. Hailed as a bipartisan breakthrough less than 24 hours earlier, the bill fell victim to internal disputes in both parties as well as to bewildering political maneuvering. On the key vote, only 38 senators, all Democrats,...

A teenage driver dodged police twice before eventually slamming her car into a cab early Thursday morning, killing its driver. St. Petersburg police said they tried to stop 18-year-old Leyana Rich twice for erratic driving and speeding, once on Wednesday afternoon, and again early Thursday morning. Both stops failed, and at about 2 a.m. Thursday she barreled through an intersection and T-boned the cab. St. Petersburg Police Department Spokesman Bill Proffitt explained why officers opted not to pursue Rich the first two times. "We have a pretty strict pursuit policy," Profitt said. "We only pursue for violent felonies, and it's...

Brian Morse, 54, was declared dead at the scene, at a home in the 2300 block of Fountain Drive, after his glove became stuck in the wood chipper and pulled him in. The Larimer County Coroner's Office identified Morse, owner of Brian's Tree Trimming & Removal Service, using fingerprints. The cause of death was listed as "total morselization." The gloves protected Morse's hands, leaving the fingerprints intact.

ANCHORAGE - Alcohol was suspected as a factor in half of the 31 fatal collisions over five years between motorists and walkers or bicyclists in Anchorage, according to a new state report. It was usually the walker who had been drinking, according to the report that looked at 1,098 reported cases in which people drove into walkers or bikers during a five-year period ending in 2002. One-way streets in downtown and Midtown Anchorage were worst for accidents-per-mile. Sixth Avenue downtown led with 23 and Benson Boulevard had 21. Crossing at a stoplight or stop sign could be dangerous. More than...

A pursuit of a suspect wanted for a series of robberies ended in a fatal barrage of gunfire after winding through several Southeast San Diego communities Thursday. According to reports, the slow-speed chase began at around 2:20 p.m. at 65th Street and Imperial Avenue. The suspect led officers from both National City and San Diego through Encanto, Lomita and La Pressa before it eventually ended when officers shot and killed the man in the 2300 block of Albamaro Street in Paradise Hills. The 40 mph-chase erupted into a rolling gun battle several times during the pursuit, with the suspect exchanging...

Photos Show Moments Before Officer Shot By OPD Apparent Badge Seen Around Jenkins' Neck ORLANDO, Fla. -- Photos snapped by a University of Central Florida grad student captured campus officer Mario Jenkins with his gun drawn and an apparent police badge hanging around his neck moments before he was mistakenly shot and killed by an Orlando police officer. Jenkins, an officer who had been working with state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco agents to curb underage drinking, died after being shot Saturday outside the Citrus Bowl by a retired Orlando police officer working on reserve status. Witnesses said Jenkins...

When Bill Shakespeare observed that life is but a shadow strutting and fretting its hour upon the stage, he must have been imagining Crawford, Texas, circa August 2005. Indeed, recent events surrounding the war protest led by Cindy Sheehan have added a new dimension to the definition of tragicomedy. Not just tragic, not just comedic, but also ridiculous. The theater of the absurd has found pay dirt in East Texas. Of course, there's nothing amusing about war, or loss of life, or a mother's pain. But those noble human concerns become something else once the red eye of the television...

ANDERSON, Ind. - A man who took up bicycling after bypass surgery gave him a second chance at life died of a heart attack the day after completing a 2,400-mile, cross-country trip. Broc Bebout, a 57-year-old retired engineer, died Thursday on the van drive back to his home in Anderson, about 25 miles northeast of Indianapolis, one day after completing the bicycle ride from Carlsbad, Calif., to Brunswick, Ga. His wife, Patricia Brinkman, said bicycling became Bebout's ticket to nearly 20 years of good health after quadruple-bypass surgery at age 39. He also learned to eat right and take care...

Nai Oeurn had reason to celebrate. Cambodia's civil war was over, and as the 14-year-old Khmer Rouge guerrilla marched into the capital, Phnom Penh, he truly believed his country's rural poor had triumphed. Thirty years later, after the "killing fields" and the death of one-sixth of the Cambodian population, his dream has come to this: collecting cow dung for a living, earning 3,500 riel (90 U.S. cents; 70 euro cents) for a 3-foot-high (90-centimeter-high) pile that takes five days to collect.

Terri Schiavo has been suffering from fatal dehydration for the past week and liberal anti-life crusaders have been relishing in every moment of it. That is, of course, despite last-ditch efforts by President Bush and the Republican party-poopers in Congress to have Terri’s feeding tubes restored. Amid all the fuss, the left’s latest rationalization for starving poor little Terri to death is this: There may have been political motives behind the Republicans’ endeavor to save Terri’s life! President Bush signed a bill on March 21 that would transfer jurisdiction of the Terri Schiavo case to a U.S. district court. This...

SEATTLE – Mary McClinton spent the last days of her life suffering and in pain. She had been a healthy, robust 69-year-old woman who went to Virginia Mason hospital to have a brain aneurysm repaired, but never came out alive. Virginia Mason admitted it made a fatal mistake last November when a doctor accidentally injected McClinton with a highly toxic antiseptic instead of a saline solution or radiological dye. Both were clear liquids that got mixed up because they weren't labeled. "We can't apologize enough for this preventable tragedy," said Dr. Robert Caplan, Virginia Mason Hospital. "They all knew they...

TX Freepers: I need a couple of favors: First, please send out prayers to the family of Kimberly "Kim" Goss, age 32, who died on Valentine's Day in a car wreck near Austin, TX where she lived. Second, if you can find out any additional information on the accident such as any alcohol impairment, negligence, other factors or details, etc., please let me know. DPS is being very quiet about the guy that killed Kim. They have only told us that he is male, no age, name, condition, etc. Third, if someone near there could tell me where this accident...

In the first public disclosure of its kind, Minnesota hospitals acknowledged medical errors that caused 20 deaths and four serious disabilities over a 15-month period, according to a report released Wednesday. Thirty hospitals across the state reported preventable errors such as bedsores, fatal falls or surgery on the wrong body part or patient. In all, there were 99 cases of preventable errors during the study period from July 1, 2003, to October 6, 2004. The report, which was required by a new state law, provides a baseline in measuring a problem that so far has lacked reliable comparisons nationally. There...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Four people in western Uganda died recently after they reportedly ate a dead hippo's meat, The New Vision newspaper reported on Monday. The dead, from Bunyaruguru county, Bushenyi district, ate the meat after the hippo died of a strange disease. Three more ate hospitalized at Rugazi Health Center, the reportsaid. Bushenyi district director of health services Charles Katurebe said they were investigating the deaths. Bunyaruguru county residents have always complained that hippos from Queen Elizabeth National Park eat their crops. A mysterious disease hitting Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda about a month ago has killed more than 100...

Drug-resistant germ spreading outside U.S. hospitals Thursday July 15, 1:46 AM By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A drug-resistant "superbug" found in hospitals has a close cousin that is affecting athletes, prisoners and small children in growing numbers across the United States, disease experts said on Wednesday. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA can become fatal if not treated with the right antibiotics, said Dr. Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "MRSA is showing up in places it had never been seen before -- as a predominant cause of skin disease among...

No charges in fatal fight involving Daley's nephew May 26, 2004 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter No charges will be filed in connection with a fight outside a Division Street bar that led to the death of a Mount Prospect man -- not because Mayor Daley's nephew was involved, but because there is insufficient evidence, Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline said Tuesday. David Koschman, 21, died May 6 from head injuries suffered 11 days earlier, when he allegedly fell backward and hit his head on the pavement after being punched or pushed to the ground during a sidewalk scrap...

John Kerry’s fatal conceit analysis by Roger Wm. Hughes Fredrich A. Hayek wrote a book titled “The Fatal Conceit” that is multi-layered in its many messages and lessons. However, the book reduces the flaws of socialism to one major fatal conceit that an individual or a group of individuals can know everything. This, of course, is necessary for social planning and therefore for socialism to be successful. Senator John Kerry’s fatal conceit is that he believes his service in Vietnam equates to our blind trust in his ability to protect America. Howard Dean on NBC’s Meet the Press stated...