Flordia teen arrested and charged with the mutilation of 19 cats

A Florida teen was arrested and charged over the weekend in connection with the murder and mutilation of 19 cats in Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay. Tyler Weinman, 18, faces 19 counts of animal cruelty, 19 counts of improper disposal of animal remains and four counts of burglary, reports CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami. Weinman is being held on $249,500 bail. The attacks began more than a month ago and cat-owners had been urged recently to keep their pets confined indoors or use fencing to keep the cats in their yards. Residents were also asked to be vigilant for any suspicious activity in the neighborhood. Weinman was taken into custody Saturday night while he attended a party. Police were still investigating whether he had any accomplices in the alleged attacks.

No Underwear, No Deodorant, No Job?

A Florida city is cleaning up with a new dress code that requires city workers to wear underwear and use deodorant. The city council in Brooksville north of Tampa recently approved a dress code that instructs employees to observe "strict personal hygiene." It also prohibits exposed underwear, clothing with foul language, "sexually provocative" clothes and piercings anywhere except the ears.

Pilot died in mid-flight at the controls, plane landed safely

A Continental Airlines en route from Belgium landed safely in Newark, N.J., today after the pilot died in mid-flight at the controls of a jet with 247 passengers on board.

The Federal Aviation Administration says a plane carrying a pilot who died in mid-flight has landed safely at the airport in Newark, N.J.(ABC News)
The crew abord 777 Boeing jet included two trained pilots who took control of the plane and landed it at the airport just outside New York City. There were also federal air marshals aboard on the flight, Continental Flight 61.
The 61-year-old pilot died of natural causes, and the passengers were not immediately told of his death, according to the airline.
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"The captain of Continental flight 61, which was en route from Brussels to Newark, died in flight, apparently of natural causes," Continental said in a statement. read more

Wireless Giants Deny Price-Fixing Texts

CNET) Executives from the nation's largest phone companies went to Capitol Hill Tuesday to defend themselves against allegations that they've been fixing prices on text messaging. Executives from AT&T and Verizon Communications testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, saying their companies have not been involved in a conspiracy to hike text messaging rates. And they argued that competition is alive and well in the wireless market. The hearing was called in response to a letter sent in September from Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) to the four major U.S. operators - Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA - asking them to explain why their text rates had all increased to 20 cents per message. Kohl noted in his letter that these rates marked a 100 percent increase since 2005. Shortly after the letter was sent, about 37 separate class action lawsuits were filed against wireless operators alleging price-fixing on text-messaging services. Both AT&T and Verizon have denied these claims. And the companies came to Capitol Hill to clear their names. "Especially in light of this litigation firestorm, we want to make it perfectly clear that AT&T sets the prices for all of its products on a unilateral basis," said Wayne Watts, general counsel for AT&T, in his written testimony. "There is no evidence to support an accusation that anyone at AT&T engaged in any inappropriate, much less illegal, behavior as alleged in these lawsuits." read more

MySpace is cutting nearly 30 percent of its work force

LOS ANGELES (AP) - MySpace said Tuesday it is cutting nearly 30 percent of its work force in a bid to become more efficient, bringing its staffing level more in line with its more popular rival, Facebook.
The move, the latest cost-cutting effort at the site, comes less than two months after the unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS) (NWSA) hired former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta, 39, as its new chief executive.
It also comes a day after data from tracking firm comScore show Facebook has caught up with MySpace in monthly U.S. visitors for the first time.
"Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company," Van Natta said in a statement.
The cuts amount to about 420 people, bringing the total number of MySpace's U.S. staff to 1,000. As of May, Facebook had about 850 employees worldwide, the vast majority in the United States.
MySpace's user base has stagnated at about 125 million worldwide users, while Facebook said its usage has doubled to more than 200 million in less than a year.
Until now, MySpace still had the edge among U.S. users. But numbers from comScore show that in May, MySpace and Facebook both had about 70 million users apiece in the United States.
MySpace generates more revenue, according to Internet research firm eMarketer; it estimates that MySpace generated about $605 million in global advertising revenue last year, compared with $250 million for Facebook. MySpace's revenue is expected to shrink next year while Facebook's is seen as growing. read more

Baby Sitter Arrested After Baby Drowns In Bucket

A New York City baby sitter faces charges following the death of an 11-month-old boy. Authorities say the toddler may have fallen head-first into a mop bucket. Police say 28-year-old Krystal Khan was arrested Monday on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child. Authorities responded to a call of an unconscious child at her home in Queens. James Farrior died at a hospital. BlogWatch: What The Blogs Are SayingAn autopsy will be performed on Tuesday to determine the cause of his death. The name of Khan's attorney was not immediately on record. There was no answer at a telephone number listed for her home. EMS units responded to the call just before 11 a.m. at a home on 108th Street in Richmond Hill.Neighbors say the woman who runs the place came outside screaming. "When I came outside I heard the baby fell into a bucket of water," said Angie Singh, who lives nearby. The child was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived. "They said he's not breathing, and then the firemen just ran with him," said neighbor Liz Rivero. One neighbor said CPR was being performed on the child as he was taken from the house. read more

Father and son sentenced to two years in prison Friday for stealing more than $3 million from a California church

SANTA ANA, Calif., June 12 (UPI) -- A father and son were sentenced to two years in prison Friday for stealing more than $3 million from a California church where both served as pastors.
Richard Wimberly Cunningham, 76, of Moreno Valley, Calif., and Philip Ladd Cunningham, 52, of Laurinburg, N.C., appeared in court in Orange County, the Los Angeles Times reported. Both had pleaded guilty to grand theft.
Prosecutors said the Cunninghams wrote checks to themselves on eight accounts belonging to the Calvary Baptist Yorba Linda Church and School. They also used church credit cards for personal expenses.
The money was spent on time shares in Hawaii and Palm Springs, Calif., memberships in country clubs and expensive cars. The Cunninghams have already paid $3.1 million in restitution, the newspaper said.