New England Sun-Times

Videos are popping up on #YouTube and everywhere showing so-called #fakesnow, "chemical snow," and "snow that won't melt." People are literally holding cigarette lighters and blowtorches up to a handful of snow and talking about how the snow turns black and "burns like plastic" instead of melting. And they all talk about that "chemical odor." The black on the snow is residue left behind from the burnt off butane or whatever flammable fluid inside the lighter. And the snow absorbed the water turning it to slush instead of melting straight to water.  A lot of people are even going as far as saying it's a conspiracy, and the snow is man-made by the government ("geo-engineering").But if you understand regular old fashioned physics, you know taking a blowtorch to snow (which is more air than water in the first place), some of the frozen water (H2O) is definitely going to evaporate. That's whether or not you use a tor...

Ask Hub clergy to help stem violence SEEKING SOLUTIONS: Boston Police Superintendent in Chief William Gross, backed by police officers, speaks to the media after the meeting with Boston clergy.  The city’s gang members are using women to hold their guns for them in case they are frisked, Boston police told clergy members in a closed-door meeting during which cops asked for the community’s help in stopping a spike in gang-related homicides. “Young ladies are carrying guns for guys; this is a growing problem; this is a new problem,” a minister, who asked to remain anonymous, said cops told 
the clergy at police headquarters in Roxbury. “Women are carrying the guns, because if the guys are stopped, they are clean,” the minister said. That minister and another person who was in attendance and also spoke to the Herald under the condition he not be named said two former gang members who have since become religious told the clergy members they’re willin...

CBS/AP January 27, 2014, 12: 03 PM     Standley Lake High School on January 27, 2013. KCNC-TV WESTMINSTER, Colo. - A student was injured after deliberately setting himself on fire Monday in the cafeteria of suburban Denver high school, causing officials to cancel classes at the school for the day. Westminster Police Department spokeswoman Cheri Spottke said she didn't know if the student made any threats or statements before starting himself on fire at about 7:15 a.m. at Standley Lake High School in Westminster, northwest of Denver. He was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries. Spottke said a cafeteria worker also suffered a minor cut while trying to put out the blaze. She didn't know how the student set the fire. The fire was co...

By Jacqueline Tempera |  Globe correspondent   Boston police rescued five mistreated dogs from the basement of a Dorchester home, where a man was allegedly operating an illegal kennel, prosecutors said. Tracey Young, 22, pleaded not guilty Friday in Dorchester District Court to operating the kennel, resisting arrest, and five counts of cruelty to animals, authorities said. Police responded at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday to a house on Glenrose Road in Dorchester to investigate a possible illegal apartment in the basement. When they arrived, officers met a building inspector who had been sent to look at the residence. Upon knocking on the basement door, they heard dogs barking, police said. When Young opened the door, officers immediately smelled dog urine and feces, police said. They also observed three dirty cages, each occupied by a dog. Because of the excessive barking and odors, officers asked Young, who said he lived in the basement, to step ...

Detective has been released from hospital and is expected to make full recovery, officials say By Wesley Lowery and Gal Tziperman Lotan |  Globe Staff Nathan Manuel-Jackson (L) and Thomas Scott (R) were arrested after an officer was shot Friday night. (Photos: New Bedford Police Department) NEW BEDFORD — A narcotics police detective who was shot late Friday night while executing a search warrant for drugs at a New Bedford apartment was discharged from a Rhode Island hospital Saturday and expected to fully recover, city officials said. Jonathan Lagoa, whose injuries were not life-threatening, was in good spirits, said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, who visited him Saturday.  “It was a very close call, but we’re pleased that he’s going to make a speedy recovery,” Mitchell said in a phone interview Saturday evening. Lagoa was taken by ambulance to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, then to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence before being released. ...

By Eric Tucker |  AP COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — Police have identified the two retail employees killed in a shooting at a Maryland mall. The Howard County Police said late Saturday that the victims were 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo of College Park, Md., and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson of Ellicott City, Md. The gunman also died. Both worked at Zumiez, which sold skate apparel and accessories. Police say the attack took outside Zumiez on the upper level of the Mall in Columbia, a suburb of both Baltimore and Washington. McMahon said authorities ran into difficulty in identifying the gunman because of concerns that he might be carrying explosives. Five other people were injured. Howard County General Hospital tweeted late Saturday that the injured had all been treated and released. One patient was reported to be a shooting victim while at least three other patients sustained other injuries. Police were still trying to determine the identity and motive of the gunm...

Oakland Teen Mom Killed, Police Search For Younger Brother Source: CBS San Francisco OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Police say a 17-year-old girl was shot and killed by her 14-year-old brother at their apartment in Oakland's Chinatown. Officials say the victim, Justice Toliver, was shot by her brother, Mario Toliver, at the apartment complex on Franklin Street just after noon on Thursday. The victim's cousin, 22-year-old Oakland resident Marianna Gaston, says she had been told the boy was mad at his sister for bleaching his clothes. When she first heard about the shooting, Gaston said she thought it was "a joke" and asked, "Why would he kill her over that?" Standing outside the 12-story apartment building several hours after the shooting, Gaston said, "Nothing makes sense. It doesn't add up." Police note that they have not yet determined the motive for the shooting. They are still searching for Mario. We spoke...

By Lee Moran / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS  Thomas Blige, 63, was allegedly stabbed three times by his enraged ex-lover, who had previously been charged with domestic violence for attacking Blige. He was rushed to a Michigan hospital, where he remains in critical condition. Mary J. Blige's father, Thomas Blige, is in critical conditon after being stabbed three times. His injuries include a wound to the neck. R&B star Mary J. Blige's father is in critical condition after being knifed in the neck by his former girlfriend, it's reported. Thomas Blige, 63, was rushed to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich., Thursday morning after being repeatedly stabbed by his ex-lover. Michael Thomas, the roommate of Thomas Blige, speaks after his return from visiting Thomas at the hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. The pair reportedly began arguing after Blige spotted the woman deflating the tires on his Ford SUV outside his Battle Creek apart...

By Ed Payne and Greg Morrison , CNN (CNN) -- Police in Northern California have arrested an elementary schoolteacher after she allegedly brought marijuana-laced food to an after-hours employee potluck dinner. Teresa Gilmete Badger, a 47-year-old teacher at Matthew Turner Elementary School in Benicia, was arrested Friday afternoon on suspicion of poisoning after a six-week-long investigation, said Lt. Frank Hartig of the Benicia Police Department. After the late-November get-together in the Bay Area town, several people reported feeling ill, a police statement said. "One of the partygoers was rushed to the hospital with severe reactions; she was hospitalized," Hartig told CNN affiliate KPIX. "The very next morning, another partygoer was taken to the hospital, because she continued to feel like she was under the influence of something." At least one of the women tested positive for THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the principal intoxica...