TresSugar

Popularity of License Plate Cloning Speeding Up!

CitizenSugar — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:30:36 -0800

Whether it's a prankster or a money-saver, more people have caught on to the notion of license plate cloning, or as high school students in Maryland call it, the "speed camera pimping game." The trick is to replace your license plate with someone else's number (preferably belonging to a lookalike vehicle) so when you speed by a red-light or speed camera, they get the bill (or bills adding up to thousands of dollars) in the mail.

In Maryland students have used a printer and glossy paper to print out faux license plates with numbers belonging to their frenemies. They then proceed to purposefully speed by the camera, pull over, remove the fake plate, and then chuckle at the thought of a ticket showing up at a rival's house.

While I'm sure the high school kids will get caught soon, especially since they use a camera right by school, professional license plate cloners sound more like thieves than resourceful pranksters.

Does the risk of identify theft make you think twice about speed cameras?

Source

Sex Offenders Get Scarlet Pumpkin for Halloween

LibertySugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:53 -0700

As part of their parole, Maryland sex offenders must display a pumpkin sign that states "No candy at this residence." Along with posting the warning sign, the violent and child-sex offenders must also stay in their homes on Halloween, keep the lights off, and not answer the door. The state has distributed warnings to families, telling them to stay away from homes with the pumpkins.

The ACLU is currently challenging an identical Missouri law, claiming the provisions are too vague to enforce and add punishment to sentences already served. While parents and the community must protect children, do you think rehabilitated sex-offenders have a right to some privacy? Does fear go too far in trampling the rights of these ex-cons, or did they give up those rights?

Headline: School Bus Overturned in Maryland

CitizenSugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:31:50 -0800

A school bus carrying children overturned this morning in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Prince George's County police confirm that students and the bus driver were injured, and reports are now saying that 11 children and the driver were transported to the hospital. The extent of their injuries is not known at this time. This is the second school bus accident in Maryland this week.

Study Abroad Sans the Glamour: Soldiers Take Classes in Iraq

CitizenSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:01:55 -0800

Study Abroad in Iraq? The headline jumped out of the Daily Beast, and I knew I had a story. Until, that is, I read it and learned the average American student cannot register for a semester in Baghdad the way they can in Strasbourg. But mon Dieu!, someday soon they will.

As for now, only US service members can sign up. Courses like child psychology, American government, and cultural anthropology are offered in makeshift classrooms, ranging from tents to conference rooms once reserved for Saddam Hussein.

Last November, the University of Maryland began offering these classes, as it's been doing for over 50 years on military bases in Asia and Europe. Students, who juggle six to seven 12-hour work days per week, usually only take one course at a time, but can earn two- and four-year degrees along with masters.

The fact that classes are being offered indicates Iraq's increasing stability and new sense of normalcy. It allows students to leave the rigidness of military life, if only for an hour, to be called by their first names and discuss ideas openly.

Source

Awating Results: Obama and McCain Nab Maryland

CitizenSugar — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:32:26 -0800

Obama and McCain are projected to win the Maryland primaries. The polls just closed after bad weather earned the state a longer voting day. This is the second win for both candidates in the "Potomac Primaries" today. Only the D.C. results now remain outstanding.

DC Sniper's Ex-Wife Says Those Bullets Were Meant For Her

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

On October 23, 2002, Mildred Muhammad was visited at her Maryland home by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents. They'd come to inform her that her ex-husband, John, had begun shooting people around her. "You are the target," they told her ominously.

John Muhammad would come to be known as the "Beltway Sniper," and with his teen accomplice Lee Malvo, he went on a shooting spree in Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia that left 10 people dead. Malvo is serving a life sentence, and Muhammad is scheduled to be executed November 10 of this year.

In her new book, Scared Silent, Mildred Muhammad talks about her 12-year marriage to John. Things started out well, but John became emotionally and physically abusive after he returned from an Army tour during the Gulf War. Mildred is convinced that his plan was eventually to kill her so that he could regain custody of the children he lost in 2001 and to get compensation for them as crime victims. (He believed the nameless "Beltway Sniper" would be blamed.)

"I was recalling every frightening comment John had ever made to me. He once said, 'When a man hits a woman, it means that he has lost all respect for her. It would be easy for him to kill her after that.' But I did not foresee, not even in my wildest nightmare, that John would ever kill people who had nothing to do with me or our troubled marriage."

Mildred Muhammad hopes that her book will help other victims of domestic violence get the help they need.

Mother of Obese Teen Charged With Criminal Neglect

TresSugar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:30:00 -0700

Jerri Gray, the mother of a 14-year-old boy who weighs 555 pounds, has been charged with felony child neglect by South Carolina. Her son has been taken to foster care, and she faces 10 years in prison for putting her son at risk by neglecting his medical needs. Gray, who works three jobs, has told the media that her son got so overweight because she could not keep track of what he was eating.

Gray was a fugitive this past Spring, going to Maryland with her son while authorities attempted to bring the abuse charges. At that time, South Carolina's Department of Social Services said: "This agency doesn't get involved in such cases based on a child's weight alone, but will take action in cases where health care professionals believe the child is at risk due to the parent's possible neglect in providing medical care."

Still, Gray's attorneys say the case could potentially set a dangerous precedent that could, for example, be used to charge parents of anorexic children. If you can charge a parent for a kid being overweight, could you charge parents with underweight children too?

Should childhood obesity be considered grounds for charging a parent with child abuse?

Briefing Book! Levi Johnston Opens Up to Tyra Banks

CitizenSugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:00:15 -0700

Levi Johnston talks safe sex with Tyra Banks. - Huffington Post
Birth control and grapefruit diet don't go well together. - Jezebel
Michelle Obama's euro style. - FabSugar
The return of riches to rags tales. – Good
Senator threatened to strip University of Maryland of $500 million in funding if it screened a porn on campus. - The XX Factor

Rod Blagojevich gets harassed at Disney World. - Wonkette

Town and Country: A Presidential Weekend

CitizenSugar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:01:39 -0800

True to the cultural tone President Obama is predicted to set, he took his family to see the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater perform at the Kennedy Center Friday night. The first family waved from the presidential box as audience members hung over the balcony, waving and trying to shake hands. Saturday the whole family retreated to Camp David in Maryland, along with Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, and a friend of Sasha's. Source

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Who Will Be the Next President? Watch the Results With Us!

CitizenSugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:21:46 -0800

Election Night is finally here! We've followed the 2008 Presidential campaign trail from primaries, conventions, debates to every hilarious and unexpected moment in between. East Coast polls have started to close, and we'll be here updating you on the electoral votes as they come in using predictions from pollster and major networks. Join us as we wait for the next American president!

Senator Barack Obama

338

Senator John McCain

156

You can check out all the major headlines of the night right here, and I'll be filling in the results for each state as they come in. To see results, read more.

State	Electoral Votes	State	Electoral Votes
Alabama	9	Montana	3
Alaska	3	Nebraska	5
Arizona	10	Nevada	5
Arkansas	6	New Hampshire	4
California	55	New Jersey	15
Colorado	9	New Mexico	5
Connecticut	7	New York	31
Delaware	3	North Carolina	15
D.C.	3	North Dakota	3
Florida	27	Ohio	20
Georgia	15	Oklahoma	7
Hawaii	4	Oregon	7
Idaho	4	Pennsylvania	21
Illinois	21	Rhode Island	4
Indiana	11	South Carolina	8
Iowa	7	South Dakota	3
Kansas	6	Tennessee	11
Kentucky	8	Texas	34
Louisiana	9	Utah	5
Maine	4	Vermont	3
Maryland	10	Virginia	13
Massachusetts	12	Washington	11
Michigan	17	West Virginia	5
Minnesota	10	Wisconsin	10
Mississippi	6	Wyoming	3
Missouri	11