Witchy Woman

"A group of parents say their children with disabilities experienced waterboarding-like torture” and other forms of abuse at the hands of two teacher’s aides at a Montana middle school.

Now, the teacher’s aides, Julie Parish and Kristina Marie Kallies, face felony charges of assault on a minor and endangering the welfare of children in connection with the alleged abuse in a special education classroom.

Witnesses say that students were subjected to water torture and forced to eat their own vomit. Further, parents say they suspect students were also confined to closets.

Parents noticed that students came home with bruises, bite marks, burnt fingertips and missing hair.

The students, who have a variety of disabilities including autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, were unable to speak up about the problems due to their disabilities."

"A 44-year-old man has died in what police described as an "execution-style" killing after being shot at his home in Eccleshill, Bradford.
Neville Corby died at the scene at Ashbourne Road on Monday morning while his 31-year-old partner is recovering in hospital from gunshot wounds to the chest."

"Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on gay marriage, saying the provision violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.
The unanimous ruling issued Friday would make Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal."

"The death of a New York radio newsreader has been described by authorities as a "gay slaying", according to reports.
George Weber, 47, who worked for ABC, was found stabbed to death in his Brooklyn apartment on Sunday.
Police sources said it is believed he was killed on Friday by a male acquaintance after
witnesses reported seeing an unknown man pacing outside the building before being buzzed in."

"Police said two men were beaten unconscious Sunday morning because they are gay, and the people who assaulted them haven't been found yet.
Investigators said the victims, who are from Washington state, were on the beach near downtown Seaside at about 3 a.m. when three or four men attacked them. Investigators said the beatings are hate crimes.
The Seaside police chief said he has put two full-time detectives on the case and they are trying to find any witnesses who were on the beach Sunday morning and may have seen who was responsible for severely beating the two men.
"It's a small town. Only time it gets crazy is when there's a lot of tourists and people in town," said Evan White, who works in Seaside.

Investigators said around 3 a.m. the victims were sitting next to a beach fire with three or four other people, and when the two men got up to walk to the ocean, they were attacked and beaten unconscious because they are gay. Investigators said when the victims woke up they helped each other to a nearby hotel where they called for help and were taken to a local hospital.
Mica Macdonald works at a Seaside hotel and said Seaside is not a dangerous place, but he said it's a bad idea to stay on beach after dark unless you're in a big group.
"It's a great place to hang out, but not a great place to hang out at night I don't think," Macdonald said.
There were several people who were sitting next to the fire in front of the Best Western Hotel at the time of the attack and police would like to talk to them.
Anyone with information in the case should contact Seaside police."

"(Vancouver, British Columbia) The man described as the ringleader in killing of a gay man in a Vancouver park eight years ago is being released early from prison after serving four years of a Ryan Cran was convicted of manslaughter in 2005 in the slaying of Aaron Webster.
Webster’s naked body was found in a pool of blood on a footpath near a public parking lot in a gay cruising area of Vancouver’s Stanley Park in November 2001. An autopsy showed he had been beaten to death with a blunt instrument, probably a baseball bat. Stanley Park was a well known cruising area and the killing galvanized
Vancouver’s gay community and police at the time.
Cran was sentenced to six years in prison, while two young offenders received lesser terms after admitting their roles in the November 2001 beating. A fourth man was found not guilty.
At Cran’s sentencing, prosecutors asked for a six- to nine-year sentence, but did not seek to have the case treated as a hate crime to allow for a longer sentence - something that angered Webster’s family and BC LGBT activists.
Nevertheless, at the sentencing hearing, the judge was told that Cran had not shown any remorse for the killing. The prosecutor said that the pack of armed men were looking to hunt down another human being for entertainment.
The two juveniles were released after serving two years in a youth detention center.
During his four years behind bars, Cran launched several unsuccessful appeals. Under Canadian law, a prisoner can be freed after serving two-thirds of a sentence if there have been no problems during the incarceration.
Webster’s cousin Denise Norman had lobbied the National Parole Board to have Cran banned from the predominantly gay West End where the park was located.
The board disregarded Norman’s plea. Cran’s release conditions only require counseling, refraining from alcohol, and having no contact with Webster’s family."

"Taneka Talley was stabbed to death in March 2006 while she was working as a clerk at a Dollar Tree store in Fairfield. Her killer’s only motive, prosecutors say, is that she was African American. That’s also the reason the store’s workers’ compensation insurer is denying $250,000 in death benefits to Talley’s 11-year-old son.

The boy’s grandmother, the child’s legal guardian, said Specialty Risk Services is taking the position that a racially motivated killing is personal, not work-related - even though the man charged with killing Talley had never met her before. The insurance company, Dollar Tree and their lawyers aren’t talking publicly about the case but are defending their position before a state appeals board that hears workers’ compensation disputes.

The opposition by Dollar Tree and its insurers to paying benefits to Talley’s son represents an attempt to set new limits on California’s workers’ compensation system, under which a company provides benefits to employees or their survivors for work-related deaths or injuries regardless of whether the firm was at fault.
“The doctors testify that Mr. Thompson’s motivation in stabbing Taneka Talley was purely race motivated,” attorney Kelly Hamilton wrote. “As such, it is our belief that our denial in this matter is proper.”

The compensation law doesn’t consider an on-the-job injury to be work-related if the
motives were entirely personal - for example, if an estranged lover or spouse comes to the workplace and attacks an employee because of a private grudge.

“Taneka Talley was at work, doing her job, when she was killed,” the lawyer said. “If she had not been in that store, she would not have been available to (the killer), and she would still be alive.

“It’s shocking that Dollar Tree and its insurance carrier are using the alleged racist motivation of a killer as an excuse to get out of paying benefits,” Stagliano said. (San Francisco Chronicle)"