Arizona Mother Admits to Killing Daughter, Poisoning Other Kids, Police Say

On Christmas day, officers in Arizona answered to a 911 call by Michael Macias. He had escaped his ex-wife after being stabbed. Connie Villa, 35-year-old wife and mother, tried to kill her whole family. She successfully suffocated her 13-year-old daughter after she refused to take the drugs her mother was making all her children take. Connie knew what she was doing and wanted to kill her family so her ex-husband wouldn't have custody of their four children. The three youngest children survived the poisoning attempted. When police arrived Connie had self inflicted stab wounds, but was still alive. She is now being charged for first degree murder and four counts of attempted murder.  

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/31/us/arizona-children-poison/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Louisiana Teen Sentenced for Wrestling-style Killing of Sister

A 13-year old boy is being charged with second-degree murder because of what he did while being left alone with his 5 year old sister as his mother went to the store. During this time he killed his little sister by trying out “pro-style wrestling moves on her.” He is sentenced to three years in a juvenile facility and his name is not being given out because of his age. This is not the first time he has shown aggression towards his sister. The boy told authorities of times he had punched and jumped viciously on his little sister while slamming her into her bed. The judge ruled that he knew exactly what he was doing and that he was hurting his little sister horribly, it wasn’t an accident.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/11/justice/louisiana-boy-sentenced/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

For Victims’ Families, Sandy Hook 911 Calls Reopen Wounds

            The 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting were just recently released. This is upsetting a lot of people, especially the ones who had family members as victims. Parents of the victims made it so the crime scene photos couldn't be seen by the public but they were not able to keep the recording out of the public’s hands. Many media organizations are having a hard time deciding how to handle these taps. Some are showing parts of the recording and some are not using any of it at all and instead are just describing the recording’s contents. Many people are worried what the effect this is going to have on children; even the ones that weren't affected directly by the shooting. The recording can be accessed very easily by anyone and people are worried that it will start to “trigger post-traumatic stress disorder.”

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/05/us/newtown-911-tape-reaction/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

Florida Woman in Warning-shot Case Released

Marissa Alexander, mother of three, is released from her sentence of 20 years in jail for firing off a gun. This shot was only supposed to scare off her supposedly abusive husband and didn’t hurt anybody. Though no one was hurt she was still tried and sent to prison. As of right now the case is being retried and she was released early under special conditions and a $150,000 bond. This whole case is interesting civil rights leaders who feel that the initial sentence was way too harsh.  They are fighting using Florida’s “stand your ground” law. She is now home with her family under electronic monitoring 24/7 until further notice.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/28/justice/florida-stand-your-ground-release/index.html?hpt=ju_c1

Prosecutor to 'get to the bottom' of sex assault case involving Florida State star

Jameis Winston’s sexual assault scandal is reappearing. The case has been closed for months but Winston’s lawyer is saying he will cooperate with authorities. The assault was filed in December. The case was closed before he had ever been questioned. No one has been charged for anything and the subject’s description of the perpetrator didn’t match Winston. The description was a height ranging between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11 which is shorter than Winston who is 6-foot-4. Willie Meggs, the state attorney, doesn’t think much is going to come from this reopening of the case. It is just happening at a bad time for Winston because he is in the running for the Heisman Trophy.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/us/florida-state-quarterback-investigation/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

   

Body found in hospital stairwell: San Francisco sheriff details what went wrong

Lynne Spalding Ford was found dead in a stairwell in the same hospital she disappeared from nine days earlier. After disappearing, Lynne’s family searched the city while passing out thousands of fliers. Information as to when and how she died is unknown thus far. She checked into the hospital for a bladder infection on September 19th and was found dead in the stairwell by an hospital engineering employee on October 8th. Numerous amounts of mishaps during the search for Lynne resulted in her not being found for this long amount of time. New policies are being instated to further prevent more incidents as horrible as this from happening again.  

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/us/california-body-in-stairwell/index.html?hpt=ju_t4

What's in your spices? Bug parts and rat hair

            New reports conducted by the Food and Drug Administration say that 12% of U.S. spice imports contain bug parts, rodent hairs, and other ingredients similar. They not only found this but also that 7% of spice imports passed by inspectors also contain salmonella. Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause abdominal cramps, fevers, and diarrhea. On the good side, out of the 37 years of records analyzed a “relatively small number of outbreaks” compared to what it could have been occurred. Only 14 outbreaks worldwide occurred from these spices, which caused 128 hospitalizations and around than 2,000 human illnesses. These spices go through many small hands before it gets to stores. There are many chances for contamination. Safety precautions are being taken and former ones are being tighten to hopefully prevent this from happening again. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/health/bugs-in-spices/index.html?hpt=he_t3