NEWS & BLUES

Curses, Foiled Again

Brian Hardman, 22, pointed a gun at Leonard Turner, who was putting air in his tires at a Detroit gas station, and demanded his car. Turner, 47, a former middleweight boxer, grabbed Hardman’s trigger finger and shot off the gun until it was empty, then threw Hardman to the ground. “He got up,” Turner recounted, “and said, ‘Give me my gun back. I got a CCW (carry concealed weapon permit).’ Then I hit him with the gun.”

At Hardman’s trial, defense attorney Jonathan Jones argued that his client shouldn’t be charged with carjacking because he didn’t have the gun on him. “The reason he didn’t have the gun on him,” Judge Shannon A. Holmes noted, “is because the defendant got his butt whipped, and Mr. Turner took the gun from him.” (Detroit News)

Avoirdupois Justice

Death row inmate Ronald Post, 53, asked a federal judge to stop his scheduled Jan. 16 execution in Ohio on the grounds that he’ll suffer severe pain because he’s so fat that he doesn’t have accessible veins in his arms, hands or legs for a lethal injection. Post, who weighs more than 400 pounds, said he’s tried losing weight, but back and knee problems have made exercise difficult, and severe depression keeps him from cutting down on his food intake. Ohio Gov. John Kasich granted Post clemency a few weeks before the scheduled execution. (Associated Press)

Tourist Trade

New York and New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy complained their cleanup efforts are interrupted by disaster tourists, who’re drawn by curiosity to the real-life scenes of tragedy shown on television. “The gawking was amazing last week,” Staten Island resident Joanne McClenin commented. “It was kind of offensive as a homeowner, because I felt violated.” (Associated Press)

Seven years after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, tour buses continue to visit the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, charging an average of $45 per person to glimpse what some tour operators promote as the scene of “America’s Greatest Catastrophe.” After years of loosely enforcing a ban on motor coaches, police began turning back tours and fining violators. “Residents don’t like being gawked at by tourists as though they’re sideshow attractions,” city councilor Ernest F. Charbonnet declared, vowing to introduce legislation to limit buses to 30 passengers along a designated route. (The New York Times)

Inventive Minds

Computer engineer Anirudh Sharma, 24, has invented a device to guide blind people to their destination. Dubbed “Le Chal” (“take me along” in Hindi), it links a smartphone app with a small actuator sewn inside the sole of a shoe via Bluetooth. The user tells the phone the desired destination, and voice-recognition software translates the request into electronic commands. The phone’s GPS directs the actuator when to turn, causing the shoe to vibrate on the side of the direction of the turn. The shoe also alerts the wearer of any obstacles in the path and guides the wearer around them. (The Economist)

Martin Gustafson, inventor of the BioDome, promises that the device “can protect anyone from dangerous chemical/biological agents, in the event of a terrorist attack, accidental chemical spill or biological emergency.” BioDome comes in two 60-pound cans and inflates itself in 10 minutes into a 10-foot-square room that can accommodate six adults for “up to several days.” (Time)

Chutzpah

While burglarizing a home in Greenbrae, Calif., Samuel Cutrufelli, 31, shot the homeowner, 90-year-old Jay Leone, in the face, according to authorities, who said Leone returned fire, hitting Cutrufelli several times. Both men were hospitalized for an extended period. During Cutrufelli’s trial for attempted murder, his father and his defense attorney filed a lawsuit on Cutrufelli’s behalf, claiming Leone “negligently shot” Cutrufelli, causing him “great bodily injury, and other financial damage, including loss of Mr. Cutrufelli’s home, and also the dissolution of Mr. Cutrufelli’s marriage.” (Marin Independent Journal)

Wrong Rites

Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops warned believers who decline to earmark 8 percent of their income tax for the church that they won’t be able to receive the Eucharist, become godparents or receive a church burial. The religious tax option, which affects all religions, renders more than $4 billion a year unto Germany’s Catholic and Protestant churches. (BBC News)

Thousands of public officials throughout Europe see the Catholic Church as a source of revenue to solve their financial crises. Local governments in Spain, Italy, Ireland and England have proposed taxing church property used for non-religious purposes and eliminating subsidies that support church commercial and educational efforts. “The costs of the crisis should be borne equally by every person and institution,” said Richardo Rubio, 36, a city councilor in Alcala de Henares, Spain. (The Washington Post)

War on Obesity, Round Two

Following bans on super-sized sugary soft drinks inspired by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, PepsiCo Inc. unveiled a new version of Pepsi-Cola in Japan. Called Pepsi Special, it contains dextrin, an indigestible, potato-derived fiber that Pepsi says slows the absorption of fat in the body by binding with it and eliminating it as waste. “Why choose between a hamburger and a slice of pizza?” Japanese commercials announce. “If you choose Pepsi Special, you can have both!” (Yahoo Health)

News and Blues is compiled from the nation’s press. To contribute, submit original clippings, citing date and source, to Roland Sweet in care of The New Times.