Mom charged after kids found living in crate, cave
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A 24-year-old mother is in custody Saturday after her two young children were found barefoot, dirty and living in a wooden shipping crate in an underground cave on the eastern edge of Kansas City, Missouri.
Brittany Mugrauer was charged Friday night with two counts of felony child endangerment.
Jackson County detectives discovered the 4- and 6-year-old children Thursday in the 8-by-10-foot crate furnished with vehicle bench seats, two small blankets, trash and thin wires. According to the probable cause statement, the crate was missing one side and surrounded by car parts and vehicles in various states of disrepair.
The investigators, who went to the cave to serve a search warrant related to a possible stolen car operation, noted that the children did not appear frightened by them or the fact that they were alone.
The 4-year-old child was eating a dirty, dry cup of ramen noodles with their hands, a detective wrote. When asked why they weren’t wearing any shoes, the children responded that they didn’t have any. The older child told officers he should be in first grade but did not go to school.
Burning Man burning up over Quiznos ad
RENO, Nev. – Burning Man organizers are considering legal action against sandwich chain Quiznos over a video ad that pokes fun at the festival.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that festival officials say the video is theft of the event’s intellectual property.
Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham says the Denver-based Quiznos never reached out to them before putting out the advertisement.
The YouTube video parodies the upcoming movie, “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials,” and portrays the characters frolicking and eating Quiznos at Burning Man in northern Nevada.
The video was posted Tuesday and has been viewed more than 760,000 times.
Representatives from Quiznos were not immediately available for comment Saturday.
Biden wrestles with 2016 presidential decision
WASHINGTON – In one minute, Joe Biden seems like a presidential candidate-in-waiting, eating up adoration from die-hard supporters who are pleading with him to run. The next minute, he seems light-years away from convincing himself he’s ready to run - a man still reeling from personal tragedy.
In painfully public fashion, Biden is wrestling with whether to close the curtain on a political career that’s spanned nearly half a century, or to fight one last fight for the job he’s always wanted. In a stroke of harsh irony, he’s at the height of his political popularity at the moment he’s least prepared to capitalize on it.
Confounding Biden’s decision about 2016 are emotional aftershocks from his son’s recent death, which Biden has begun to discuss publicly in a stunning instance of a politician unmasking his own frailty. This week he revealed that during a recent trip to Colorado, he “lost it” when a well-wisher brought up Beau Biden’s decorated military service in Iraq.
“You can’t do that,” Biden told talk-show host Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show.” He was alluding to an unforgiving reality of American politics: Most voters want their presidential candidates to exude strength and self-certainty - not some of the time, but all of the time.
The Associated Press
