California Town Wards Off Crime With Birdsong

California Town Wards Off Crime With Birdsong

"How do you sweep crime from L.A.’s streets? With the lusty shrieks of a male songbird.

The mayor of Lancaster, Calif. swears that the sound of tweeting blackbirds, wrens and robins has deterred potential criminals in his town. “Everybody is now in a better mood, a better place,” R. Rex Parris told the Wall Street Journal. He says chirping noises along the city’s main drag have reduced crime in the area.

Is the bird-loving mayor a latter-day John Keats? Hardly. Gone is the nightingale – Lancaster’s improvement is owed to a loudspeaker. Or rather seventy loudspeakers, blasting birdsong blended with synth tones five hours every day for the past 10 months.

Minor misdeeds in the city dropped 15% last year, while serious crimes fell 6%. But not everyone believes it’s down to the winged warblers. “Just because somebody tries something and you see a drop in crime, it doesn’t mean it necessarily caused it,” says Laura Dugan, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Maryland.

But Mayor Parris is a believer. After first trying out a recording of birds from his backyard, he went to the land of the dawn chorus, commissioning a birdsong mashup from a London sound consultant, who says the sounds can ease the body’s response to stress.

This isn’t the first instance of auditory crime control. The London Underground broadcasts classical music in the hopes of soothing ne’er-do-wells. Because that worked so well in A Clockwork Orange."

in Time

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Woman Burns Down House After Facebook Un-Friending

Woman Burns Down House After Facebook Un-Friending

"A recent house fire at the Iowa home of Jim and Nikki Rasmussen has been traced to an unlikely source: an un-friending on Facebook.

According to the Des Moines Register, the Rasmussen family homestead went up in smoke  in the early morning hours of Oct. 27. The fire department suspected arson and when the family was asked by investigators if anyone would want to harm the family. Both husband and wife agreed there was only one suspect: Jen Harris. Detectives have since arrested Jennifer Christine Harris, 30, of Des Moines, on a charge of first-degree arson.

The friendship of Nikki Rasmussen and Harris apparently hit a rough patch while the former friends were planning a party via Facebook. When the big event went bust with many declined e-vites, Harris allegedly held Rasmussen accountable, and according to news reports, posted some unsavory items on her Facebook wall. In this modern age, Rasmussen exacted her revenge with a few clicks of the mouse and de-friended Harris. This affront was too much for Harris who took her anger offline and allegedly torched the family’s garage, melting the siding clean off the home.

The Associated Press says that the fire destroyed a detached garage and damaged the home of the Rasmussens, but caused no injuries. Harris is being held in the Polk County Jail on $100,000 bond."

in Time

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A Little Girl Crashed, All 18 Persons Ignore!

A Little Girl Crashed, All 18 Persons Ignore!

This incident occured in Huangqi, Foshan, Guangdong, China. A girl was walking while a van was coming and suddenly crashed the girl. But, rather than stopped to save the girl, the driver chose to start the van, which rolled over the girl! After the van escaped, totally 18 persons passed by the girl. However, none of them stopped and helped her. What's worse, during this period, one more van rolled over the girl!! And, finally, a middle-aged woman, the 19th person, helped the poor girl and put her in a safer place, then the girl's mother came up. Of course, the parents were badly sad. Currently the little girl is still in a critical condition.

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Thieves Steal An Entire Metal Bridge in Pennsylvania

Thieves Steal An Entire Metal Bridge in Pennsylvania

"It's one of the strangest – and most unwieldy – thefts we've ever come across. Police in a small western Pennsylvania town are searching for a missing steel bridge.

Salvaging scrap metal is nothing new. But most thieves go for easy targets like piping, gutters and even manhole covers. A 50-foot-long bridge made of impossibly heavy steel doesn't quite fit into that same category. But some enterprising criminals managed to haul away the bridge from North Beaver Township, Pa., about 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The 40-ton bridge, tucked away on an access road at an industrial park in the sparsely populated area near the Ohio border, isn't very heavily trafficked. But its disappearance is obvious, not least because it's worth an estimated $100,000.

The most likely scenario is that the thieves used a blowtorch to cut apart the bridge and haul it away. New Castle Development, who owns the property, remembers the bridge being there on Sept. 27. But sometime in the past 10 days, it disappeared. New Castle Development spokesman Gary Bruce told WFMJ, "I thought that with the rain it got washed away."

But that's quite a tall tale for the bridge that's been standing since the early 1900s. The bridge was lifted off its foundation, marks visible where the metal was ripped from its supports. "Its old beams are probably hundreds and hundreds of pounds per foot," Robert Obed, who lives in the area, told WTAE. But metal thefts aren't uncommon in the area. Coincidentally enough, the bridge was recently closed because of copper thefts nearby."

in Time

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Italian appeal court clears Amanda Knox of murder

Italian appeal court clears Amanda Knox of murder

"Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend left prison after four years Monday when an Italian appeals court cleared them of the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Seattle native Knox and Italian computer student Raffaele Sollecito, had appealed against a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering the 21-year-old Kercher during what prosecutors had said was a drug-fueled sexual assault four years ago.

A whoop of joy was heard in the court as the ruling overturning their sentences was read out but Knox herself broke down and was led out sobbing and supported by police officers.

"As you could see from the images, Amanda was a nervous wreck who just collapsed. She wasn't able to say anything other than 'thank you' in a flood of tears," one of her lawyers, Maria Del Grosso, told reporters.

Speaking to a crowd outside the courtroom, Knox's sister Deanna thanked her legal team and supporters.

"We're thankful that Amanda's nightmare is over. She suffered for four years for a crime she did not commit," she said. "We are also thankful to the court for having the courage to look for the truth and to overturn the conviction."

The verdict, a severe embarrassment to the Italian justice system, came after independent forensic investigators sharply criticized police scientific evidence in the original investigation, saying it was unreliable.

Kercher's half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in the Umbrian hill town of Perugia where both were studying.

Both Knox and Sollecito, 27, consistently had maintained their innocence throughout the original investigation and trial. A third man, Ivorian drug dealer Rudy Guede, was imprisoned for 16 years for his role in the murder.

Knox returned briefly to the Perugia jail where she had been held to complete formalities before being driven away to an unknown destination in a black Mercedes with shaded windows.

She is expected to return to the United States Tuesday although it was not immediately clear whether she would be returning on a regular flight or on a private plane.

Sollecito, who had been held in a separate jail near Perugia, also left custody but his lawyer refused to say where he would be spending his first night of freedom.

"It was obvious that he had nothing to do with the death of that poor girl," Sollecito's father, a doctor, said after the verdict which he said had "given me back my son."

The court upheld a conviction against Knox for slander, after she had falsely accused barman Patrick Lumumba of the murders. It sentenced her to three years in prison, a sentence which she has now already served. "

in Reuters

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