Prisoner stabbed after scaring cat

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Prison officials in New Zealand said a prisoner nearing the end of his sentence for rape and murder stabbed another prisoner for frightening his cat.
Corrections Association President Beven Hanlon said the attacker was living with the victim in a minimum security self-care unit at Rimutaka Prison in Wellington that was designed to help prepare long-term prisoners for release, The Dominion Post reported Thursday.
Hanlon said the victim entered the shared living room in the unit Dec. 26, causing the cat to flee. The attacker stabbed the other man six times in the neck and likely would have killed him had a third prisoner not intervened, Hanlon said.
"That prisoner is lucky to be alive," Hanlon said. The victim was taken to Hutt Hospital and returned to the prison Dec. 28.
Tony Howe, acting southern assistant regional manager for the Corrections Association, said the attack was carried out with a "makeshift weapon."
Howe said police and corrections officials are investigating the incident and the attacker has been moved to a high security area.

Zune Extinction Event: Microsoft Music Players All Freeze Up at Once

Thousands of Zune portable media players made by Microsoft Corp. suddenly froze up early Wednesday, Dec. 31, labeling Internet wits to label the phenomenon "Z2K."
The model affected was the Zune 30, which sports a 30-gigabyte hard drive and was first released in November 2006, though it is still sold.
Later models, including the flash-memory-based Zune 4, Zune 8 and Zune 16, as well as the hard-drive-based Zune 80 and Zune 120, were spared.
"Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off," one user wrote in to the Gizmodo tech blog early Wednesday. "Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and ... freezes with a full loading bar. I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB

Some online techies recommended taking the thing apart, disconnecting both the battery and the hard drive, waiting a few seconds, then plugging them back in. more

Teens Set Fire to Boy's Hair

EDEN, Md. (Dec. 31) - Police say two Maryland teens lit a boy's hair on fire and recorded the attack on a camera phone.
The Wicomico County Sheriff's Office says the victim was sleeping early Sunday at a home in Eden in eastern Maryland when 17-year-old Forrest Wilson poured lighter fluid on his hair and set it ablaze. The victim put out the fire, then discovered a 14-year-old boy was recording the video.

Investigators say the video showed Wilson light the 16-year-old victim's hair on fire. Police did not know a motive and withheld the victim's name. The victim, whose hair was singed, notified his parents later that day.
Wilson and the 14-year-old are charged with assault and other charges — Wilson as an adult, and the younger teen as a juvenile.

Teacher Fired for Marrying Divorced Man to Sue Catholic School

A San Antonio teacher plans to sue her former employer, a Catholic high school, saying she was fired for marrying a man who had been divorced, a proceeding not recognized by the Catholic Church, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday.
Marquis LaFortune, 25, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after her Nov. 22 ceremony. She claims that once the school found out her fiancé had been divorced, Deacon Patrick Cunningham told her she had three options: seek an annulment, resign or be fired.
“I would have resigned if I'd felt like I'd done something wrong,” LaFortune told the Express-News last week. “I couldn't get out of bed. It's just been this cloud. It was supposed to be the best week of my life, and I had to pull myself together for the ceremony.”
Central Catholic High School said federal law upholds the institution's decision.
“We have very clear policies on what we expect from Catholic people on our faculty, and there has been a violation of that,” Brother Peter Pontolillo told the Express-News. “When a person does something that is obviously contrary to everything that our Catholic school stands for, we cannot just look through our fingers.” more

Who said that crime doesn’t pay?

Crime shouldn’t pay but in the case of perverted Plattsburgh politico predator George “Chris” Ortloff, he will reportedly collect a $53,000 a year pension for the rest of his life, courtesy of the state taxpayers, even while he’s serving a minimum sentence in federal prison after admitting that he used the Internet to attempt to engage in sexual acts with girls he believed to be 11 and 12 years old.
Ortloff, 61, a former 10-term Assemblyman from Plattsburgh and most recently a commissioner on the state Parole Board, pulling down an annual salary of $101,600, was arrested in the nude on Oct. 13 at a Colonie motel where he thought he was meeting the pre-teen girls. He pleaded guilty this week to a single felony count to avoid being indicted and to gain his release until sentencing.

Police said that between June of 2008 and his arrest on Oct. 13, Ortloff had been communicating over the Internet with an undercover investigator with the New York State Police, trying to set up a sexual liaison in Albany although he believed he was communicating with the girls’ mother. The “mother” was actually an undercover investigator assigned to the New York State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Albany.

Ortloff could be sentenced up to life in prison when he returns to federal court on April 23, after posting a $100,000 bond and released so he could be home for Christmas. The minimum term he must serve, unless there’s some sweetheart deal, is 10 years during which the state will pay him over a half million dollars. more

Chronic 911 caller charged with harassing authorities

A Tamaqua man who had more than 100 contacts with police in the past two years faces charges of harassing authorities with calls about a rock in his yard being moved 4 inches, pool water ruining his grass and children making noise.David W. Roeder, 51, of 130 W. Spruce St. should face single counts of persistent disorderly conduct and recklessly endangering another person, District Judge Stephen J. Beyer of Tamaqua ruled. Beyer dismissed a count of harassment by communication.Beyer's ruling came exactly two years after Tamaqua Police Chief Dave Mattson, then a patrolman, advised Roeder in writing "to cease and desist the nonsense calls to the station and 911 center."In an arrest affidavit, police say they brought the charges after years of warning Roeder against making phone calls to Schuylkill County Communications Center without a legitimate complaint. His calls tied up emergency telephone lines and operators and kept police officers from responding to legitimate police calls, the affidavit says.

Court Strikes Down Sex Offender's 28-Year Sentence

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ―
A federal appeals court has ruled that a convicted sex offender's 28-year prison sentence for failing to properly update his home address with authorities was too harsh.The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered a lower court to reconsider the punishment of Cecilio Gonzalez. He was handed the lengthy term under California's three-strikes law, which requires a minimum prison sentence of 25 years after a third violent or serious felony conviction.Gonzalez had failed to check in with authorities five days after his birthday. Sex offenders are required to update authorities annually of their home addresses.The appeals court said that failure to update his Burbank address was a technical violation and didn't count as a third strike.