A son of Detroit’s Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, was attacked at a gas station near Plymouth and Evergreen on Monday night on the city’s northwest side, a spokeswoman said this morning.

Eddie Franklin, 52, was attacked by three people – two men and a woman – and was undergoing emergency surgery, Franklin spokeswoman Gwendolyn Quinn said this morning. She did not release the name of the hospital, and his condition wasn't immediately known.

No additional details were available about the attack, Quinn said.
Detroit Police said they were looking into the matter but had no other information.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100921/NE...t#ixzz10AsLxemA

No R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Looks like a nice house Lilo. 17 bathrooms? And a pub? (Don't tell Kly) Oh and at 18,000 sq.ft....I'd likely get lost.



TIS

It's a steal for that price. Outside of Detroit that would go for at least $2 million.

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

updated 9/27/2010 3:15:05 PM ET
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some executions in the U.S. have been put on hold because of a shortage of one of the drugs used in lethal injections from coast to coast.

Several of the 35 states that rely on lethal injection are either scrambling to find sodium thiopental — an anesthetic that renders the condemned inmate unconscious — or considering using another drug. But both routes are strewn with legal or ethical roadblocks.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39385026/ns/health-more_health_news/?gt1=43001

Where's Cosa Nostra when you need it?

Another University Shooting
Shooting at UT Austin

The man fired a number of rounds but no one else is reported injured, reports say. A second shooter is being sought on the Austin, Texas, campus where tower sniper Charles Whitman killed 14 in 1966.

Los Angeles Times

September 28, 2010|8:22 a.m.

— A man armed with an automatic weapon reportedly shot himself to death after firing off a number of rounds Tuesday morning at a library on the University of Texas at Austin campus, the scene of one of the earliest and most notorious campus shootings in U.S. history, according to the university and local media reports.

Though no injuries were reported, a second shooter is being sought by authorities.

On its website, the university reported at 9:43 a.m. CDT that "a suspected shooter in PCL Library is dead," a reference to the Perry-Castaneda Library, the main library on the sprawling campus. "Law enforcement are searching for a second suspect. If you are off campus, STAY AWAY. If you are on campus, lock doors, do not leave your building."

The Austin American Statesman reported that the shooter was a male with an automatic weapon who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on the library's sixth floor. Don Hale, a university spokesman, told the paper that there were no reports that anyone else was shot. The shooter, he said, had no identification.

The paper said officials were looking for another gunman because witnesses gave differing descriptions of the shooter.

Texas' flagship university was the site of one of the most notorious campus shootings in 1966, when a troubled student, Charles Whitman, mounted the observation deck of the school's iconic tower, killing 14 people and wounding 32 others before being shot and killed by an Austin police officer.

MSNBC is just announcing that former President, Jimmy Carter, was taken to the hospital. They had no further details.


Evidently he was on a plane going to Ohio to promote his book and plane detoured to the hospital.


TIS

UPDATE: Latest is that Carter was suffering from stomach pains and is resting in the hospital. It must not be serious, because they say he'll be back promoting his book this afternoon. That's good.

Geez! How awful. At least he didn't take anyone with him.

Here's a troubling story to which I initially didn't pay much attention..... it seems that a college student at Rutgers U. in New Brunswick, NJ, was secretly videotaped having sex in the dormitory.

Apparently two other students secretly videotaped the episode and transmitted it on the internet. When the young man realized he was caught on camera and many others witnessed him, he became extremely upset and committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

It was announced that the affair caught on camera was a homosexual one. He reportedly left a suicide note of sorts on Facebook.

SC, I can't tell you how that story broke my heart. I can't imagine the level of pain that boy experienced before he was driven to kill himself.

DSO goes on strike. They do not wish to reduce starting pay from just over $100k to about $70K.

Detroit symphony musicians go on strike

JEFF KAROUB
Associated Press

Detroit — Musicians who refused to accept steep pay cuts demanded by the financially struggling Detroit Symphony Orchestra have hit the picket lines. Dozens of tuxedo-clad musicians began picketing this morning at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in downtown Detroit, as a French horn quartet played in the background.

Symphony management declared an impasse Sept. 1 and began implementing a 33 percent base pay cut for orchestra veterans, from $104,650 to $70,200 in the first year.

Musicians had offered a 22 percent reduction in the first year to $82,000.

No bargaining sessions are scheduled. The musicians union has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

Messages seeking comment were left today with symphony management officials.

How many people are there in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra?

50-60? More?

That is a shit load of money per year. And it seems like every city has one.

Maybe they should just buy some CD's-

I don't know the number of musicians in the DSO but it's more than 50, I think, much more. There are around 25-30 people in the violin and cello sections alone.

According to the agreement that they had in 2007 the DSO was supposed to be at 96 players in 2010.

http://www.detroitsymphony.com/page.aspx?page_id=145

Unless thay can sell enough tickets to pay their way then I would say, let them fold up.

The city has so many poor people, that you have to wonder who is left to pay those prices and listen to them play. 100 Million is a lot of money, money that could go far to help the city make ends meet.

Trenton woman apologizes for Facebook taunts
Doug Guthrie and George Hunter / The Detroit News

Trenton — A woman apologized Friday after being overwhelmed by the escalation of a long simmering neighborhood feud that spread to the Internet after she posted pictures of a terminally ill 7-year-old girl’s face above a set of crossed bones and a picture of the girl’s dead mother in the arms of the grim reaper.

“What I did was ignorant and wrong and I would walk right across this street now and apologize, if it weren’t for the PPO (personal protection order issued against her earlier by a court),” said Jennifer Petkov, 33. “I’m not proud of myself because this went from a neighborhood dispute to a huge thing.”

Kathleen Edward is the final stages of Huntington’s disease. Her mother, Laura, died last year from the same wasting disorder at 24.Neighbors and Trenton Police say the feud between the Petkovs and several neighbors has raged for years, with verbal jabs and pranks, resulting in a Facebook site that identifies Jennifer Petkov as the “Devil of Detroit Street.” Neighbors said Friday the Petkovs laughed and taunted Laura Edward and the girl.

Petkov’s husband, Scott, 30, explained Friday that his wife’s “brutal honesty” has caused his family to “not get along with a lot of people.”

Scott Petkov said the fallout of the Sept. 30 photo postings on a Facebook page his wife created in retaliation resulted Friday in his suspension with pay from his job as a forklift repairman in Warren. He said his employer is considering firing him...



Full Article with pic

Nothing lately....


Boring part of town i live in

Lilo, And we're surprised when children at school get bullied?? Where do we think they learn the art? When and why did people become so mean that someone would pick on a terminally ill child who had lost her mother?

From what I understand, Huntington's is a horrible way to die, and horrible to watch your loved one decline. Terrible.

You're absolutely right, SB; Huntington's Disease (formerly Huntington's Chorea) is absolutely horrible.

Woody Guthrie, one of my personal favorites musically, died from it in 1967 after being incapacitated for several years, and his death seemed to finally put Huntington's on the map (as it were) as far as the beginnings of public awareness of the disease - but the thing that struck me about the article were the ages of that poor girl and her mother: seven and twenty-four respectively. This is extremely unusual because Huntington's hardly ever strikes people who are not well into adulthood or early middle age.

There is still no cure or treatment for the disease. There is, however, a genetic test that can be done to determine if someone will eventually contract Huntington's.

What an incredibly sad tale - and I'm just sitting here shaking my head at how revoltingly insensitive some people can be.

Signor V.

Funny how "News from Your Neck of the Woods" sometime reaches beyond one's woods.

I was also struck at how young the mother and especially the daughter was, but I understand that as it passes from generation to generation, it will strike at a younger age.

I read an article today about a high school in Ohio that had four student suicides in four years. The parents are blaming bullying on their deaths. One mother claimed that the bullies came to her daughter's funeral - and laughed.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/08/ohio-school-bullied-teens-dead-hand/

I had never heard of the condition before. It is disgusting that people would behave that way.

A Los Altos, CA baby was born on 10/10/10 at 10:10......and in room 10. I agree, 10 has to be this little guy's lucky number.

TIS

http://www.cbs47.tv/news/state/story/Los...Lg.cspx?rss=154

Yeah, but was he 10 pounds 10 ounces?

Picky! Picky! Picky!

I'll bet somewhere there was a baby filling the bill though.


TIS

Awwww....

Dying girl gets toys

Taunted Trenton girl goes on toy spree
Kathleen gets $2,000 in toys; rest of funds raised to be donated
George Hunter, Doug Guthrie and Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

Trenton — Kathleen Edward got the royal treatment Thursday, while prosecutors pored over police reports about the couple who allegedly taunted the 7-year-old about her terminal illness.

The couple, Scott and Jennifer Petkov, said they also received notice Thursday that the incident had cost Scott Petkov his job.

"The public got what it wanted," said Jennifer Petkov, who has been vilified on Internet social networking sites as the "Devil of Detroit Street."

"What I did was childish. If you hate me, fine. But please don't hate my family," she said Thursday.

"All this energy toward us should be redirected toward fulfilling that little girl's life."

Kathleen, who is dying from Huntington's disease, was allegedly harassed by the Petkovs, family and neighbors have said.

On Thursday, Kathleen spent the morning on a shopping spree at Tree Town Toys in Ann Arbor, courtesy of donors responding to the dispute.

The girl, who is in the late stages of the disease and shows signs of deterioration, walked gingerly through red velvet ropes, past a three-tiered fondant cake, under a "Welcome Kathleen" sign, and down the aisles, hugging stuffed dogs and pandas to her chest...

Poor baby. I hope she gets some joy out of those toys. It seems she's had too little happiness in her short life.