Fate of child prodigy not yet determined
DENVER, Colorado — The fate of an 8-year-old “genius” is up in the air as his mother is fighting for custody of the celebrity child.
Elizabeth Chapman, 29, is hoping that social workers will recommend that the boy be returned to her at a hearing next month, after avoiding abuse and neglect charges by admitting she’d created an “injurious environment” for her son.
Justin Chapman was sent to foster care after an assumed suicide attempt.
The boy was treated when his mother brought him to the hospital fearing he’d taken too many pain reliever pills. Chapman was hospitalized and mental health workers have since concluded he was fantasizing about suicide.
Apparently, the genius of the young Chapman is also in question after the boy’s mother admitted to faking test results.
Shark attack on human causes beach to close
LIHUIE, Hawaii – Two miles of a popular beach, including the Kauai’s resort area Poipu, was closed this week when a 17-year-old body boarder lost his foot in a shark attack.
Hoku Aki lost his left foot and ankle while body boarding in murky water about 150 yards off Brennecke Beach. The teen was pulled underwater by the shark but freed himself and was helped to shore by bystanders.
A heavy rainstorm in Kauai Monday caused the dangerous murky water conditions – the most dangerous for shark attacks. The beaches are to remain closed until conditions improve.
Aki was reportedly upgraded from serious to stable condition Monday afternoon. Authorities have been unable to determine what type of shark attacked the teen.
Condit to testify in court next month
WASHINGTON – Democratic Rep. Gary Condit of California is expected to testify before the D.C. Superior Court grand jury early next month regarding the disappearance of 24-year-old Washington intern Chandra Levy.
The grand jury is investigating allegations of obstruction of justice involving the congressman, 53, and possibly others, accoding to law enforcement sources.
Levy disappeared from Washington around April 30 and Condit, who was never named as a suspect in Levy’s disappearance, has said he knows nothing about the missing girl.
Although the intern had been linked to Condit, the lawmaker refused to admit having had an affair with the girl and refused to give the public any information.
His 30-year career was put to an end after a stinging defeat in the Democratic primary earlier this month.
Man arrested for driving through mosque
TALLAHASSEE, Florida – A 51-year-old Tallahassee man was arrested Monday after driving his truck into a mosque near Florida State University.
Neighbors called the police around 7:30 p.m. after witnessing a man drive through the front of the Islamic Center of Tallahassee. The man broke through the back window of his vehicle and Charles D. Franklin was arrested at a nearby bar a short time later. Police sealed off the area and called in the bomb squad.
Firefighters were concerned about some suspicious items found in the suspect’s truck including a bottle marked “holy water.”
The incident is being pursued as a hate crime due to comments Franklin made following his arrest. Police officials said Franklin has been charged with burglary and criminal mischief and has admitted to driving into the building.
Priest jams cell phones during mass
MORAIRA, Spain — A Spanish priest installed an electronic jammer Tuesday in order to stop cell phone ringing during mass.
The Rev. Francisco Llopis, pastor of the Church of the Defenseless, said the digital noise transmitted by today’s technological cell phones is unacceptable during worship.
Llopis’ church, in the southeast coastal town of Moraira, is the first in Spain to install such a device, which transmits low-power radio signals that destroy communications between cellular cellular base-stations and handsets.
Commercial jamming systems are considered illegal in the United States, Canada and Britain, but some countries such as Australia and Japan allow limited use.
Californian man kills own children and self
MERCED, Calif. — A retired sheriff’s deputy shot and killed his 5-year-old daughter and his three stepchildren Tuesday, then committed suicide with the body of one of the youngsters in his arms.
John Hogan, 49, had apparently entered the house after his wife had set out on her morning walk, authorities said. He had not been living there.
The motive was unclear, Merced County sheriff’s Cmdr. Mark Pazin said.
Melanie Willis, 17, and Stanley Willis, 15, were students at Golden Valley High School. Stuart Willis, 14, was an eighth grader at Our Lady of Mercy School. Melanie Hogan was his 5-year-old daughter.
Reparations sought from U.S. firms
NEW YORK — The first-ever class action lawsuit seeking reparations from firms profiting from slavery named three large U.S. companies Tuesday on behalf of black Americans descended from slaves.
Aetna Inc., CSX Corp. and FleetBoston Financial Corp. were named in the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court by 36-year-old black activist Deadria Farmer-Paellmann in the latest step by some blacks to get compensation for what their ancestors suffered as slaves.
“The practice of slavery constituted an ‘immoral and inhumane deprivation of Africans’ life, liberty, African citizenship rights, cultural heritage’ and it further deprived them of the fruits of their own labor,” the 21-page suit said.
Identical quadruplets born in Sacramento
SACRAMENTO, Calfornia — 22-year-old Ornsee Khamsa gave birth to four identical girls Monday, a phenomenon that happens in only one in every 11 million births.
Khamsa and fiancee Verek Muy, who also have a 4-year-old son, conceived the children without the aid of fertility drugs, an extremely rare situation in the case of multiple births, according to doctors.
Born at Sutter Memorial Hospital just 30 weeks into the pregnancy, the largest baby weighed 2 pounds, 8 ounces and the smalles 2 pounds, 5 ounces. The girls are named Preana, Audreana, Natalie and Melody.
The newborns were monitored in the neo-natal unit of the hospital for the first 48 hours to look for signs of complications, including respiratory distress and other difficulties common in premature infants. Doctors expect the babies to be fine.
Only a handful of identical quadruplets have been recorded in recent history, only 26 since 1930 according to one source.
College Board proposes SAT overhaul
BERKELEY, California — High school seniors nationwide could be affected by major changes in the SAT I proposed by the head of the College Board.
Revisions may include dropping or reducing the analogy questions, adding a writing test and toughening up the math section, which currently does not require students to have taken advanced courses such as Algebra II.
The proposed overhaul comes just a little more than a year after UC President Richard C. Atkinson called for UCs to drop the SAT I, the two-part verbal and math test taken by about 2 million students each year.
March 28, 2002