Texas police shake down drivers, lawsuit claims

TENAHA, Texas (CNN) -- Roderick Daniels was traveling through East Texas in October 2007 when, he says, he was the victim of a highway robbery.

Police in the small East Texas town of Tenaha are accused of unjustly taking valuables from motorists.

The Tennessee man says he was ordered to pull his car over and surrender his jewelry and $8,500 in cash that he had with him to buy a new car.
But Daniels couldn't go to the police to report the incident.
The men who stopped him were the police.
Daniels was stopped on U.S. Highway 59 outside Tenaha, near the Louisiana state line. Police said he was driving 37 mph in a 35 mph zone. They hauled him off to jail and threatened him with money-laundering charges -- but offered to release him if he signed papers forfeiting his property.
"I actually thought this was a joke," Daniels told CNN.
But he signed.
"To be honest, I was five, six hundred miles from home," he said. "I was petrified." more

More Americans taking drugs for mental illness

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Many more Americans have been using prescription drugs to treat mental illness since 1996, in part because of expanded insurance coverage and greater familiarity with the drugs among primary care doctors, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
They said 73 percent more adults and 50 percent more children are using drugs to treat mental illness than in 1996.
Among adults over 65, use of so-called psychotropic drugs -- which include antidepressants, antipsychotics and Alzheimer's medicines -- doubled between 1996 and 2006.
"What we generally find is there has been an increase in access to care for all populations," said Sherry Glied of Columbia University in New York, whose study appears in the journal Health Affairs.
"Mental health has become much more a part of mainstream medical care," Glied said in a telephone interview.
In 2006, they said 16 percent of adults 65 and older had some form of mental health diagnosis. more

Microsoft lays off workers, more job cuts coming?

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it is laying off more workers, almost completing its plan to cut 5,000 jobs by June 2010, and left the door open for yet more job cuts. more

Justices Toss Appeals Court Ruling Against FCC, in regards to Janet Jackson Breast Case

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a federal appeals court to re-examine its ruling in favor of CBS Corp. in a legal fight over entertainer Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. The high court on Monday directed the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to consider reinstating the $550,000 fine that the Federal Communications Commission imposed on CBS over Jackson's breast-baring performance at the 2004 Super Bowl. The order follows the high court ruling last week that narrowly upheld the FCC's policy threatening fines against even one-time uses of curse words on live television. more

Cowboys scout paralyzed after canopy collapse

A scout for the Dallas Cowboys is permanently paralyzed from the waist down because of injuries suffered when a canopy covering the team's practice field was blown down by a storm on Saturday, the National Football League team said.
In a statement late on Sunday the team said scouting assistant Rich Behm, 33, had sustained a fracture that "caused a severing of the spinal cord ... causing permanent paralysis from the waist down." more

Woman accused of taking 500 pounds of gold from job

A New York woman was charged Wednesday with stealing as much as $12 million in gold bullion and jewelry over a period of six years, lifting the ill-gotten booty from her employer by concealing the stash in the lining of her pocketbook.

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man, 20, arrested for attempted murder of grandmother

PONOTOC COUNTY, Okla. -- A 20-year-old Pontotoc County man stands accused of trying to kill his grandmother. Daniel Lewis Whelchel was arrested Monday just outside of Ada.
According to the Pontotoc County Sheriff's Department, Whelchel lived with his grandmother, 60-year-old Elaine Welchel, and had done so for over 18 years.

On Sunday night, Mr. Whelchel told his grandmother he was tired of waiting for her to die naturally, and according to the sheriff, asked her if she wanted to die.
Mr. Welchel then allegedly tried to break her neck, beat her until she was unconscious, and left her in a field near Ada.
Elaine Whelchel is now recovering at a local hospital.
Daniel Whelchel faces attempted murder charges.