Story here. Excerpt:

'CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. - A woman has been found guilty of manslaughter in death of her boyfriend, who drank a jug of margaritas laced with antifreeze at their apartment in western New York.
...
Cynthia Galens was charged with murder in January, three months after Air Force veteran Thomas Stack died from complications of ethylene glycol poisoning. But a grand jury opted in February for a less severe first-degree manslaughter charge.

The 52-year-old Galens has been on trial for four days. The trial began Monday.

Investigators say she told them Stack was emotionally and physically abusive and she decided to exact revenge by pouring a shot glass of the toxic automotive chemical into a margarita mix. Stack died four days later.

Galens says she intended to make him sick, not kill him.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'SEATTLE -- A woman fatally shot three people and herself at a Seattle home Thursday, injuring another woman who fled into the front yard and told officers: "My mom has gone crazy," police said.

Officers responded to a report of gunshots at about 1:30 p.m. and could still hear shots being fired from the house when they arrived, police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said. A man in his 50s ran into the house. Two more shots were fired and he ran back out, telling officers his wife had shot herself.

When police were able to go inside, they found the four dead, including a woman in her 50s they believe was the shooter, Whitcomb said.

He said police don't believe anyone else was involved.

In addition to the older woman, the dead included two women in their late teens and a man in his 30s, police said. Their relationships were not immediately known.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Members of an Annapolis organization are so concerned about boys' academic performance that they want to create an all-male school.

Brian Tucker of Concerned Citizens for Successful Students approached the county Board of Education last week about tailoring an academic program specifically for male students. It would operate either as an entire school or as an academic initiative geared just toward boys. The plan is in its early stages and the group is discussing it with county officials.
...
There has been an ongoing debate about the value of single-sex education and whether both boys and girls benefit from it equally.

The National Organization for Women opposes such efforts, saying they "increase sexism and exacerbate feelings of superiority toward women," according to the group's website. But officials of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education support the concept, offering training to teachers so they can provide opportunities that do not exist in coed environments.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Teresa Lewis, a 41-year-old Virginia woman who admitted murdering her husband and his son, has run out of appeals and is set to be executed Thursday. Her co-conspirators were given life without parole, and Lewis' attorneys have argued that new evidence shows they were actually the masterminds of the plot -- therefore her sentence is unfair. She also has an IQ of 72, which means she's borderline mentally retarded.

Nearly all the stories I've seen mention how rare it is for women to be executed; she would be the only woman to be executed in the country in five years -- in Virginia it's been nearly a century. I understand the desire of news writers to point out rarities; it makes the story more important. But in this case, it also implies that most of the 1,226 other executions the United States has carried out since 1976, the vast majority of which are of men, are normal.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Two Boiling Springs teachers are facing charges after deputies say they threw parties for teenagers that involved alcohol, marijuana and sex.

Sarah Jane Lindsay, 42, of 438 Maplecroft St., and Audrey Beidleman Grabarkiewicz, 44, of 230 Sandy Drive, were taken into custody by Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies Monday. Police had been investigating since a parent came forward with a complaint in July.

Lindsay, a teacher at Boiling Springs Elementary, is charged with nine counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and criminal sexual conduct with a minor between 11 and 14 years old.

Grabarkiewicz, a preschool teacher at Lake Bowen Baptist Church, is charged with 10 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Investigators said Grabarkiewicz also had “sexual relations with some of the victims,” but, because they were older than 16, she will not be charged, according to a statement from the sheriff's office.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'CLEVELAND, Ohio --The Cleveland mother who tortured her 8-year-old son for four years will spend 34 years in prison.

And the boy's father, who did nothing to protect the child and eight siblings, was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Kathleen Ann Sutula ignored a plea agreement between Andreia Huffman, 37, her husband, Jason Dunikowski, 32, and county prosecutors that called for 19- and 17-year sentences.
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"Torture is not allowed in our society," Sutula said, while looking at photographs of the boy's swollen, broken nose, bruised legs and red wrists that had been bound every night with duct tape.

"Anyone who thinks the sentences are harsh, hasn't seen the evidence."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Technology changes. The economy changes. But some things never change. Some fathers still take time out with their sons – fishing, playing sports or video games, tinkering on cars. Even in challenging times, these unshakable dads are forging family ties, modeling manhood and fatherhood, and delivering life's most important lessons.

"The bonding between a father and son is important in terms of relationships and how they'll (boys will) generalize and translate to relationships with other males," said Rob Goldman, a psychologist who works for the Suffolk County Probation Department in New York.

It's also beneficial in helping keep boys out of trouble. There's a correlation between children who wind up in the juvenile justice system and incarcerated dads or fathers who abandon their children, he said.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Gareth Malone has never been one to shy away from a challenge. He made his name on TV as the choirmaster in BBC Two's The Choir, a series which saw him bring together people from all walks of life and turn them into accomplished singers.

However back in April Gareth took on one of his toughest challenges yet, as he took over the reins of a primary school class for a term, helping to reinvigorate the educational experience for a group of 39 boys from an Essex school. Many of these likely lads hadn’t been fulfilling their educational potential, a story that can be found up and down the country as boys continue to lag behind girls in terms of literacy.

With the head teacher’s full consent, Gareth sets to work attempting to meet the challenge of increasing the boys’ reading age by six months in just eight short weeks. It’s a tough ask, and TV’s Mr Nice’s efforts make for fascinating viewing. You'll marvel at his tricks, which include special lessons, cleverly devised competition and infectious enthusiasm.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'For the first time, more women than men in the United States received doctoral degrees last year, the culmination of decades of change in the status of women at colleges nationwide.

The number of women at every level of academia has been rising for decades. Women now hold a nearly 3-to-2 majority in undergraduate and graduate education. Doctoral study was the last holdout - the only remaining area of higher education that still had an enduring male majority.

Of the doctoral degrees awarded in the 2008-09 academic year, 28,962 went to women and 28,469 to men, according to an annual enrollment report from the Council of Graduate Schools, based in Washington.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Sometimes you just have to feel sorry for President Obama. Having recently appointed Austan Goolsbee to his economic team, feminists are outraged that Obama chose a man to replace Christina Romer. "Many women have become the sole breadwinners, but because of the wage gap, as the sole breadwinner they can't provide for their families as men can," Terry O'Neill, head of the National Organization for Women, said. "If you had half of the economic advisers being women, I think that perspective would come to the forefront."

In one sense, O'Neill is right about a wage gap -- on average, women earn about 80 cents to a man's dollar. Could this mean feminists and Democrats actually have a point on this one? Not a chance. In lieu of the recent 39th anniversary of "Women's Equality Day" and O'Neill's remarks, it is imperative we revisit the wage gap myth. As much as special-interest groups and the media love to parrot the 80 cent statistic, it is hardly due to gender discrimination.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'What’s the matter with men? For years, the media have delivered the direst of prognoses. Men are “in decline.” Guys are getting “stiffed.” The “war on boys” has begun. And so on. This summer, The Atlantic’s Hanna Rosin went so far as to declare that “The End of Men” is upon us.

Link here (text and audio). Excerpt:

BARBARA MILLER: These days it's the exception when an infant boy in Australia is circumcised for non-religious reasons.

Sydney woman Sally said she thought long and hard about the pros and cons of having the procedure done when she had a baby boy earlier this year. She decided to go ahead, but wasn't prepared for the backlash.

SALLY: It was a terrible decision because I didn't feel like I could talk to other mums about it and when I did ask mums who did have sons and I mean, it had never been a question on my mind because I had two girls, most of them hadn't and a number of women were quite aggressive about it and quite, you know, confronting about it.

BARBARA MILLER: Sally says one factor in her decision was evidence from studies in sub-Saharan Africa that circumcision can reduce the rate of HIV-AIDS transmission in heterosexuals.'

There are times when I read stories covered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and I can't help but think that CBC reporters are either lazy, stupid, or are deliberately out to hide the real story instead of truly reporting on it.

Take this story. What really happened here? Did this police officer really sexually assault a woman, or not? Why were the charges dropped? Why is it that the police officer - who hasn't been found guilty of anything - gets his name published and therefore his reputation smeared, while his accuser remains anonymous? How is it "in the accuser's best interests" to drop the charges? Was she lying? Is it a case of mistaken identity?

The crown has decided it's "not in the public's best interests" to continue. What the hell does that mean?

Whoever the internal censor is in the CBC, they are doing a hell of a good job.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Canandaigua, NY - A school teacher accused of sex crimes with three students accepted a plea deal Monday morning. Marla Gurecki-Haskins, 36, was accused of having sexual contact with a 17 year-old male student in her classroom during the school day. She also faced criminal charges for trading sexually explicit text messages with two other male students, both were just 16 years-old.

Gurecki-Haskins plea deal includes a 45-day jail sentence of which her lawyer expects his client will serve just 30 days. The deal also includes three years probation and she must surrender her teaching license while also resigning from Canandaigua Academy. Because Gurecki-Haskins is pleading guilty to two misdemeanor crimes (Official Misconduct and Endangering the Welfare of a Child) she is not required to register as a sex offender.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'BERLIN — Four people died and a policeman was seriously wounded in a town in southwestern Germany on Sunday, after an explosion in an apartment building and a shooting in the neighboring hospital that authorities believe are linked, a prosecutor said.

Two people were found dead in an apartment building that burst into flames after an explosion Sunday afternoon, Loerrach prosecutor Dieter Inhofer told ZDF public television.

Another woman, allegedly armed with a weapon, was seen running from the blast into the neighboring St. Elisabeth hospital, where she reportedly opened fire, killing a member of the hospital staff, Inhofer said.

The woman then turned her gun on officers responding to the shooting and was killed in an exchange of gunfire, Inhofer said. One police officer was seriously wounded, Inhofer said, but authorities believe there were no other victims in the hospital.