Lunches seized from kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary

On Tuesday at lunch up to 40 kids Unitah Elementary picked up theirs lunches, then watched as their meals were taken and thrown away because of outstanding balances on their accounts. This move shocked and angered parents. Jason Olsen, a Salt Lake City District spokesman, said the district’s child-nutrition department had just became aware that Uintah had a large number of students who owed money for lunches.

So this resulted in the child-nutrition manager visiting the school and deciding to withhold lunches to deal with this issue, he said. But cafeteria workers weren't able to see which children owed money until they had already received lunches, Olsen explained.The workers then had to take those lunches from the students and threw them away, he said, because once food is served to one student it can’t be served to another. Children whose lunches were taken were given milk and fruit instead. The school did say staffers typically tell students about any balances as they go through the lunch line and send home notifications to parents each week.The district attempted to contact parents with balances via phone Monday and Tuesday, Olsen said, but weren't able to reach them all before the child-nutrition manager decided to take away the students’ lunches.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57468293-78/lunches-olsen-lunch-district.html.csp

Boy Jailed in Philly shooting not to blame

A 17-year-old boy charged as an adult in the shooting of two students inside a school gym isn't responsible for the crime says his attorney. The charges against Raisheem Rochwell  are all based on a surveillance video and witness accounts from the shooting Friday afternoon at Delaware Valley Charter High School, police said. One bullet from a gun Rochwell was holding hit two students who were both wounding in the arm, police said. But Rochwell's attorney, Amato Sanita, still has disputed that account to reporters Saturday night."I've not seen that, I'm not aware of that, and from the information I have, I do not believe that is accurate," Sanita said of the surveillance videos and eye-witness accounts. He also added that Rochwell "is not the person who will ultimately be responsible for this act."Rochwell is being charged with aggravated assault, carrying an unlicensed firearm, carrying a firearm in public in Philadelphia, possessing a firearm while a minor, possessing an instrument of crime, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person. Also the 18-year-old female student who was shot in the back of her left arm, and the same bullet also hit 17-year-old boy in the shoulder, police said. Both were treated at the Albert Einstein Medical Center. The female student was released Friday, and the boy was released Sunday. 

http://news.yahoo.com/lawyer-boy-jailed-philly-shooting-not-blame-162705635.html 

NY women gets one year in jail for punching Wal-Mart greeter

 A New York woman was sentenced on Monday under the state's recently new "Granny Law" to one year in jail for punching an elderly Wal-Mart greeter in the face after a Christmas Eve shopping spree. It was the second time the upstate New York woman, Jacquetta Simmons, 28, was sentenced in Genesee County Court, after her original sentence of five years in prison was successfully appealed with the argument that it was too harsh for a first-time offender. Her legal team said the new sentence of a year behind bars was more appropriate. But prosecutor Lawrence Friedman disagreed he said "This does not do justice to the victim at all". On Christmas Eve 2011, Wal-Mart employee Grace Suozzi, then 70, routinely asked to see a shopping receipt as Simmons, who then was a college student, exited the store in Batavia, New York. Instead, prosecutors said, Simmons punched Suozzi in the face, fracturing her nose and knocking her to the ground.Simmons was convicted of assault and sentenced under New York's Granny Law, which ramps up penalties for intentionally harming someone over the age of 65 if the defendant is 10 or more years younger than the victim. An increasing number of cases are being prosecuted under the law, which was passed in 2008 to protect New York senior citizens. In New York City in 2013, a total of 191 people were charged under the law compared with 129 arrested the previous year.

http://news.yahoo.com/ny-woman-gets-one-jail-punching-wal-mart-222816260--sector.html

At least 14 injured in Minneapolis apartment building blaze

At least 14 people were injured, six of them critically, in a explosion and fire at a Minneapolis  apartment building Wednesday morning in freezing temperatures. The blast and fire started around 8 in the morning and then destroyed the building which also had a grocery store on the ground floor.When firefighters got there, they were forced to withdraw because of the buildings structure integrity. The injured were then quickly rushed to the hospital. The fire department also said it would certainly take some time to find the origin of the fire. "This is a tragic event," said Abdi Warsame, a newly elected City Council member who represents the neighborhood. "My heart goes out to the victims and their families.
 http://news.yahoo.com/several-injured-minneapolis-apartment-building-blaze-155037760.html