18 heads found at airport

18 human heads were found at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and the discovery alarmed customs that caused a hold-up in shipment, Washington Post reports Jan. 15. It turns out the heads were sent from Rome to the U.S. for anatomical research purposes.

Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman, Mary Paleologos, explained that the heads were appropriately stored, packaged, and tagged as human specimens. There is no suspicion of foul play. Containers were stores at Cook County morgue until officials decided what to do with them.

Paleologos said the 18 heads were frozen in sealed containers and were sent from a legitimate facility in Rome about a week before Christmas. They arrived via Lufthansa Airlines as cargo and on their way to a U.S. facility located at a suburb in Chicago. The Sun-Times reports that the hold-up is about an ongoing investigation involving the Chicago facility. An X-ray of the shipment alerted customs to the heads found inside. They also found the paperwork a "little confusing" and that's when the hold-up began.

A source told the paper that the investigation into the Chicago research facility is "absolutely not" related to the shipment of the heads.

2 killed in college shooting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Authorities say two people were shot and killed and a teen wounded in the parking lot of an eastern Kentucky community college.

A police dispatcher told The Associated Press the shooting happened Tuesday afternoon at Hazard Community & Technical college in Hazard, Ky. The dispatcher spoke on condition of anonymity because the coroner on site was the only official allowed to be quoted by name.

The dispatcher said the injured teen was being taken to the University of Kentucky hospital.

Conor Duff is the college’s evening coordinator. Duff said the shootings happened about 4:30 p.m. at the campus 90 miles southeast of Lexington. Duff said police then went through the school’s two buildings to ensure no one else was at risk.

Duff said the school was on lockdown.


HAZARD, KY. (FOXNEWS) – Kentucky police investigating a deadly shooting at a local community college.  It happened Tuesday afternoon at Hazard Community and Technical College.

A gunman shot and killed two people, and injured a teenager in the school’s parking lot.

The city’s chief of police recaps the details.

Chief Minor Allen / Hazard Police Department: “… I want to make it clear that this is a not a school-related type shooting. It did happen in the parking lot of the campus up there…and I have Dr… here with me today… but around 17:50, we received a call of a shooting that occurred at the Community College in the parking lot. When my officers arrived, they found three victims in the parking lot, two of which were already deceased. The third victim was transported to the … regional medical center and I think they’ve .. since then been transported to the University of Kentucky.”

Chief Minor Allen / Hazard Police Department: “… still working on identification on some of the victims… on the two victims in the parking lot. And at this time, we’ve had some information on it, as far as the motive, it possibly could be related to a domestic-type situation… has nothing to do with anything else that we’re aware of at this time.”

Police are still on scene at the college as their investigation continues.

Deaf twins euthanized

Distraught about going blind, 45-year-old deaf twin brothers from Belgium chose to be euthanized because they couldn't bear not to see one another, according to reports from Flanders.

Marc and Eddy Verbessem of Putte died Dec. 14 by lethal injection at Brussels University Hospital. Voluntary euthanasia has been legal in Belgium since September 2002.

The doctor who presided over the euthanasia described the twins as being "very happy."

"It was a relief to see the end of their suffering," David Dufour told Germany's RTL TV network. "They had a cup of coffee in the hall, it went well, and a rich conversation. The separation from their parents and brother was very serene and beautiful. At the last, there was a little wave of their hands, and then they were gone."

The twins, who were born deaf, had spent their entire lives together. Both were cobblers, and they never married or had children.

"They lived together, did their own cooking and cleaning. You could eat off the floor. Blindness would have made them completely dependent," their older brother, Dirk, told the LondonTelegraph. "They did not want to be in an institution.

"Their great fear was that they would no longer be able to see each other," he said. "That was for my brothers unbearable."

He said he and their parents tried to talk them out of it, but they were persuaded to let them die as they wanted.

The brothers' hospital refused their desire to end their lives, because doctors did not accept that they were suffering unbearable pain, one of the major requirements, the Telegraph says.

Swatch $1 billion

“The Harry Winston brand was competitively priced compared with its peers and we could bring diamond expertise and strategic connections to enhance value. Today there is a range of diamond resource opportunities while the value of heritage luxury brands has increased dramatically.” Gannicott added.
“This transaction represents a sound return on our original investment. It will leave us well equipped to realize upstream opportunities in an environment where cash has become a strategic resource while preserving and expanding our relationship with the downstream diamond business.” Gannicott explained further.
“Harry Winston brilliantly complements the prestige segment of the Group. We are proud and happy to welcome Harry Winston to the Swatch Group family – diamonds are still a girl’s best friend.” Nayla Hayek, Chairwoman of Swatch Group, said. The said business deal still needs to be approved by the regulatory board.
Nevertheless, under the Swatch-Harry Winston agreement, Harry Winston Diamond Inc. has agreed to use a new name after the closing of the transaction, and will eventually be called Dominion Diamond Corporation. Both companies are therefore being expected to explore the opportunities for a joint diamond polishing venture.

Defense attorney Matthew Hardy began his argument by showing a photograph of the boy at a neo-Nazi gathering with someone in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe along with two other people. All are giving Nazi salutes and the boy is holding a toy gun.

"Welcome to his life," the defense attorney said.

Hardy said the father, 32-year-old Jeff Hall, had threatened to burn down the family home while the family slept, slapped and whipped the boy, taught him to shoot and that violence was an appropriate response to problems.

"At the time he pulled the trigger — and he did — did he know what he was doing was wrong? No," Hardy said.

The attorney quoted the boy as saying, "'I thought if I shoot him maybe he won't be able to hurt us.'"

Hardy also said the boy blamed his stepmother for urging him to kill his father.

"He said, 'She told me if I shot him all the violence would stop,'" Hardy said.

The woman initially said she was the killer but quickly retracted the claim. She has not been charged in the case.

The defense attorney also urged the judge to consider that the boy was born with problems because his mother used methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana prenatally.

The boy "was almost genetically programmed to commit violence," Hardy said.

The judge asked the attorneys to address lesser offenses than murder, and Hardy suggested a rationale for voluntary manslaughter.

In contrast to the pictures shown by the defense, Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio showed photos of family outings to the beach and a birthday party in which the father participated.

"The boy was given his love and consideration," the prosecutor said of Hall. "The one person we seem not to be concerned about is the victim because he chose to join the National Socialist movement. Suddenly he's a non-person. But he was a loving father."

Soccio acknowledged the child had problems from the beginning of his life, had attacked teachers and behaved so badly that schools could not deal with him and he wound up being home-schooled.

But the prosecutor maintained the boy had the ability to think clearly and to premeditate his father's killing.

The defense attorney rested his case Tuesday without calling the boy to testify. The attorney said earlier that the defendant was on medication and was easily confused. He sometimes fell asleep during the trial.

The victim was a well-known gadfly at political meetings, and neighbors sometimes complained about his loud white supremacist gatherings, which were broadcast over speakers.

Riverside Superior Court Judge Jean P. Leonard, who heard the case without a jury, plans to issue her verdict on Monday.

Outside court, Hardy said he hopes that whatever the judge rules, the boy would not be sent to a juvenile justice facility but instead be placed in a private facility that offers therapy, medical treatment and schooling.

He said the boy has done well in his studies since he was arrested and shows high intelligence.

Hardy said it would be easier to place the boy if he is not convicted of murder.

But he said whatever happens, "We've got to help him. If you put him in the department of juvenile justice, you may be creating a serial killer. We're looking for a private placement for him."

The prosecutor did not comment outside court.

12-year-old guilty of murder

A judge found a 12-year-old boy guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced the 12-year-old murderer to remain in juvenile detention until he is 23. According to a Los Angeles Times report on Jan. 14, 2013, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Soccio commented that “the boy remains a threat to society. … I think he is a very dangerous boy."

Finding the 12-year-old Riverside boy guilty of murder was not an easy task for the judge, the Dist. Atty. Michael Soccio, or anyone involved in the case.

What made the case of the 12-year-old guilty murderer an emotionally challenging trial was the fact that the Riverside boy had lived a life of abuse and neglect.

The 12-year-old murderer’s father, Jeffrey Hall, was a West Coast leader for the neo-Nazi organization known as the National Socialist Movement. According to court records, Jeffrey Hall took his son to neo-Nazi meetings and activities that included coordinated events with hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan. During one of those events, the father and son team joined others for an illegal immigrant “patrol” along the Mexican border.     

 During the trial of the 12-year-old, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jean P. Leonard commented that the fact that Jeffrey Hall tried to indoctrinate his son into the hate group, that he tried to brain wash him, and that he exposed his 12-year-old son to guns, hate, and violence certainly contributed to the 12-year-old’s murder.

On May, 1, 2011, while Jeffrey Hall was asleep on a couch early in the morning, the then only 10-year-old “crept downstairs with Hall’s .357 magnum revolver and shot his father point-blank in the head.”

The 12-year-old boy’s murder of his father was only the culmination of a life filled with trouble. Not surprisingly, the 12-year-old boy who was found guilty of murder today had been “expelled from eight schools for violent outbursts, including an attempt to strangle a teacher with a phone cord.”

What does a boy have to do to signal to society that he is a walking time bomb?

What if this 12-year-old boy would not have been only guilty of murdering his father but 27 other people as in the Connecticut school shooting?

No discussion about gun control, mental health, or school safety measures can save the lives of any children or adults if society does not start to act.

How much physical or mental abuse does a child need to endure by a father or a mother before someone else takes action?

If there is no responsible action for a child in a family, in a school, or in society, it is no surprise that a 12-year-old is guilty of murder.                                                          details

No pants subway ride

You probably won’t see London or France on the train this Sunday, but you will definitely see underpants.

Boston's 6th annual No Pants Subway Ride, hosted by the social arts and event group BostonSOS, will take place on Sunday, January 13. On a typically mundane train ride, passengers may suddenly find themselves surrounded by pants-less peers.

James Cobalt, the executive director of BostonSOS, said the event is great because it has a guaranteed shock factor.

“No matter how popular it gets . . . there are always a ton of people who don’t know what’s going on,” Cobalt said. “For me, the most interesting thing of all (with this event) is to see how people try to perceive and understand what’s going on. For me, it’s just silly . . . For a lot of people, that’s not enough.”

The No Pants Subway Ride is an annual event that was started by New York’s Improv Everywhere in 2002. Since then, the event has grown and now takes place in cities across the world. When the event started in Boston in 2008, about 70 people participated. Last year, about 350 people willingly de-pantsed themselves on the train.