Fairfax prom queen is actually a guy...

Sergio Garcia, a gay student, beats out the female candidates. His campaign started out as a bit of a stunt, but it ended up generating dialogue about gender roles on the L.A. campus.
By Ari B. Bloomekatz May 28, 2009
Sergio Garcia stood in the gymnasium and told the senior class at Fairfax High School not to worry: If he was elected, he wouldn't wear a dress."I will be wearing a suit," Garcia said, "but don't be fooled, deep down inside, I am a queen!"



Garcia, 18, spent most of his years at Fairfax openly gay and wanted to be part of the Los Angeles school's prom court -- but not as prom king. He felt that vying for prom queen would better suit his personality, so he decided to seek that crown, running against a handful of female classmates.He said it started out as a bit of a stunt and challenge -- he wasn't sure the school would allow it. But his campaign for queen ended up being serious and sparking dialogue about gender roles on campus.A few days before the dance and election, the contenders gave short speeches on why they deserved the crown.
"At one time, prom may have been a big popularity contest where the best-looking guy or girl were crowned king and queen. Things have changed and it's no longer just about who has the most friends or who wears the coolest clothes," Garcia told the crowd of seniors. "Sure, I'm not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye."The audience erupted in applause after his speech, and a group of his female friends spent the rest of the week wearing pink crowns and campaigning for him.On Saturday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, wearing a charcoal-gray tuxedo and a black bow tie, he was named prom queen."I felt invincible," Garcia said.He's among the first male students in Southern California to take the title usually owned by female high school beauties."It just shows how open-minded our class is," said Vanessa Lo, 18, the school's senior class president. more

Mother arrested on a felony neglect charge for not providing child with dental care

MANATEE COUNTY - Police say a Palmetto mother neglected to provide her child with needed dental care, which led to severe tooth decay.AC =
Tamika S. White, 19, was arrested Wednesday on a felony neglect charge.
Her daughter, whose age was not listed, has suffered from tooth pain for more than a year, according to a Palmetto Police Department report.
The child's grandmother urged White to take the child to the dentist.
White took the child to a dentist who told her the child had bottle mouth -- tooth decay common in infants and toddlers, the report said.
But White's Medicaid coverage would not pay for the treatment, and she refused to seek money for treatment through child-support payments from the child's father, police said. more

Victoria Gotti home is under foreclosure

Victoria Gotti's palatial Long Island estate -- which she and her sons once flaunted in the reality show "Growing Up Gotti" -- is now under foreclosure.
Despite a vast fortune amassed by her late father, Gambino boss John "Dapper Don" Gotti, the flashy Mafia princess has skipped two years of loan payments and will lose her home in tony Old Westbury, according to court records.
The 46-year-old former reality-TV star owes $650,000 to lender JPMorgan Chase -- a debt secured by a mortgage on the nearly $4.2 million mansion that she won in her divorce with ex-husband Carmine Agnello.
"I was awarded full ownership of marital property . . . and all I inherited was a house with millions of dollars' worth of debt," Gotti told The Post yesterday. more

Man bit by snake while sitting on toliet

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his penis as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday.
"As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake."
The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said.more

Woman arrested after flicking cigarette on baby

A Copperas Cove woman was in custody Wednesday after a cigarette was flicked at her 1-year-old baby girl during an argument.
Amanda Briscoe, 30, is charged with injury to a child.
She was arrested Tuesday night.
Police say she and her husband were arguing at their home when the cigarette was flicked, producing a shower of ashes that caused a small burn on the infant’s scalp.
The girl did not require hospital treatment, police said Wednesday.

Regional Pilots earn Low Pay of $12.50 hour

Pilots who work for regional airlines can earn as little as $12.50 per hour, less than the average hourly wage of a New York City taxi driver, FOXNews.com has learned.
Hourly wages for regional pilots start at $12.50, according to Avjobs.com. In comparison, a cabbie in New York averages $17 an hour, the city's Taxi & Limousine Commission officials told FOXNews.com.
Regional pilots, who carried 160 million American passengers across America last year, receive the same FAA-approved training as their counterparts at larger airlines, but they must endure low pay and long hours, among other hardships, if they hope to reach the "major leagues," according to a former National Transportation Safety Board official. more

Springfield man gets 90 days for shooting wife during sex

URBANA — A Springfield man was sentenced to serve 90 days in jail Tuesday, May 12, despite the victim’s claims that a shooting last November was accidental.
Timothy Havens, 38, of Hilliard Street, was sentenced to serve the time in a case in which he was accused of shooting his wife with a handgun. He had called 911 to report that he shot his wife “during sex.”
Champaign County Common Pleas Court Judge Roger Wilson also ordered Havens to serve 80 hours of community service, attend anger management counseling, pay a $300 fine and serve three years probation. He was also ordered not to have contact with the victim. He did receive credit for time already served.
Havens had previously pleaded guilty to one count of violating a protection order and one count of assault.
Champaign County Prosecutor Nick Selvaggio said the case was complicated, in part because the victim maintained that the shooting was an accident throughout the investigation.
However, he also argued some of the evidence in the case did not seem to match the story and there had been a history of violence in the home.
The victim had also filed a protection order, which meant Havens should not have been in the home when the shooting occurred. Even after the shooting, both Havens and the victim were trying to reconcile and continued to violate the protection order, he said.
Kevin Lennen, Havens’ attorney, argued Havens has never been in serious legal trouble previously, and stressed that the victim had maintained the shooting was accidental from the beginning.
He said because the victim had filed with the court to rescind the protection order, there was some confusion about whether they were allowed to see each other.
However, Wilson said he believes both parties simply ignored the protection order, and should be kept apart for now.