Lead Stories
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No more inhumane punishment: In May Phoenix sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that officials at the Maricopa County jails would start playing audiotapes of classic novels (like Little Women) at lights-out every night. The novels replace the previous bedtime fare, which ran for four years: a videotaped lecture series by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Ironies
Ester Maria Pena, 58, was convicted and fined $100 in Frederick County, Maryland, in March for an incident last year in which police chased her at high speeds for four miles and arrested her at gunpoint. According to the officers, Pena had sped off after they tried to pull her over for driving too slowly.
Recurring Themes
In incidents one week apart in April, in Morristown, New Jersey, and Bloomfield Township, Michigan, construction workers became trapped in sand pits and quick-thinking coworkers attempted to pull them out with backhoes. But in both cases the backhoe operators accidentally decapitated the workers.
