July 1, 2009

Are You Being Served? star dies

By Calvin Palmer
Mollie Sugden, perhaps best known to American TV viewers as Mrs Slocombe in the comedy series Are You Being Served? died today after a long illness. She was 86.
Her twin sons, Robin and Simon Moore, were at her bedside at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.
“I represented her for more than 30 [...]

July 1, 2009

Montreal woman sentenced to 15 years for drowning her son

By Calvin Palmer
A Montreal woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Vermont court today for drowning her young son in Lake Champlain three years ago.
Judge Michael Kupersmith handed down the sentence to 51-year-old Louise Desnoyers in Grand Isle County after hearing her apology to family, friends and the court.
Desnoyers pleaded no contest [...]

July 1, 2009

Former teacher found with boy in motel pleads not guilty to rape

By Calvin Palmer
A former Massachusetts school teacher pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated raped and abuse, and three counts of statutory rape yesterday.
The charges arose from when 24-year-old Lisa Lavoie and one of her 15-year-old students went missing in February and were found a week later at a West Virginia motel.
She was fired [...]

July 1, 2009

Pet python strangles two-year-old girl

By Calvin Palmer
A 12-foot pet Burmese python escaped from its glass aquarium in a Florida home and strangled a two-year-old girl this morning.
Lt Steve Binegar, of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, said Shayunna Hare was strangled by the snake in the town of Oxford, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.
The owner of the snake, Charles [...]

July 1, 2009

News Ltd CEO upbeat about the future of newspapers in the digital age

By Calvin Palmer
Newspapers, particularly in the U.S., are having a pretty rough time at the moment faced by the onslaught of the digital domain and the drop in advertising revenues brought on by the global recession.
But the CEO of News Ltd, which publishes The Australian, is confident that the future remains bright if newspapers invest [...]

July 1, 2009

Construction workers use crane to rescue woman from drowning

By Calvin Palmer
A construction crew working near the Des Moines River, in Des Moines, sprang into action yesterday afternoon when they saw a boat with a man and a woman aboard go over a dam and capsize.
They rigged up a harness on a crane and operator Joe Lowe lowered Jason Oglesbee down to the swirling [...]

July 1, 2009

Woman and child drown off popular New Jersey beach

By Calvin Palmer
A day at the beach at a popular New Jersey resort turned into tragedy yesterday when a woman and a child drowned.
Coast Guard crews and police responded to a 911 call reporting three people in difficulty swimming of a beach just south of Hereford Inlet, North Wildwood, after the lifeguards went off duty [...]