Police Blotter of the Day: ‘Can I have my weed back?’
Jeter asked for a preliminary hearing in Beaver County Court, and public defender Mitchell Shaheen tried Monday to convince Judge William Livingston that the marijuana could have belonged to any of four men in the car. He recounted Jeter’s comment to police that he intended to purchase the marijuana, but had not yet consummated the deal.
Shaheen, however, had no defense for Jeter’s question to officers as he was released from police custody in May.
“Mr. Jeter asked if he could have his weed back,” officer Bruce Clark testified Monday in court.
Full story (Beaver County, Pa., Times)
Judge allows media to live-tweet Sandusky hearing
Senior Judge John Cleland has reversed himself and says he will allow news organizations to report the preliminary hearing for former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky through Twitter, email and text messages.
Pennsylvania law bans “transmission of communications from the courtroom by telephone, radio, television, or advanced communication technology,” but at a hearing Monday requested by news organizations, Cleland appeared to carve out an exception for live electronic text reporting, deciding that the ban applied to “neither ‘tweeting’ or the simultaneous transmission of a reporter’s account or impression of events as they occur in the courtroom.”
The state rule is intended to bar “an audio and/or visual record” of events, Cleland ruled — not the actual reporting of the news.
Bonus Police Blotter of the Day: Woman caught making meth inside S. Tulsa Walmart
Tulsa County Jail via KOKI-TV
Police say surveillance video shows Halfmoon had been in the store since noon. Six hours later security noticed she was acting suspicious, so they called Tulsa police.
Responding officers say she claimed she was “too broke to buy the chemicals.”
“She didn’t have the money to make the purchases of the chemicals that were needed so she was taking what was needed in the bottle,” says Officer David Shelby.
Shoppers inside the store had no idea someone was cooking meth.
“This is a family store,” says Jessica Fuentes, who also had her 1-year-old son inside the store. “People need to start thinking. If she has family she needs to think about her family. If you are broke. It’s just wrong.”
Full story (KOKI-TV of Tulsa, Okla.)
Police Blotter of the Day: Eggnog thief at large!
Police said someone smashed a glass door at a state liquor store in downtown Pittsburgh early Tuesday morning and stole two bottles of egg nog worth a total of $31.48.
Full story (WTAE-TV of Pittsburgh via msnbc.com)
What do you report, and what don’t you report?
Over at msnbc.com, I’ve written up the gruesome story of a sick person who has coldly and methodically dismembered at least six cats since October and left their remains on a Florida golf course.
The details of the story are horrifying, raising a serious question: How much is enough in a news story?
Here’s what I chose to report:
Police Blotter of the Day: SD Police Use Beanbags Against Man With Swords
Rapid City police used a beanbag shotgun to subdue a man they say attacked them with ninja-type swords. …
The 48-year-old man was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.
Full story (AP via KDLT-TV)
Police Blotter of the Day: Give me all your money or my penguin will explode
Andri Jeffers (via Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)
News release from the Yavapai County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Office:
On November 23, 2011, at approximately 6:15 PM, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a reported robbery at the Chevron Station in the 2700 block of Highway 69, Dewey-Humboldt. The Chevron employee stated that a female entered the mini-mart with her right hand concealed under her sweater, claiming she had a bomb, and demanding cash from the register. The clerk explained the store was closing and the register was empty. The suspect threatened to blow up the clerk if he did not comply. She then walked behind the counter, grabbed a bag, and demanded the clerk place cash in the bag. The clerk refused to cooperate and the suspect eventually fled the store.
The clerk was able to obtain a license plate number from the suspect’s dark colored Chrysler Pacifica vehicle as it fled north on Highway 69 toward Prescott Valley.
Reporting: New diet rules curb Meals on Wheels
Cross-posted from msnbc.com, where it originally appeared.
Federal guidelines meant to help Americans eat healthier foods are straining Meals on Wheels and other nonprofits already laboring to make sure the elderly get enough to eat at all.
Lanakila Meals on Wheels in Honolulu, Hawaii, already has a waiting list of 90 people, most of them elderly, who have asked for food the organization can’t afford to provide.
The program can always use more volunteers, but what it really needs now is money. Read the rest of this entry »
Reporting: For some churches, the Internet clicks; for others it doesn’t
Over at msnbc.com, I have a long piece examining how religious institutions regard the Internet and especially social media:
[T]he Catholic Church has a long history of being an early adopter of new forms of media, going back to the 1920s, when Catholic priests pioneered radio evangelism, Campbell said.
At the same time, other religious institutions, especially traditional U.S. Protestant denominations, are still sorting through the challenges as well as the opportunities posed by the Internet, and particularly social media, according to church leaders and administrators.
“I think there’s a lot of groups trying to figure it out,” said John Davidson, a fundraising and ministry consultant for churchextension.org, which supports the ministry of the Christian Church-Disciples of Christ.
I talked to the Rev. Bobby Gruenewald, the “innovation leader” at LifeChurch.tv, a very sophisticated worldwide online ministry. He pinpoints the divide this way:
Police Blotter of the Day: Man breaks into Sox GM’s home, defrosts lobster
A Chicago man was arrested Monday for allegedly breaking into Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams’ house. …
[Wayne L.] Field apparently made himself at home. Police found him wearing Williams’ clothes and the GM’s 2005 World Series ring. He also apparently defrosted a lobster. …
Williams confirmed the incident and said the man drank his beer, ate frozen pizza, surfed the internet and kicked his shoes off on the bed.
Full story (WMAQ-TV of Chicago)
Alex Johnson - Journalist at Large 