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Jolly ol' Joe always in Nick of time St. Jude's Santa marks 80th visit By Tom Bailey Jr. baileytom@gomemphis.com December 21, 2002 The children formed a remarkable line to Santa's lap Friday at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. They approached St. Nick with their limps, their scarred scalps, their tethering tubes, their masked faces, their bald heads, their wigs, their tracheotomies, their crutches and with inky X's on their skin showing where to aim the radiation. Some staggered to Santa, exhausted from the day's cancer treatment. One was so tired, she never woke as Santa placed gifts in the toy...

Federal authorities announced Sunday that more than a hundred illegal immigrants were detained in a massive raid at an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs that officials say was "frequented by TdA and MS-13 terrorists." The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Rocky Mountain Division led a multi-agency operation early Sunday morning and arrested 114 illegal immigrants at the venue that contained more than 200 people inside. Authorities uncovered drugs, including pink cocaine, as well as evidence of prostitution and multiple firearms during the operation, according to the DEA. "@DHSgov has taken more than 100 illegal aliens into custody," DEA Rocky Mountain said...

Deputies have been investigating at least four incidents of drivers either hitting or swerving to miss large objects left on Highway 36 at night — from a coffee table to a chair, and even a kid’s bicycle. In one instance, a young married couple escaped with their lives after dodging what they thought was a television in the middle of Highway 36 on a dark night in December. Their car crashed through a wire guardrail and slid into a ravine. They told First Alert 6 that they saw a man standing on the shoulder right after the crash. Sheriff Aaron...

The disappearance of Abdul Aziz Khan was featured on Netflix's 'Unsolved Mysteries.'A young boy who was reported missing in Georgia several years ago has been found safe roughly 1,400 miles away. On Wednesday, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office in Colorado announced deputies recently found Abdul Aziz Khan after responding to a no trespassing call. Aziz, then 7 years old, was allegedly abducted by his noncustodial mother Rabia Khalid on Nov. 27, 2017 in Atlanta. His disappearance was featured on various programs, including Netflix's 'Unsolved Mysteries.' According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a felony warrant for...

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The Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) and its partners are responding to a confirmed case of active tuberculosis disease (TB) at Westview YMCA. DCHD is investigating more than 500 possible exposures that may have happened at the facility’s drop-in daycare and is working to identify individuals who had close contact with the patient. Those possible exposures would have happened from late spring into late October. The Douglas County Health Department is investigating the patient’s activities while they were contagious to learn of potential exposures, helping the patient isolate, and observing them complete their medication until they test negative for TB....

A 42-year-old Bellevue man was arrested on suspicion of making terroristic threats after he was accused of putting a $5,000 bounty on his stepson. The man told police he wanted someone to cut off the stepson’s testicles. Omaha police officers were called to a meatpacking company near 36th and J Streets about 9:15 p.m. Monday to investigate a report of threats. A 27-year-old Bellevue man showed officers a screenshot of his stepfather’s Facebook post offering a $5,000 bounty on him. Police learned that a Douglas County judge had issued the stepson a protection order against the stepfather earlier that day....

SOS Jena Griswold illegally had all the county clerks delete all voter information which is against state and federal law. Of course, the corrupt Merrick garland has ignored the entire problem. But now, two county clerks are suing Griswold and have asked the judge to give them permission to compare the official count with the copies they made before they deleted it from the machines. The clerks, Elbert County Clerk, Dallas Schroeder, and Douglas County Clerk Merlin Klotz, have asked the judge to allow them to compare their saved records to the official count to see if Griswold altered the...

Last week, the Douglas County School Board President Mike Peterson and vice-chair Christy Williams met privately with Superintendent Corey Wise and gave him an ultimatum: resign or they will fire him,” reported CPR News February 4. “Friday night, after three hours of often-heated debate, the board made good on it,” the site continues. “The members voted 4-3 to terminate the contract with Wise.”

On Thursday, schools in Douglas County, Colorado closed after hundreds of teachers called in sick to protest against several actions carried out by the newly-elected school board, which became majority conservative in November. According to local outlet CPR News, by mid-day Wednesday, there were around 1,500 unfilled teacher absences for the following day. In total, there are about 3,300 licensed teachers in the school district. The district then canceled preschool through high school classes because “the number of absences has impacted our ability to provide a safe and supervised learning environment for students,” according to a tweet posted by the...

A 21-year-old Kansas state lawmaker was arrested on Saturday for the second time in a month, prompting more calls for his resignation or ouster from office. State Rep. Aaron Coleman (D), who represents Kansas City, Kansas, in the state legislature, was arrested by a state trooper at around 1 a.m. on Saturday on suspicion that he was driving while intoxicated, according to The Associated Press. He was detained on Interstate 70 near Lawrence and taken to the Douglas County Jail. He was released after posting bond, according to the AP.

A slate of political novices in Douglas County, Colorado, declared victory Tuesday night in a school board race that made national headlines. Christy Williams, one of four "Kids First" candidates, read off initial results to raucous applause at a supporter appreciation party in Parker, Colorado, in the moments after polls closed. "I am humbled to my core," Williams told Fox News. "I think there's a lot to look at, but ultimately I hope to give parents the ultimate authority over their children." Williams was joined by Mike Peterson, Becky Myers and Kaylee Winegar. Together, they hold a lead over the...

Students and parents all over Douglas County, Colorado took to the streets Wednesday morning to protest a countywide school mask mandate. The organized walkout reportedly occurred around 9:30 a.m., just two days after the county's health department issued a mask order requiring all staff and students from preschool to 12th grade to wear masks (via The Denver Channel). Some of the loudest voices were heard at Thunder Ridge High School. "These people agree with me. They hate masks, and I do too," said Thunder Ridge student Cole Bradley of the students behind him. "I believe that masks, they’ve been going...

There’s a vicious pandemic that no vaccine will cure, and it’s called Critical Race Theory (CRT.) This is “wokeness” and it is invading school districts and classrooms nationwide, infecting the minds of America’s progeny from preschool through college. It’s a relentless illness, spreading racial division and distrust with a deterministic dogma that defines all whites as programmed to be oppressors and all minorities as doomed victims of that white oppression. This is the story of what happened when this pandemic suddenly struck the Douglas County, Colorado, School District, which serves 63,000 students. Only 1 percent of those students are black,...

MAGA candidates swept local county races in Georgia last weekend, forcing Republicans in Name Only to resign their seats. “The tremendous success that we had Saturday is unbelievable,” radio host John Fredericks told War Room, Monday. Fredericks said massive amounts of Deplorables got off the sidelines to censure RINO Gov. Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In addition, pro-Trump candidates won local chairmanships in Cobb County, Fulton County, and across the state. “In Fulton county former congressman Tom Price and his wife Betty price, Karen Handel and her husband they both get beat,” Fredericks...

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Steven M. Fitch, age 25, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska, by United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher for being in unlawful possession of a destructive device. Judge Buescher sentenced Fitch to 30 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. Once Fitch is released from prison, he will begin a three-year term of supervised release. An investigation conducted by the Omaha Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms determined...

Sheriff Tony Spurlock criticized the Republican opponent in an interview.. Republican Sheriff Tony Spurlock has endorsed Democrat Lisa Neal-Graves in the race for Douglas County District 2 commissioner. In a Sept. 21 interview with Colorado Community Media, Spurlock lambasted one of Neal-Graves’ opponents, Republican George Teal, in a series of comments, including an allegation that Teal does not support law enforcement. “I think he is dangerous for Douglas County,” Spurlock said about Teal. In a statement, a spokesperson for Teal’s campaign said the endorsement “does not carry much water in Douglas County.” “Previously, Sheriff Spurlock endorsed Clint Dorris, who was...

Omaha Police were called to the Krispy Kreme off 72nd & Dodge streets on Thursday night after a man robbed the doughnut shop at knifepoint. Kelly Hoaglin, 49, was booked into Douglas County Corrections to face charges of robbery, use of a weapon to commit a felony, and possession of a weapon by a prohibited person. At 8:32 p.m., OPD responded to store, where employees told the officers a bald man in a blue hoodie and jeans had entered the store, “brandished” a knife, and demanded money. After receiving “an undetermined amount of cash," the man fled on foot. Following...

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (CBS4) — A former Englewood police officer has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to sexual contact without consent. Anna McCain, 24, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor in January. Other counts against her were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. The victim said that after a night out, a group of people, including McCain, went to the victim’s home in Highlands Ranch. She said McCain was the last to leave. After the others left, the victim said McCain tried numerous times to initiate sexual contact. The victim said she told McCain no...

A group of Oregon residents is petitioning to have two counties in their state join Idaho, citing Oregon’s Democratic leadership. Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho said Josephine and Douglas counties have accepted ballot initiatives supporting a goal of joining Idaho, the organization said in a press release earlier this month. The Josephine County ballot initiative specifically “makes it county policy to cooperate with any state effort to move the Oregon/Idaho border, if any such effort develops,” the group said. The Douglas County Initiative amends a current ordinance to “add Idaho officials to the list of officials who may...