Free Republic

George Floyd’s toxicology report pinned to Black History Month display at Duke Duke University is investigating how a printout of George Floyd’s toxicology report, with comments insinuating his death was related to drugs, ended up pinned to a Black History Month bulletin board display on campus, according to the school and reports. The flier was found Saturday pinned to a display honoring black victims of police violence and was inscribed with handwritten remarks in pink pen that said: “Mix of drugs presents in difficulty breathing! Overdose? Good Man? Use of fake currency is a felony!”

I invited my dear friend Garry Rodgers — retired homicide detective with a second career as a forensic coroner — to share a fascinating post about the real cause of Elvis Presley’s death. Prepare to be wowed. Welcome to TKZ, Garry! Elvis Presley suddenly dropped in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion on the afternoon of August 16, 1977. Elvis was rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was pronounced dead, then shipped to the morgue and autopsied the same afternoon. Three days later, the Memphis County coroner issued Elvis Presley’s death certificate stating the cause as...

<p>Authorities say a South Carolina woman has been charged with murder after killing her husband by putting eye drops into his water for several days. York County deputies said 52-year-old Lana Clayton confessed to investigators after an autopsy uncovered a high amount of tetrahydrozoline in her husband's body. The chemical is found in over-the-counter eye drops such as Visine. Authorities say 64-year-old Stephen Clayton was found dead July 21 in the couple's home in Clover. Arrest warrants and the statement from deputies didn't give a motive for the alleged poisoning. Lana Clayton also is charged with malicious tampering with a drug product or food. Jail records did not indicate if she had a lawyer.</p>

Weeks before he started shooting, the Colorado gunman who killed one deputy and wounded four more unleashed a verbal barrage against Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock and his department. Matthew Riehl, who was killed in the deadly New Year’s Eve shootout, went on a profane rant against the sheriff and other officers in a YouTube video entitled “Fire Sheriff Spurlock” that was posted on Dec. 13, The Associated Press reported.

The Trump Haters are taking a risk with their relentless vitriol aimed at the President. It is a vague one, with unknown consequences. But it is a risk, nonetheless. Many were born late the night of November 8, 2016: The Trump Haters. Assumption was their mother. It would take DNA testing to i.d. their father. He could be Entitlement, Arrogance, or, Naiveté. Maybe all three. In any regard, they hate all things Trump. His family, his supporters, his policies, his hotels, his golf courses – but mostly Trump the man. That he is today President of these United States only...

An initial toxicology report for Sandra Bland, who died in a Texas jail cell three days after her arrest during a traffic stop, raises the possibility that she may have used marijuana while in custody, two experts said. The amount of THC, one of the active components of marijuana, in Bland's system was 18 micrograms per liter, according to the report released Monday. That's more than three times the legal limit for drivers in Colorado and Washington, states that permit the recreational use of marijuana. "I don't think it's possible to rule out the possibility of use while in jail,"...

Defense lawyers will be permitted to show that Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system when he and George Zimmerman had their fateful encounter in a gated community in Florida last year, the judge in Zimmerman’s murder trial ruled Monday. Judge Debra Nelson denied a motion by prosecutors to keep toxicology results showing THC in Martin’s system from the jury, paving the way for Zimmerman’s lawyers to argue the drug may have influenced the teen’s behavior. Defense attorney Don West noted that in Zimmerman’s statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person he was observing in the...

For the first time, compounds that protect against ricin poisoning have been identified by French researchers. It's hoped the research could lead to an antidote for the poison, which is a thousand times more toxic than cyanide. Banned under chemical weapons conventions, ricin became infamous when a modified umbrella-gun containing a poisoned pellet was used to kill Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in 1978. Although not as potent as synthetic nerve agents, ricin is obtained from a natural source - the castor bean - so could potentially be more easily obtained by terrorist groups. Research has been undertaken into an antibody-based vaccine and...

Further evidence for the asbestos-like effects of carbon nanotubes has emerged from a new study in mice. The study shows for the first time that the tubes reach the outer lining of the lung when inhaled - as asbestos does. But researchers say the results should be interpreted with caution.Carbon nanotubes, like asbestos, have high aspect ratios; in other words, they are long and thin, meaning they have the potential to get stuck when trying to cross the two layered membrane - the pleura - separating the lung from the chest wall. In the case of asbestos, fibres can dwell...

Complete title too long for the form. Here's the total title: Lake in the Hills man charged with pufferfish toxin purchase had a $5 million life insurance policy on his wife, authorities say Federal prosecutors also say she was the intended target in 2005, when her husband sought a hit man A Lake in the Hills man arrested after ordering a deadly pufferfish toxin had a cache of weapons in his home and was named as the beneficiary of a $5 million life insurance policy on his wife, prosecutors said Monday. Federal prosecutors also said that the wife, Rebecca Bachner,...

Autopsies performed on the two hero firefighters who perished battling a West Roxbury blaze on Aug. 29 showed that one of them was legally drunk at the fire while the other had traces of illegal drugs in his bloodstream, three city officials told the Herald. Paul J. Cahill, 55, had a blood alcohol level of .27 - more than three times the legal alcohol limit for motorists - when he was killed fighting the fire at Tai Ho Restaurant on Centre Street in West Roxbury, said three sources with direct knowledge of the state Medical Examiner’s toxicology report that is...

UT Southwestern Medical Center Date: January 16, 2007 Napoleon's Mysterious Death Unmasked Science Daily — A new investigation into Napoleon Bonaparte's cause of death might finally put to rest nearly 200 years of lingering mysteries about the illness that killed the French emperor during his island exile, a UT Southwestern Medical Center scientist reports. Dr. Robert Genta, professor of pathology and internal medicine, helped investigate the cause of Napoleon Bonaparte's death nearly 200 years ago by applying modern pathological and tumor-staging methods to historical accounts. (Image courtesy of UT Southwestern Medical Center) American, Swiss and Canadian researchers applied modern pathological...

Pathologist Says Meds Killed Smith's Son LOS ANGELES (Sept. 27) - Actress and model Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel Smith, died of a lethal combination of drugs that caused an irregular heart beat, People Magazine reported on its Web site on Wednesday. The report quoted pathologist Cyril Wecht, who was hired by Smith to look into her son's September 10 death, as saying Daniel Smith died from a combination of methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro that led to cardiac dysrhythmia. People Magazine said Wecht got the results of toxicology tests from National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Daniel Smith, 20,...

"Joshua Northup, 30, son of U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, R-[Kentucky] 3rd, was pronounced dead just before noon Wednesday in his home on South Galt Avenue, said Gayle Norris, a deputy Jefferson County coroner...Northup was en route to Louisville from Washington, D.C" Full Article

DURHAM, N.C. - A judge reduced the bond of a Duke University lacrosse player charged with rape to $100,000 at a hearing Thursday, and the prosecutor said he had turned over hundreds of additional pages of evidence to defense lawyers. The family of sophomore Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., had posted a $400,000 bond after their son was charged in April with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. The two other players facing the same charges — Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., and David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md. — remain free on $400,000 bond. A trial...

Scheduled speaker for the July 26 membership luncheon at the Harborview Center is Jon R. Thogmartin, M.D., District Medical Examiner for District 6, Pinellas and Pasco Counties, since December 2000. Dr. Thogmartin was born in Wellington, Texas, and received his doctorate in medicine in 1990 from University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and his bachelor of science in biology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1986, magna cum laude. Dr. Thogmartin was Associate Medical Examiner in Broward County and Dade County before becoming District 15 Medical Examiner in Palm Beach County in April 1999, a position...

Buckyballs, a spherical form of carbon discovered in 1985 and an important material in the new field of nanotechnology, can cause extensive brain damage in fish, according to research presented yesterday at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif. Eva Oberdörster, an environmental toxicologist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said the buckyballs also altered the behavior of genes in liver cells of the juvenile largemouth bass she studied. Buckyballs are part of a group of materials called fullerenes for their structural resemblance to the geodesic domes designed by Buckminster Fuller. Synthetically produced buckyballs, along with...