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In January, about four months before she passed, one of those little pains started growing into a big one. There was an ache in her chest, and it was getting worse. She was losing weight. At first, the doctors thought it was an inflammation of the cartilage around her ribs – eight weeks of healing should do the trick. But it wasn’t getting better. By the end of February, she was nearly bedridden in pain. One afternoon in early March, a sudden, searing sensation in her chest caused her to jolt upright, and then head for the emergency room. There,...

OBERLIN — They came on foot and on motorcycles, in cars and trucks and from all corners of the state to Gibson’s Bakery for doughnuts, coffee and, in their words, justice. Gibsons’s Bakery has been the focus of attention in Lorain County for the latter part of last week after students from Oberlin College boycotted the store and claimed racial profiling had a play in the Wednesday arrest of a 19-year-old accused of shoplifting. Protesters were not seen in front of the store Saturday.

The Burrell girls soccer team didn't miss a beat after a recording of the national anthem malfunctioned before not one, but two, games this month. The first time the team sang the anthem was at their home field Oct. 3 against Highlands. When they realized the anthem would have to be skipped because of a technical malfunction, they decided to step up and sing it themselves. “We all just started singing, and we didn't really think it was going to be a big deal,” said team captain Morgan Weeter, 16. “We all felt that we needed to have a national...

Homestead, PA. A group of policemen, eating at a Homestead restaurant, paid a couple's bill after the couple made it obvious they didn't want to sit by the officers on Saturday. "A table goes to sit down and the guy looks over at one of the police officers and was like, 'Nah I don’t want to sit here.' So they got moved completely opposite, away from the police officers," said Eat N' Park server Jesse Meyers. Homestead police Officer Chuck Thomas said it was obvious the man and woman didn't want to anything to do with the police officers. "I...

South Buffalo police Officer Jeff Kuntz vaguely remembers driving down a secluded lane to check on a site sometimes targeted for theft. He couldn't see it from the main road and didn't know until he got to the end of the lane that night in 2009 if anyone else was there. There was. His patrol car headlights soon shone on a down-on-his-luck young man sitting in a minivan. Kuntz had no way of knowing that his attention to duty and compassion that night would stop the man in his early 20s from committing suicide. “The man had a lot of...

Jeannette,PA. When four juveniles tried to enter a home through a window late Tuesday night, two of them were shot by a man who lives in the house, Jeannette police said. Within minutes of the incident on Chestnut Street, both the shooter and one of the teenagers who was taken into police custody were apparently posting about it on Facebook. The sound of gunfire by the man defending his home startled neighbors shortly after 11 p.m. "I thought it was fireworks, and I heard it again and I realized it wasn't," said Josh Piccar, who lives near the scene. Police...

OBERLIN – Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov answered a wide-ranging, 14-page list of student demands Wednesday by telling black students he would not respond to their sought-after policy changes. Marvin Krislov Marvin Krislov Krislov, president since the summer of 2007, posted his response on the college’s website more than one month after students in Oberlin’s Black Student Union called on the college administration to address what students believe are underlying racial tensions on campus. It comes at a time when the campus is nearly empty of students who are on an extended winter break. Attempts to reach students have been...

The father of a victim of the Chardon High shooting was found dead around 5:15 this morning. Russell King, Sr., who is believed to have been in his 40s, was the father of Russell King, Jr., who was killed two years ago by TJ Lane at Chardon High School during a shooting exactly two years ago Thursday.

It is almost a quarter of a century since she first sang Like A Prayer. But it seems the intervening years have done little to help Madonna decide exactly who she’s praying to. For it appears the queen of re-invention may be on the verge of one of her most startling changes yet, after she revealed she was studying the Koran. The 55-year-old was raised a Roman Catholic, but for the past 17 years she has been a devout follower of Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism. Now the singer, whose current partner is a Muslim, has begun investigating Islam....

OBERLIN — City Council has passed an ordinance eliminating their blanket prohibition of the possession of firearms in municipal parks. Four council members voted Monday for passage of the amended ordinance, while three members preferring to table the ordinance for further discussion, voted against it. Oberlin’s previous law banning possession of firearms in municipal parks conflicted with state law which permits firearms in public parks. The city had the option of either rescinding the local law or preparing for a legal battle with gun rights activists. Other cities have not fared well in similar legal battles.

SWAT teams have moved in on a jewelry store in upstate New York where a man accused of killing four people and wounding two others is in hiding. The Herkimer Police Department confirmed that the suspect fired shots at police officers. A black armored vehicle and a track-driven robot with a camera on top rolled up in front of Glory Days Food and Spirits in the village of Herkimer on Wednesday afternoon as officers surrounded blocks of shops topped with apartments Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/13/4-dead-2-injured-in-upstate-new-york-shooting-spree-manhunt-underway/#ixzz2NSeTnWRz

OBERLIN — Classes for Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music have been canceled today so students and faculty members can discuss homophobic and racial statements that have been plaguing the campus. College spokesman Scott Wargo said that statements were written on posters all over campus. According to a letter on the college’s website, there was a report Monday morning of a person wearing a hood and robe resembling a Klu Klux Klan outfit near Edmonia Lewis Center and the Afrikan Heritage Center. “This report is being investigated by both Safety and Security and the Oberlin Police Department,” college...

A 22-year-old spent the night in the Montgomery County Jail Monday after he allegedly taunted a police dog during a traffic stop. Cameron Dunn is facing a misdemeanor charge of assaulting or harassing police dog. According to a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office report, police K9 Gunner and his deputy handler were called to the intersection of Mad River Road and Hempstead Mews at about 4:50 p.m. Monday to assist in a traffic stop. Dunn was being detained in the backseat of a cruiser while the dog performed a sniff of his vehicle checking for drugs. As Gunner walked past the...

A racist thug who stuffed ham into the shoes of Muslim worshippers at a mosque has escaped a jail term. Jamie Knowlson, 30, also draped slices of the meat - Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394864/Racist-filled-Muslims-shoes-ham-prayed-mosque-walks-free-court.html#ixzz1OWTsqb8l

Rashard Mendenhall`s controversial Twitter comments this week about the death of Osama bin Laden has cost him an endorsement deal. Champion, an athletic apparel manufacturer, severed ties Thursday with the Steelers running back. "Champion is a strong supporter of the government`s efforts to fight terrorism and is very appreciative of the dedication and commitment of the U.S. Armed Forces," Champion said in a prepared statement. "Earlier this week, Rashard Mendenhall, who endorses Champion products, expressed personal comments and opinions regarding Osama bin Laden and the September 11 terrorist attacks that were inconsistent with the values of the Champion brand and...

ELYRIA — A Norwalk woman accused of shoplifting fled an Elyria Walmart yesterday in only a bra after getting into a scuffle with a security officer, according to an Elyria police report. Police were dispatched to Walmart, 1000 Chestnut Commons Drive, at just after 11:30 p.m. Friday to reports a woman had fled the store wearing only a bra and carrying store merchandise that had not been paid for, the report stated. Officers were told the woman was running through the Walmart parking lot and had gotten into a vehicle on Chestnut Commons Drive.

The clock strikes 11am and boys spill out of classrooms into the corridor to move on to their next lesson. There is no noise and no jostling. Instead they walk in an orderly manner, heads bowed respectfully and eyes downcast to avoid my gaze. The boys, all aged between 13 and 19, are dressed in ankle-length white salwar kameez and white skullcaps. Their feet are bare. For this is no ordinary school. This is Darul Uloom, a Muslim madrassa or religious school, set in the pretty Kent village of Chislehurst. It is one of 166 Muslim schools in Britain today....

My husband and I were watching ABC evening news with Diane Sawyer this evening. A horrific story on female genital multilation was presented with role of American doctors in this practice questioned. Apparently, parents will request a "genital nick" on their young daughters, but the AMA recently abandoned this practice. Guess what words were never mentioned in this particular story?

A gang of sadists who tortured a 'naive and vulnerable' man for ten years before dumping his decapitated body into a lake were convicted of his murder yesterday. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268317/Michael-Gilbert-Luton-family-guilty-Blue-Lagoon-torture-murder.html#ixzz0m2yO4kNV

We are being encouraged to call our senators and congressmen/women with our concerns about the health care legislation. My congressman WAS John Murtha. If this vote goes through before the special election, Murtha's constituents did not have proper represention. I am appealing to the legal/political FReepers to answer this concern. How could this law be enacted if a legislative district was not represented?