Let's hear it for a dog named Boo! The 8-year-old mixed-breed Labrador retriever is a therapy dog at a Putnam County school, where he's helping kids come out of their shells. more ›

Truck driver Alan Nelson of Colorado is used to making long hauls, but not without his best friend riding shotgun, a 23-pound reddish-colored Shiba inu named Sato. Nelson and Sato were reunited last Friday afternoon, after their separation became a news story and galvanized volunteers to search for the dog who ran off from a lower Hudson Valley rest stop. more ›

Many schools have restricted the sugary delights of cupcakes over concerns about childhood obesity and diabetes. The Huntington School District in Long Island even banned sweets from bake sales. From the Huntington School District website, via Fox News:

"It is the policy of the district that food shall not be used in the classroom, except as a part of a snack brought from home for the individual consumption of students," the district says. "The policy forbids food from being used as an incentive or reward or for instructional purposes (except in home and career skills classes), birthday celebrations or holiday or seasonable celebrations. Instead, alternatives are suggested that include singing and dancing, special privileges or even games."

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has secured the votes necessary to purchase Dow Jones & Co., Inc. which includes The Wall Street Journal itself. The win comes after a lengthy proxy battle in which the Bancrofts––the family that has acted as stewards of the company from afar for more than a century––resisted a very generous overture from Murdoch. more ›

The Wall Street Journal has an absolutely hysterical/mortifying column today about what happens when one's boss wants to be your "friend" on an online site like MySpace or Facebook. Normally reserved for friends or total strangers, members feel free to share compromising photos or statements on the site. more ›

If you're still reading the paper version of The New York Times, get ready to spend a little more. Cover prices will go up to $1.25 from $1 starting July 16th. Sunday prices will increase on July 15th, going from $3.50 to $4.00. The last increase for The Times in the New York area was in 1999. The increased prices are projected to add $7-8 million in revenue this year and $14-16 million in 2008. Home delivery prices will increase 3-4%. Time will tell whether the price increase will cause subscribers to cancel their subscriptions and read the paper online. more ›

Sure, the Yankees have lost their fifth game in a row and are 14.5 games behind the Red Sox, but know what's more interesting: Alex Rodriguez's off-the-field activities in Toronto! The Post puts A-Rod on cover, calling him "Stray-Rod," and wondering why he was hanging out with a "mysterious, busty blonde" at a strip club AND his hotel. Apparently he went to the strip club with two other guys, but he was seen going into the Four Seasons elevator with only the woman. more ›

The Wall Street Journal won two Pulitzer Prizes today, the most of any newspaper this year. The Journal's honored articles were for Public Service (the backdating of stock options by executives) and International Reporting ("its sharply edged reports on the adverse impact of China's booming capitalism on conditions ranging from inequality to pollution"). more ›

The Journal-Times of Racine, Wisconsin has a great video feature on the Wagner Company which makes Festivus Poles. Wagner typically produces railings, which is probably why making a Festivus pole is so easy. They are 100% aluminum and come in a 6 foot floor model as well as a 2 foot 8 inch table top model. And check out how you can take care of the surface:

Surface Finish: In keeping with the precepts of Festivus, the Festivus Pole is to be "unadorned and lusterless". As such our Festivus Poles are provided unfinished -- as extruded -- and you might see die lines and occasional scratches in the surface. Unfinished aluminum will develop a layer of oxidization that may come off as black on your hands while handling. If you wish to avoid this issue, you may coat your Festivus Pole with any commercially available car wax product but you could be crossing the line by being too concerned with outward appearances.

The husband accused of promoting his wife's suicide is being examined at a mental hospital. Victor Han was released on $75,000 bail and then went to Summit Park Hospital, after jail psychiatrist recommended he be held for observation. The Journal News reports that he had been on suicide watch since last Thursday. Han's wife, Hejin, drove their minivan off a Bear Mountain scenic point with their two daughters in the car, after Han managed stepped out of the car; the two daughters survived. State Parks Police have charged Han with child endangerment as well as promoting his wife's suicide, but now it turns out that Han was very depressed as well, even mentioning Bear Mountain for a suicide attempt. From the Journal News:

In his statement to police, Han wrote that he considered jumping from Bear Mountain because he believed he let his family down when he could only provide takeout Chinese food at his wife and daughter's birthday celebration in February. more ›

Speculation continues in the suicide death of Hejin Han and whether or not her husband Victor tried to help her. The Post reports that while Han claims he tried to save his family ("I broke the window with a rock and unlocked the door") but police say Han let the car roll down between boulders and down a cliff at Bear Mountain. Han also told the police that his wife was "obsessed about financial bills already paid and kept asking him to stop along the ride up the mountain," which is when he got an "uneasy feeling," according to The Journal News. A friend says that Hejin Han seemed to be depressed lately, and apparently had an argument with her husband prior to the Bear Mountain outing. more ›

More and more questions are being asked about the circumstances of Staten Island resident Hejin Han's suicide plunge in a minivan at Bear Mountain. Han's husband Victor, who watched as the van fell with their two young daughters in the back, had been charged with promoting suicide, two counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of endangering a child (both daughters managed to survive, as they were wearing their seatbelts). He was granted bail by a Rockland County jail, telling him, "I still have two children. I got to see this through." While Han told the police that Hejin implied she would commit suicide at Bear Mountain if they went there, now it turns out that Han may have had a mistress. State police questioned Tiana Yin, who met Han at one job and then went to work for the company he formed. According to The Journal News, Yin said, "He is frustrated in a way that his wife doesn't understand that he wants to establish and stabilize his business so that he can spend the time with kids." more ›

be airborne. Jeez Louise. more ›

Aha! Yesterday, Gothamist found a graphic about monkey pox that only had prairie dogs. Now we've found one with Gambian Giant Rats called out as the ones to have originally infected the prairie dogs and other pets. This as the number of monkeypox infected is now at 48. Authorities are trying to place Gambian giant rats in the same vicinity as prairie dogs. more ›