Bus Stops - August 19

Man Saves Lives of 65+ Kids on a Bus in Eden Prairie (KSTP) 

(At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens and Chief Rob Reynolds recognized the heroic act of a young man named Timothy Taormina with a Commendation Award which is awarded to department personnel or citizens for excellent or unusual accomplishments or actions. The award reads as follows: “At 10:00 on the morning of July 20, a group of 65 children from a church in Savage was traveling west on I-494 when the driver of the bus passed out and slumped over in his seat as a result of a medical emergency. Timothy Taormina, a chaperone with the church group, was sitting directly behind the bus driver and noticed the driver’s condition. Mr. Taormina jumped out of his seat, grabbed the steering wheel and applied the brake while guiding the bus to safety in the grassy area of a cloverleaf ramp at highways 494 and 212. Mr. Taormina and other chaperones on the bus then guided the children to safety out the back exit of the bus.)

Alaska student arrested, accused of having gun on school bus (Reuters) 

(An Anchorage high school student was arrested on Thursday after he was found carrying a loaded gun on a school bus, authorities said. The 19-year-old had a .22 caliber handgun with him as he rode a bus from a local high school to a nearby vocational-education center, Anchorage School District officials said.)

Bus driver recounts long minutes of terror attack (Haaretz) 

(Witnesses describe attackers dressed in Egyptian military fatigues. "I thought they were soldiers repairing the fence," Bilefsky recalls. "I slowed a bit, and then I caught a hail of bullets.")

President's $1.1 M "Stagecoach" Made in Canada (The New American) 

(President Barack Obama has been traveling in style — Canadian style — while riding through the Midwest to talk about creating jobs in America. The New York Post reported Wednesday that the $1.1 million bus (pictured, left)—-one of two purchased for the Secret Service — carrying the President through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, was made by the Quebec company, Prevost. It is the top of the line, VIP H3-45 model used by many rock bands and country music acts, Christine Garant of Prevost told the Post.)

Obama Bus Tour Totally Rocks Midwest (Comedy Central) 

(Dude, man, there's like, nothin' better than following your favorite superstar jam band around on a late-summer tour, am I right? And while stalking Dark Star or the String Cheese Incident is fun, lately I'm thinkin' we need to pack this VW bus up and get our asses on the road behind the coolest pack of hippies in the world, Team Obama!)

Ex-school bus driver gets 14 1/2 years for molesting girls (Komo News) 

(A former Olympia School District employee was sentenced to 14 1/2 years in prison for molesting kindergarten girls.
In court on Thursday, former school bus driver Gary D. Shafer hung his head low as the mothers of two of his victims choked back their tears and described the horror and anguish their families had suffered at his hands.)

Student's death in road mishap triggers violence (Zee News) 

(A class IX student was today run over by a roadways bus in Modinagar near here, triggering violent protests by a mob of students who set afire a police post and damaged over 40 vehicles, police said. 15-year-old Kapil Sharma, a student of K N Modi College, was killed when the speeding UP roadways bus hit him while he, along with his classmates, was participating in a march to express solidarity with Anna Hazare, they said.)

Bus-ted Roller Blader Reportedly Did Not Have The Right Of Way (Gothamist) 

(Yesterday morning a 67-year-old roller blading Upper West Side woman was run over by an M42 bus at the intersection of 43rd Street and the Hudson River greenway and now it seems she did not have the right of way. Shelby Grayson (who is a year younger than we originally reported) was reportedly skating south at the time of the accident and tried to squeeze between the bus and a vehicle that turned left towards the Circle Line terminal before it. "She was weaving between vehicles," a police source told the Daily News (which has some very graphic, Wizard of Oz-style pics). "The driver had the right of way.")

Special ed student left on bus in Crestwood for five hours (South Town Star) 

(Tuesday was supposed to be the first day of school for Alexis Robinson, and the bus picked her up in Country Club Hills promptly at 7:39 a.m. for the trip to her Orland Park school. For Robinson, 19, who has Down syndrome, it was an early start, as she was used to sleeping in during the summer months.)

Actor Burt Reynolds faces foreclosure on Florida home (KTVA) 

(Veteran actor Burt Reynolds is facing foreclosure on his longtime southeast Florida home, according to a lawsuit filed by a mortgage firm. The 75-year-old is known for starring roles including in films "Deliverance" and "Smokey and the Bandit" from the 1970s. He also won a Golden Globe for his role as a porn king in the 1997 film "Boogie Nights". The mortgage on the house in Hobe Sound that is facing foreclosure was taken out in 1994, a year after Reynolds' widely publicized divorce from actress Loni Anderson.)

Jihadist web site posts death threat against David Letterman (The Globe and Mail) 

(A Muslim militant has urged American followers to assassinate U.S. talk show host David Letterman, saying his tongue deserved to be cut out, a U.S. intelligence monitoring group said on Wednesday. The SITE intelligence group said the death threat was posted on an online website used by militants after the writer became upset by a joke Letterman made about the death of a leading member of al-Qaeda killed in an air strike in Pakistan. )

Man Arrested for ‘Vampire’ Attack on Woman Really Sucks (The Stir) 

(A vampire has been arrested in Galveston, Texas. Nineteen-year-old Lyle Bensley is being held on $40,000 bond after he allegedly broke into a woman's home and bit her on the neck. Police found Bensley in a nearby parking lot in only his boxer shorts, hissing and growling, claiming he was a 500-year-old vampire that just needed to feed. He started running from the cops, and scaled two fences yelling over his shoulder that he didn't want to feed on humans, before he was captured and taken into custody. Oh yeah, it's come to this. And it gets weirder.)

Snake bites man in car after yard sale purchase (Boston Globe) 

(Police say a Pennsylvania man picked up more than he bargained for at a yard sale.
Duncansville police Chief James Ott tells the Altoona Mirror (http://bit.ly/nZzJzs) that a small snake bit Donald Forshey on the leg Wednesday as he and his girlfriend were driving home from a yard sale. Ott says the snake likely slithered into a milk crate containing items the couple had purchased.)

Former New York lifeguard sues over skimpy swimwear rules (WHNT) 

(A former lifeguard is suing the New York State Department of Parks and Recreation for doing what he says they have no right to do -- compelling a man in his late 50s to wear Speedo-style swim briefs. Roy Lester, now 61, began working as a lifeguard at Jones Beach on Long Island more than 40 years ago, but says he lost his weekend job after the state imposed new swimsuit rules in an annual rehiring test that he was uncomfortable complying with.)

Former ‘SpongeBob’ Artist Sued for Allegedly Arranging Attack on His Art Dealer (WHNT) 

(According to a lawsuit filed last week in Superior Court in Los Angeles, a former lead artist on the cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants” hired accomplices to attack his art dealer and take over her gallery in order to gain control of the sale of his work — claims the artist denies.)

Would be car thief defeated by two young boys and a poodle (MSNBC) 

(A car thief who inadvertently scooped up a minivan with two kids and a poodle inside dropped the kids — and the car — at their home in Queens after the children scolded him for trying to raid the change tray. The father of the two boys in the would-be stolen van, Sebastian Russo, tells The New York Post the fracas began when he parked his car outside a store on Cross Bay Boulevard to buy a leash for his toy poodle, Colette. He left the vehicle running. Shortly after Russo entered the store, another man ran in and told him his van had been stolen.)

Bacteria found in dog poop dominates in air over Cleveland and Detroit (Denver Post) 

(University of Colorado researchers sampling the winter air in four Midwestern cities say the bacterial colonies found in Cleveland and Detroit most closely resemble that found in dog poop. In their study, published July 29 in "Applied and Environmental Microbiology," the researchers compared the DNA of collected bacteria to a database of bacteria from known sources such as leaf surfaces, soil, and human, cow and dog feces.)

Oxford Adds 'Sexting' and 'Mankini' to Dictionary (Fox NY) 

(Sexting, retweeting and even the painfully revealing mankini swimsuit made famous by the movie character Borat all feature in a new edition of Britain's most venerated dictionary, launched Thursday. Gastric band and cyberbullying -- use of electronic communication to bully a person -- are among the other 400 new entries in the centenary edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.)

Target in Facebook murder-for-hire case shot to death (Toronto Star) 

(Even with the people accused of plotting to kill him behind bars, Corey White wasn’t safe. In May, White was the target of an alleged Facebook murder-for-hire plot, allegedly arranged by the mother of his 3-year-old daughter. He was killed Monday night just hours after a hearing in which a judge held the woman and another man for trial for conspiring to kill him. Now, police are trying to figure out whether White’s slaying was connected to the Facebook case or just a deadly coincidence.)

Adult-inspired lingerie marketed for young girls (CNN) 

(They recline in their bras and panties, some wearing pearls and Brigitte Bardot-inspired bouffants, shooting smiles at the camera. The images are just like many a lingerie ad designed to entice, but these are images of young girls -- those who aren't even old enough to need bras.)

Scrabble makes you smarter, say Calgary researchers (Calgary Herald) 

(Addictive and all-consuming, it was named after a word describing frantic, uncontrolled scratching movements. It sits in the closet of almost every home in the country and it changes the way your brain processes words. It’s Scrabble. And according to research published by the University of Calgary, the popular board game makes you smarter.)

Kevin Smith's Red State pickets the Westboro Baptist Church (The Guardian) 

(Kevin Smith is no stranger to protests. When his religious comedy Dogma was released in 1999, Smith heard of plans to picket cinemas in his home state of New Jersey. So he went to work on protest sign of his own. It read: "Dogma is dogshit" – and he joined the small band of campaigners at his local cinema. He was even interviewed by the regional news station. "I don't think it stands for anything positive," he declared, with a knowing smirk.)

Anne Hathaway's Catwoman diet: 'kale and dust' (CTV) 

(Anne Hathaway is living on a diet of kale and dust. The 'One Day' actress - who is a committed vegetarian - has been eating the nutritious form of cabbage to ensure she gets in shape to play Catwoman, who traditionally wears a skintight catsuit in the comic book movies, in forthcoming Batman film 'The Dark Knight Rises'.)

Dark Knight Rises: Things We Wish Weren't Spoiled (IGN) 

(If you have somehow managed to avoid the onslaught of Dark Knight Rises photos and videos leaking from the set recently, then, um, that's awesome. Seriously, teach us how. And then please steer clear of this article, okay? Thanks. )

Scientists alter chicken DNA to create embryo with 'alligator-like' snout (Daily Mail) 

(Scientists have undone the progress made by evolution by altering chicken DNA to create embryos with alligator-like snouts instead of beaks. Experts changed the DNA of chicken embryos in the early stage of their development, enabling them to undo evolutionary progress and give the creatures snouts which are thought to have been lost in the cretaceous period millions of years ago.)

Canadians becoming more attached to Internet, smartphones (Vancovuer Sun) 

(Canadians are turning off their televisions and cutting their land lines in favour of online streaming and smartphones in record numbers, Canada's telecommunications regulator flags in a report released Thursday. The number of mobile phone subscribers is expected to reach 29.5 million by 2014, representing a penetration rate of 85 per cent. By then, smartphones will account for half of all mobile handsets in Canada, up from 31 per cent in 2009.)

NASA: Aliens might destroy us because of our gases (CNET) 

(It's not just the threat of another recession that tells us we're destroying ourselves. We express it in every alien movie ever made.Save the Earth. Save the Earth. A question that, increasingly, offers the question: "Why?" Still we, cranially deficient as we are, prefer to muse about "when?" and "how?" Well, the earthy Guardian points me to a new NASA report, written by scientists at NASA and Penn State.)

(Big shout out to Martin Laksman, winner of the Casemate Jay & Silent Bob design contest, for this sweet Bus Stop banner! Check out The Bus Driver's interview with him on Saturday. Thanks again, Martin!)