![]() Marine Maj. Brian Dennis holding his adopted dog, Nubs, near the Iraq-Jordan border on Feb. 4, 2008 . Dennis was reunited on Saturday with Nubs at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station when he returned from Iraq.
Maj. Brian dennis
West-Press Printing Health Care Sierra Tucson Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Finance and Accounting Charles E. Gillman Company Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional Jorgensen Brooks Group Counselor Health Care Dependable Health Services Physical Therapists Health Care CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Sales and Marketing Everready Glass Sales Reps NationAround the nationTucson, Arizona | Published: 03.23.2008
Florida
Final spacewalk is successful
CAPE CANAVERAL — Endeavour's astronauts embarked on the fifth and final spacewalk of their mission Saturday, this time attaching a 50-foot inspection pole to the international space station for use by the next shuttle visitors.
Michael Foreman and Robert Behnken floated out the hatch late in the afternoon as the linked shuttle and station soared more than 200 miles above the Pacific. They spacewalked the night away, successfully accomplishing all their work.
Discovery won't have room for the laser-tipped inspection boom when it flies in May; the Japanese Kibo lab is so big it will take up the entire payload bay. So Endeavour's astronauts left theirs behind.
Foreman and Behnken hooked an extra-long power cord to the inspection pole, to keep its lasers and cameras warm for the next two months, then secured the boom to the outside of the space station.
The spacewalkers also inspected a jammed rotating joint that has restricted the use of a set of solar wings and hooked some scientific experiments to the European lab, Columbus.
2 million still speak Esperanto
FORT LAUDERDALE — It never caught on as an international language, but 2 million people around the world still speak it and are urging others to join them.
Esperanto has languished in relative obscurity since a Polish scholar named Ludwig Zamenhof created it in 1887 as a unifying force among people who speak different languages.
Esperanto is rooted in major European languages, and because the words are largely phonetic, speakers say it is far easier to master than English. In Esperanto, for example, the word "nuclear bomb" is "nuklea bombo" and "street" is "strato." In addition, Esperanto relies on 16 grammatical rules, versus English, which uses thousands.
Those interested in learning Esperanto for free can check out pacujo.net/esperanto/course.
California
Man who dragged sick cows sentenced
CHINO — A man caught on video dragging sick cows and shocking them at a Southern California slaughterhouse has been sentenced to six months in jail.
Rafael Sanchez Herrera, 34, pleaded guilty Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court to three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal.
The undercover video shot by the Humane Society of the United States led to a federal investigation that spurred the largest beef recall in U.S. History on Feb 17.
The video shows workers at the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. dragging sick cows with metal chains and forklifts, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their noses and faces.
Downer cattle have been largely barred from the food supply since a mad cow disease scare in 2003. The cows pose a higher risk of disease, partly because they often wallow in feces.
Under the plea deal, Herrera will be deported to his native Mexico after serving jail time.
Marine reunited with war pal Nubs
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego-based Marine major was reunited on Saturday with one of his closest war buddies — a 2-year-old dog named Nubs.
Nubs greeted Maj. Brian Dennis at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station when the fighter pilot returned from Iraq.
It was the first time the two were together since Dennis' family and close friends helped raise $3,500 to fly the dog to San Diego about a month ago.
Dennis, 36, of St. Pete Beach, Fla., had spotted the mongrel dog while on patrol in Anbar province and later nursed the animal back to health after finding him stabbed with a screwdriver.
He named the dog Nubs after learning someone cut the ears off believing it would make the dog more aggressive and alert.
Georgia
Body found may be first tornado victim
ATLANTA — Workers found a body Saturday while clearing rubble from a building damaged over a week ago when a tornado slammed into downtown Atlanta, police said.
"We may have the first tornado victim in the city of Atlanta, but we won't know for sure until the medical examiner" returns with results, Officer James Polite said.
The front of the damaged building had been a store and the rear had been rented out to a local church. Workers using a Bobcat to scoop up bricks and debris saw a hand sticking out of the rubble and called police, Polite said.
Missouri
Regional spelling champ disqualified
ST. JOSEPH — Seventh-grader Morgan Brown thought her dream to compete in the national spelling bee was about to come true when she won her regional contest.
But her family found out this week that her school was not registered with the Scripps National Spelling Bee, disqualifying her for the May competition in Washington, D.C.
Her father said Morgan, who has had to adapt her learning skills to cope with a vision disorder, has dreamed of competing in the national spelling bee since she was 9 and now he faces a "heavy-heart situation."
The problem is that Morgan attends North Platte Junior High School, which wasn't registered, a fact school officials and the bee's organizers didn't know at the time of the regional competition on March 8.
Scripps officials discovered the error Monday and told the regional spelling bee organizers that it was their responsibility to ensure their winner was eligible for the national bee.
New York
Jogger mugged preparing for Army
NEW YORK — Knife-wielding muggers attacked a jogger running in Central Park to prepare for an Army physical fitness test, police and his family said.
Johnny Reberon, 23, was slashed in the arm and leg by two men who accosted him around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, police said.
His mugging was near the park road where a 28-year-old investment banker was found after being attacked while jogging on April 19, 1989. She became known worldwide as "the Central Park jogger."
Reberon's attackers took his wallet and iPod, police said.
Wire reports
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