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Anthony Weiner: Carlos Danger Name Was Private Joke

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New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner says he chose the name Carlos Danger as his online sexting persona because it was a private joke with a personal acquaintance.

"It was a joke in my personal life between me and one person," he told Univision in an interview Thursday.

Weiner didn't identify the person, but then added that he wasn't going to comment on anything "that that person has chosen to release." 

Sydney Leathers, the woman who came forward last month with details of their sexting affair, has released emails, lewd photos, messages and other details about their online affair that began a year after he resigned from Congress.

Weiner has vowed he is not quitting the mayoral race, and has struggled to steer the conversation in the campaign away from his online activities. 

But he did not definitively close the book when asked by Univision on Thursday whether his sex scandal "has finally finished, is it over?"

"Well this has been behind me for some time. Many of the things that people read in the newspapers happened a year ago," he said. "So, look, I can't say that nothing from my past will ever come back to haunt me. I hope it doesn't."

 



Photo Credit: AP

Woman Says Raccoon Attacked, Bit Her in Central Park

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A Brooklyn woman says a raccoon in Central Park pounced on her, then bit her, when she took a picture of the animal during a walk.

Taraka Larson, a musician, was taking a sunset walk by the pond near the Plaza Hotel when she spotted a pair of raccoons. 

"I was still listening to music so it just kind of seemed like they were dancing with each other," she said. 

They were too cute not to capture on camera, Larson thought. So she took out her phone and snapped a photo. 

That's when one of the raccoons fixed its stare on her.

"I froze," Larson said. 

Lumbering and almost appearing intoxicated, they approached. Larson didn't want to make a move.

"You're afraid," she said. "You don't want to run away because what if they just like pounce on you? But then one of them did." 

The raccoon sunk its teeth into Larson's leg.

"It was biting my leg, like gnawing on it," she said. 

And then, she said, "I just kicked it off and it went flying into the bushes." 

Larson then ran to the plaza, where workers told her she needed to seek treatment. 

"'Miss, you could have rabies,'" she recalled them telling her. "'You don't need Band-Aids or Neosporin. You need to go to a hospital.'"

She went to Roosevelt Hospital, where she got 21 rabies shots as a precaution. 

Rabid raccoon attacks are rare in the city, and the Parks Department said it doesn't believe those raccoons were sick, just curious. They're still investigating and in the meantime, advise people to keep a safe distance from the wildlife in the park. 

It's a lesson learned for Larson. 

"I think I'm just a lot more aware of animals that might be behaving strangely," she said. 



Photo Credit: NBC 4 New York

Dr. Petit and Wife Expecting a Baby

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Dr. William Petit, the lone survivor of the home invasion in Cheshire in 2007, is an expectant father.

Petit and his wife Christine have announced that they are expecting a baby.

Dr. Petit and Christine Paluf met while she was working as a volunteer for the Petit Family Foundation and they married in August 2012.

Dr. Petit set up the foundation in memory of his family, Jennifer Hawke Petite and their two daughters, Hayley and Michaela, who were killed in the home invasion on July 23, 2007.

Dr. Petit said the couple does not plan to learn the baby’s gender before he or she is born. They want to be surprised.

The family’s spokesman, Rick Healey, told People Magazine that the baby is due in December.



Photo Credit: Copyright 2012 John Benoit

Missing in Action No More, Bay Area Soldier Buried

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Joseph Steinberg is finally home.

For the first time since he left San Francisco for the Korean War 62 years ago, his remains were back on American soil.

“He’s always been right here, always,” said his niece Marlene Baisa, patting her chest. “Because I’ve always loved him so much.”

On Thursday, Steinberg’s family held his funeral service in the Golden Gate National Cemetery, just days after his newly discovered remains were flown back to the Bay Area from Korea.

An honor guard of Bay Area volunteers lined the route to the cemetery, holding flags that slapped and shuddered in a stiff morning wind. Steinberg's family hadn’t heard from him since 1951 when he was taken prisoner during the war. The military later said he died in the Camp Bean POW camp in North Korea.

But for decades, his family had no idea where his body was. Eventually hope for his return ran out.

“They came to us in 2006 and asked for our DNA,” said Baisa. I even thought then nothing’s going to come of this,” Baisa said.

Steinberg’s brother Charles spent the latter years of his life writing letters to the U.S. government trying to find out what had happened to his brother.

“Every time he wrote a letter, he sent me a copy and he put a number at the top in a circle,” said Baisa. “I don’t know how many of those I have.”

But then came the phone call the family thought would never come. The military had identified Steinberg’s remains, and he was coming home.

In the same cemetery where three of Steinberg’s brothers were buried, the military held a funeral for  Sergeant First Class Steinberg.

Soldiers presented the family with Steinberg’s numerous medals, including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for bravery in World War II.

“The only problem is they’re all posthumous,” said Steinberg’s nephew Ron Smith. “We’d much rather have had him back wearing those awards than being honored with them today.” Other Korean War Veterans turned out for the service, expressing sorrow at the thousands of other veterans still missing in Korea. Still, the return of Steinberg was a small victory in what’s been called “the forgotten war.”

MORE: Body of Soldier Killed Ruing Korean War Returns Home

“This is a good day,” said Army veteran Bill Palmer. “He came home. He’s back on American soil. It’s a good day.” As the 21-gun salute and recorded version of “Taps” faded-out across the thousands of small white headstones, the family filed down to the graveside where cemetery workers buried the small wooden box holding Steinberg’s ashes.

Fifty yards away, American flags marked the graves of two of Steinberg’s brothers. Near his own grave, lay the marker for Steinberg's brother Charles, who died without ever knowing his brother’s fate.

“Now it’s over, said Baisa standing near her uncles' graves. “He’s home, he’s with his brother who loved him so much.”



Photo Credit: Joe Rosato Jr.

Teacher's Angry Letter Prompts Suspension

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A Southern California art teacher who was suspended for 11 days after writing a harsh letter to a student’s parents is firing back at the Los Angeles Unified School District, claiming he is the true victim of harsh behavior.

Lorcan Kilroy is speaking out against the LAUSD, saying the district cheated him by giving him an unfair, unpaid suspension and ultimate transferal from his job as a Van Nuys High School art teacher after he fought back against a student he said abused him in class.

"Abusive teachers, abusive students. It's abuse. Why are we tolerating that?" Kilroy said of incidents with a pupil that occurred more than a year ago.

After the student used a homophobic slur toward the teacher and threatened to "slap the (expletive) out of him," Kilroy felt the administration let the incident slide, so he took matters into his own hands and wrote a letter to the student’s parents.

"This senseless apathy is a malignant sore, a cancer on the energy and morale of the whole class," the letter stated. "This is dismal, pathetic, self-absorbed and destructive...Please do not respond to this letter by staging a conference to come dribble and whine like many do about you or your kid’s personal difficulties or your hard life."

The letter -- written in January 2012 -- is what Kilroy said resulted in his 11-day unpaid suspension, which was issued Monday and will forbid him from entering the campus from Aug. 13 to Sept. 23. Adding fuel to the fire, Kilroy found out on Wednesday that he is being transferred to Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth.

To read the full letter, click here.

LAUSD denied the connection between the letter and his school transfer in a statement, but district officials would not comment further, citing personnel confidentiality.

"Kilroy was displaced from Van Nuys High School due to instructional program changes," the statement noted.

The disgruntled teacher said although the reasons behind the note were justified, he may have taken things too far.

"Something's going to happen if you call a teacher (slur) or threaten to slap the (expletive) out of them," Kilroy said. "I'm not proud of the letter, the letter is overly harsh. I'm not asking for sympathy from the letter."

Kilroy described an incident by another teacher during which the person made physical threats against a student, an action the LAUSD handled differently, he said.

"(The teacher) didn’t get an 11-day suspension and reporting to the Credential Commission," he said. "I did."

More Southern California Stories:

Major Cruise Lines Begin Posting Crime Stats

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Three major cruise lines have started posting quarterly crime statistics on their own web sites.

The underreporting of cruise ship crimes had been the subject of a congressional hearing and a recent Team 6 investigation, "Missing at Sea.”

In May NBC 6 reported on the disappearance of Jason Rappe. During a Caribbean cruise in November he went overboard. By law the U.S. Coast Guard must post on its web site cruise ship crimes and missing persons. Frappe’s disappearance was not posted and his case is not the only one because of a gap in the law.

"Only cases that are reported to the FBI and then closed by the FBI have to be disclosed on that database," said Jim Walker, a maritime attorney.

A new congressional committee report finds that since 2011 cruise lines have reported 959 alleged crimes to the FBI but the Coast Guard has publicly reported only 31. Crimes against children are not reported.

"Close to 18 percent of victims of sexual assault on cruise ships are children," said Ross Klein, a Canadian professor who independently keeps track of these cruise ship crimes and missing persons.

Judge Denies Bond for Man Accused of Sex With 15-Year-Old on Royal Caribbean Cruise

After mounting pressure from Congress, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines are now voluntarily posting crime stats. From January 2012 to the end of June 2013 Royal Caribbean reported 16 thefts of over $10,000, five assaults with serious injury, 10 rapes and 11 sexual assaults. Norwegian Cruise Line reports one theft over $10,000, four serious assaults, one rape and four sexual assaults.

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, Carnival had not posted its stats yet, but spokesperson Roger Frizzell stated in an email: "I believe this is a positive step for our industry to be proactive in sharing these numbers. To my knowledge, no other industry does this today. Separately, I believe it showcases that cruising is safe, especially when you consider we have some 10 million passengers each year cruising with us. I think the crime stats on board for our four North American-based cruise lines would be an average of 41 alleged crimes per year.”

Cruise Ship Passenger Could've Been Saved: Mother

Frizzell added, “I also wanted to emphasize that we are doing this voluntarily to remove all doubt about the relatively low level of crime on cruise ships especially when compared with comparable land-based crimes. It is important to highlight that what is being posted are allegations of crime. The majority of these are never substantiated as actual crimes after the initial investigation."

The cruise lines are also posting statistics on missing persons.

Patty Davidman, a travel agent in Aventura for 25 years, does not think this will have a huge impact on demand for cruises. She says passengers seem more concerned with illnesses like the Norwalk virus which affect more people.

Click here to read about Carnival's reported statistics for alleged crimes on its North American-based cruise lines.

Get the stats from Royal Caribbean here, and those from Norwegian Cruise Line here.

Thieves Strike North County School Again

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A North County school was targeted by thieves for the second time in three weeks.

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies arrived at Solana Santa Fe School in Rancho Santa Fe around 12:30 a.m. Friday.

When deputies arrived at the school on El Apajo there were signs of a break-in but deputies didn't find any suspects.

They called in a K-9 unit to search the area with no results.

It’s not known what was taken or the amount of the loss deputies said.

On July 11, equipment was stolen from the same school.

Friday’s incident marks the fifth in a string of school burglaries in the area in five weeks.

Deputies say the investigation is ongoing and it’s not known if the previous burglaries are related.

Sage Canyon School on Harvest Run Drive was burglarized Tuesday. Officials did not reveal what was stolen.

Rancho Diegueno Country School at 15663 Circo Diegueno Road in Del Mar was burglarized between July 1 to 4. Apple computers were taken officials said.

Someone broke into Ocean Air Elementary School at 11444 Canter Heights Drive in San Diego on July 8 and stole Apple computers according to investigators.

A map shows the proximity of the schools.

In 2012, six schools in North County were targeted in similar burglaries, where thieves broke through windows and stole iPads.

The suspects – who were part of a gang – were eventually captured and arrested.

 

Rivers Describes McCoy vs. Norv

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Head coach Mike McCoy is an offensive-minded guy. That sits well with quarteback Philip Rivers who had this to say about his relationship with the new man in charge.

15-Year-Old Boy Arrested in "Surf City" Rioting

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A 15-year-old boy was arrested in connection with Sunday’s rioting in the streets of Huntington Beach following the U.S. Open of Surfing, police said.

On a tip from the public, police identified the teen from Huntington Beach as one of the rioters who was throwing glass bottles at officers on Main Street and tipping over portable toilets, Huntington Beach police said in a press release.

Detectives arrested the unidentified teen on suspicion of assault on a peace officer, felony vandalism, inciting a riot, and refusing to disperse.

He was being held at the Orange County Juvenile Hall. He was not identified because he is a minor.

More than 100 police officers responded to the rioting in "Surf City USA" after a fight broke out across from the beach where thousands of spectators had gathered for the popular nine-day U.S. Open of Surfing.

The mob toppled portable toilets, threw items from rooftops and smashed car windows along a strip lined with restaurants, bars and surf and skate shops.

More than 100 police officers worked to break up the melee. Some fired pepper balls and rubber projectiles.

Police were still looking for a man caught on video using a stop sign to break a display window at the Easyrider Bike Shop, said Lt. Mitch O'Brien, a Huntington Beach Police Department spokesman.

More Southern California Stories:

Gay Teacher Fired After Marrying Partner

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A teacher at a Catholic school in Southern California suddenly was fired after a photo of him marrying his same-sex partner of 10 years appeared in a local newspaper, according to the teacher's attorney.

Ken Bencomo, 45, was head of the English department, yearbook advisor, dance coach and a mentor at St. Lucy's Priory High School in Glendora. He worked at the all-girls school for 17 years.

Bencomo and his partner were among the first same-sex couples to marry in San Bernardino County last month after the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to uphold Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.

They’ve been together for 10 years.

The couple had a commitment ceremony in 2006, but that didn’t grant them the same rights as a married couple, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported. For example, Bencomo wasn’t allowed to visit his partner in the hospital after surgery because he wasn’t considered a relative, the news outlet reported.

Bencomo married his longtime partner on July 1. He was fired from St. Lucy's July 12.

His attorney said school administration explicitly told Bencomo they were firing him because he "got married and it was in the paper, and it violated church teachings."

"He goes from one of the happiest days of his life to a nightmare," said Patrick McGarigle, Bencomo's attorney.

Current students and alumnae have emerged in support of the former teacher.

“I think the most important of Catholic values is that they teach to love and this isn't an act of love,” Brittany Lettleton, a former St. Lucy’s student, told NBC4.

“I can say for sure if Jesus Christ were here on Earth today, he wouldn't be firing Ken Bencomo.”

More than 1,500 supporters as of Thursday have joined a Facebook group called “St. Lucy’s community speaks out for Mr. B.”

The group asks members to write letters to school leaders "notifying them of your disappointment in their recent decision to terminate a valuable leader of our community."

An online petition on Change.org has garnered more than 9,000 signatures in support of Bencomo.

A rally outside the school is set for Aug. 8.

"St. Lucy's taught us to be respectful, ambitious, and classy; it is imperative that we display those standards,” the page reads. “Mr. Ken Bencomo should not lose his livelihood. Be a part of the change."

News of Bencomo’s firing comes days after Pope Francis' comments on homosexuality made him seem more accepting of gays and lesbians than his predecessors.

"If someone is gay, who searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?" said Pope Francis, who leads the world's estimated 1.2 billion Catholics.

The school released this statement, saying it could not comment on employees, but emphasized it is upholding its educational mission in the "tradition of the Catholic faith":

"St. Lucy's Priory High School is founded in the Roman Catholic tradition and is dedicated to providing a quality college preparatory education for young women. As a Benedictine school, St. Lucy's is a community for those who wish to express Christian values in education and develop personal and academic excellence.

"We respect and protect privacy interests and, to be respectful of those involved, the School does not comment on confidential employment matters or matters which may involve litigation.

"St. Lucy's Priory High School wishes to reassure all in our community that upholding its mission to educate students in the tradition of the Catholic faith is of paramount importance."

McGarigle said school staff and students knew of Bencomo’s sexuality, and that his client often brought his partner to school events.

Nearly two months before he was fired, Bencomo renewed his contract with the school, McGarigle said.

The attorney said the school doesn’t have to "acknowledge the mistake, but make a fair and reasonable proposal to resolve this."

"If the school forces (Ken Bencomo) to file legal action, to rectify what occurred, then he will," McGarigle added.

More Southern California Stories:



Photo Credit: Rachel Luna, The Sun / Los Angeles News Group

Sweetwater Trustee Suffered Memory Loss in Crash

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Sweetwater trustee John McCann has suffered some memory loss but is expected to make a full recovery from a serious traffic collision according to a close family friend.

McCann was hospitalized after a July 24 collision between two vehicles on Telegraph Canyon Road.

McCann was taken to UCSD Medical Center where he woke up very briefly the next day and said his name.

Now, in an update to NBC 7, a close family friend said McCann's recovery will likely last about a year.

It will be an uphill battle but doctors expect him to eventually fully recover from crash the friend said.

McCann’s vehicle was hit on the left front side, so the collision is not being considered a “head-on” collision according to Chula Vista Police Department Capt. Gary Wedge.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. Police do not suspect alcohol played a factor in the crash.

Man Who Killed, Burned Puppies Given Probation

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A Tarrant County, Texas, man who admitted to killing three puppies with a stick before setting their bodies on fire in a barrel has been given 30 days in jail and probation.

Chris Apala, 33, told NBC 5 in June the puppies were suffering, so he did the "humane thing" and then "cremated them."

Apala and his girlfriend, 38-year-old Melissa Woodard, and their eight dogs, were living at her sister's home on the 7300 block of Cottonwood Creek Road in northwest Tarrant County. Woodard's sister called 911 after finding three of those dogs burned in a barrel.

Both Woodard and Apala were arrested and jailed on animal cruelty charges.

The Tarrant County district attorney's office said that Woodard and Apala each reached plea bargain agreements on Tuesday. In exchange for guilty pleas, Woodard received three years of probation and Apala received five years.

As a condition of Apala's probation, he was ordered to serve 30 days in jail.

Both defendants were also ordered to undergo random drug testing, a drug evaluation and complete community service. If either violates the conditions of their probation, they face up to two years in state jail.

The Tarrant County district attorney's office also said that the couple is not prevented from owning dogs as a condition of their probation.



Photo Credit: NBC 5 News

Richmond Files Suit Against Chevron in 2012 Refinery Fire

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The city of Richmond sued Chevron Corp. in Contra Costa County Superior Court today for alleged negligence in last year's massive refinery fire, accusing the oil company of "willful and conscious disregard of public safety."

The lawsuit alleges the explosion and blaze at the California Bay Area refinery on Aug. 6, 2012, resulted from "years of neglect, lax oversight and corporate indifference to necessary safety inspection and repairs."

The fire occurred after a leak in a corroded pipe in the refinery's crude oil unit created a large cloud of hydrocarbon vapor that ignited in a fireball at about 6:30 p.m. that day.

RAW VIDEO: Chevron Refinery Erupts in Fire

The fire burned for several hours before being controlled and sent a huge plume of toxic black smoke over the area. More than 15,000 people were treated at hospitals for respiratory problems and other illnesses.

The lawsuit, authorized by the City Council last week, seeks financial compensation for economic damage to the city, including the costs of emergency response, firefighting, environmental cleanup, alleviating harm to public health, and loss of value in city property.

A jury would determine the amount of compensation at a trial.

The lawsuit also asks for an additional punitive financial award "to ensure that an example is made" of Chevron to deter similar alleged conduct in the future.

Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie said on Thursday, "We believe the decision to pursue such a suit is a waste of the city's resources and yet another example of its failed leadership."

The lawsuit accuses San Ramon-based Chevron of negligence in ignoring the danger of corrosion to carbon steel pipes from sulfur compounds in crude oil heated to high temperatures; using "woefully inadequate" inspection techniques; and failing to replace the pipes.

It also faults the company for failing to shut down the crude oil unit as soon as the leak was noticed at 3:48 p.m. and instead trying to repair the pipe while the unit continued to operate.

The unit was eventually shut down two hours and 40 minutes later, after the vapor cloud formed and several minutes before the explosion, according to the lawsuit.

In addition to negligence, the lawsuit makes six other legal claims.

One claim is for strict liability for an ultrahazardous activity, a legal doctrine under which a person who conducts an abnormally dangerous activity is responsible for harm it causes.

PHOTOS: Chevron Refinery Catches Fire

The lawsuit contends that maintaining the allegedly "old dangerous and shoddy refinery," which was founded in 1902, in a densely populated area is an ultrahazardous activity.

The other claims are for creating continuing and permanent private nuisances on city property; creating continuing and permanent public nuisances on public property such as parks and streets; and trespass of chemical pollutants, soot and ash on city property.



Photo Credit: Jodi Hernandez

Man Arrested in Teen Model's Death

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The driver in a crash that killed an aspiring model was arrested Thursday on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Robbie Gillespie, 44, was driving southbound on Midland Road around 5 a.m. on June 20 with 19-year-old Evelyn Courtney in the passenger seat.

He ran a red light as a Poway fire truck was traveling eastbound on Poway Road. The fire truck displayed its emergency lights, but was not using the siren, when the two vehicles collided.

Evelyn Courtney died at the scene. An investigation concluded Courtney was intoxicated at the time of the accident and had left her parents' home to be with Gillespie.

The San Diego medical examiner's report indicated Courtney's blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit.

A broken alcohol bottle was also found in the car officials said.

Officials later found that Courtney's dog also died in the car.

Gillespie had been released from jail two days before the crash. The San Diego Sheriff's Department confirmed that Gillespie had been previously arrested for DUI, possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Investigators previously learned that Gillespie and Courtney had known each other for a little more than a year.

Courtney was an aspiring print and runway model who worked at Steinmart in Poway.

Gillespie faces three charges, including vehicular manslaughter and offense. He was in custody in jail Thursday night.  An arraignment was scheduled for next week.

Hidden Costs of High-Tech Health

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Using technology to stay in shape. Many people are using smart phone apps to keep fit, lose weight or just stay healthy. But those free apps may come at a cost. NBC 7's Consumer Bob reports.

Encinitas Man Injured in Shooting

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An Encinitas man has been arrested after shooting and injuring another man in a fight, officials said.

When San Diego County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the home on West Bluff Drive at 4 a.m. Friday, they found Peter Byrne suffering from a single gunshot wound.

Byrne, 41, was shot in the lower hip and told officers that an acquaintance had fired the gun after they got into an argument.

That acquaintance was David Kaufman, Byrne said.

Emergency personnel treated Byrne for his injury, transporting by helicopters to Scripps La Jolla Hospital.

Deputies later located Kaufman, 32, and arrested him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

“We’re processing the crime scene here as well as interviewing witnesses and the victim in this case,” said Sean Silva with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Girl Sells Lemonade to End Slavery, Customers "Pay What You Want"

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Vivienne Harr has already been garnering headlines for selling lemonade for 365 consecutive days – including on Day 173 at New York City’s Times Square. She's raised exactly $101,320 that she donated to a nonprofit dedicated to ending child slavery.

Now, the 9-year-old girl Fairfax girl is going pro.

She's said a temporary goodbye to her lemonade stand. That's because this summer, she began rolling out her mother’s recipe for organic, Fair Trade, “tunnel pasteurized” lemonade and shipping it to 70 mostly locally owned, organic shops in California and Oregon. On Friday, her commercially available lemonade debuted at Woodlands Market in Marin County's Kentfield.

“I love telling people about my story,” Vivienne told NBC Bay Area on Friday. “I love selling lemonade.”

Among the many things that set Vivienne’s lemonade apart (notwithstanding that it was created after she sold lemonade for an entire year without taking a day off starting last June, that she donates the profits to charity, and that it is now a commercial product sold at stores) is that customers are now being ask to pay what they want for the bottles of pink juice.

“I ask people to give what’s in their hearts,” she said.

There have been sporadic “pay what you want” commercial enterprises throughout the country, including the now-defunct Panera Bread’s turkey chili venture to raise food insecurity awareness that has now fizzled out.

But Ayelet Gneezy, an expert in “pay what you want” studies at the University of California, San Diego said what Vivienne is doing is very unusual.

“I’ve never heard of this before,” Gneezy said. “It’s very impressive.

Gneezy, and Leif Nelson, her colleague at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley,  found that overall, the majority of people will choose not to buy something if it is a pay-what-you-want pricetag. But those who do choose to do so, will pay more than the asking price.

Since Tuesday, when Molsberry Market's in Sonoma began selling Vivienne’s lemonade, owner Joe Molsberry said that about 40 of 100 cases have sold. Some people paid $20 a case and others paid $50. The suggested donation is $2.99 a bottle. What's amazing though, he said, is that newcomers are visiting the store  just because they've heard about Vivienne's story.

And this is a story that rises far above sales of  lemonade and what customers will pay for it. It’s about the girl – and the family – behind the sweet-tasting juice.

Vivienne, soon to be a fourth grader at Cascade Canyon Elementary School, and her family were visiting Sonoma last May when the young girl saw the book “Slavery” by Lisa Kristine, a journalist who photographs slaves across the world.

An image of two Nepalese boys with giant rocks strapped over their foreheads grabbed Vivienne’s attention, and she wanted to do something about ending their plight. “Maybe we could sell lemonade?” was the simple question Vivienne asked her parents, Alex, a stay-at-home mom, and her father, Eric, a triathlete, author and co-founder of Resonate Social, a successful digital marketing company.

They didn't say no.

“We’re sort of this out-of-the-box family,” Harr said. “We didn’t discount it. We went all in.”

Which meant that for 365 days starting in June 2012, the family – including now-3-year-old brother, Turner – took to the streets – once, even flying to New York after an invitation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg – to sell lemonade. It was Vivienne’s idea to have people pay “what was in their hearts” because, she says, “it’s a giveness, not a business.”

Vivienne gave the first $101,320 to Not for Sale, a Half Moon Bay nonprofit that tries to eradicate child slavery, and other smaller donations to the Nepal Youth Foundation, Free the Slaves, LeTot Center in Dallas, United Way, and the Mayor’s Fund in NYC for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

The family’s promise is that when they start to make a profit from the bottled lemonade, half will go to five charities, and the other half will go toward salaries and production costs. Harr said he was able to secure about $800,000 in investor funding to launch the company this summer.

Harr since left his company and has become the CEO of Make a Stand Lemon-Aid, and the full-time business partner of his daughter – a “fiercely compassionate” girl who cried when bees drowned when she was little. He said the family isn’t particularly devout or religious, though they do occasionally attend church. But he said they all now feel that their lemonade business is sort of divinely inspired, or at least, that this was their fate. In fact, the family is poised to meet the two Nepalese brothers who inspired Vivienne in September.

As for now, Vivienne is having a typical summer, playing with her brother, Barbie dolls, and of course, drinking lots of lemonade.

“It’s low in sugar, it tastes so good,” she said. “I drink it all the time.”

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED: Half of all profits from your purchase go to five carefully-vetted, hand-selected organizations that lead the way in eradicating child slavery: Free the Slaves, UNICEF, Nepal Youth Foundation, the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor–and an organization that focuses on this issue here in the United States: GEMS: Girls Educational & Mentoring Services. To learn more, click on makeastand.com.

The Harr family created a promotional video about their lemonade.

 



Photo Credit: Courtesy of Eric Harr

Amelia Earhart Descendant to Fly Around the World

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Amelia Rose Earhart, who was named after the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic, plans to complete her namesake's dream journey around the world.

The modern Earhart, a weather and traffic co-anchor for NBC Denver affiliate KUSA, will attempt to circumvent the globe on June 2014 in a Pilatus PC-12NG with her co-pilot, Patrick Carter of Fayetteville, Ark.

They will start in Oakland, Calif., fly to Miami, Brazil, Africa, India and Australia, then pass over Howland Island where the late Earhart and her co-pilot were supposed to land before they vanished over the South Pacific in 1937.

With 14 stops and an estimated 48,000 miles, Amelia Rose Earhart, 30, hopes to become the youngest woman to fly around the world by the time she returns to Oakland.

She started taking flight lessons in 2004 because she was sick of seeing the disappointed expressions on people's faces when she confessed that was not a pilot despite her connection to the original aviatrix. The original Earhart did not have children, but Amelia Rose Earhart claims to have a "very distant" relation to her that traces back to the 1700s. Earhart's parents wanted to give her "an inspirational namesake," she said on NBC's "Today" show.

"There's not a lot of things we're entitled to, but we're entitled to developing our own adventure. This is my version of adventure and best way to keep Amelia's spirit alive," Earhart added.

Since first learning how to fly, Earhart has traveled from Oakland to Miami.

Unlike the late Amelia Earhart and her co-pilot, the new pair will be more prepared for their flight around the world next June. The current Earhart will have GPS, for one. She'll also have a sponsoring team assembled by Jeppesen, a company specializing in navigational information, that will "flight-follow the airplane". The pair also just completed training in a simulator for everything that could possibly for wrong in-flight, USA Today reported.

Another difference with Earhart and Carter's flight is their plan to livestream their experience. They want to be the first ones to record their flights through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, they told USA Today.

Earhart hopes to encourage people, especially younger girls, to learn how to fly. The founder of Fly With Amelia Foundation, she plans to raise additional funds for the organization during her flight, according to KUSA.

 

 

Weiner: "I Deleted Everything" from Sexting Affairs

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Anthony Weiner tells NBC 4 New York he is "100 percent not" having any type of online relationships with anyone now, and says for the first time he has not kept any records of his past lewd affairs.

"I don't have any of the records," Weiner said in an interview Friday. "I deleted everything."

A woman came forward last month with explicit photos of Weiner and messages from him, revealing that the married mayoral candidate's affairs had continued long after he resigned from Congress in 2011. Since then, the embattled Democrat has sought to turn the conversation back to the day-to-day issues of campaigning.

He has been trailed at every appearance by reporters and photographers, and gave a series of interviews Friday in what appeared to be an attempt to close the door on the conversation. 

During his 15 minutes with NBC 4 New York, he grew weary of the topic, insisting at one point that the details of his illicit affairs, which he says ended about a year ago, didn't matter.

"The behavior that people know about, I did, over an extended period of time, with more than one person," Weiner said. "I just think at a certain point, OK, I think people know these embarrassing things about me. I think at a certain point now we have to have a conversation that goes to, alright, what else should people know?"

Timeline of Weiner's scandal

Weiner also dismissed the idea that Hillary Rodham Clinton, his wife's longtime boss, might be displeased with him.

He said he had not spoken with either of the Clintons recently.

"I have no reason to believe she's annoyed," he said.

As he has before, Weiner acknowledged that not all the details about his past affairs are known. When asked whether more women will come forward between now and the Sept. 10 primary, he said:

"I don't know, I hope not. I certainly don't like talking about this stuff," he said.

He went on to say he did not even like engaging in the relationships when he was in the midst of it.

"I didn't like when I was doing it, it was wrong to do, it was wrong to my wife, wrong period," he said.

 

 

 

Company Recalls Salsa: May Contain Glass

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A company has issued a voluntary recall of a salsa product after three consumers reported finding pieces of glass inside the product, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed.

Olam Tomato Processors, Inc., has recently pulled three lots of their Mild Chunk Salsa and Medium Chunk Salsa products from shelves.

The recall includes three production codes:
 

  • Mild Chunky Salsa (UPC 3927759137), production code L12142, with the Best By Date June 2015
  • Mild Chunky Salsa (UPC 3927759137) production code L04093, with the Best By Date October 2015
  • Medium Chunky Salsa (UPC 3927759139) production code L01313, with the Best By Date July 2015


To find the production code, consumers should look on the glass jar itself, right below the cap and above the product label. The labels of the affected product will say “distributed by Greenbrier International, Inc.”

According to the FDA, the popular salsa products were sold nationwide at Dollar Tree and other $1 stores, including Deals, Dollar Express and Dollar Bill$.

In San Diego, there are several Dollar Tree stores, including one on Mira Mesa Boulevard, one on University Avenue and another on Murphy Canyon Road.

The FDA says no other production dates, sizes or varieties of Chunky Salsa products manufactured by Olam Tomato Processors, Inc., are included in this recall.

Though three consumers did find pieces of glass inside the salsa, no injuries have been reported. At this point, it is believed that no product remains in retail distribution.

Consumers who purchased the recalled Chunky Salsa products should not eat the salsa, and should instead return it to the store for a full refund.

Consumers with questions about this recall can call (800) 876-8697, ext. 15918.



Photo Credit: FDA
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