FATHER SENTENCED FOR BINDING KIDS OUTSIDE WAL-MART: LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison for binding and blindfolding two of his children a year ago in a Wal-Mart parking lot in eastern Kansas.
Adolfo Gomez, 53, also was ordered to serve 24 months of post-release supervision after his prison term ends, said Cheryl Wright Kunard, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County district attorney's office.
Gomez and his wife, Deborah Gomez, were arrested June 13, 2012, in Lawrence after a woman saw a child bound and blindfolded near the family's vehicle. Police reported finding two of their children, ages 5 and 7, bound by their hands and feet in the store parking lot, while three other children, ages 12, 13 and 15, were inside the SUV unrestrained.
Adolfo Gomez pleaded no contest in December to felony child abuse and child endangerment. Deborah Gomez was sentenced earlier to one year of probation after pleading no contest to child endangerment.
HPV VACCINE CUT INFECTION BY HALF IN TEEN GIRLS: ATLANTA (AP) — A vaccine against a cervical cancer virus cut infections in teen girls by half in the first study to measure the shot's impact since it came on the market. The results impressed health experts and a top government top health official called them striking.
The research released Wednesday echoes studies done before the HPV vaccine became available in 2006. But the new study is the first evidence of just how well it works now that it is in general use.
Only about half of teen girls in the U.S. have gotten at least one dose of the expensive vaccine, and just a third of teen girls have had all three shots, according to the latest government figures.
Cervical cancer is caused by certain types of the common sexually transmitted virus called HPV, for human papillomavirus. The vaccine, which costs about $130 per dose, protects against a few of those strains, including two blamed for 70 percent of cervical cancers. The shots work best if given before someone is sexually active so the emphasis has been on giving the shots to 11- and 12-year olds.
COPS: DISABLED PA. MAN DIES AFTER GRUESOME NEGLECT: SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman and her two daughters were charged Wednesday with murder in the death of their 32-year-old son and brother, who had Down syndrome, after officials said he was severely neglected and underfed, weighing just 69 pounds when he died.
Robert Gensiak's body was covered in scabies, a contagious skin infection caused by mites, and he had open sores down to the bone at the time of his death March 20. He was taken to the hospital a day earlier because he was only semi-responsive and couldn't stand up.
Susan Gensiak, 59, of Taylor in northeastern Pennsylvania, and her daughters, Joan, 35, and Rebekah, 24, were charged Wednesday with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and neglect of care for a dependent person.
BAKED ALASKA: UNUSUAL HEAT WAVE HITS 49TH STATE: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A heat wave hitting Alaska may not rival the blazing heat of Phoenix or Las Vegas, but to residents of the 49th state, the days of hot weather feel like a stifling oven — or a tropical paradise.
With temperatures topping 80 degrees in Anchorage, and higher in other parts of the state, people have been sweltering in a place where few homes have air conditioning.
They're sunbathing and swimming at local lakes, hosing down their dogs and cleaning out supplies of fans in at least one local hardware store. Mid-June normally brings high temperatures in the 60s in Anchorage, and just a month ago, it was still snowing.
The weather feels like anywhere but Alaska to 18-year-old Jordan Rollison, who was sunbathing with three friends and several hundred others lolling at the beach of Anchorage's Goose Lake.
"I love it, I love it," Rollison said. "I've never seen a summer like this, ever."
State health officials even took the unusual step of posting a Facebook message reminding people to slather on the sunscreen.
CAR JUMPS ONTO NYC SIDEWALK, HURTS 8; MAN ARRESTED: NEW YORK (AP) — A car rocketing down an avenue in Manhattan's dense East Village swerved out of control, plowed down a sidewalk and smashed through a storefront flower stand Wednesday morning, injuring eight people, witnesses and officials said.
A 60-year-old grocery store worker was critically hurt in the 6:30 a.m. crash, which left half a city block in shambles.
Police arrested the driver, Shaun Martin, who they said was driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs.
Investigators were still trying to determine how fast the car was moving, but one witness who saw the wreck unfold said he saw two vehicles racing down Second Avenue at a frightening speed.
The vehicle, a rented Nissan Altima, smashed through everything on the sidewalk, including a 25-foot-tall tree, a telephone booth, parked bicycles, a parking kiosk and a street sign.
TRAFFIC RETURNS TO WASH. BRIDGE THAT COLLAPSED: MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Cars and trucks are rolling again across the Interstate 5 Skagit River bridge, restoring the traffic flow on the main route between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia.
A temporary span opened Wednesday morning, replacing a section of the bridge that collapsed May 23 when it was struck by a truck with an oversize load.
Workers with the state Department of Transportation and contractors rushed work on the temporary span to relieve drivers who lined up to detour through Mount Vernon and Burlington. The bridge carries 71,000 vehicles a day.
