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DES MOINES, Iowa - A college student whose friend was being questioned in a hit and run found himself charged with assaulting an officer with a curious choice of weapons: M&Ms.

Sean McGuire was arrested early Sunday at a convenience store after Drake University security guards noticed the colored candies falling on the ground around the officer. When the officer turned around, an M&M hit his shoulder, according to a police report.

McGuire claimed he threw the candy because he was “sticking up for his friend,” who apparently was the man suspected in the accident, the report states.

McGuire, of Glenview, Ill., was released from jail Sunday after posting $1,000 bond. A telephone call to his cell phone Monday wasn’t immediately returned.

WOW article

An Omaha man struggling to breath used a steak knife to perform an at-home tracheotomy.

Steve Wilder says he thought he was going to die when he awoke one night last week and couldn’t breath.

Wilder says he didn’t call 911 because he didn’t think help would arrive in time. So, the 55-year-old says, he got a steak knife from the kitchen and made a small hole in his throat, allowing air to gush in.

Wilder suffered from throat cancer and related breathing problems several years ago. About that time, he had an episode where he couldn’t breath because his air passages swelled shut. He says that’s what happened this time around.

Doctors don’t expect Wilder to suffer any adverse affects from the tracheotomy once it’s healed.

awwww wook at da wittle bunneh

So we watched the first part of Bush’s War last night. It was a severely sobering reminder of what this administration has done. I felt ill after watching the first half, but cannot wait for the second part. I highly recommend you watch it sometime.

Then a real life pregnant guy. This is a pretty cool story about a legally considered male is pregnant. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. And no it is not Arnold.

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Stonehenge Management, a developer, has offered a 2,600-square-foot lot next to an apartment building it owns on the north side of 33rd Street, Mr. Biederman said.

The partnership, which is financed by businesses and property owners in a 31-block section of Midtown, has developed a preliminary design for the lot and has ordered up a prototype of the racks it would contain, Mr. Biederman said. Initially, it would hold 100 bikes, with room to expand if there is more demand, he said.

Regular users would pay a fee, but some spaces would be free, for short-term use by visitors to the neighborhood. Those fees will depend on how much the partnership can raise from a sponsor, Mr. Biederman said.

“There’s a huge demand out there for this kind of parking option,” said Caroline Samponaro, bicycle campaign coordinator at Transportation Alternatives, a group that advocates for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Ms. Samponaro said a similar concept had worked in Chicago, where McDonald’s became the long-term sponsor of a bike parking lot that charges $149 a year.

I know Lincoln has plans for this at the centrum parking garage, but has not done anything with it for 1/2 a year now. That is only a few blocks from my work, but I doubt I would use it.

I could retire if this was implemented in Lincoln.

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An Iowa mayor takes extreme measures to get wild cats off the streets.

It’s a plan that’s drawing a lot of criticism.

It’s usually quiet on Main Street in Randolph, Iowa.

But, drive a few blocks north and west and it’s not long before you see one stray cat after another.

“There’s been a cat problem in this town for 11 years,” says Randolph resident Sam Lupo.

Lupo says he owns two cats, the rest of the two or three random cats running around in the yard are strays.

“They’re not wanted around here, they run around become a nuisance, get into trash and tear it up,” says Lupo.

After several complaints Randolph city leaders are now asking for help.

The mayor’s plan, is to put a bounty on all cats, so if you can lure one to you and catch it, it’ll earn you five bucks.

Any stray cat or dog that doesn’t have tags or a collar will be taken to a Sidney vet and put down.

“Either people keep their cats in or like dogs, if they keep ‘em under control we shouldn’t have a problem, it’s just the stray ones and cats propagate quite frequently,” says Randolph city councilman Allen Wendland.

Chasidy Wederquist calls the plan ridiculous.

“As a person who likes animals I don’t think a bounty is the best thing for them to do.”

She agrees there’s a cat problem, but says killing them is not the answer.

“I think the county here should get something here, get a (animal control) department like Omaha and Council Bluffs,” says Wederquist.

Dozens more agree.

Outraged community members vented their disgust on the city’s community web site, calling the bounty inhumane and a danger to family pets.

City leaders disagree.

“There’s not much of a bounty on ‘em to where people are gonna make a lot of money on it,” says Wendland.

If the city can identify the animal as a pet, it will be returned to the owner.

But, the big concern some people have, you won’t be able to tell if it’s someone’s pet or not.

Even some animal rescue groups are scared people will take pets, pull off their collars just so they can get the money.

The city council meeting in Randolph is Thursday.

You can vent your concerns there. Councilman Wendland says no one has called him to complain and he says no cats have been turned in so far.

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I would still hit it, swears, she seems cool

Deputy Uses Taser on Fleeing Bicyclist

A Glenn County sheriff’s deputy shot a man with a Taser gun for allegedly riding his bike at night without proper lighting.

According to a sheriff’s spokesman, the bicyclist ignored warnings from the deputy he would use the stun gun, then fled on foot.

One probe struck the bicyclist, Omar Herrada Rivera, 39, but he did not receive a shock.

After being checked out at a hospital, Rivera was held in the county jail on suspicion of resisting arrest, riding a bicycle without proper lighting, riding under the influence of alcohol and using false citizenship government documents.

The sheriff’s spokesman said the deputy’s decision to use the Taser was proper.

Saw this in the paper yesterday and made me giggle.

FULLERTON, Calif. - Police said they arrested a man who acknowledged digging holes on a park bike trail as payback for nearly being run down by a cyclist.

Warren John Wilson, 52, faces a single felony count of vandalism, police Sgt. Linda King said Friday.

King said nearly 50 holes measuring about 1 foot by 2 feet have been found since June along a trail at Laguna Lake Park, and in some cases attempts had been made to hide them from cyclists. She said some riders went over their handlebars after hitting the holes, but none reported major injuries.

Detectives watching the trails questioned Wilson, who said he had nearly been run over by a mountain bike rider and began digging the holes in retaliation, King said.

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This had me snickering

Did you know that iguanas, when they get cold take a figurative long walk off a short branch and start raining down out of the trees? Well if you’re in Southern Florida and it gets chilly you can witness it first hand. Bring a sturdy hat however as these critters can get pretty big.

Wednesday night’s bitter cold came like a giant Sominex for the tree-dwelling iguanas of South Florida.

When the temperature falls below a certain level, the large green lizards drop out of the trees and litter the ground.

They aren’t dead. At least a lot of them aren’t. It is as if they are in suspended animation, said Robert Yero, park manager at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne.

It was raining iguanas at Bill Baggs Thursday morning. There were a couple underneath buttonwood trees and a third beneath a sea grape. All were about 30 yards from the beach, in the coastal hammock.

”We have found dozens on the bike path after a major cold snap,” said Yero. “When they warm up in the sun, they come back to life.”

Yero isn’t too fond of the comatose critters. They are exotics from Central and South America, brought in as pets and then released to the wilds by their owners when they got too big for the house.

They munch on the foliage, literally nipping in the bud efforts to revive native vegetation.

”They really are taking over,” Yero said.

Sugary Candy Looks Too Much Like Street Drugs, Cops Say

Philadelphia narcotics officers are upset that a candy made by Hershey looks like crack cocaine.

The cops say the packages of breath mints look almost identical to drugs sold on the street.

Critics say Ice Breakers Pacs look too much like tiny heat-sealed bags of illegal powdered drugs, like crack or heroin.

Hershey released a statement that says in part, “the product is clearly labeled with product identification, ingredients and nutritional information and is clearly branded and icebreakers item. The Ice Breakers logo appears on each individual mint for easy identification.”
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector William Blackburn says he’s been in narcotics for most of his career and thought the pouches were the real thing.

Ice Breakers are nickel-sized mint strips sealed around a powdered sweetener that dissolve in the mouth.

A company spokesman would not say if the company has plans to change the product’s appearance.

Man the news loves Nebraska these days

USA today article

OMAHA (AP) — Weather forecasters predict Nebraska will receive a treacherous mix of sleet, freezing rain and snow this weekend, so it’s understandable that events may get canceled.

But one of the first cancellations announced Friday afternoon came from an unexpected source: organizers of the Polar Bear Plunge.

The chilling swim in Omaha’s Zorinsky Lake raises money for the Special Olympics, but organizers decided to postpone the event because of the weather.

“We were kind of worried about the ice coming and people driving to the event,” said Wendy Jackson, with Special Olympics of Nebraska. “We don’t want anybody hurting themselves.”

So, the annual Polar Bear Plunge has been rescheduled for Dec. 8 at 11 a.m.

New York Times makes Nebraksa look like we are all…, oh wait many of us are…, oh well you know what I mean.

A Rural Dance Tradition in Twilight

Polka came to Nebraska in the 1850s, when Czechs fled worsening economic conditions in Bohemia and Moravia, drawn by the promise of large tracts of American farmland. In the beginning polka meant just one thing: a specific, two-beat couples dance. But now it describes a range of dances and rhythms usually achieved with an accordion, a tuba and sentimental lyrics about family, food, love and rural memories.

Article

In contrast to nitrite, nitrate in the diet comes mainly from cured meats such as bacon, sausage and luncheon meats. Consuming nitrate augments our nitrite supply: Once absorbed in the bloodstream, nitrate circulates to the salivary glands where bacteria convert it to nitrite, which is then swallowed in our saliva. About 10 percent of dietary nitrate is converted to nitrite in this way.

As with the mice and nitrite, the Einstein researchers spiked drinking water with nitrate and then induced heart attacks. A protective effect was found yet again: Compared with the control animals, the nitrate-supplemented mice had greater stores of nitrite in their heart muscle along with significantly less heart-muscle damage, although the reduction was not as impressive as in the nitrite-fed mice.

“This new appreciation of the health benefits of nitrite and nitrate is ironic,” says Dr. Lefer, “They’ve traditionally been regarded as toxic because they tend to form chemicals called nitrosamines, some of which are carcinogenic. But recent research has found no convincing evidence that nitrite and nitrate pose a cancer risk.”

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A man out hunting in Iowa was shot in the leg after a hunting dog stepped on his gun, authorities said.

The accident happened after James Harris, 37, put his gun on the ground to retrieve a fallen pheasant.

One of a pack of hunting dogs following behind stepped on the trigger, and up to 120 birdshot pellets hit Mr Harris in the left calf at short range.

A local official told a news agency the injury was “not life-threatening, but will give him trouble for a long time”.

Alan Foster, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told the AFP news agency it was not uncommon for hunters to be shot by their dogs.

“I hear about it a couple times a year,” somewhere in the country, he said.

“They’ll step on the trigger assembly and, if the gun for whatever reason wasn’t on safety, it doesn’t take a whole lot to trip a trigger.”

Mr Harris was treated at Grinnell Regional Medical Center and later transported by helicopter to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, following the accident in Poweshiek County on Saturday afternoon.

An investigation into the accident is under way.

Man allegedly found with inflatable doll in public restroom

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - A man was arrested after a government agent allegedly found him in an office building restroom lying next to an inflatable, anatomically correct doll with his pants down.

Craig S. McCullough, 47, was charged Wednesday with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor.

California Police Seize 375 Pounds Of Bathtub Cheese

Meet Floribel Hernandez Cuenca and Manuel Martin. California police arrested the pair on “felony cheese making charges” after they tried to sell 375 pounds of bathtub cheese at an open-air market in San Bernardino. Bathtub cheese, otherwise known as “illegal soft cheese,” can cause a range of maladies including listeria, salmonella, and everybody’s favorite gut goblin, E. coli.