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WORCESTER — The mother of a 3-year-old boy faces motor vehicle homicide charges today after a Monday night car accident on Franklin Street. Jayden Figueroa, 3, was pronounced dead at a local hospital following the 10:14 p.m. accident at 432 Franklin St. Jayden and a 7-year-old were trapped inside the 1992 Toyota Camry which was traveling at more than 70 mph before it crossed into the eastbound travel lane and crashed into a parked Honda Odyssey, according to police. Jayden's mother, Christina Castro, 27, of 2 Wall Street Court, was outside the vehicle with another son, a 5-year-old, when emergency...

CDC data show number of accidental firearm deaths for children under age 15 has gone back up to 62, a number that it was at in 2008. The 48 accidental deaths in 2009 was unusually low. A similar pattern also held for total accidental gun deaths for all ages: 2008, 592; 2009, 554; and 2010, 606. However, over the longer term, the pattern for accidental gun deaths is similar to other accidental deaths in that is as long as we have data you see a gradual decline, though in recent years the decline in accidental firearm deaths has slowed.

Data recently released by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that in 2008, the number and per capita rate of firearm accident deaths fell to an all-time low. There were 592 firearm accident deaths (0.19 such accidents per 100,000 population) in 2008, as compared to 613 accidents (.20 per 100,000) in 2007. In 2008, the chance of a child dying in a firearm accident was roughly one in a million. Firearm accidents accounted for 0.5% of all accidental deaths; well below the percentages accounted for by motor vehicle accidents, falls, fires, poisonings, and several other more common types of...

3 men sentenced in fatal Phillies ballpark attackAP – 13 hrs ago PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Three men who fatally attacked a man outside a Philadelphia Phillies game in a brawl police say was sparked by a spilled drink have been sentenced to prison terms. Francis Kirchner, Charles Bowers and James Groves each pleaded guilty in October to voluntary manslaughter and criminal conspiracy in the July 2009 death of 22-year-old David Sale Jr. outside Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies were playing the St. Louis Cardinals. Kirchner, 30, was sentenced Tuesday to consecutive terms totaling nine to 18 years. Bowers, 37,...

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Some California schools are turning away middle and high school students who have not received a required whooping cough vaccine while others are defying a law passed last year after a historic spike in cases of the potentially fatal disease. The law approved last September initially required all students entering grades seven through 12 to get vaccinated by the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Lawmakers passed a 30-day extension this summer as districts worried many students wouldn't meet the deadline.

The death of a homeless man fatally injured during a fight with Fullerton police has captured the attention of the community and affected morale in the department. Kelly Thomas, 37, who was schizophrenic, died July 10, five days after the confrontation with six police officers at the Fullerton Transportation Center. Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said the department has received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails from across California and hundreds turned out to protest Saturday morning at the Fullerton police station. "It's not pleasant to see people in front of the police station calling the officers 'murderers,'" Goodrich said....

The number of fatal firearms accidents for the last six years of record are: 2002 - 762; 2003 - 730; 2004 - 649; 2005 - 630; 2006 - 680. 2007 - 613 I had to hunt a bit for this information, which I think many are interested in. The accidental firearm death rate is down over 94% since 1905. You have to do a bit of work at the link to find the figures in the source.

A U.S. nuclear submarine came within feet of running aground as it left Plymouth naval base, a report has found. The drama unfolded as the USS Minneapolis-St Paul entered rough seas and tried to take evasive action resulting in five crewmen being swept overboard, two of whom died. Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins and Petty Officer Michael Holtz were attached to the submarine with safety lines and had been helping the habour pilot to disembark when the submarine changed direction. They died as they were repeatedly pounded 'like rag dolls' The 2007 Royal Navy report into the incident, released this...

VIRGINIA BEACH The 23-year-old man who died of a gunshot wound after being dropped off at a fire station late Tuesday had been attempting an armed home invasion robbery when he was shot, police said. One of the residents at a home in the 300 block of Rose Marie Avenue shot Shawn Thomas Ross, said Officer Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman. Police have interviewed the shooter and no charges are being filed at this time, Bernstein said. Ross had been carrying a handgun, he said. “It does not appear to be random, but the relationship between the residents of the...

VANCOUVER — The mother of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died after being Tasered multiple times by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport, said Friday she's "pleased" that the officers involved will face perjury charges. "The RCMP should not be investigating itself," she added. "Police officers are not above the law and I will await the verdict of the courts. I hope that justice will finally be achieved in the death of my son." Dziekanski, who spoke no English and had never been on a plane before, was unable to find his mother upon arriving at the airport. He...

A fatal hit-and-run in Hawthorne left one man dead, a good Samaritan injured by another car when she attempted to help, and the motorist who stopped to check on her after allegedly striking her beaten and robbed by a mob of bystanders. The bizarre chain of events unfolded about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on a busy stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard near the 105 Freeway when a southbound driver struck a pedestrian walking across the street outside the crosswalk. Hawthorne Police Lt. Gary Tomatoni said the driver of a white or gray minivan fled the scene and as the injured pedestrian lay...

As if it weren't bad enough that deadly prions can survive boiling and radiation, now comes word that aerosolized forms of the pathogen can enter the nose and find their way to the brain, with fatal consequences. Prions, you may recall, were the reason you avoided beef in Europe in the 1990s. They triggered the infamous mad cow disease epidemic in the U.K., which spread to the rest of Europe and other parts of the world. Prions are proteins that all animals produce, but sometimes, toxic mutant versions are made. These malformed versions can cause ..."

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Fire officials say one person is dead in a shooting at an entrance gate to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. Tampa Fire Rescue officials say they were called to the gate at 6:47 p.m. on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) – The deaths of no fewer than four people after being trampled by cows in the past two months has prompted Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals. Cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs, said the National Farmers Union (NFU). The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows. "The cattle are interested in the dog, not the walker," said Robert Sheasby, Rural Surveyor...

Good Thursday morning. It’s Halloween eve. ABC’s “Good Morning America”: “The Final Hours -- 120 HOURS TO GO: Is the race tightening?” EXCLUSIVE -- BATTING CLEANUP -- BACK IN FLORIDA FOR A PRESIDENTIAL FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2000: Al and Tipper Gore are doing early-vote rallies for Senator Obama tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Chicago Tribune, on Obama election night: “With tickets gone for the Election Night rally in Chicago's Grant Park for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama -- the campaign declined to say how quickly they ran out -- anxious supporters turned … to other...

Fatal Mine Collapse Covered 50 Acres ScienceDaily (Jun. 3, 2008) — New calculations show that the deadly Crandall Canyon mine collapse -- which registered as a magnitude-3.9 earthquake -- began near where miners were excavating coal and quickly grew to a 50-acre cave-in, University of Utah seismologists say in a report on the tragedy. The University of Utah Seismograph Stations estimated the size of the collapse is about four times larger than was thought shortly after the time of the Aug. 6, 2007, disaster that resulted in the deaths of six miners and, 10 days later, three rescuers. The seismologists'...

WETUMPKA, Ala. Three Prattville High School students and a Montgomery teenager have been charged with murder in a fatal shooting that apparently occurred after an argument over whether Wetumpka or Prattville has a better high school football team. Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said the shooting occurred after an argument Friday night at a back-to-school event in Wetumpka. Killed was Ramonda Mitchell, 35, of 114 Crenshaw Drive. Franklin said the shooting occurred about 4:30 a.m. Saturday in the Crenshaw community, just west of Wetumpka. Charged in Mitchell's death are James Gray, 19, of Montgomery, and Justin Edwards, Greg Hall and...

A night that allegedly started pleasurably for one Lake Charles, LA couple turned deadly. The Calcasieu Parish sheriff's office has charged 36 year old Kimberly Grosset with negligent homicide in connection with the shooting death of her boyfriend. Officials say she and 49 year old Robert White were engaged in consensual sexual behavior when he was shot in the head with a gun at his McCindy road home. No bond has been set.