News & Politics

When we needed a nanny a while back, we did what a lot of parents do in this modern age and went about looking for one online. And it almost became overwhelming with the huge number of eager women looking for a nanny job — some would email us back several times following up, desperate to begin work immediately. Well one sick individual apparently figured this out as well, luring Katherine Ann Olson with the promise of a position, but there was not a needy parent waiting for her but rather a ruthless killer:

Police say an online ad seeking a nanny may have cost a Cottage Grove, Minnesota, woman her life.

Katherine Ann Olson, 24, was found dead in the trunk of her car at a Burnsville, Minnesota, park late Friday night. She was last seen by friends Thursday morning, when she went to meet someone in Savage about the job, which investigators said she had found on Craigslist.org, a popular Internet bulletin board.

A 19-year-old man from Savage who police believe placed the ad is being held in the Scott County jail pending charges. He worked at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where police arrested him Friday night.

“We’re confident we have the suspect in custody,” Police Capt. David Muelken said.

The body of Sara Cooper, who disappeared after her daughter, Gianna Cooper, fell from a hotel balcony in Majorca, Spain, has been found at sea:

Earlier, Alfonso Jiminez Perez, the police officer leading the investigation, said: “What we suppose is that she had fallen into the water, the current had carried her to an underwater cave and she had been there for two days.”

Mrs. Cooper, 45, a qualified childminder, went missing at 7.30am on Monday after Gianna had fallen from the fifth-floor balcony of the room they were sharing at Hotel Samoa, a resort in eastern Majorca. It was less than 48-hours since they had arrived for a half-term family holiday.

Police were working on the theory that she was in hiding due to a feeling of deep remorse, or that she had suffered a breakdown caused by the shock of the incident.

Mr Perez, the commissioner of the national police in Palma, the capital of Majorca, said before the body was found that he feared the mother had shown signs of “mental instability” in the days before the tragedy.

Not to go all Nancy Grace but there seems to be more beneath the surface of this story. We’ll try to provide updates as they become available.

Southwest Airlines, in an attempt to tweak their “cattle call” boarding procedure and make it even more annoying, have decided that families flying with small children will no longer be able to be the first to board:

The airline, which carries more than one in three Phoenix passengers, is eliminating early pre-boarding for families beginning Oct. 2 in a bid to speed the boarding process.

Families with children four and under will now board after the first regular boarding group unless they have an A boarding pass to be in that first group. Southwest famously doesn’t assign seats. Passengers board in three groups, A, B and C, with their letter determined by when they checked in.

Passengers can check in online 24 hours before their flight, and many people fanatically watch the clock to make sure they snag an A boarding pass and their pick of seats. Families didn’t have to fret if they didn’t snag an A pass since they preboarded.

So, if you’re, say, taking care of your kids and not sitting in front of your laptop frantically hitting refresh trying to score an “A” pass, you’re SOL. And of course it will make it SO much easier when a family boards later and can’t find seats together. Most importantly, given their “bus in the sky” approach, if I’m flying sans kids I *want* families to board first so I can make sure to sit way the hell away from them. No offense, I feel their pain of course, but I mean let’s be honest — would you sit next to someone else’s kids if you had a choice?

No word on if disabled and elderly still board early, or if they have to hit people with their crutches and fend for themselves.

Another reason to install a home alarm system right away…

DeKalb County police Monday were investigating a home invasion shooting that left a 7-year-old boy dead and his 15-year-old sister critically wounded.

Police said they had no suspects and had not determined a motive.

The shooter entered a two-story brick home on Toney Drive just before midnight, went to an upstairs bedroom where the victims were sleeping “and opened fire,” DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said.

Potential Suspect:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/2007/09/17/childrenshot_0917.html

“Both of them were hit multiple times,” Parish said. “The girl was taken to a local hospital, and the boy was pronounced dead at a local hospital.” Their identities were not immediately released.

The plot thickens in the case of the Madeleine McCann mystery. The over-medicating of the child theory does seem plausible given that we’re talking about parents that went out to dinner and left their children at home. How could they make certain the children wouldn’t wake up and get spooked?

Parents who would think it was okay to leave toddlers and babies home alone while they go partying, could very well lack judgement in other areas. At the very least, it’s stupid and incredibly selfish. What else could these parents be capable of, simply knowing that they discarded their own children’s safety in lieu of having a good time?

LONDON (AFP) — The father of missing toddler Madeleine McCann labelled as “ludicrous” allegations in some newspapers that his daughter died of a sleeping pill overdose, in comments reported Friday.

Several newspapers quoted a Portuguese prosecutor’s report as alleging that body fluids found in the boot of a hire car “prove that the little girl had ingested medicines, without doubt sleeping pills, in large quantities.”

For the first time since record keeping began in 1960, the number of deaths of young children around the world has fallen below 10 million a year, according to figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund being released today.

This public health triumph has arisen, Unicef officials said, partly from campaigns against measles, malaria and bottle-feeding, and partly from improvements in the economies of most of the world outside Africa.

I can’t even possible say I understand the level of grief that comes when one loses a child no matter what age — it must just be a pain that lingers for eternity. One mom, whose son was a rescue worker who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center, has given up her career as a teacher and instead has dedicated her life to honoring her son’s memory:

What she has managed is to allow her service as a teacher to be a springboard. For three years now, with Fairben more sure-footed on her path to a healing that no one in her shoes can fully obtain, she’s been an emergency medical technician. As her son had, she volunteers in Floral Park. She is the only 56-year-old female in her crew. She is on call 24 hours a day and subjected, she says, to instructions that her fun-loving, joking, service-minded son seems to be whispering from the back seat of her ambulance when she’s on duty.

“There have been many times when I hear him saying, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” Diane Fairben said, laughing. For this is her son, riding on angel’s wings and transmitting a word she is hungry to hear.

AUSTIN, Texas — A woman who was left comatose after her estranged husband attacked her earlier this year has given birth to a baby girl.

Dana Conley, 38, carried the child for nearly an entire term while unconscious. Doctors delivered the 5-pound 3-ounce baby Thursday via Caesarean section, according to a prepared statement from Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley.

WOODBRIDGE — A 9-year-old boy has been charged with the juvenile equivalent of aggravated manslaughter in the death of a toddler last week at a day-care center.

The day care owner has also been charged with child endangerment.

The presidential contender says we should look into “clean coal,” but she can’t promise she would never support “dirty” energy.