Teenage Girl Dies After Inhaling Helium At Party
Last weekend, 14-year-old Ashley Long told her parents she was going to a slumber party. But instead of spending the night watching videos and eating popcorn two blocks away, she piled into a car with a bunch of her friends and rode to a condo in Medford, Ore., where police say the big sister of one of her friends was throwing a party with booze and marijuana. After drinking on the drive, and downing more drinks in the condo, it came time for Ashley to take her turn on a tank of helium that everyone else was inhaling to make their voices sound funny.
“That helium tank got going around,” said Ashley’s stepfather, Justin Earp, who learned what happened from talking to Ashley’s friends at the party. “It got to my daughter. My daughter didn’t want to do it. It was peer pressure. They put a mask up to her face. They said it would be OK. `It’s not gonna hurt you. It’ll just make you laugh and talk funny.’” Instead, she passed out and later died at a hospital, the result of an obstruction in a blood vessel caused by inhaling helium from a pressurized tank.
Source: AP
Lin Makes 2nd Straight SI Cover
Covering Jeremy Lin has been easy for Sports Illustrated. The high-scoring Knicks newcomer is on the cover of SI for the second week in a row. He’s the first New York-based team athlete to be given such treatment since the magazine started in 1954 – not even Mickey Mantle, Joe Namath or Eli Manning made two straight.
Lin is the 12th athlete to appear on the SI cover at least two weeks in a row since 1990. Dirk Nowitzki did it during last season’s NBA finals. Michael Jordan holds the SI cover record with three in row.
Source: www.espn.com
Jury: 26 Years For Former Virginia Lacrosse Player
A jury convicted a former University of Virginia lacrosse player Wednesday of second-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend in a drunken, jealous rage, rejecting a first-degree murder verdict and a possible life sentence. Instead, jurors recommended a 25-year prison term for George Huguely V in the May 2010 slaying of Yeardley Love. They added one more year for a grand larceny conviction.
Huguely, 24, of Chevy Chase, Md., bowed his head during sentencing. Circuit Judge Edward Hogshire set an April court date on sentencing matters before a formal sentencing is expected to be held in summer. He is not bound by the jury’s recommendations, but Virginia judges typically heed jurors’ wishes.
Source: AP
BREAKING: SHOCKERS CLINCH REGULAR SEASON TITLE
The Wichita State Shockers have clinched the Missouri Valley Regular season title. The Shockers defeated the Illinois State Redbirds 68 to 55 to clinch. The Shockers will finish out the regular season saturday at home against Drake.
BREAKING: SECOND-DEGREE MURDER CONVICTION IN UVA LACROSSE PLAYERS DEATH
A former University of Virginia lacrosse player was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend. George Huguely V’s defense acknowledged he kicked a hole in the door to Yearley Love’s bedroom the evening of May 3, 2010, but insisted he only wanted to talk. Medical experts testified to several possible causes for Love’s death from blunt trauma injuries.
After a three-day break, jurors returned to Charlottesville Circuit Court Wednesday for deliberations. They also found Huguely guilty of grand larceny. Had he been convicted of first-degree murder, he would have faced up to life in prison.
Source: NBC 4 Washington
2 Shot, 1 Dead At Va. Wal-Mart Distribution Center
An employee of a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. distribution center in Virginia shot and wounded his manager Wednesday, then killed himself as deputies approached him, authorities said. Dinwiddie County Sheriff D.T. Adams said deputies who were summoned to the center along rural U.S. 460 shortly after noon encountered a 32-year-old man standing outside the entrance. When deputies approached, he shot at them with a handgun, then fatally shot himself in the chest.
Witnesses said the man went to lunch at 11 a.m., walked to the back of the center and shot his 40-year-old manager in the shipping department in the leg, Adams said. She sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital. The motive for the shooting wasn’t immediately known, and Adams said there was no evident dispute between the shooter and the wounded woman. The man had worked at the center for nine years, the woman 18 years.
Source: AP
Suspect In Capitol Bomb Sting Waves Court Hearing
A Virginia man charged with plotting a suicide bombing inside the U.S. Capitol waived his rights Wednesday to preliminary and detention hearings. Amine El Khalifi, 29, of Alexandria was arrested Friday and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He was ordered held pending indictment. Federal court documents say El Khalifi is a native of Morocco who has been living illegally in the United States for more than a decade.
Man’s Childhood Comic Collection Fetches $3.5 Million
The bulk of a man’s childhood comic book collection that included many of the most prized issues ever published has sold for about $3.5 million. Lon Allen, managing director of comics for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, says Billy Wright’s 1939 copy of Detective Comics No. 27 that features the debut of Batman got the top bid at the New York City auction Wednesday. It sold for about $523,000, including a buyer’s premium. Action Comics No. 1, a 1938 issue featuring the first appearance of Superman, sold for about $299,000. And Batman No. 1 from 1940 sold for about $275,000. Wright died in 1994. Relatives found the 345 well-preserved comics he bought as a child while cleaning out his wife’s Virginia home following her death last February.
Source: AP
Egyptian Court To Rule On Mubarak Trial On June 2
An Egyptian judge on Wednesday set June 2 as the date for the verdict and sentencing in the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak, who ran Egypt for 30 years, is accused of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 18-day popular uprising that pushed him from power in February of last year. The prosecution is asking for the death penalty, usually carried out by hanging in Egypt.
More than 800 people were killed during the uprisings, many of them demonstrators shot dead by security forces. Judge Ahmed Rifat said Wednesday that the final hearing, in which Mubarak will receive both his verdict and sentence, will be live on TV. Most media have been barred from the majority of the hearings in the seven-month trial.
W. Va. Mine Boss Charged With Fraud In Deadly Blast
The superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to defraud the federal government, becoming the highest-ranking Massey Energy employee to face criminal prosecution so far over the deadly blast. Former Upper Big Branch mine boss Gary May, 43, of Bloomingrose, W.Va., is named in a federal information, a document that signals a defendant is cooperating with prosecutors. He is the second Massey employee to face prosecution in the case. Reached at his home Wednesday morning, May declined comment.
Source: AP
