Bus Stops - December 19

Batteries stolen from Van Dyke buses, classes canceled (WXYZ) 

(Van Dyke Public Schools were closed Friday due to battery thefts from school buses. They say 14 buses had batteries stolen, there are three batteries for each bus. "These are people who knew what they were doing," says Superintendent Joe Pius. However, he says the thieves actually did them a favor. "They actually didn't cut the cables which would have cost us more money. They actually unbolted every single one of the batteries," says Pius.)

I won’t sit at the back of the bus (Y NET NEWS) 

(Until yesterday, I was sure that I live in a free country. I was certain that a person’s dignity and freedom are supreme values in our diverse society. Indeed, there are calls against one group or another, but people, whoever they are, regardless of religion, creed or gender, will be respected, because this is the kind of society I grew up in. These are the values I learned.)

4 juveniles in custody after attack on bus (JS Online) 

(Sheriff's deputies have taken four 12- to 14-year-olds into custody in connection with an attack on a 24-year-old mother on a Milwaukee County bus. The juveniles were taken into custody Friday, and the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department recommended felony charges of battery to a transit passenger, the Sheriff's Department said Saturday. Two other juveniles were taken into custody Thursday. The detention of the juveniles comes as assaults at bus stops and in Milwaukee County Transit buses have been gaining more attention.)

Box office report: 'Sherlock Holmes' tops ho-hum weekend with $40 mil (Entertainment Weekly) 

(Hollywood’s autumn blues continued as the box office trailed 2010 for the fourth week in a row. Thanks to the surprisingly soft debuts of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, this weekend’s top dozen movies earned about 13 percent less than last year’s. Luckily, next week brings us The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, We Bought a Zoo, and the wide expansion of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. If those movies can’t lift the business out of the gutter, then Hollywood better start revising its New Year’s resolutions.)

Matt Damon turns into Damon Claus for his cause (CBS) 

(Matt Damon dons a Santa suit and transforms into Damon Claus to promote the gift of clean water for his foundation Water.org. The kids piling up onto Damon Claus' lap ask to meet Justin Bieber or want a Darth Vader mask for Christmas, but Damon suggests a Water.org water bottle instead. The kids don't take that option so well.)

Toddlers’ ‘Twinkle sign’ ban (Sun UK) 

(TODDLERS have been banned from making a sign while singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star — because it could be offensive to the deaf. The gesture, which children use when singing "like a diamond in the sky", is similar to "vagina" in sign language. Parents at the Sure Start mother and toddler group in Acomb, North Yorks, slammed the move.)

Tomas Bautista accused of having sex with roommate's 3-year-old Chihuahua (WPTV) 

(An Oakland Park man accused of getting a little too friendly with his roommate's 3-year-old Chihuahua mix is due in court Friday morning to face an animal cruelty charge. Tomas Bautista, 40, was arrested in February after his roommate found him passed out with his pants down in the backyard of their home on the 300 block of Northwest 42 Street, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. The dog, Mimi, had just let out a loud yelp and was running from Bautista when the roommate went outside to investigate.)

Bad Santa at Logan Hyperdome taunts family of autistic, Aspergers children (NEWS AU) 

(MEETING Santa Claus for the first time was meant to be a jolly experience for Cameron Sleeth, 6. But the excitement of meeting St Nicholas turned into a nightmare his mother wishes she could forget.)

Even the Grinch can't top this: Mrs. Claus sacked from Las Cruces mall for 'bad publicity' (LCSUN) 

(It's been quite the blue Christmas for Mrs. Claus. First, her trusty Subaru SUV was stolen Saturday from the Mesilla Valley Mall while Claus - a.k.a. Gail Larkin, who plays the jolly queen of the north - was presiding over a Santa Breakfast for area kids. Then, this morning, just a day after the story about the theft was published in the Sun-News, she was fired by Candy Allen, who has been general manager at the mall since 1998.)

Oh no! Gifts are gone after mom of three puts $700 worth of Christmas presents in wrong car (WXYZ) 

(An Ypsilanti mother of three can't blame the Grinch for stealing $700 worth of Christmas presents. Linda Gipson gave them away accidentally by putting them into the trunk of a gray Ford Focus that looked just like hers. It happened yesterday at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi in aisle ten outside Macy's at about 3:00 p.m. Halfway through her shopping spree, Linda dropped off some gifts.)

Louisiana warns of brain-eating parasite in tap water (RAW Story) 

(Officials in Louisiana warned this week that a brain-eating parasite known as Naegleria fowleri might survive in some of the state’s tap water, cautioning that if residents use the common cold remedy known as a neti pot, they should thoroughly boil their water first. Neti pots work by injecting a hot water/salt solution into users’ sinuses, flushing out mucus and clearing the nasal passages. Although Naegleria fowleri is most commonly found in pond water, lakes and rivers, officials said that two people in Mississippi recently fell victim to to the amoeba, seemingly after they used tap water in their neti pots. The two male victims, both killed by their infection, were ages 20 and 51.)

Baby, baby, baby, no: Pay up or be forced to listen to Justin Bieber (Sun Times) 

(For someone who isn’t a fan of teen idol Justin Bieber, being forced to listen to one of his songs over and over again could be considered cruel and unusual punishment. At Evanston Township High School this week, they called it a fund-raiser. To motivate their fellow students to donate money for a struggling cafe/arts center popular with ETHS kids, seniors Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz persuaded administrators to let them blast Bieber’s hit “Baby” over the school’s loudspeaker system at the end of each class period — and not stop playing the song until Runzel and Chatz had met their goal.)

Two Santas get into holiday dust-up at North Van pub (Vancouver Sun) 

(Two Santas may have drunk a little too much eggnog at a North Vancouver pub last night. Two men in full Santa garb got into a fight with another man and fled – it is unknown whether a sleigh was involved – after police were called. The fight happened around 11 p.m. at the Rusty Gull Pub in Lonsdale. When police arrived they found one man with minor injuries after suffering from one of Santa’s haymakers.)

George Herrera, Curfew-Breaking Teen, Gets Stuck In Stockton Chimney (Huffington Post) 

(A California teenager has learned the hard way that he's no Santa Claus. The Stockton Record reports 18-year-old George Herrera got stuck in a chimney while trying to sneak into his house Thursday. Art Ray of the Stockton Fire Department says the teen was breaking curfew and trying to get inside his home.)

Pop teen beats Steve Jobs in Google's 2011 popularity contest (The Register) 

(Google has acknowledged the global dominance of arch-rivals Apple as the Chocolate Factory's 2011 Zeitgeist chart shows Apple placed not just once but three times in the internet popularity contest. Measuring the fastest rising search terms by popularity, the Zeitgeist charts track topics that got Google's global users into search frenzies in 2011.)

Last U.S. Troops Leave Iraq as War Ends (Time) 

(The last U.S. soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border to neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday, whooping, fist bumping and hugging each other in a burst of joy and relief. Their exit marked the end of a bitterly divisive war that raged for nearly nine years and left Iraq shattered, with troubling questions lingering over whether the Arab nation will remain a steadfast U.S. ally.)