Free Republic

You know what they say about bringing a knife to a gunfight? Same holds true for a baseball bat. So you had to wonder what Derrick Mosley was thinking when he walked into Discount Gun Sales in Beaverton, Ore., and allegedly tried to take a full discount on an unloaded handgun by smashing a display case. Cool as steel-core ammo, the manager reached for the nearest thing to defend himself. You don't suppose ... yes! A gun! Imagine! He ordered Mosley to the ground and police took it from there, though the manager was shaken enough to close for the...

Wichita police say a man in his 20s died while trying to steal copper on the city's south side. A passerby called 911 after finding the man's body around 2 p.m. Friday near I-135 and Pawnee. His bicycle was found leaning against a utility pole along with a flashlight and bolt cutters, said Wichita Police Lt. Dennis Wilson. Police believe the man was electrocuted sometime overnight while attempting to cut a 7,200-volt line. Lily Wu is at the scene tracking the story and will have live updates on KAKE News at 5 and 6

A beaver has attacked a 60-year-old fisherman in Belarus, slicing an artery and causing him to bleed to death. It was the latest in a series of beaver attacks on humans in the country, as the rodents, who have razor-sharp teeth, have turned increasingly aggressive after wandering near homes, shops and schools. "The character of the wound was totally shocking," said the village doctor Leonty Sulim. "We had never run into anything like this before." Once hunted nearly to extinction in Europe, beavers have made a comeback as hunting has been banned or restricted and new populations were introduced. In...

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...