MONROE — A mentally ill convicted killer has been temporarily committed to Western State Hospital after serving 20 years in the Special Offender Unit of the state prison at Monroe.
The Department of Corrections says Michael McFarland, who is classified by the state as dangerously mentally ill, was referred Wednesday for civil commitment at the mental hospital for 72 hours.
Twenty years ago, McFarland pleaded guilty to stabbing his mother to death Read the rest of this entry »

Israel has confirmed that reserve units have been sent to the Gaza Strip, as its campaign there enters a 17th day.
But military officials denied this heralded a new phase in Israel’s offensive against Hamas militants.
Earlier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was nearing its military goals and operations would continue.
Reports suggest diplomatic efforts between Egypt and Hamas in Cairo are progressing, as envoy Tony Blair heads to the Read the rest of this entry »

A Pittsburgh-area woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and cutting her infant from her womb is going to spend the next 60 days in a state mental facility.
A judge presiding over a competency hearing Monday for Andrea Curry-Demus says he would like status updates periodically on the woman’s condition. Curry-Demus is accused of meeting Kia Johnson at the Allegheny County Jail while each were visiting other inmates and then somehow luring the Read the rest of this entry »

A man who was standing on running board of the crowded cable car and the driver of the Honda sport utility vehicle were transported to the hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
Police are investigating the cause of the collision, said Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman Judson True.
The incident occurred just before 5 p.m. on Hyde Street between Beach Street and North Point near Ghirardelli Square.
The cable Read the rest of this entry »

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:45
SAN MATEO CO.: UPDATE: UNSAFE LIVING SITUATION SENT 8 TO HOSPITAL
A Menlo Park Fire Protection District chief said today eight
people in a small household who had a close call with carbon monoxide
poisoning Wednesday night “are the front-line victims of the economy
crisis.”
Five adults and eight children were living in a 1,400-square-foot
home in unincorporated San Mateo County near Redwood City when their power Read the rest of this entry »

HARTFORD, Conn. – An Enfield man who said the
ordered
him to kill his 85-year-old father has been committed to the
state’s maximum-security psychiatric hospital for 50 years.
, the state’s
only hospital for the criminally insane.
The judges found Pagnam not guilty of murder by reason of mental
disease or defect in October in the beating death of his father,
Robert Pagnam, in 2006.
Enfield police say Brian Pagnam put a bag on his father’s head
and Read the rest of this entry »

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Montgomery County (
) police confirm that one of their police cruisers and a civilian vehicle have collided, sending all occupants to local hospitals.
The officer was treated at a local hospital and released, police say. One of the occupants of the civilian car was taken to a local trauma center and the other occupant was taken to a local hospital. They are said to be in serious but stable condition. An eyewitness at the scene say Read the rest of this entry »

Former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was sent to the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital (亞東醫院) at around 8 p.m. yesterday after having remained on hunger strike since arriving at the Tucheng detention center last Wednesday. Chen will spend the night at the hospital for further examination.
For the past five days, Chen has continued to push away trays with his breakfast, lunch and dinner in protest against what he describes as judicial Read the rest of this entry »

MADISON, WIS. – Befitting an intense rivalry, there was some intense hitting going on at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday. Two in particular come to mind:
The first came on a second-and-5 late in the first quarter, when Gophers running back
ran a counter. He took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Wisconsin safety
, one that knocked the logo off Salamon’s helmet. He got up, then sagged back to the ground before leaving the field. But he did return Read the rest of this entry »

CHULA VISTA, Calif.—A San Diego County man who says the CIA ordered him to kill his mother has been ordered committed to a state mental hospital.
Kaijamar Carpenter of Chula Vista was sentenced Friday for stabbing to death his mother, Diane, in January 2007. She was assistant principal at Eastlake High School in Chula Vista.
Carpenter told police he was acting on CIA orders and the woman wasn’t his mother but an impostor who was trying to Read the rest of this entry »