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TEMPE, AZ (CBS5) - A 19-year-old Arizona State University student with a blood-alcohol level five times the legal limit was left at a Tempe hospital with a Post-it note attached to his body to alert doctors he had been in a drinking competition earlier in the night. Tempe police Sgt. Michael Pooley said the unidentified student was found in a wheelchair between 1 and 2 a.m. Saturday in the emergency room lobby of St. Luke's Hospital. The student had passed out and started shaking and turning blue before the student's fraternity brothers dropped him at the hospital with the note,...

Maryland man struck by train was wearing earbuds, didn’t hear its horn: police Kevin Scott Street, 37, was killed by a CSX freight train in Joppa, Md., on Thursday. Authorities said he turned at the last minute, but it was too late. A 37-year-old man who was killed by a train in Joppa, Md., didn’t hear it barreling down the tracks because he was tuned in to his earbuds rather than his surroundings, police said. Kevin Scott Street, of Aberdeen, Md., was hit by a 20-car freight train around 12:11 p.m. on Thursday. The train sounded its horn as it...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - One Fayette County man is dead after he and an accomplice tried to steal copper wire by shooting down high-tension power lines with a rifle, authorities said. Fayette deputies and rangers from the National Parks Service found the man's body tangled up in downed lines Wednesday morning in the Beury Mountain Wildlife Management Area near Thurmond. The apparent cause of death was electrocution. The remote area where the body was discovered is near Babcock State Park. Emergency dispatchers sent officers to the area after a 911 call. The man's name has not been released, according to a...

Famous atheist author Richard Dawkins has been named the world's top thinker in a global vote that counted 10,000 voices from over 100 countries."When Richard Dawkins, the Oxford evolutionary biologist, coined the term 'meme' in The Selfish Gene 37 years ago, he can't have anticipated its current popularity as a word to describe internet fads," said Prospect Magazine, which conducted the poll, in explaining the biologist professor's popularity."But this is only one of the ways in which he thrives as an intellectual in the internet age. He is also prolific on Twitter, with more than half a million followers – and...

THE design for a key that allowed a convicted killer to escape from a Territory prison was printed on the cover of a booklet given to all inmates, it has been revealed. A former prison officer said the design of the master key - which could open every lock in Berrimah jail in Darwin - was printed on the front of the prisoners' information handbook. He said a copy of the book was given to all inmates on arrival at the prison. Daniel Heiss escaped from Berrimah jail in 1995, sparking a 12-day manhunt around Darwin. ..... "The prisoners' information...

An East Bay teen was hit and killed by a train last night after he was reportedly playing a game of "chicken" with two friends, police said. The boy -- who, according to press reports, has been identified as 15-year-old Austin Christopher Price -- was on the tracks off Lewelling Boulevard near San Lorenzo High School just before 7 p.m. on Thursday when the Amtrak train hit him. The other boys were not injured. Police used this tragedy as an opportunity to remind youngsters that "kids should not be on the train tracks." "They should not be used as a...

Leave it to my state of California to head off in radical and expensive directions. Legislation has been filed that would require group insurance to cover gay and lesbian infertility treatments just as they do heterosexual. But, as I note elsewhere, AB 460 isn’t limited to a finding of actual infertility. Nor does it require that gays and lesbians have tried to conceive or sire a child using heterosexual means, natural or artificial. Rather–as with heterosexual couples–merely the inability to get pregnant for a year while having active sexual relations is sufficient to demonstrate need for treatment, meaning if the...

A recent high school graduate from the Midwest who moved to New Orleans in hopes of making a difference in the lives of others, was gunned down on a New Orleans street corner Monday night. Joseph Massenburg, 18, had been eager to embark on his first project in New Orleans as an AmeriCorps member, friends and family said.

Suspected tagger found dead, hanging 9 stories up on office tower A man whose body was found hanging from a downtown Sacramento building Monday, nine stories up, appears to be a tagger who was attempting the vandalize the property, authorities say. The man had used rope to tie himself in a seated position like a rappeller, authorities said. The rope was tied off with a window washing anchor, and fire officials believe that that anchor could have held his weight. But they don't think he was a window washer.

A 22-year-old Utah man was killed while swinging from a rock arch in a stunt made popular by YouTube. Grand County sheriff's officials say Kyle Lee Stocking, of West Jordan, died about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, after hitting the ground below the 140-foot-tall Corona Arch near Moab. Sheriff's Lt. Kim Neal told The Salt Lake Tribune the length of rope from the arch was miscalculated and sent Stocking swinging into the ground as he went under the red sandstone formation.

SANTA FE SPRINGS (AP) — Authorities say a 62-year-old employee was cooked to death at a Southern California seafood plant for tuna maker Bumble Bee Foods. The Whittier Daily News reports Jose Melena was found Thursday shortly before 7 a.m. at the plant in Santa Fe Springs. California Division of Occupational Safety and Health spokeswoman Erika Monterroza says it’s unclear how the man ended up inside a cooking device called a “steamer machine.” The state department has launched an investigation into the accident

As a Florida medical examiner tries to determine how 32-year-old Edward Archbold died after eating insects during a contest to win a snake, people around the country are asking: Why? Authorities said Archbold became ill soon after winning and collapsed in front of the Ben Siegel Reptile Store where the contest was held. The store is in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. Archbold was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The grand prize in Friday night's contest was a live python. Why would anyone eat a live cockroach? Why did he die Friday when...

Man dies after live roach-eating contest in Fla. MIAMI (AP) — A contestant in a roach-eating contest who downed dozens of live bugs and worms collapsed and died shortly after winning the contest in South Florida, authorities say. About 30 contestants ingested the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. The grand prize was a python. Edward Archbold, 32, of West Palm Beach became ill shortly after the contest ended and collapsed outside the store, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office statement released Monday. He was taken to...

Police believe death was from overdose ECORSE, Mich - Former Michigan lottery winner Amanda Clayton was found dead early Saturday morning at a friend's house in Ecorse. Police believe she died from an overdose. Reports are saying it was from prescription medication. Clayton, from Lincoln Park, first made headlines when she won a $1 million jackpot on the game show "Make Me Rich" last September. Local 4 Defender Karen Drew later revealed that Clayton was collecting food stamps after winning the jackpot. She was charged with welfare fraud and sentenced to probation in July.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A man who was mauled by a tiger at the Bronx Zoo is facing arrest after telling investigators he wanted "to be one" with the 400-pound beast, police said Saturday. David Villalobos also claimed that despite his serious injuries, he was able to pet the tiger before zookeepers came to his rescue, said New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne.

A grizzly attacked and killed a lone backpacker in Denali National Park and Preserve on Friday after the man encountered the bear next to a river and lingered there snapping pictures, according to the National Park Service. The death is the first fatal bear mauling in Alaska in seven years and the only one in the 6-million-acre park's recorded history, going back more than 90 years, the Park Service said. "It's an extremely rare event, and it's not common that we even have injuries related to bears," said park spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin. "We don't see a lot, and we think...

RAWDON, Que. - A bride-to-be has plunged to her death, tumbling down from a cliff into a waterfall while wearing her wedding dress. The woman was being photographed Friday at Dorwin Falls in Rawdon, Que., which she had chosen as the backdrop for her wedding pictures. During the photo shoot, around 2 p.m., she slipped on some rocks and plummeted into the water. The falls, at their highest point, are just over 18 metres high. The immediate rescue team included firefighters and provincial police, and divers were soon on their way. The woman's body was found several hours later. A...

Michigan siblings killed in gasoline-soaked bonfire explosion at high school graduation party A celebration ended in sadness Saturday night in St. Clair Township, when recent high school graduate Savannah Blewett and her older brother died in a large bonfire explosion. St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said in a release that 27-year-old Christopher Blewett poured a large amount of gasoline on a two-story pile of wood in his backyard and, according to witnesses, invited his sister to light it on fire. When she did, the gasoline exploded, scattering wood up to 100 yards and blowing out windows in the back...

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - A college student from Texas believes he is lucky to be alive after a terrible crash. He was texting and driving when his truck flew off of a cliff. Chance Bothe's truck plunged off of a bridge and into a ravine. One of the last things he typed indicated what almost happened to him. He wrote, "I need to quit texting, because I could die in a car accident." After the crash, Chance had a broken neck, a crushed face, a fractured skull, and traumatic brain injuries. Doctors had to bring him back to life three...

Riverside {california} firefighters were dispatched to the 4400 block of Linwood late Tuesday night, where they found a garage fully engulfed in flames. Turns out the resident of the home likes to buy a lot of gas when it’s cheap and store it in his garage — where he decided to have a cigarette, fire officials said.. Three barrels of gasoline – one 55-gallon and two 35-gallon – were stored in the garage. During the fire, there were two explosions, sending flames up as high as 80 feet, a Riverside Fire captain said. The fire, which was confined to the...

The parents of a woman who died at the “Haunted Hotel Ball” at the Palmer House Hilton in 2010 are suing the hotel and the event hosts. James and Deborah Duskey claim the death of their daughter Megan at the Halloween-themed ball was due to the negligence of the hotel and the event companies who hosted the party in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court. The suit names Hilton Worldwide, the Palmer House Hilton, Surreal Chicago and Adrenaline Y2K as the hosts of the party. Megan Duskey fell four floors to her death after she tried to...

A man was mauled to death by three tigers after breaking into their enclosure at a zoo in Copenhagen, police and staff at the zoo said on Wednesday. The victim, a 20-year-old Afghan who was given Danish nationality last month, was found lying on the floor ... "He was attacked by the three tigers... Police said they do not know why the man broke into the enclosure

LARGO | Surrounded by teenage friends on the back porch of his house, Thorin Montgomery was first up in a contest of Russian roulette. Right away, the .38-caliber revolver fired its round. Badly wounded, the 17-year old was rushed to the hospital Friday night. Keeping vigil, friends wrote wishes online that he might summon some sort of inner strength and pull through. But he died around 3 a.m. Sunday at Bayfront Medical Center. And friends who now dedicated Web posts to his memory struggled to reconcile how the teen with a bright smile and happy demeanor could be dead. "Truly...

Four years ago, Kent Couch made headlines by floating through the clouds in a lawn chair hoisted by party balloons from Oregon to Idaho. He's going to fly again, this time with a buddy sitting on a second lawn chair at his side. They are planning to take off July 14 from the parking lot of Couch's gas station and convenience store in Bend, Ore., the way he did in 2008 when he floated 235 miles to an Idaho farm field..."We can't hit above 18,000 feet (because of federal flight restrictions), but we can make a good run at, I...

A WOMAN zookeeper was mauled to death by a pack of wolves as she fed them in their enclosure. Eight of the wolves are thought to have surrounded and attacked the woman, who was in her 30s. Her body was found by a colleague — but the snarling pack would not let anyone near her. Eventually brave zoo workers formed a human chain and rushed the wolves, forcing them back. Jan Tengeborg, who organised the attempt to recover the body, said: “We couldn’t get into the enclosure because the wolves clearly did not want us in there. You can’t...

Rodney King, the man whose videotaped beating by police led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, was found dead at the bottom of his pool, police said. Mr. King's fiancée found him at the bottom of the pool on Sunday morning at his home in Rialito, Calif. He was 47. "The preliminary investigation indicates that this is a drowning and there are no signs of foul play," said Rialto Police Sgt. Paul Stella. In 1991, a video of police beating Mr. King after a freeway chase in Los Angeles rocketed across the world, stoking national tensions over race and police...

SOUTH OF ALAMO — A 17-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself with a semi-automatic handgun Monday night when the single round he fired at a butane tank ricocheted and hit him in the head, authorities said.

South Africa: Man Photographs Cheetahs Attacking Wife The photos taken by a tourist from Scotland show his wife on the ground, hair flying, blood on her neck, with two cheetahs nearby (Violet D'Mello poses with a cheetah while being photographed by her husband Archibald during a visit to Kragga Kamma game reserve near Port Elizabeth, South Africa.) JOHANNESBURG — The photos taken by a tourist from Scotland show his wife on the ground, hair flying, blood on her neck, with two cheetahs nearby. The Port Elizabeth Herald reported Friday that Violet D'Mello of Aberdeen, Scotland, was attacked by cheetahs on...

A suspected Southern California copper thief has been electrocuted after climbing a power pole and using bolt cutters on a live wire, which also caused a power outage. The San Bernardino County Sun ( http://bit.ly/IEc5yx) says the body of 26-year-old Robert Buchanan and bolt cutters were found early Monday at the base of a utility pole in an unincorporated area near Fontana. Nearly 3,100 Southern California Edison customers were without power for about 90 minutes. San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators say Buchanan apparently used the bolt cutters to cut live wires from the pole. A sheriff's spokeswoman says Edison wires...

Already they have interrupted Michele Bachmann and drawn a withering putdown from Newt Gingrich as “all noise, no thought.” Now, to the dismay of Iowa Republicans, Occupy activists in Des Moines are vowing to expand their protests as Republican presidential hopefuls converge on the state that speaks first in the race for the party’s presidential nomination. “The 99 percent have woken up, and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Occupy activist Stephen Toothman of Des Moines said as an advance guard met Tuesday to decide which candidates to target in the coming week. Hundreds of Occupy activists from at...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Rescuers battled high waves Sunday as they searched for 200 asylum seekers still missing after their wooden ship sank off Indonesia's main island of Java. So far only 33 people have been plucked alive from the choppy waters alive. Survivors told authorities they had been trying to reach Australia, said Lt. Alwi Mudzakir, a maritime police official who was heading rescue operations. He blamed Saturday's accident on overloading, saying the vessel - packed with 250 men, women and children from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey - appeared to have been carrying more than twice its capacity....

WESLEY CHAPEL — A 78-year-old man was shot in a bizarre accident early Saturday when a dog bumped a rifle and caused it to fire, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Billy E. Brown of Dade City, a friend and a bulldog set out before dawn to hunt deer, which has been a tradition of theirs for more than 25 years. They were traveling down a bumpy, rocky road in a pickup truck to their hunting stands when the dog got excited and bumped a high-powered Browning .308-caliber rifle. The bullet struck in the right thigh as...

A South African farmer has been killed by the pet hippopotamus he raised from the age of five months, and which he once described as being 'like a son' to him. Humphrey the Hippo gouged owner Marius Els, 41, to death by repeatedly biting him in a vicious attack on Saturday night. The farmer's mutilated body was discovered submerged in a river running through his 400-acre farm in rural South Africa. ... Hippos are considered to one of the world's most dangerous animals. They are, by nature, very aggressive -... They commonly attack humans with no apparent provocation, usually using...

A suspect who was killed in a car wreck following a home invasion on Oct. 4, died of a self-inflicted gun shot, not from the accident, according to Clayton County police. Kenneth Kenard Fortson, 21, died when the pickup truck he and three other suspects were traveling in overturned on Roberts Drive across from Riverdale High School. That accident happened after the three men had allegedly forced entry into a home on Fairway Pointe Drive in Riverdale and demanded money and a video game, according to police. "He was found with a weapon in his hand, after the truck crashed,"...

SAN DIEGO — An autopsy is tentatively scheduled Tuesday on the body of the man who fell to his death from a parking structure at the Community Concourse at City Hall downtown Monday afternoon. Officials with the Medical Examiner’s Office said the man fell after losing his balance while trying to hang flyers on outside walls. San Diego police, however, said Monday that the man committed suicide. Witnesses told police the victim was possibly hanging a sign from the eighth floor of the building structure when he fell about 3:15 p.m. Flyers that said “Important message to intelligent earthlings from...

JENNINGS COUNTY, Ind. -- A southern Indiana woman was seriously injured in an accident police said was caused by car surfing. Investigators said 20-year-old Emily Jackson and a 19-year-old woman were car surfing on the roof of a Subaru station wagon that another 19-year-old was driving. It happened just after 11 p.m. Wednesday at Muscatatuck County Park in North Vernon, Ind. Jackson was flown to an Indianapolis hospital with a serious head injury. The crash is under investigation and police said it will be forwarded to the Jennings County prosecutor’s office for review.

ABBEVILLE, La. — The narrow, brick chimney of a Louisiana bank became his tomb for 27 years and now Joseph Schexnider will be laid to rest Sunday in a proper grave with a proper farewell by his family. Still, his brother Robert wonders, how did he wind up in that chimney? Didn't anyone hear any cries for help? Was it a robbery attempt gone awry, an accident or something more sinister?... [snip] "Everybody has an opinion," said Lt. David Hardy, chief of investigations for the Abbeville Police Department. "But no one has evidence to say one way or another." If...

<p>A Welsh animal lover was blinded in one eye after a seabird he tried to rescue pecked his eyeball out of its socket.</p> <p>Michael Buckland, 38, was walking with his girlfriend on a beach in Gower, South Wales, when the couple spotted a gannet that seemed unable to walk or fly...</p>

Keith Carmickle and his friends had already caught three balls during Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby Monday night and wanted more. He nearly got a lot more: a headfirst fall to a pool deck about 20 feet below. Chasing a home run hit by Milwaukee's Prince Fielder, Carmickle was saved from a long fall when his brother and a friend grabbed him around the legs and arms, then pulled him back as he dangled above the deck area behind the pool in right field at Chase Field.

Darwin Award of the WeekA valuable lesson was learned by a Darwin Award candidate this week. An unidentified Colorado teen had the bright (and explosive) idea to combine a pile of small fireworks into a big one by shredding them up in a coffee grinder. He should be receiving his award after he is released from the hospital. The Fire Marshal postulates that the electric coffee grinder probably caused enough friction to cause the explosion. Comments

ONONDAGA, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike's handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

A Russian man died after burying himself alive in a friend's garden in the eastern city of Blagoveshchensk in an endurance test that went wrong. "According to his friend, the man, 35, wanted to test his endurance and insistently asked his friend to help him spend the night buried," said Alexei Lubinsky, a senior aide to the region's chief investigator. The two men dug a hole in the garden and put inside an improvised coffin with holes for air pipes. The man also took a blanket, a bottle of water and a cell phone. The victim's friend told investigators he...

A man who was thrown from a skateboard while "hot-boarding" near Santa Clarita has died, sheriff's officials say. Edward Culhane, 35, was cruising along on his skateboard while holding onto a vehicle along Cedarfalls Drive near Urbandale Avenue Saturday evening when he lost his grip and hit his head on the ground. The driver, 33-year-old Ryan Howell, is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Los Angeles County sheriff's said. Howell was arrested and booked for felony DUI. 'Hot-boarding' is a dangerous stunt involving a skateboarder being towed behind a moving vehicle. A San Diego County man...

Nato has denied claims that its naval units left dozens of migrants to die aboard another boat in distress. It said it was unaware of the plight of the boat, which reportedly was adrift for more than two weeks. The Guardian newspaper said 61 of the 72 people on board the boat died of hunger or thirst, despite being spotted by a military helicopter and Nato ship.

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Police arrested a 41-year-old man last week after he called 911 and told officers that he was not given the correct change after buying crack cocaine from a drug dealer.

The government turned down a U.S. offer of technical help to cool overheating nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture soon after last week's massive earthquake because it believed the offer was "premature," The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The reactors have since been hit by several explosions and radiation has leaked out. Some observers believe this could have been prevented if the government had accepted the U.S. offer.

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. -- A pedestrian struck by a car and killed just north of the international border was identified Friday as a 31-year-old Tijuana woman. Alma Luz Alfaro Gonzalez was crossing the street in a crosswalk at Paseo de las Americas at Siempre Viva Road when she was hit by a tractor-trailer rig making a right turn just after 6 p.m. Thursday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. San Diego police Officer David Stafford said the woman was talking on her cell phone and ignored a red light. Witnesses gave aid to the woman and called...

After breaking into an Oregon residence last night, Timothy Chapek, 24, barricaded himself in a bathroom after the owner unexpectedly arrived home. Chapek, you see, was worried that Hilary Mackenzie might be armed (or that her barking German Shepherds could prove problematic). So he called 911 seeking help. “I just broke into a house and the owner came home,” Chapek told a police operator. “You broke into a house?” the surprised operator responded. “I think she’s got guns,” Chapek added. Simultaneously, Mackenzie called police to report that there was an intruder in her Portland home (she told an operator that...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Authorities say an Alaska-based soldier told police a fellow soldier asked for a bullet to put in a gun's empty chamber before he fatally shot himself during a drunken game of Russian roulette. Jacob Brouch is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 26-year-old Army friend -- Michael McCloskey of Beverly, N.J. -- following the early Sunday shooting at Brouch's home in Eagle River, an Anchorage suburb.

"The driver of the SUV, Stella Thomas, 42, of Graham, attempted to enter a curve on North Ireland Street near Virginia Avenue when the mattresses became unstable and slid off the roof, police said. Walker then fell off the roof, striking his head on the roadway, police said."