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In the News, August 20, 2008

Tropical Storm Fay is Still Harassing Florida
From NOAA
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TC Activity
Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook | Active Storms | Marine Forecasts
Fay continues her erratic path moving north along the Florida coast but not going out over the Atlantic Ocean.

The latest warnings from NOAA;


A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NORTH OF JUPITER
INLET FLORIDA NORTHWARD TO ALTAMAHA SOUND GEORGIA.

A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NORTH OF FLAGLER BEACH
FLORIDA TO ALTAMAHA SOUND GEORGIA.

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NORTH OF ALTAMAHA
SOUND TO THE SAVANNAH RIVER.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 800 AM EDT...1200Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM FAY WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 28.5 NORTH...LONGITUDE 80.6 WEST OR VERY NEAR CAPE
CANAVERAL FLORIDA.

FAY IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 5 MPH...7 KM/HR...AND THIS
MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TODAY. A GRADUAL TURN TOWARD THE
NORTHWEST IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS AND FAY IS
LIKELY TO REMAIN NEAR OR OVER THE EAST-CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN
FLORIDA COAST THROUGH THURSDAY.

The storm first hit the Florida Keys, veered out to sea and then traversed east across the state on a path that would have taken it over the ocean before it curved toward the Florida-Georgia border. Forecasters expect the storm to get a dose of energy when it moves over the Atlantic Ocean, where it could linger and possibly reach hurricane strength.


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Man left in chair by hospital workers for 22 hours

A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom. Now federal officials have threatened to cut off the facility's funding.

According to an investigator's report the 50-year-old man died in April after he choked on medication and was left sitting in a chair for close to a day at the facility . Surveillance video showed hospital staff watching television and playing cards a few feet away.


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Still Spanking in School?
Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union are outraged
There are hundreds of thousands of children receiving corporal punishment in school . Last school year, more than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled at school, according to the organizations' joint report.

According to a study, which was released by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union , Education Department data to show that, while paddling has been declining, racial disparity persists. Researchers also interviewed students, parents and school personnel in Texas and Mississippi, states that account for 40 percent of the 223,190 kids who were paddled at least once in the 2006-2007 school year.

Paddlings, swats, licks. A quarter of a million schoolchildren got them last year — and blacks, American Indians and kids with disabilities got a disproportionate share of the punishment, according to a study by a human rights group.

"Every public school needs effective methods of discipline, but beating kids teaches violence, and it doesn't stop bad behavior," wrote Alice Farmer, the author of the report. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."

Corporal punishment in schools remains legal in 21 U.S. states and is used frequently in 13: Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida, according to data received from the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education and cited in the report.

The highest percentage of students receiving corporal punishment was in Mississippi, with 7.5 percent of students. The highest number was in Texas, with 48,197 students.


Heather Porter, who lives in Crockett, Texas, was startled to hear her little boy, then 3, say he'd been spanked at school. Porter was never told, despite a policy at the public preschool that parents be notified.

The study also found:

_In states where paddling is most common, black girls were paddled more than twice as often as white girls.

_Boys are three times as likely to be paddled as girls.

_Special education kids were more likely to be paddled.

More than 100 countries worldwide have banned paddling in schools, including all of Europe.

Trump University's Entreprenuership Master Program


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Ya think?

Remember the Big Foot discovery last week?
Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit. I could have told them that for half the price of the research.
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One Legged Swimmer to Swim in Bejing

South Africa's Natalie Du Toit, will take off her prosthetic left leg to vie for a medal in the first open water race in Olympic history.

The 24-year-old native of South Africa lost half her left leg in a horrific accident seven years ago, but she refused to let it derail her hopes of competing against the world's best athletes.

"I can get in the water and be free of the prosthetic limb," she said in an interview earlier this year. "It's just me." Du Toit qualified for the Olympics like everyone else in her sport: She took fourth at the world championships in Spain, fulfilling a dream that began when she was 6 years old.

"I just want a top-five finish," she said. "It will be a tough race because everyone worked so hard, and I am just looking forward to it. Hopefully the training will pay off. I've been training harder than ever."






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