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In the News

Current stories of interest in the news.

Published Sept. 8, 2014



     

    Morgan Freeman Lands Malfunctioning Plane

    Morgan Freeman, one of Hollywood's coolest voices, has shown his cool head by landing a malfunctioning plane before abandoning it for a second plane.

     

    What Are Your Chances of Getting Ebola?


  • News about the widening Ebola outbreak seems to get more alarming by the day. So far, 1,600 people have been infected and nearly 900 have died. The World Health Organization said the spread of the virus was outpacing their response. And two American doctors who contracted the disease have been taken back to the US for treatment.

    If these headlines have left you wondering whether we are fast approaching a global pandemic with scenes reminiscent of movies like “Outbreak” and “28 days later,” here are two things to keep in mind.

    First, while Ebola is an extremely virulent disease, its impact pales in comparison to other global killers like measles, AIDS, or even the flu.

    Second, the likelihood of Ebola spreading across the US is vanishingly small. It isn’t a particularly contagious disease, and in a developed country with strong health infrastructure, it probably wouldn’t spread much at all.

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    Concrete Spikes Stop Beggars Sleeping Under City Bridges


  • Sharp concrete spikes are cropping up under China's city bridges in a bid to stop homeless people from sleeping there.

    Pictures of the lethal 20cm high barbs in Guangzhou have sparked online outrage with citizens angry that authorities are trying to 'hide' the homelessness problem. But the true purpose of the spikes has not been revealed.

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    Tracy Morgan Critically Injured in Car Crash


  • Funny man Tracy Morgan was critically injured in a bus crash on a New Jersey highway.
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    eBay Tells Users to Change Passwords After Hack Attack


  • The popular online merchandise site eBay is urging its customers to change their passwords after hackers managed to slip into one of its databases months ago.
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    IRS Chasing Children for Dead Parents' Debts


  • Some 400,000 Americans may see their tax refund checks grabbed by the government after Congress quietly lifted the 10-year statute of limitations in 2011 on money owed to Uncle Sam.

    Now, debts going back decades are considered fair game for the IRS, and the government is coming after the children and grandchildren of the original debtors for the repayment.

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    Pro Wrestling Superstar Ultimate Warrior Dead at 54


  • The Ultimate Warrior, one of professional wrestling’s biggest superstars, has died at 54, days after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
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    Comedian John Pinette, 50, Dies in Hotel Room


  • John Pinette, the chubby stand-up comedian who portrayed a hapless carjacking victim in the final episode of "Seinfeld," has died. He was 50.
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    Legendary Actor Mickey Rooney Dies at 93


  • Mickey Rooney, whose roller-coaster nine-decade career in show business included vaudeville, silent films, movies, television and Broadway, has died. He was 93.
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    Amazon Testing Delivery by Drone

  • Amazon.com is testing delivering packages using drones, CEO Jeff Bezos said. The idea would be to deliver packages as quickly as possible using the small, unmanned aircraft, through a service the company is calling Prime Air.
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    Walmart Seeks Food Donations to Help Needy Employees


  • A Walmart store in Canton, Ohio, is holding a food drive to benefit employees in need, leading some in the community to raise questions about the wages the company pays its workers.
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    Tanzania's Deadly Lake Natron Turns Animals Into Calcified Statues


  • Lake Natron is usually a toasty 80 degrees Fahrenheit and blood-red from bacteria, the only living things that can survive its deadly alkalinity. Lately, it's earned a reputation for washing up the bodies of small animals on its shores, each wrapped in a delicate crusty shroud.
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    Autistic Boy's Family Told in Letter to 'Move or Euthanize Him'


  • An Ontario community is rallying around the family of a 13-year-old autistic boy after his grandmother received an anonymous letter telling them to either leave the neighbourhood or have the boy euthanized.
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    Four charged with Murder of Joshua Chellew


  • Friends and family of the teens accused in the beating death of Joshua Chellew of Mableton dispute police claims that the four young men were in a gang.

    The testimonies came forth at an initial hearing for three of the four south Cobb teenagers in a case that has sparked nationwide attention among conservative bloggers and talk-show hosts who believe Chellew was the victim of a black on white hate crime.

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    Justin Bieber Wasn't Spitting on Fans


  • Justin Bieber has given his fans a lot of things over the years, but a mouthful of saliva isn't one of them.
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    Haley Coker Sits in Crowd at Graduation


  • Though the social media campaign went viral, Blue Ridge senior Haley Coker did not get the chance to walk during her high school graduation.
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    Zach Sobiech Dies at 18


  • Minnesota teen Zach Sobiech, who wrote the viral hit "Clouds" during his bone-cancer fight, has died. He was 18.
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    Teacher Saves Several Students During Oklahoma Tornado


  • To be a teacher is already to be a hero, but during a monstrous tornado in the suburbs of Oklahoma City, Rhonda Crosswhite put her life directly on the line after first seeing that several of her students had taken refuge only moments before the twister devastated their school.
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    Teacher Saves Several Students During Oklahoma Tornado


  • To be a teacher is already to be a hero, but during a monstrous tornado in the suburbs of Oklahoma City, Rhonda Crosswhite put her life directly on the line after first seeing that several of her students had taken refuge only moments before the twister devastated their school.
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    Toddler Lana-Leigh Bailey Believed Dead


  • Hopes were crushed when authorities announced that they believed that Lana-Leigh Bailey is dead, and they are searching for her body.
    Lana's mother and two others were found dead on the farm earlier in the week.
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    Jack Andraka, the Teen Prodigy of Pancreatic Cancer


  • High school sophomore Jack Andraka won the youth achievement Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for inventing a new method to detect a lethal cancer.


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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