The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 9,350 LaJolla Boat Bed and Pirates of the Caribbean Twin Trundle Beds due to an entrapment and strangulation hazard. The lid supports on the toy chests can fail to prevent the lid from closing too quickly. Sadly, a 22-month-old boy in California strangled to death when a lid fell on to the back of his head, trapping his neck on the edge of the LaJolla Boat Bed.
These beds were made in China and imported by Bayside Furnishings (a division of Whalen), of San Diego, California. They were sold at Costco and furniture retail stores nationwide as well as at Costco.com from January through May 2008 for between $700 and $1,400.
The recall involves two styles of youth beds: the LaJolla Boat Bed and the Pirates of the Caribbean Twin Trundle Bed. The preassembled toy chests are part of the beds' "bow" and are attached as a foot board. The LaJolla Boat Bed toy chest has a hardwood top and white wood base with a blue stripe. The Pirates Boat Bed toy chest has a hardwood top, wheel shape and brown wood base with decorative carvings.
If you have one of these beds, you should immediately stop your children from using the toy chests and contact Bayside Furnishings for instructions on receiving a free repair kit with replacement lid supports. You can reach them by calling (877) 494-2536 anytime, or by visiting their Web site, where you can register online to receive the free repair kit.
Apparently, a 13-year old boy with an interest in law enforcement was trying to get a little head start on his career when he helped himself to a police cruiser and took it out on patrol. The Dillon, South Carolina boy did this not once, but twice, and has now been charged with larceny and second-degree burglary.
You may be asking yourself just how a kid (or anyone else for that matter) manages to steal a police car. In this case, the kid employed some sneaky, peaky spying and managed to learn the door code for the police department building. Armed with the combination, he simply let himself in the building, got the keys to the car and took off on his self-appointed rounds.
Police Sgt. Jason Turner says the jig was up when local residents saw the boy driving the police car. Interestingly, the police themselves were unaware that the car was missing. Sounds like maybe they could use a good man on the force.
Of course, the kid should have known better and hopefully will learn a lesson from all this. But I would say there is a good chance he won't. His mother, Patricia Gillespie, was aware that her son was helping himself to police cars and didn't see anything wrong with it. She was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and released on $5,000 bond.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 13,000 "It's a Girl Thing" necklaces, bracelets and phone charms due to the presence of lead paint.
Made in China and distributed by Bead Bazaar USA Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, the recalled jewelry features a variety of charms including flowers, shoes, letters and butterflies. The words "It's a Girl Thing" can be found printed on the packaging along with the UPC numbers 633870018419 (bracelet), 633870018426 (necklace), and 633870018433 (phone charm).
These were sold at retailers nationwide from February 2006 through June 2008 for about $6.
If you have any of these jewelry pieces, you should immediately take it away from your child and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. For more information, contact Bead Bazaar USA by calling (800) 838-1769 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or by visiting their Web site.
Former boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield hasn't fought a match in a while, but he is still making the newspapers. Unfortunately, he's in the legal notices section and the news isn't good. Holyfield's $10 million estate in Atlanta, Georgia is facing foreclosure and is about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
If that wasn't enough to make the champ want to punch someone, he is also facing deadbeat dad charges from one of the mothers of his children. Holyfield has been married just twice, but admits to at least nine children fathered out of wedlock. One of those children is a 10-year-old son with Toi Jenese Irvin. Irvin has gone to court claiming Holyfield is behind on his child support payments and now owes her $9000. She also says that Holyfield hasn't maintained a health insurance policy on their child despite a judge's order to do so.
It sounds like Holyfield is having some serious financial issues and the foreclosure and the child support issue may just be the beginning of things. Irvin's lawyer is aware of this and wants to make sure his client is at the top of the list when what's left of Holyfield's money is disbursed. "My concern is there may be a lot of other mothers not be getting paid, and I would like my client to be at front of the line," says her lawyer, Randy Kessler. And Kessler means business. If Holyfield doesn't pay up, the lawyer wants him tossed in jail. "This is such a small amount given the scope of what he has," Kessler said. "If Evander Holyfield can get away with it, anybody can. There are guys making $15,000 a year who go to jail for missing a $100 payment." Yeah, he's got a point there. I don't know what happened to the reported $200 million Holyfield has earned over the years, but perhaps he should have set a little of it aside to take care of all his kids.
I admit that I am not all that familiar with Angelina Jolie's body of work. I know plenty about her body, her humanitarian work and her personal life, but I don't see many movies that aren't rated "G". I do know that Jolie gets a lot of positive press and that the only real criticism I've heard concerning her film work is that maybe she shouldn't be doing any with all those kids at home.
But someone has found something to complain about regarding Jolie in her new film, Wanted. Dr. Carole Lieberman, a psychiatrist in Los Angeles, thinks Jolie is too thin to be an action hero and worries that she presents an unrealistic image of what a strong woman looks like. "A super-thin, super-cool female action hero undoubtedly influences female moviegoers to emulate her," she said. "The underlying message is that being thin gives you power over men: physical and psychological."
Dr. George Pratt, another psychologist, prefers his action figures a little bulkier, like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 and Carrie-Ann Moss in the Matrix films. "There women were represented in a way that displays strength, balance and a healthier body," he says.
Jolie is thin and not exactly what we are used to seeing when it comes to tough chicks in the movies. But it seems to me that there is another way to look at it. Like maybe skinny girls can kick butt, too? Or, it's just a movie and we all know Angelina Jolie isn't really an assassin?
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 1,400 remote controlled toy vehicles made by Redcat Racing Co., of Phoenix, Arizona. The remote control unit can lose its signal, causing the toy to go out of control and possibly injure someone. Redcat has received about 15 reports of this happening with no injuries so far.
The faulty remote controls were sold with four different Redcat Racing FM Remote Controlled Vehicles models. Detailed descriptions and photos of the recalled toys can be found here. Look for the model numbers on the body of the vehicle or on the retail packaging.
These were made in China and sold by authorized dealers nationwide from March 2007 through April 2008 for between $260 and $400.
If you have one, you are advised to stop using it immediately and contact Redcat Racing for a replacement remote control. You can reach them by calling collect at (602) 454-6445 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. MT Monday through Friday or through their Website.
If you thought fake babies were a weird substitute for having actual children, what do you think about monkeys? As in primates? As in monkids? Apparently, adopting capuchin monkeys and treating them just like a human member of the family is all the rage among some folks. Empty-nesters and those who can't or don't want to have actual children are shelling out big bucks for monkeys who will take their place in the family as babies who never grow up.
Lori Johnson adopted her capuchin, Jessy, because she was lonely after her children grew up and left home. Depressed, she decided that what would cheer her up would be to rip a baby monkey from its mother and dress it up in baby clothes and treat it like her own child. When Jessy became a little aggressive, Lori had the monkey's teeth removed. That solved the problem and now they are a happy little family, sharing the dinner table and even the bed. "I couldn't imagine not having her," Lori says. "We do something all the time with her."
Not all monkid stories have a happily-ever-after. Kari Bagnall, who runs a sanctuary for monkeys whose human parents could no longer care for them, sees first-hand the dark side of adopting wild animals as pets or surrogate children. "I have monkeys here that the people have had for 20 years. Never had a problem," Bagnall says. "Twenty years later, the monkey attacks. So it's just something, it's going to happen. It's not a matter of, you know, if they're going to attack. It's when."
I don't doubt that Lori Johnson, and the estimated 15,000 like her in the United States, truly love their little monkey children. And I can even see the appeal in adopting a creature that will forever remain infantile and cute. But I think it is the height of selfishness to take an intelligent creature away from its natural mother and habitat because it makes you happy.
Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk finally got the girl. The baby girl, that is. On Monday, Hawk (is that not the perfect name for a skateboarder?) and his wife Lhotse welcomed their first child together, a daughter they named Kadence Clover. Pretty name, but they had better get used to hearing "how do you spell that?"
Little Kadence weighed in at 8 lbs., 8 oz. and measured 21 inches long. She is the first child for Tony and Lhotse as a couple, but the fourth child for Tony. 40-year-old Hawk has been married twice before and has three sons from those unions - Riley,15, Spencer,9, and Keegan,6.
Is there no end to the drama that is the Lohan family? Just when it seemed that they were going to settle down and stay out of the headlines, up pops a secret love child. Well, maybe she's a secret love child, maybe not. The paternity test that Lindsay Lohan's dad Michael says he took earlier this week should clear that up in about ten to twelve days.
In the meantime, mama Lohan is just "shocked" to find out that during a marital separation back in 1994, her husband may have impregnated another woman. What's more, Michael Lohan has known about 13-year-old Ashley since the girl's mother became pregnant. According to Kristi Kaufmann, she and Michael had a brief affair and then he dumped her. When she found herself pregnant, she tracked him down and told him. But then he up and disappeared. Despite her efforts to find him, she says she didn't hear from Michael again until he contacted her from prison, where he was serving time for securities fraud. At that time, she says he admitted that he always knew the child was his and that he and Ashely began corresponding, although they never met.
Michael doesn't dispute most of that story, except the part about Ashley being his kid. He says that at first, he believed she was, but recently came to realize that the timing of Kaufmann's pregnancy didn't add up. "She had me so convinced. She had me snowballed," he says,
If Micheal is the father, he says he plans to do right by the girl. But according to Kaufmann, his track record for doing the right thing isn't all that great. "He was supposed to take a paternity test seven years ago, but he disappeared off the face of the earth," she says. "I just want this to be resolved and the truth to be told."
Four months after giving birth to twins, Jennifer Lopez looks fabulous. We know she looks fabulous because she has been photographed plenty since the twins were born in February. She and hubby Marc have been spotted at movie premieres, art galleries, fashion shows and more. But wait. Where, exactly are those twin bundles of joy while mom and dad are out on the town? Lopez has insisted that she does not have a nanny, so just who is minding the children?
Former Hollywood nanny Suzanne Hansen says Lopez' nanny denial is all about semantics. She may not have an on-staff person who she refers to as 'nanny', but she sure as heck isn't hiring the teenager next door to watch little Max and Emme while she hits the town. More likely, she is making use of her other household staff to keep an eye on the tots while she and Marc socialize.
"She probably has other people-not called nannies-who are taking care of her children," Hansen says. "She has assistants, housekeepers-someone like that who probably also likes kids and who is likely keeping an eye on them."
Hansen goes on to say that by denying that she has a nanny, Lopez is insulting our intelligence. I don't know about you, but I do not feel insulted. What I feel is closer to, oh, I don't know - envy? Lopez can call it what she wants, but I know that if I had a gazillion dollars and a mansion, I would have some hired help, too.
According to Drug Free America, summer can mean more than swimming, sunning and shopping for some teenagers. June, July and August are also the months in which teens are more likely to try marijuana for the first time. And as much as parents might want their kids get a job and do something useful with themselves, working actually increases the chances that they will experiment with drugs. Not only does a summer job expose them to older - but not old enough to know better - coworkers, they also have all that extra cash to spread around.
Now, I would not take that bit of information and decide that my teen isn't leaving the house until September, but any parent of a teen should be aware of the warning signs of drug use. Some are easy to spot (red, glassy eyes), while others are hard to distinguish from regular teen behavior (mood swings). Parents, The Anti Drug has great information with detailed signs and symptoms of drug use.
Perhaps the best advice I ever got for raising a drug-free teen was this: don't take your eyes off of them until they are 21. Seriously, the teen years are not the time to relax and assume your work is done. As grown up as they seem and as ready as you may be for them to actually be grown up, they are still kids. Most teens are far from ready to face the challenges of peer pressure, curiosity and plain old rebellion on their own. Arm yourself with knowledge and stay close at hand.
Lesley Porcelli over at Gourmet isn't a mom yet, but she's well on her way and pondering what kind of eater her kid will be. Like a lot of non-parents, she readily admits that she has strong opinions about successful parenting, particularly when it comes to feeding the child. And when it comes to picky eaters, Porcelli is pretty sure that parents are to blame.
Her theory goes something like this: If the whole family sits down to eat together and nobody makes a big deal out of what is on the plate, the kid will happily chow down without complaint. If a parent assumes the kid wouldn't touch a lasagna with a ten foot pole and therefore doesn't bother to offer it, chances are good that the kid will subsist on nuggets and fries until maturity.
I think Porcelli has it only partly right. Kids aren't blank slates waiting to be molded into actual people. Even as they try their first bites of solid food, they are individuals with their own likes and dislikes. From her first bite of pureed chicken as a baby, my Ellie disliked meat. She gobbled up the fruits and veggies, but spat out anything that tasted of animal. I don't know if her aversion was about texture or taste, but to this day she would sooner eat a plate of green beans than a bite of chicken. For Ellie, it isn't about not wanting to try new foods (she loves crab cakes and calamari), she just doesn't like meat.
That said, I do think parents can - and should - influence what foods their child will consume. The old "just take one bite" routine works well for us and is the reason we can all enjoy a plate of calamari together. But in the end, I don't worry too much about my picky eater. After all, I lived off bologna and mustard sandwiches as a kid and I survived just fine.
If you are reading this, chances are you are least somewhat Internet savvy. I would also venture to guess that you are familiar with common Internet acronyms like LOL, IMHO, BRB, and the ever-popular WTF. If not, perhaps you work for the Division of Motor Vehicles in North Carolina. Those guys may be first in flight, but they are apparently the last to know that when you put the letters W, T and F together, they convey a rather inappropriate message for a license plate.
A few months after they began making WTF plates, someone finally clued them in., That someone was a 60-year-old teacher from Fayetteville who complained about her plate after her teenage grandchildren told her what it meant. Not only are there about 10,000 WTF'ers driving around the state, that letter combination was also used on the DMV's own Website as a sample personalized plate (it has since been removed).
Now that they know about it, state officials are happy to replace the plates free of charge for anyone who would rather not drive around displaying that particular acronym on their vehicles. For those who choose their keep the plates: LOL!
Earlier this week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of about 6,000 Arctic Cat Youth ATV's due to a problem with the speed controller. Now, they are adding about 1,700 KYMCO ATV's and 6,000 Kawasaki ATV's to the recall list for essentially the same issue.
The KYMCO recall involves the 2008 Model Year Mongoose Youth ATV's. A manufacturing defect in the carburetor can cause the throttle to stick in the open position. Made in Taiwan for KYMCO USA, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, the recalled ATV's include the 2008 Mongoose 50cc, 70cc and 90cc Youth ATVs. You can find KYMCO printed on a label located on the front of the vehicle, and the model name on a label located on each side of the fuel tank.
The recalled ATV's were sold by KYMCO dealers nationwide from August 2007 through June 2008 for between $1,700 and $2,100. If you have one, you should immediately stop using it and contact any authorized KYMCO dealer to schedule a free repair. If you are a registered owner, you should have received notification of this recall via direct mail. For more information, contact KYMCO USA by calling (888) 235-3417 anytime, or by visiting their Web site.
The Kawasaki recall involves 2008 Model Year KFX 50 and KFX 90 Youth ATV's. On these, the throttle can fail to return to the idle position when released or could fail to be at idle on startup. The recall includes 2008 model year KFX 50 (50cc) and KFX 90 (90cc) youth ATV's. The affected models are green or white with black trim and the model name can be found on either side below the handlebars.
These were made in Taiwan for Kawasaki Motors Corp. U.S.A., of Irvine, California and sold by Kawasaki dealerships nationwide from August 2007 through June 2008 for about $1,750 (KFX 50) and $2,200 (KFX 90).
If you have a recalled ATV, you should immediately stop using it and contact any authorized Kawasaki dealer to schedule a free repair. If you are a registered owner, you should have received notification of the recall via direct mail. For more information, contact Kawasaki by calling (866) 802-9381 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, or by visiting their Web site.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 9,350 LaJolla Boat Bed and Pirates of the Caribbean Twin Trundle Beds due to an entrapment and strangulation hazard. The lid supports on the toy chests can fail to prevent the lid from closing too quickly. Sadly, a 22-month-old boy in California strangled to death when a lid fell on to the back of his head, trapping his neck on the edge of the LaJolla Boat Bed.
Apparently, a 13-year old boy with an interest in law enforcement was trying to get a little head start on his career when he 
Former boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield hasn't fought a match in a while, but he is still 
I admit that I am not all that familiar with Angelina Jolie's body of work. I know plenty about her body, her humanitarian work and her personal life, but I don't see many movies that aren't rated "G". I do know that Jolie gets a lot of positive press and that the only real criticism I've heard concerning her film work is that maybe she shouldn't be doing any with all those kids at home.
If you thought 
Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk 
Is there no end to the drama that is the Lohan family? Just when it seemed that they were going to settle down and stay out of the headlines, up pops a secret love child. Well, maybe she's a secret love child, maybe not. The paternity test that Lindsay Lohan's dad Michael 
Four months after giving birth to twins, Jennifer Lopez looks fabulous. We know she looks fabulous because she has been photographed plenty since the twins were born in February. She and hubby Marc have been spotted at movie premieres, art galleries, fashion shows and more. But wait. Where, exactly are those twin bundles of joy while mom and dad are out on the town? Lopez has insisted that 
According to Drug Free America, summer can mean more than swimming, sunning and shopping for some teenagers. June, July and August are also the months in which teens are 
Lesley Porcelli over at 
If you are reading this, chances are you are least somewhat Internet savvy. I would also venture to guess that you are familiar with common 
