Long-Lost Dog Tag Returned to NY WWII Vet Who Dropped it in French Barley Field

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Photo Credit: APIrving Mann has been in business long enough to be skeptical of out-of-the-blue offers that seem too good to be true.

So the founder of Mann’s Jewelers in Rochester was cautious but intrigued when an email arrived at his store from a woman wondering if he could possibly be the Irving Mann whose military tag she said she’d found a day earlier in her barley field in France.

After all, the World War II veteran didn’t recall losing a dog tag after landing in Normandy with the 90th Infantry division on D-Day and fighting across Nazi-occupied France.

“It had to be false,” thought Mann, who’d recently celebrated his 88th birthday.

“You hear of so many scams going on, that somebody’s going to fake it, do some research and say, `I would be willing to return your dog tag. However, it will cost you X number of dollars.”‘

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Do You Believe? Holy Image Appears Behind Child Battling Leukemia (+video)

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Photo Credit: Potter FamilyBeliever or not, the image behind Erin Potter, a Kirtland girl battling leukemia, is stunning. It certainly stunned her mom.

“My reaction immediately, it’s Mary, they hear us, she’s there,” Jen Potter said.

The picture of Erin, running with sparklers, was taken in her backyard by a friend just after the family learned that Erin’s cancer was back, for the third time, and she was facing a second bone marrow transplant.

“I didn’t necessarily see it as a sign that Erin is fine and is going to walk out of this, but it’s a sign that we’re watching over her,” Jen added.

KPTV – FOX 12

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Planetary Alignment Peaks with Celestial Show this Weekend

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Photo Credit: George M. GroutasVenus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the sky this month, will be joined by tiny Mercury for a rare celestial show this weekend.

Typically, Venus, the second-closest planet to the sun, and Jupiter, which orbits beyond Mars, are tens of millions of miles apart. But they have been cycling together while moving ever closer to each other this month, joined by the innermost planet Mercury.

The celestial show peaks on Sunday when the trio will appear as a bright triangle of light in the western sky beginning about 30 minutes after sunset.

Triple conjunctions are relatively rare, according to NASA. The last one was in May 2011 and the next one will not occur until October 2015.

“This triple is especially good because it involves the three brightest planets in May’s night sky,” the U.S. space agency said on its website.

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Pregnant Woman Dies, Gives Birth, Comes Back to Life

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Photo Credit: FoxWhen a pregnant teacher in Texas collapsed, her coworkers rushed to help. The woman technically died, gave birth and then was brought back to life.

Erica Nigrelli, an English teacher at Elkins High School in Missouri City, Texas, collapsed in a co-worker’s classroom when she was 36 weeks pregnant.

“Apparently I told her, ‘I feel very faint,’ and I put my head down and I essentially just passed out,” Erica Nigrelli said.

Erica’s husband, Nathan, is also a teacher at Elkins.

“I opened the door and walked in and Erica was laying on the floor,” he said.

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Mayor Bloomberg Lets F-Bombs Rip on Constituent

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Photo Credit: FilmMagicMayor Bloomberg went on a spitting-mad rant against a city cab-fleet boss who won a court victory over Hizzoner’s planned “Taxi of Tomorrow” — vowing to “destroy your f–king industry” when he leaves office, The Post has learned.

A fuming Bloomberg made the threat against Taxi Club Management CEO Gene Freidman at Madison Square Garden’s private 1879 Club during last Thursday’s Knick playoff game, a witness said yesterday…

Freidman confirmed the blow-up to The Post, and said Bloomberg’s tirade included the warning that, “After January, I am going to destroy all you f–king guys.”

“I said, ‘Whoa, Mr. Mayor, calm down! Why can’t I sit down with you and figure out something that works?’ He got back in my face and said, ‘After January, I am going to destroy all you f–king guys,’ ” said Freidman, whose company operates a fleet of 925 yellow cabs…

“He was very angry, very scary, very violent in a non-physical way. He was grinding his teeth, he was spitting, he was red and he was in my face,” the self-styled “King of the Road” claimed.

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Doctors Save Ohio Toddler by ‘Printing’ Him an Airway Tube

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Photo Credit: APIn a medical first, doctors used plastic particles and a 3-D laser printer to create an airway splint to save the life of a baby boy who used to stop breathing nearly every day.

It’s the latest advance from the booming field of regenerative medicine, making body parts in the lab.

In the case of Kaiba Gionfriddo, doctors didn’t have a moment to spare. Because of a birth defect, the little Ohio boy’s airway kept collapsing, causing his breathing to stop and often his heart, too. Doctors in Michigan had been researching artificial airway splints but had not implanted one in a patient yet.

In a single day, they “printed out” 100 tiny tubes, using computer-guided lasers to stack and fuse thin layers of plastic instead of paper and ink to form various shapes and sizes. The next day, with special permission from the Food and Drug Administration, they implanted one of these tubes in Kaiba, the first time this has been done.

Suddenly, a baby that doctors had said would probably not leave the hospital alive could breathe normally for the first time. He was 3 months old when the operation was done last year and is nearly 19 months old now. He is about to have his tracheotomy tube removed; it was placed when he was a couple months old and needed a breathing machine. And he has not had a single breathing crisis since coming home a year ago.

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Vactican: Pope “Had No Intention to Perform Any Exorcism” (+video)

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Photo Credit: GettyA Vatican spokesman on Tuesday refuted claims that Pope Francis performed an exorcism on a man in St. Peter’s Square after Mass on Sunday. But he did not altogether deny the encounter.

“The Holy Father had no intention to perform any exorcism,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement. “Instead, as he frequently does for the sick and suffering persons who approach him, he simply meant to pray for a suffering person who was presented to him.”

Speculation that Francis performed an exorcism began to ricochet around the Internet when video of the encounter from TV2000, a Catholic television station in Italy, was posted online.

In the video, Francis smiles and takes the hand of an unnamed man in a wheelchair. After a priest whispers in the pope’s ear, his demeanor changes and he places his hands on the man’s head. The video shows the man in the wheelchair convulsing before his body goes limp with his mouth agape.

The pope also places his hands on two other people in wheelchairs, but neither has the same dramatic reaction.

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D.C. Man Won’t Face Gun Charges for Shooting Pit Bull Attacking Boy

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Photo Credit: washington timesAuthorities last week made an agreement not to prosecute a Northwest D.C. man who used his unregistered handgun to kill a pit bull in order to stop it from mauling a child in his neighborhood.

As part of the agreement, Benjamin Srigley, 39, was required to pay a $1,000 fine but will not have criminal charges filed against him for the three unregistered firearms and the ammunition that investigators found in his possession, said Ted Gest, a spokesman for the office of the attorney general.

“We took it into account that he saved this boy’s life,” Mr. Gest said.

Possession of an unregistered firearm or ammunition in the District is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, and prosecutors said Mr. Srigley could have faced up to seven criminal charges in the case.

“In our recent memory this is a unique charge because of the unusual circumstances of this case,” said Mr. Gest, whose office generally prosecutes low-level crime in the District.

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Michelle Obama Expands Anti-Obesity Campaign to Museums

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Photo Credit: CNSNews.com/Penny StarrBy Elizabeth Harrington. First Lady Michelle Obama has expanded her anti-obesity campaign to museums, enlisting them to offer “healthy food options,” and change their menus.

Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative is now calling for museums, zoos, gardens, science and technology centers to “join the call to action,” to decrease obesity among children.

The first lady is recruiting these institutions to join the “Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens” project because of their power to “influence real and sustained behavior change” on the eating habits of kids.

“With their impressive reach and great potential for impact, museums and gardens can launch community efforts to create a healthier generation using interactive exhibits, outdoor spaces, gardens and programs that encourage families to eat healthy foods and increase physical activity,” the program said. Read more from this story HERE.

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HHS:’Telework’ Gives Gov’t Employees More Time for ‘Planning and Preparing Healthy Meals’

By Terence P. Jeffrey. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it wants as many as 20 percent of its workers to “telework,” use an “alternative work schedule,” or do both, in order to “reduce green house gas emissions,” decrease “employee stress,” and give these government workers more time for “planning and preparing healthy meals.”

So says one of the HHS “performance measures” detailed in an appendix to the department’s latest strategic plan.

HHS’s performance measure “4.D.05” says: “Increase the percent employees on telework or on Alternative Work Schedule.”

Telework means working from home via phone and computer. An “alternative work schedule,” according to the federal Office of Personnel Management means having “flexible work schedules and compressed work schedules.” A compressed work schedule means putting the 80 hours of work required in a two-week government pay period into less than 10 work days. Read more from this story HERE.

So Much for Evolution: Scientists Say People are Getting Dumber

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller The average intelligence level of a Victorian-era person was higher than a modern-era person, a European research team posits in a report published last week in the journal Intelligence.

The research flies in the face of current assumptions of the Flynn Effect, which states that basic intelligence levels — measured through IQ tests — have risen since the 1930s.

IQ tests have been criticized, however, for reflecting bias toward certain cultures and education levels, while reaction times to stimuli might reflect “true intelligence” — the shorter the reaction time, the smarter the person.

European researchers Michael Woodley, Jan te Nijenhuis and Raegan Murphy compared reaction times to stimuli between people in the Victorian-era and modern-era people between 1884 to 2004.

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