A high speed car chase by Connecticut police results in a total demolishing of a stolen high end boat an alleged thief had been towing behind his truck. It has been reported that the alleged bandit reached speeds of up to 95 miles per hour while trying to elude authorities with his purloined treasure in tow.
Perhaps 95 mph car chases may not be the wisest choice when trying to evade John Law while lugging a hijacked boat.
The 2009 winner of the award for the best public restrooms in America is presented in the photos below. These incredible public potties can be found at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson, MO. Cintas Corporation, which provides restroom hygiene products and services, is the sponsor of the best public restroom award and has been presenting these awards annually for the last eight years.
The above photo is a shot of the men's washroom at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre, and one would certainly be hard pressed to find a more elegant men's room than this. Click for an ultra high resolution copy of the same photo. Once you arrive at the high res page, click once on the photo to view an enlarged version in which you can view things in far greater detail.
The faucets here are gold plated, the same type found in bathrooms in high end homes. Notice both the fireplace at the far end of the room and the blue pedestals under the wash basins, which add even more color to an already colorful room.
Scan upward to the metal ceiling, which is a throwback to ceilings found in both public buildings and private homes in the late 1890's and the early 1900's.
The second photo finds us in the ladies' washroom at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre. Click for an ultra high resolution photo of this room. Again click once to enlarge the high res photo. Notice the fireplace again at the far end of the room and the pedestal sinks with more gold plated faucets.
This ladies room features what appear to be dark black fixtures, which must be an absolute devil to keep clean. Like in the men's washroom plenty of flowers adorn the wall above the wash basins.
Our third photo is also from the men's room at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre, where male guests may relax with a round of pocket billiards. This room provides a double row of visitor seating on either side of the table so guests can watch the pool table action. Once again click to view an ultra high resolution copy of the same photo.
Pay attention to the photos of the presidents at the far end of the room. The portraits deliberately cut off the top of the heads of the presidents, which presents a puzzle. Perhaps there was a time in US history when that was the norm for such a photo. If any of you know more about that, please inform us in the comment area below.
The quality of the rest rooms at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson truly impresses. Obviously, not every company can afford to make its restrooms so luxurious, but it is fun to know that at least one company is willing to go to such lengths for the comfort of its guests.
View and read here about other top restrooms that made Cintas' list of tops in the US.
Minneapolis police have been accused of beating a suspect while apprehending him. In the following video several Minneapolis officers are seen punching Derryl Jenkins of Brooklyn Center, MN, repeatedly and are also seen kicking him as well while he was being held face down in the snow during a traffic stop.
Arresting officer Richard Walker said Jenkins smelled of alcohol and was uncooperative. Since both Jenkins and Walker are both African American, race is not an issue in this incident.
This video is an abbreviated version of the original, and is embedded from the Associated Press:
Minneapolis police Chief Tim Dolan stated that he was concerned about the officers kicking the suspect. In fact the video, which was taken by police car dashcams, prompted Chief Dolan to ask the FBI to investigate the incident, which is a very unusual request for a Minneapolis police chief.
The second video is a report on the incident by a local reporter. About 54 seconds into the video a small box will appear on the screen highlighting one of the police officers kicking Jenkins:
The Minneapolis police Internal Affairs unit has determined that the police seen in this video did nothing wrong even though kicking a suspect is behavior that is not sanctioned by the police. Internal Affairs determined that the officers' behavior was appropriate for the situation.
Despite the Minneapolis Police Department's determination that the officers did nothing wrong, the Hennepin County Attorney's office decided to dismiss all charges against Jenkins "in the interest of justice" and reinstated Jenkin's drivers license.
Jenkins had been charged with fourth degree assault and refusal to take a breathalyzer test. In Minnesota refusal to take a breathalyzer test results in automatic suspension of your drivers license, which means that any police officer has the power to take away your license merely by saying you refused a breathalyzer test.
This next video is the complete unabridged version of the incident and was distributed by Derryl Jenkin's lawyer Paul Edlund:
Some officers sent each other text messages after the incident, one of which called the incident "a good fight."
Vanessa Hudgens has decided to branch out to an edgier character type in her role as Sa5m (pronounced Sam, the "5" is silent) in the movie Bandslam which has only recently opened in theaters.
Gone is the squeaky clean image she portrayed as Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical trilogy.
As Sa5m, Vanessa plays a moody, loner type, and her character is still stuck in high school. You cannot expect a more mature role for Vanessa because she is only 20-years-old herself, and her fan base are the tweens and teens who supported her so strongly in High School Musical 1,2, and 3.
In Bandslam, Sa5m falls for Will Burton (played by Gaelan Connell), who is a transfer student to Sa5m's high school and is also an outsider like Sa5m.
Sa5m must compete for Will's attention with Charlotte Banks (played by Aly Michalka), who gets Will to manage her rock group for an upcoming battle of the bands contest called Bandslam, naturally.
Vanessa recently gave an interview to Kam Williams, which we have partially included here: KW: Hi Vanessa, thanks for taking some time out from your hectic schedule to give me an interview.
VH: Of course!
KW: I know you're in the middle of making a public appearance right now, and it sounds like you're being mobbed by fans as we speak. Are you okay?
VH: It's a little crazy, but it's all good.
KW: Great! Well, what interested you in playing Sa5m in Bandslam?
VH: Just the fact that she was different from the character I was stuck playing in High School Musical. Hearing "introverted" and "deadpan" in the same sentence was interesting, and that was what I was looking for.
KW: How was it working with Todd Graff as a director?
VH: He was great. It was nice having him as a director, because he used to be an actor as well. So, he was totally there for the actors which was really nice.
KW: And how did you get along with your co-stars Gaelan (Connell) and Aly (Michalka) and the rest of the cast?
VH: It was a blast! We had so much fun. Aly's an amazing girl. We went shopping, and South by Southwest (Music and Film Festival) was going on in Austin while we were shooting there. So we went to see Willie Nelson, and we saw a bunch of movies with the cast, too. It was just fun, a lot of fun!
KW: I knew that you played piano, but is there any truth to the rumor that you do your own guitar playing in Bandslam?
VH: Yes, I learned how just for this movie.
KW: Are you going to keep playing guitar?
VH: I guess that's kind of a given, but I haven't really picked one up again yet. I should, and wish I had, but I haven't.
KW: I understand you received classical voice training as a child.
VH: Yeah, my professional training was in opera.
KW: You sing, dance, play instruments and act. Which is your favorite?
VH: Umm.... Acting is the one that I've always pursued the most, though I do miss dancing like crazy.
KW: What type of message do you think Bandslam is trying deliver to its audience?
VH: To not be afraid to try new things. I think this movie really breaks it down to show how easy things can be if you really just give it a shot.
KW: How did it feel to be named to People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in the World List two years in a row, last year and again this year?
VH: [Giggles] It's nice... It's flattering... But it's weird in a sense, too. [Laughs] I don't really think about it every day.
KW: You're a beautiful mix of many different ethnicities. Is there any one with which you identify the closest? (Vanessa's father is Irish and Native American, while her mother is Filipino, Japanese and Latina. Thus the jet black hair.)
VH: I was pretty much raised American. Parts of my mom's Filipino culture I love, but I'm pretty much American.
KW: You also made Forbes Magazine's High Earners under 30 List. So you were named both the most beautiful and most successful while still in your teens.
VH: It's bizarre. It's a crazy thought. I think that if I really stopped to think about it too much, it would get a little overwhelming. But honestly, I don't dwell on it, so it never really sinks in. Therefore, I genuinely don't have a reaction to it. I hear about it, but I'm generally too busy going through the motions.
KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
VH: No, I think I've been asked every single question in the book over these past four years. [Chuckles]
KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?
VH: Everybody gets afraid.
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?
VH: I'm extremely happy.
KW: The Teri Emerson question: when was the last time you had a good laugh?
VH: About five minutes ago.
KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?
VH: I'm reading Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.
KW: The music maven Heather Covington question: What music are you listening to nowadays?
VH: The Kings of Leon.
KW: What would you say has been the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?
VH: There've been plenty of things. I think just being in the business there's so much to overcome. I'm still overcoming things now. For example, getting a different type of role after High School Musical was tough. I've really had to work hard to get the parts that I've gotten so far.
KW: Tell me a little about your two upcoming movies, Beastly and Sucker Punch.
VH: Sucker Punch is a fantasy-action and Beastly is a modern interpretation of Beauty and the Beast. It's a bit edgier. It's about a vain guy who gets turned into a creature by this witch played by Mary-Kate Olsen. He has to find true love, but it's sexy and edgy, and I'm really excited for people to see it because it has a great message.
KW: Speaking of vanity, when you look in the mirror, what do you see?
VH: I see a reflection of myself. [Chuckles]
KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?
VH: My favorite dish to cook? Honestly? Whole wheat toast with almond butter and jelly. [Laughs]
KW: The Laz Alonso question: How can your fans help you?
VH: By watching Bandslam on August 14th!
KW: Thanks again Vanessa, and best of luck with Bandslam and all your other projects.
VH: Thank you very much. You take care. Bye-bye. Sucker Punch is an action movie that is due out in 2011, and Beastly is a teen romance flick scheduled to release in 2010. Beastly is based on The Beauty and the Beast. Guess which part Vanessa plays.
In the following video Vanessa Hudgens discusses her new movie Bandslam on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
The Grim Sleeper, as he is called, has taken 11 lives thus far over a period of more than two decades in the South Central area of Los Angeles. Yet this psychopath is a serial killer who has the LA homicide detectives baffled so far. They have been unable to stop him or discover his identity.
Plus he is also involved in one other case of attempted murder where he shot the victim at point blank range inside his car and then tossed her out of the car to die on the streets of South Central LA.
The victim of that attempted murder was Enietra Margette (not her real name), who did not die on that fateful day 21 years ago and who is the Sleeper's sole surviving victim. Enietra describes the killer as an African American in his early 30's (which would make him in his early 50's now).
On the day she met him on Saturday, November 19, 1988, he looked neat, tidy and kind of geeky. He was a thin preppy type and wore a black polo shirt which was tucked into khaki trousers.
The killer offered her a ride multiple times, but she declined continuously until, finally, she relented.
His vehicle of choice that fateful day was an orange Ford Pinto with a white racing stripe on its hood. To Margette “it looked like a Hot Wheels car,” but the interior impressed her.
The car's standard gear shift knob had been replaced with a marble ball the size of a ping-pong ball. The car's interior was white with a white diamond-patterned upholstery.
Enietra and the killer exchanged banter for a while, then he suddenly pulled a pistol from a compartment in the Pinto and shot her in the chest while they were driving.
A surprised Margette remembers being totally baffled about what had just occurred. Why did he shoot her, she thought, and who would take care of her kids if she died?
The following podcast is a 911 call perhaps made by someone who witnessed the killer dump the body of the fourth victim:
Blood began trickling down her face onto her blouse, which quickly became soaked with blood. Enietra fell unconscious but was awakened by a flash bulb. The killer had taken her photo and had raped her.
She begged him to take her to a hospital, but he refused because he said he did not want to get caught. They sped through the night with her in the passenger seat beside him, bleeding.
Finally the killer pulled the car over to the side of the road, and there he beat her repeatedly over and over with his gun. After that he pushed her out of the car onto the street and into the darkness of the night to die.
But Enietra refused to die. Somehow she managed to walk several blocks to a friends house leaving a circuitous trail of blood in the street and on parked cars along the way.
When she finally arrived at her friend, Lynda Lewis', house, Lynda wasn't home. Instead Lynda and her husband had gone ahead to a party that Enietra had also planned to attend. Enietra collapsed on the front porch.
Lewis and her husband returned home about 1 AM, finding Enietra lying on their porch, nearly incoherent.
Once in the hospital, doctors were unsure if she would survive the night. Somehow she did survive, and Enietra began the long, hard journey back to a normal life fighting through physical therapy sessions and the like.
Enietra is the only known survivor of an attack by the Grim Sleeper. But at least 11 other victims were not as fortunate as she. The Sleeper's tally of victims thus far is 11-1, or at least that is the running total of the victims that we know of.
Professor Henry Lewis Gates Jr's 911 call has been released by the Cambridge, MA, police. Lucia Whalen called 911 when she suspected that Gates was breaking into a house.
The following is her 911 call to police reporting the incident:
Obviously, Ms Whalen only made a reference to the perp's race when she was asked to do so by the 911 operator, which puts to rest any insinuations that the 911 call was racially motivated.
