Police: Man tried to flee arrest so he could attend prom

A 19-year-old accused of leading Missouri police on a high-speed highway chase allegedly said he was trying to dodge arrest so he wouldn't miss prom.

Police said an officer patrolling Highway 61 Friday night spotted a sport utility vehicle bearing license plates registered to a different vehicle, and a computer check found the owner of the vehicle, Daniel Buck of O'Fallon, had his license revoked and had several active warrants for his arrest, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Monday.

The driver of the truck, who matched Buck's description, sped up when he spotted police following him and drove onto another road while traveling at a top speed of 80 mph, police said.

Police said Buck drove through a front yard and nearly struck a utility pole before his truck was disabled with stop strips. He attempted to flee on foot but was caught by officers.

Omaha Beef indoor team offers Tim Tebow $75-per-game contract

The Omaha Beef have a job waiting for Tim Tebow if he wants it — and the Nebraska indoor football team will even pay him $75 a game.

A day after Tebow was cut by the New York Jets, the Beef called the office of Tebow agent Jimmy Sexton to offer a standard player contract. Beef assistant general manager Andrew Mather said Tuesday that he doesn't expect to hear back, but he thought it was worth asking.

The Beef's current quarterback, James McNear, has led the team to a 5-1 start. He's completing 70 percent of his passes and has thrown for 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions.

McNear is anything but insulted by the Beef's wooing of Tebow. McNear said, "I think Tim can learn a lot from me."

An Old-School Confessional Revives the Sacrament of Confession

The Rev. Janusz Kukulka can't say for sure that his parishioners are sinning more, but they sure are lining up at the new confessional booth to tell him about it.

For years, Kukulka, was content with absolving sins in a private room marked by an exit sign to the right of the altar St. Mary the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.

But something happened during Lent this year. For the first time, Kukulka really noticed the two confessionals missing from the rear of his church. They'd been gone for four decades, ripped out during the 1970s to make room for air conditioning units during a renovation inspired by the Second Vatican Council.

They must have been a thing of beauty, Kukulka thought. He imagined their dark oak paneled doors and arched moldings to match the Gothic architecture of the church designed by renowned 19th-century architect Patrick Keely.

Brazil Catholic Priest Excommunicated over Support for Gays

A Catholic priest in southeastern Brazil was excommunicated on Monday after publicly resigning from his duties to protest against the church's opposition to homosexuality.

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The 48-year-old priest, who renounced his church duties over the weekend, was accused of "heresy" and "schism" by the church hierarchy in the world's biggest Catholic country, which will welcome Pope Francis in late July during a major youth festival in Rio de Janeiro.

"Father Beto," as his parishioners call him, announced on social networks that he was giving up the priesthood, urging the Church to modify its views on homosexuality and bisexuality to adapt to "new realities."

"We should simply be considered as gendered beings and not as homosexuals or bisexuals since love can spring at all these levels," the priest said in a video posted on YouTube.

Weather Channel interns sit in simulated tornado which becomes stronger as people tweet #TornadoWeek

Weather Channel interns are challenging Twitter users to blow them away for Tornado Week. They've transformed part of their office into a tweet-powered tornado simulation, putting the public in control of the wind speed.

Each mention of "#TornadoWeek" will help elevate the wind speed. The goal is to reach 1 million mentions, which "will turn up the wind for a full blown EF-5 tornado." On the Enhanced Fujita Scale, EF-5 tornadoes reach winds of more than 200 miles per hour.

German bishop: Women Catholic deacons 'no longer taboo'

Germany's top Roman Catholic has called for women to be allowed to become deacons, which would enable them to perform baptisms and marriages outside of mass - a novelty for Catholic women.

Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsch, who chairs the German Bishops' Conference, called for the change at the end of a four-day meeting to discuss possible reforms.

The conference, the first of its kind, invited 300 Roman Catholic experts to propose reforms. Zollitsch's comments echo year-long calls from the Central Committee of German Catholics to permit women to become deacons. On Sunday, Zollitsch said that aim was no longer a 'taboo.'

Zollitsch said the Catholic Church could only regain credibility and strength by committing to reform. He described an "atmosphere of openness and freedom" at the conference.

Fish using sign language

Two types of fish have been shown to use gestures, or sign language, to help one another hunt. This is the first time these types of gestures have been found to occur in animals other than primates and ravens.

Both types of fish, grouper and coral trout, are known for hunting cooperatively with other kinds of animals. Whereas the grouper hunts with giant moray eels and a fish called the Napoleon wrasse, coral trout partner up with octopuses to snag prey. A study published last week in the journal Nature Communications found that the fish are able to "point" their heads toward prey, to help out their hunting buddies.

After observing the fish in the wild for many hours, the researchers found that when a prey fish escaped its hunting party, a grouper occasionally moved over the place where the fugitive prey was hiding. The grouper would then rotate its body so that its head faced downward, and it would shake its head back and forth in the direction of the potential meal, in what researchers call a "headstand" signal. Coral trout make a similar sign, the researchers found. [Image Gallery: The Freakiest Fish]

Grouper partner with eel and wrasse, which live in the Red Sea and have complementary hunter-prey tactics: Grouper has "burst speed" in the open water, whereas giant moray eels can crawl into small holes, and wrasse have protracting jaws that can crush coral to get at prey, according to the study. Coral trout collaborate with octopuses, which are also better at fitting into tight spaces. This latter pair lives in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

My aunt and I *both* got full-time jobs within 24 hours of each other!

She lives in Colorado; I live in Michigan.

She's been without permanent full-time work for the last five years; I've been without it for three.

She has a master's degree; I have a lot of experience in my field.

During that time, we have worked part-time and temporary jobs. But despite our qualifications, we were both without permanent, full-time work.

Guess what?

On Thursday evening, I got a job offer!

On Friday morning, she got a job offer!



It's been such an ordeal, but there is hope!

Word War II vet who provided flag at Iwo Jima dead at 90

Source: NBC

A veteran of World War II credited with providing the flag in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima has died at his Los Angeles County home. Alan Wood died of natural causes April 18 at the age of 90, his son Steven Wood announced Saturday.

Wood was a 22-year-old Navy officer in charge of communications on a landing ship on Iwo Jima's shores on Feb. 23, 1945 when a Marine asked him for the biggest flag he could find.

After five days of intense fighting to capture the Japanese-held island, U.S. forces had managed to scale Mount Suribachi to hoist an American flag. Woods happened to have a 37-square-foot flag that he had found months before in a Pearl Harbor Navy depot.

Five Marines and a Navy Corpsman raised the flag in a stirring moment captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. Steven Wood said his father was always humbled by his small role in the historic moment.

Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/28/17957227-word-war-ii-vet-who-provided-flag-at-iwo-jima-dead-at-90?lite

Mary Thom Dead: Former Ms. Magazine Editor Dies In NY Crash

Source: Huffington Post

Prominent feminist Mary Thom, a writer and former editor of Ms. magazine who also was an avid motorcyclist, crashed while riding on a highway and was killed, her nephew said Saturday. She was 68.

Thom had a passion for riding motorcycles and died riding her 1996 Honda Magna 750 on Friday evening on the Saw Mill River Parkway in Yonkers, just north of New York City, nephew Thom Loubet said.

"The important thing to know about Mary is that she was a major leader of the 70's Feminist movement, but never desired the limelight," Loubet said in an email. "She stayed behind the scenes tirelessly crafting the message and simply making it better."

Thom was one of Ms. magazine's founding members and served as an editor there for about 20 years, leaving in 1992. She also was an author who wrote a book about the history of Ms. and was a co-author, with Suzanne Braun Levine, of an oral history of former congresswoman and activist Bella Abzug.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/28/mary-thom-dead-ms-magazine-editor-ny-crash_n_3171682.html