New Treatment For Dogs?

When Jenny Conley noticed her English gold retriever, Moses, limping, eventually unable to put weight on his leg, she brought him to the vet's. X-rays showed severe osteoarthritis in the 6-year-old dog. While taking medication for the pain for the remainder of Moses's life was an option, Dr. Cara Erwin-Oliver of Belleview Animal Hospital in Belleview, Florida offered up another option: stem cell therapy, according to The Gainesville Sun.

While the pricey surgery ($1,500) holds no guarantee, Moses is now back to walking with Conley after his November surgery. "It's like he never had anything wrong with him," Conley said.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Driving With Killer GPS

Most of us have heard somewhat amusing stories involving drivers taking their GPS's routing too seriously: trying to turn where there is no longer a turn lane, being told by GPS to turn the wrong way down a one-way street. We then might shake our heads and think, Yup, gotta use common sense.

Varoly Olivares might want to consider not using a GPS at all on future trips. Seems that Olivares was driving during the pre-dawn hours on Friday, February 28 when the GPS in his car told him to turn off of 6th Avenue South in Fort Worth - onto railroad tracks. As soon as he realized his mistake and tried backing off the tracks, his truck became stuck, according to The Palm Beach Post.

A southbound Tri-Rail commuter train was heading toward Olivares and his truck. While Olivares escaped, his truck wasn't so lucky. The collision, which wrecked his truck, stopped traffic for more than two hours.

To read the article in its entirety, click here. And to drive a little safer, use common sense if and when using a GPS.

Oil Companies Plan: Drill In Florida Panther Habitat

Matthew Schwartz, a transplanted Brooklynite, fell in love with the South Florida wilderness. After learning what the oil industry has planned for the region - plans that he says threatened the Florida panther to a greater degree than first believed, Schwartz began researching the number of official permits were issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He was concerned enough that he plans to attend a meeting in Naples on March 11 to discuss oil well wast water with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, one of the Broward/Palm Beach New Times' blogs reports.

Among some of his findings, Schwartz discovered that the Dan A. Hughes Co. of Beeville, Texas has leased the mineral rights on approximately 115,000 acres from Collier Resources, including a well next to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. The lease also includes large portions of the panther refuge, as well as part of the Big Cypress National Preserve, and the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Schwartz also found two more leases issued by Collier Resources.

To read the article on the Broward/Palm Beach New Times' blog in its entirety, click here.

School Bus Driver Credited For Helping Save 6-year Old

A St. Johns County School District bus driver alertness helped keep a 6-year-old safe recently, possibly saving the child's life. Driver Bill Buckley was approaching the first-grader's bus stop when a car driving behind the bus sped up to pass the bus, which already had its stop signals out and red lights flashing. Meanwhile, the first-grader ran into the street toward the bus, according to The Florida Times-Union. Buckley laid on the horn to alert the child, who stopped. Buckley's actions "saved his (the child's) life," according to his mother, Joy McMillen.

Buckley, who joined the district's transportation department on Jan. 29, 2013, has been honored by the school district.

To read The Florida Times-Union's article in its entirety, click here.

Probation For 'Affluenza' Teen After Fatal Crash

A Texas teen was sentenced to 10 years' probation in a drunk-driving case in which four people were killed. Prosecutors had asked Judge Jean Boyd to sentence Ethan Couch to 20 years in jail on charges that two people were severely injured, The Florida Times-Union reports. However, Couch received no jail time.

A defense expert testified that the teen's wealthy parents "coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility," naming the condition "affluenza." Defense attorney Reagan Wynn said that his client was "misunderstood."

To read the Florida Times-Union article in its entirety, click here.

Bitcoin Exchange CEO Arrested At JFK

The CEO of Bitinstant was arrested at JFK airport Sunday and charged with money laundering, according to Business Insider. Charlie Shrem, 24, of New York, New York, along with a co-conspirator, is accused of trading more than $1 million in bitcoins to Silk Road users, who then used the bitcoins to purchase illicit items, including drugs.

Shrem, who is also vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, and Robert Faiella, an alleged underground Bitcoin exhanger, are among the widening circle of arrests in the case, according to Forbes Magazine. Bitcoin payment processor BitInstant was Shrem's startup and had received $1.5 million in start-up funding "in an investment round led by Bitcoin moguls Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss," according to Forbes.

To read the Business Insider article, click here. To read the Forbes article, click here.

New Voting Rights Bill

A bipartisan group of legislators plans to announce the introduction of The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014 in Congress today. The new bill is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Shelby County v. Holder which invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the American Civil Liberties Union reports.

Last year's ruling invalidated "the coverage formula that determined which states and political subdivisions were subject to the law’s preclearance requirement," the ACLU release stated. Because the ruling did not strike down the preclearance requirement itself, it opened the door for Congress to "devise a new formula and other mechanisms" to protect minority voters' rights.

The bipartisan group includes Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT.), among others.

To read the release in its entirety, click here.