2nd grader forced to walk home from school 2 miles away

A second-grader from Houston, Texas was forced to walk home from his elementary school after he was not allowed to take the bus.

The boy, Damion Robinson, had to cross a freeway to get to his home two miles away.

Drivers who saw him walking along the freeway tried to help but he refused and continued on his way home.

The elementary school recently had a policy change dealing with which students could ride the bus.

Robinson's mother met with school administrators and said her son was misidentified with another student.

Grandma of missing Ariz. girl pleads for attention

The grandmother of an Arizona girl missing for more than a week pleaded Thursday for more attention from police investigators and the national media, saying that the case of her granddaughter's disappearance hasn't been made a priority because she's black. Jahessye Shockley was last seen Oct. 11 by her three older siblings at their Glendale apartment in suburban Phoenix while their mother was out running an errand.

Read more: http://www.thetandd.com/news/local/state-and-regional/article_f68e4340-fb7d-11e0-b764-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1bPjDg3nC

Read more: http://www.thetandd.com/news/local/state-and-regional/article_f68e4340-fb7d-11e0-b764-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1bPiojDOy

Cops Say 5-Year-Old Girl Was Kidnapped In Arizona

PHOENIX — Police looking for a 5-year-old Arizona girl who has been missing six days said Monday they now believe she was most likely kidnapped, because otherwise they would have found her.


Jahessye (JES’-ee) Shockley was last seen by her three older siblings last Tuesday at her Glendale home while their mother was running an errand. Police believe she left their apartment through the front door but don’t know anything about what happened next.

“If it was just her walking away, we would have found her by now,” Coombs told The Associated Press. “Obviously she’s not with us. Somebody knows something or somebody has interacted with her and put her in a place, and we just haven’t found her yet.”

Hunter also declined to speak about her other children but pleaded for Jahessye’s safe return.

“I would really appreciate anybody who has any information, anyone who thinks they have seen anything, to contact the police,” she said. “If you have my child, please take her to a safe place, a public place where she can be located.”

Few Americans take immigrants’ jobs in Alabama

Potato farmer Keith Smith saw most of his Hispanic workers leave after Alabama's tough immigration law took effect, so he hired Americans. It hasn't worked out: They show up late, work slower than seasoned farm hands and are ready to call it a day after lunch or by midafternoon. Some quit after a single day.

In Alabama and other parts of the country, farmers must look beyond the nation's borders for labor because many Americans simply don't want the backbreaking, low-paying jobs immigrants are willing to take. Politicians who support the law say over time more unemployed Americans will fill these jobs. They insist it's too early to consider the law a failure, yet numbers from the governor's office show only nominal interest.

"I've had people calling me wanting to work," Smith said. "I haven't turned any of them down, but they're not any good. It's hard work, they just don't work like the Hispanics with experience."

50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010

Today we get our first look at American wages in 2010 based on payroll taxes reported to the Social Security Administration. David Cay Johnston picks out the most important takeaways, including:

2nd earthquake - aftershock - rattles Bay Area

An earthquake and an aftershock, both on the Hayward Fault near Berkeley, rattled the Bay Area on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.


The first quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 4.0, struck at 2:41 p.m. The second, a 3.8, was at 8:16 p.m.
The earlier quake's epicenter was 2 miles southeast of Berkeley, and the aftershock's epicenter was 1 mile east of Berkeley. Both quakes were felt throughout the East Bay and San Francisco.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/20/RVJM1LKI5A.DTL#ixzz1bPnIr8kd

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/20/RVJM1LKI5A.DTL#ixzz1bPmqEyfz

Should all Americans pay income tax?

About 46 percent of American households will pay no federal income tax this year, according to a study published in July by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Provisions in the tax code, such as the personal exemption, the standard deduction, and various tax credits and preferences, such as the $1,000-per-child tax credit, have reduced millions of Americans' tax liability to zero.

CDC: Most Americans Eat Too Much Salt

Study Shows Daily Salt Intake of Most Americans Is Greater Than Federal Guidelines

Most Americans eat more salt than federal guidelines call for, increasing their risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke, a new CDC report shows. Eating too much sodium can't be blamed on the salt shaker alone, because most salt intake comes from other sources.
About 75% of the salt in our diets is added to commercial foods during processing or to restaurant foods during preparation. Only about 25% is found naturally in food or is added at the table or during cooking by consumers.
There are two levels of recommended salt intake, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 recommendations.
People 51 and over, African-Americans, and people with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease should eat no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium daily to reduce their heightened risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. This is about 48% of the population age 2 years or older.