City Council 'not ready' for zombie attack
A worried member of the public has forced Leicester City Council to admit it is unprepared for a zombie invasion.
The authority received a Freedom of Information request which said provisions to deal with an attack, often seen in horror films, were poor.
The "concerned citizen" said the possibility of such an event was one that councils should be aware of.
"We've had a few wacky ones before but this one did make us laugh," said Lynn Wyeth, head of information governance.
The Freedom of Information Act allows a right of access to recorded information held by public authorities.
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Zombie letter in full
Dear Leicester City Council,
Can you please let us know what provisions you have in place in the event of a zombie invasion? Having watched several films it is clear that preparation for such an event is poor and one that councils throughout the kingdom must prepare for.
Please provide any information you may have.
Yours faithfully,
Concerned Citizen
Ms Wyeth said she was unaware of any specific reference to a zombie attack in the council's emergency plan, however some elements of it could be applied if the situation arose.
Other submissions to the council have included requests for records of paranormal activity and haunted buildings within the city.
"To you it might seem frivolous and a waste of time... but to different people it actually means something," said Ms Wyeth.
"Everybody has their own interests and their own reasons for asking these questions."
She added high-profile cases, such as the MPs expenses scandal, has raised public awareness of the right to request information records.
Ed Thurlow, who runs zombie website Terror4Fun, said he felt a zombie invasion in Leicester was highly unlikely.
"I think perhaps [the "Concerned Citizen"] has watched films like 28 Days Later a few too many times." - BBC
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Deadly Joplin tornado stirred up rare fungal infections
In the aftermath of the Joplin tornado, some people who were injured in the storm developed a rare and sometimes fatal fungal infection that’s so aggressive, it turned their tissue black and caused mold to grow inside their wounds.
Scientists say the unusually aggressive infection occurs when dirt or vegetation becomes embedded under the skin. In some cases, injuries that were stitched up had to be reopened to clean out the contamination.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it is conducting tests to help investigate the infections, which are so uncommon that even the nation’s largest hospitals might see only one or two cases a year.
“To my knowledge, a cluster like this has not been reported before,” said Dr. Benjamin Park, head of the CDC team that investigates fungal diseases. “This is a very rare fungus. And for people who do get the disease, it can be extremely severe.”
Three tornado survivors who were hospitalized with the infection have died, but authorities said it was unclear what role the fungus played in their deaths because they had a host of serious ailments.
The infection develops in two ways: when the fungal spores are inhaled or when a tree branch or other object carrying the fungus pierces the flesh. If diagnosed in time, the infection can be treated with intravenous medications and surgical removal of affected tissue.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services received reports of eight suspected deep-skin fungal infections among survivors of the May 22 twister, which was the nation’s deadliest single tornado in more than six decades. All of the patients suffered multiple injuries.
Also Friday, officials raised the death toll from the twister to 151, including the three people who had the fungus. - freep
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Death by totem pole
Carl Muggli, 49, from the US state of Minnesota, is charged with toppling a pole weighing about 1315kg onto his wife Linda as they carved it together in their country home last November, the Daily Mail reports.
Police have arrested Muggli for the murder of his 61-year-old wife, and said the motive was so he could leave her for his mistress.
On November 26 last year, police arrived on the couple's property just outside Voyageurs National Park and found Mrs Muggli pinned to the floor with a 5.2m tall giant wooden carving across her chest.
She had blood coming from underneath her and later died in hospital.
Muggli told police he had his back to his wife when it fell out of its cradle and fatally crushed her.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that police received a complaint in May this year from a woman who said she heard Muggli arguing with his wife about getting a divorce on the day of his wife's death.
Police investigating the incident had the pole arranged in the way Muggli described, but could not get it to fall as he had claimed.
They also found it had been coated with polyurethane, suggesting he tried to cover up the evidence.
In the period leading up to her death, Muggli had apparently sent a series of messages on Facebook to his mistress from Alabama, telling her he loved her and wanted to be with her.
On the day before the alleged murder, he apparently sent her a message which said: "I want us together to live our lives as we seek. With all the Love, Passion, Affection, Emotion that we have. These feeling are directly from my soul. For I am with you. I am yours. We are one!"
Muggli had been married to his wife for 25 years and they have worked together in a carving business since 1990. Muggli was commissioned to carve three totem poles which are now on display in Princess Diana's memorial garden in London.
He will be extradited from Stockdale, Texas to the state of Minnesota charged with his wife's murder. - ninemsn.au
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Tiny village is latest victim of the 'The Hum'
Now a tiny English village is the latest community to claim to be being hit by the phenomenon known as "the hum".
Residents of Woodland, in County Durham, claim that every night a noise permeates the air similar to the throb of a car engine.
It is sometimes so strong that it even shakes the bed of one of the householders.
But no matter how hard they look, the community cannot find the source of the problem and, at their wits end, have called in the council to investigate.
The 300-strong population is the latest around the world to be hit by the rumble which has in the past led to wild conspiracy theories blaming it on UFOs, government experiments and abandoned mine shafts.
It is so widespread that it has even featured on the television show The X Files.
It's most famous occurrence was in Bristol in the 1970s when more than a thousand people complained of the consistent drone causing nosebleeds, sleeplessness and headaches.
It vanished as mysteriously as it arrived and was never explained.
Residents of Woodland, a community consisting of one main street surrounded by farmland, claims their version of "the hum" is constant from midnight until 4am every night and stops them sleeping.
There are no pylons, factories or abandoned mines nearby.
The noise started about two months ago and has been plaguing the isolated village every day since.
Marylin Grech, 57, a retired store detective, said: "In certain areas of the house you can hear it more loudly. It is definitely from outside, it's in the air, all around, very faint.
"It vibrates through the house. We've turned all the electricity off in the house and we can still hear it, so it's not that.
"Sometimes we'll be in bed and it vibrates right through our bed, like a throbbing.
"It's not tinnitus, that's a high pitched sound and this is very low. If I put my fingers in my ears it stops, so I know it's not in my head.
"At 4am it's so clear, because we live in such an isolated place with no traffic, it's heaven.
"But it leaves a buzzing in your head for the rest of the day."
Gary Hutchinson, an environmental protection manager at Durham County Council, said: "I can confirm that we received a call regarding a humming sound in the Woodland area earlier on June 1 and we will now make further enquiries before deciding what action we will take." - telegraph
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Driver Hits, Kills Mountain Lion in Milford, CT
A Newington driver struck a mountain lion in Milford early Saturday morning and officials believe it is the animal that has eluded authorities in Greenwich.
Sigred Lacson of Newington, was traveling on Route 15 northbound, just north of exit 55 in Milford, around 1:30 a.m. and hit the animal, which was in the left lane.
Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection confirmed that the animal is a mountain lion, police said, and it was dead when they arrived.
Officials in Greenwich had been searching for a mountain lion after some sightings in the King Street area and that search expanded to New York after days passed with no reports of the animal, the Port Chester Patch reported.
DEP spokesman Dennis Schain told the Hartford Courant on Saturday that this is likely the Greenwich mountain lion.
This scene of the crash is about 40 miles away from those sightings, according to a Mapquest search.
The lion seen in Greenwich appeared to have been held in captivity and either escaped or was released, DEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette said earlier in the week.
The eastern mountain lion was declared extinct earlier this year and, until now, the closest confirmed mountain lion sighting was in Missouri, according to the DEP.
Since the reports came out earlier in the week, it appears that someone created a Connecticut Mountain Lion Twitter account. There is also a Facebook account.
DEP responded to remove the lion. Lacson was not hurt. - nbcconnecticut