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How Google Reveals State Stereotypes
Ever wondered what people really think of your state?
Google can tell you: Just type in, “Why is (state name here) so…” and let autocomplete fill in the rest; that’ll show you what others have been searching. Blogger Renee DiResta tried it for all 50 states, and released an interactive map showing the top hits.
Turns out Wisconsin is “stupid,” Georgia “racist,” Ohio “boring,” and California “expensive.” New York is “great,” but, alas, also “expensive.”
Click HERE to see the full map and what people think of your state.
4Chan Busts Burger King Worker Standing in Lettuce
Chalk one up for 4Chan: A Burger King employee posted a photo of himself on the forum standing in trays of lettuce with the caption, “This is the lettuce you eat at Burger King.”
4Chan users didn’t think it was all that funny. Within 15 minutes, they used the GPS data in the photo to figure out that it came from a store in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, then put the word out, reports HyperVocal. Said employee is now out of a job.
A reporter from Cleveland Scene called the store and talked to a breakfast manager, who hadn’t seen the picture yet. “Oh, I know who that is,” she said after doing so. “He’s getting fired.” In a statement, Burger King said the “franchisee has taken swift action to investigate this matter and terminated the employee involved in this incident.”
Man Accused of Stealing $600 in Reese’s Cups
Police in northern Ohio are trying to identify a candy thief who has stolen hundreds of dollars in peanut butter cups from a gas station store. Employees reported that a young man usually comes in after midnight, snatches Reese’s peanut butter cups, and exits the store before they can call police. The workers say the candy stolen over the past few months was worth $400 to $600.
The latest theft happened early last week. A police report indicates the man stole peanut butter cups and went for a saltier snack, grabbing a bag of chips. He was dressed in black clothing, with a hooded sweatshirt over his head. A clerk says he tried to stop the thief, who spun him around and fled on foot.
Twenty-Three States Considering Welfare Drug Tests
Lawmakers in 22 states think Florida had the right idea with its law requiring welfare recipients to pass a drug test. States like Wyoming, Illinois, Maryland, and Colorado are all considering similar laws that would make a clean drug test a prerequisite for food stamps, welfare, and other forms of government aid, USA Today reports.
Ohio and Tennessee are even considering restricting or eliminating eligibility for those convicted of drug felonies. Another proposed law would mandate substance abuse training for anyone receiving housing assistance.
“If you have enough money to be able to buy drugs, then you don’t need the public assistance,” reasoned one Colorado legislator.
Of course, the Florida law has caught very few offenders, while drawing a fierce legal challenge from the ACLU, which says the law unfairly stigmatizes welfare recipients. “This exemplifies the extent to which folks are willing to scapegoat poor people when it suits political interests,” a lawyer for the group says.
The Happiest US State Is …
LiveScience reports, the telephone survey of more than 350,000 adults posed questions about emotional health, work environment, and self-evaluation for the present and five years down the road.
Here are the happiest states, including a score out of a possible 100 points:
- Hawaii: 70.2
- North Dakota: 70.0
- Minnesota: 69.2
- Utah: 69.0
- Alaska: 69.0
The unhappiest:
- West Virginia: 62.3
- Kentucky: 63.3
- Mississippi: 63.4
- Delaware: 64.2
- Ohio: 64.5
Ohio Mom Charged in Death of 28-Pound Teen Daughter
A mother and a nurse were charged Thursday in the death of the woman’s 14-year-old daughter, who had cerebral palsy and weighed only 28 pounds, a prosecutor said.
A Montgomery County grand jury in Dayton indicted the mother and the nurse on involuntary manslaughter charges. Two other nurses were indicted on lesser charges of failing to report child abuse or neglect. All were being held in the county jail, prosecutors said.
“This is a tragic and sad case wherein four adults were responsible for the care of this 14-year-old special-needs girl, and they all utterly ignored and failed to do so,” county prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. said in a statement. “The conduct of these four defendants transcends all bounds of human decency.”
Heck said that the girl undoubtedly would still be alive “if just one of these defendants had acted responsibly.”
Makayla Norman died March 1 from nutritional and medical neglect complicated by her chronic condition, the county coroner’s office ruled.
“She was the worst malnourished child this office has ever seen,” Ken Betz, director of the coroner’s office, said Thursday.
Authorities have said that the teen died minutes after paramedics rushed her to a hospital.
She had numerous bed sores and showed other signs of neglect, and the prosecutor described the home as vile and filthy.
The girl’s mother, Angela Norman, also was indicted on a felony count and a misdemeanor count of endangering children. No attorney was listed for Norman, whose age was listed as 42 in jail records.
Mollie E. Parsons, 41, of Dayton, was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter, failing to provide for a functionally impaired person and tampering with records. Kathryn Williams, 42, of Englewood, and Mary K. Kilby, 63, of Miamisburg, were each charged with failing to provide for a functionally impaired person and failing to report child abuse or neglect. No attorneys were listed for them.
The teen was confined to her home and was supposed to be cared for by her mother and Parsons, a licensed practical nurse whose job was to administer care for the girl six days a week, according to the prosecutor.
Williams and Kilby are registered nurses, the prosecutor’s office said. Williams was paid to supervise Parsons and visit and inspect the living conditions and do a physical assessment of the girl every 30 to 60 days. Kilby was scheduled to visit every six months to also check on conditions of the home and assess the girl’s health, needs and care, the statement said.
Children’s services had a referral on the family in September 2009, but it was unable to substantiate any allegations, Ann Stevens, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services, said Thursday.
Stevens said she could not provide any additional information because of confidentiality requirements, but she said the department would have assisted the police and the prosecutor’s office in their investigation of the girl’s death.
D5 Creation
