Category: Unusual News Stories


How Much Is A Good Grade Worth?

Filed Under: Beliefs, Unusual News Stories by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
November 18, 2011

I know the economy is terrible, but it looks like a good grade can now cost a student quite a lot!

Here’s the story from ABC News:

>>Students, tests and cash were the perfect variables to fatten high school math teacher Jeff Spires’ wallet, officials said, but administrators pulled the plug on him after several students brought his alleged pay-for-grades scheme to their attention.

Spires, who taught at Charlotte County High School in Charlotte County, Fla.,  was suspended without pay on Oct. 14 and resigned two weeks later.

He had been a teacher in the district since 2002 and told school officials he changed grades for money because he was having financial trouble amid a bankruptcy, arrests and jail time.

“Maybe I see the kids are as desperate as I am,” he told the school’s investigators.

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Is The Age Of 90 The New 85?

Filed Under: Beliefs, Unusual News Stories by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
November 17, 2011

It seems that we’re living longer these days because we’re eating better foods and exercising more than we had been. Does that mean that we are going to last longer?

Here’s an article on this subject by Sophie Quinton at the National Journal:

“So many Americans are living past 85 that it may push the designation of ‘oldest of the old’ from 85-plus to 90 and older, according to a Census Bureau report released Thursday.

By 2050, the United States is likely to have 9 million people 90 and older, the report projected. In 1980, only 720,000 Americans were around who had lived past their 90th birthdays. That number grew to 1.9 million last year.

“Can 90 be the new 85?” asked Dr. Richard Suzman of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health.

“Because of increasing numbers of older people and increases in life expectancy at older ages, the oldest segments of the older population are growing the fastest,” added Suzman, whose agency commissioned the report.

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Man Falls Into Hole, Hangs On To Newspaper

Filed Under: Beliefs, Unusual News Stories by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
November 1, 2011

Now here’s a story people who work at a newspaper, like me, enjoy hearing!

An 80 year-old man fell into a hole, but didn’t let go of his morning newspaper. Here’s the story from newsday.com:

>>Michael Ciron‘s walk down his lawn for his morning newspapers Sunday took a little longer than he expected.

Ciron, 80, of Oceanside, said that about 9:30 a.m. he fell 8 to 9 feet into a narrow hole that appeared in his front lawn — landing in his slippers in wet, shifting sand — before being quickly rescued unscathed by local firefighters.

“When I fell down there, it was scary,” he said. “The dirt down there was like sand.”

He started to call for help, but soon realized that his voice wouldn’t carry far beyond the narrow pit.

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‘Lion’ Taking Place In DC!

Filed Under: Unusual News Stories by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
October 28, 2011

While it’s not unusual for someone to be lying in DC — politicians are famous for it — it is strange to see a mountain lion here. That is, until recently.

Here’s the story from NBC 4 in DC:

>>Some believe a mountain lion may be lurking in northwest Washington.

One neighbor described the creature as larger and wider than a deer, with the long tail of a cat.

Another woman said she was walking her dog in McLean Gardens at the edge of Glover Park when she spotted the large cat last week.  The cat, which she believes is a mountain lion, ran off into some nearby woods.

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Man Suffers Heart Attack During Heart Disease Class

Filed Under: Beliefs, Unusual News Stories by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
June 30, 2011

There’s an old expression about it being better to be lucky than good.

The following story from The Examiner is a prime example of that:

>>Man has heart attack in Maine heart disease class

A Maine cardiologist and a team of nurses are being credited with saving the life of a heart attack victim, but it wasn’t in an emergency room.

Dr. William Phillips was giving a lecture Monday on heart disease at the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston when he was interrupted by a man complaining of chest pain.

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