Boy found dead hours after going missing
IRONTON, Mo. – A 3-year-old Missouri boy who reportedly went missing early Wednesday from his grandfather’s home was found dead hours later, draped in a blanket in a neighbor’s van about a mile away, authorities said.
Investigators declined to say how Titus Greyson Tackett may have died or if they suspect wrongdoing, citing a planned autopsy.
Titus went missing from his grandfather’s house in Ironton, a rural community about 75 miles south of St. Louis. The boy’s mother and father said they saw him at around midnight Tuesday before they went on an errand.
When they returned at around 1:30 a.m., the door was open and Titus was missing, Iron County Sheriff Roger Medley told the (Park Hills) Daily Journal.
Russia seeks March 1 ceasefire in Syria
MUNICH – U.S. officials say Russia has proposed a March 1 ceasefire in Syria, but the United States believes the fighting must stop immediately.
One official says the U.S. believes the Russians are giving themselves and the Syrian military on the ground three weeks to launch harsher attacks on opposition forces.
And the U.S. is worried that the opposition could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria.
The U.S., Russia and other countries will discuss different options for ending the Syrian civil war in Munich this week.
Rare weather event produces snowballs
BOISE, Idaho – Thousands of snowballs rolled in a flat central Idaho field look like the work of hundreds of ambitious kids – except there are no human tracks.
A rare weather event caused the spontaneous snowballs at the Nature Conservancy’s Silver Creek Preserve and surrounding fields near the tiny town of Picabo.
So-called snow rollers are so rare and fleeting that the precise weather conditions needed to form them are not defined, said Jay Breidenbach, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Snow rollers up to 18 inches are especially rare.
Over 100 suspected Sicily Mafia arrested
ROME – Prosecutors say police in Italy and abroad have arrested more than 100 suspected Laudani Cosa Nostra members, dealing a heavy blow to the Mafia clan which has terrified businesses in the Catania area on Sicily for years.
Throughout Wednesday, police arrested 103 of 109 suspected members of the clan who were sought on warrants for extortion and other crimes. Among those arrested are three women accused of managing so-called “protection” money systematically extorted from shops and other businesses to support families of imprisoned mobsters.
Catania Mayor Enzo Bianco called the clan “an authentic cancer” for the city, because whoever refused to submit to extortion suffered attacks or other aggression.
Burger King’s next conquest: Hot dogs
NEW YORK – Burger King is looking for a new crown: Hot Dog King.
The Miami-based chain says it plans to put hot dogs on its menu nationally for the first time starting Feb. 23.
Burger King says it will offer hot dogs at all 7,100 of its U.S. restaurants. Smaller chains that sell hot dogs include Dairy Queen and Sonic Drive-In.
The move comes as Burger King works to push up sales amid intensifying competition, with McDonald’s offering breakfast items all day to spark a turnaround, while Wendy’s offers a “4 for $4” deal to get customers in the door.
Associated Press
