Human skull found in Earth Day cleanup

Human skull found in Earth Day cleanup

PENNSAUKEN, N.J.

An Earth Day effort to clean up a trash-ridden New Jersey river took a grisly turn when a volunteer uncovered a human skull.

Volunteers on Saturday were cleaning up the Cooper River in Pennsauken Township, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, when one of them reached for what he thought was a white milk jug but turned out to be an intact human skull, according to Kelly Offner, cleanup program coordinator with outdoor apparel company United by Blue.

The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the remains were human and says an investigation is underway but declined to give other details.

Boy sells lemonade to pay for adoption

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.

A third-grader in Missouri has been selling lemonade to help pay for his adoption.

Nine-year-old Tristan Jacobson sold $1 lemonades Friday in front of the home in Springfield he shares with Donnie and Jimmy Davis, who have been Tristan’s kinship guardians since he was 5.

Donnie Davis told The Springfield News-Leader that the lemonade stand and a weekend yard sale raised $7,100 to assist with the adoption legal fees. A further $6,900 has been donated via “Tristan’s Adoption Fund” on YouCaring.com. She says “there’s not enough words to say ‘thank you’ to everyone.”

Forecasters warn of severe weather

OKLAHOMA CITY

School districts and authorities are bracing for the possibility of a severe weather outbreak that could produce powerful, long-track tornadoes and large hail today in some central and southern Plains states.

The most-dangerous weather – heavy winds, tornadoes and hail as large as baseballs or softballs – will likely take aim at a 69,000-square-mile area stretching from southern Oklahoma to southern Nebraska, including the Oklahoma City area, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman.

In the east, a separate storm system could bring thunderstorms, strong winds and hail to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., but the risk of severe outbreaks is low.

2 men are killed in Bangladesh

NEW DELHI

Unidentified assailants fatally stabbed two men in Bangladesh’s capital Monday night, including a gay-rights activist who also worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, police said, in the latest in a series of attacks targeting atheists, moderates and foreigners.

Police said they suspected radical Islamists in the attack, which occurred two days after a university professor was hacked to death. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The victims were identified as USAID employee Xulhaz Mannan, who previously worked as a U.S. Embassy protocol officer, and his friend, Tanay Majumder, according to Mohammed Iqbal, a police officer.

Teen, brother reach Michigan Capitol

LANSING, MICH.

A 16-year-old boy and his disabled younger brother finished a 111-mile walk Monday, reaching the steps of the Michigan Capitol after the teen carried his sibling on his back for all but the last half-mile.

It was the third and longest journey for Hunter Gandee and 9-year-old Braden Gandee, who has cerebral palsy. They set out from Monroe County last Wednesday to inspire people to embrace anyone with a disability.

“Not just cerebral palsy – all disabilities,” Hunter told The Associated Press.

Associated Press