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Glawe said the Ball Python snake, named Bart, was too big to fit all the way through her lobe, and she was unable to extract it on her own. Glawe further explained that she wears gages in her earlobes but had taken them out. ... A friend informed concerned commenters that doctors at Portland Adventist Hospital made a slight cut in Glawe’s ear and used Vaseline while further stretching the lobe with a plastic tool so that the snake could wiggle out. Glawe told another commenter that her ear was numbed before the procedure and that the experience hurt “a...

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick has vetoed the state legislature’s attempt to ban the use of EBT cards — or food stamps — to purchase items such as tattoos, porn and jewelry. Patrick vetoed the reforms Sunday while signing the state’s $32.5 billion budget. According to the Boston Herald, which first reported the veto, the governor berated the legislature’s stab at banning the purchase of specific items like manicures, tattoos, guns, porn, body piercings, jewelry, and bail by saying the move was “political grandstanding” at a time when such reforms are already on track elsewhere. “I’m not going to do...

(CP) - A 17-year-old Newfoundland girl is believed to have died from toxic shock syndrome - and the infection that killed her may have resulted from a nipple piercing, the province's chief medical examiner says. Dr. Simon Avis said in an interview from St. John's that the teenage girl, who died Thursday, had been admitted to hospital earlier this week "with medical problems that were quite complex." Her name has not been released. Avis said it is too early to say for certain that the apparent toxic shock syndrome was caused by infection at the site of the piercing. An...

Shelbyville Central High School principal Don Boyd placated some and infuriated others when he confiscated Tuesday's edition of the school newspaper, The Echo. An article by a student writer, which described body piercings in a sexually descriptive manner, was the issue that concerned Boyd. In his written statement to the T-G, Boyd said: "An article was printed ... which I considered to be inappropriate for a school publication. This article was brought to my attention as the paper was being distributed to our students. After reviewing the article, I made the decision to collect the newspapers." One student said she...