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What’s the connection between the Beatles’ George Harrison, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, and Chrysler cars? The Highway Hi-Fi: a vinyl record player that just happened to be the world’s first in-car music system. It appeared 60 years ago this spring, in 1956, and should have been a smash hit. It was innovatory, a major talking point, arrived as the car market was booming as never before, and it came with much press hype. It also had the backing of a leading motor manufacturer. What could possibly go wrong?

Unlike car radios—which had already been around for more than a decade—the Highway Hi-Fi actually gave you a choice. The records you wanted to play were picked by you rather than by a DJ in a radio station miles away, and those discs could hold some 90 minutes of music. This playing time was twice what you could get from a normal vinyl record of the mid-1950s—a trick accomplished by dragging the Highway Hi-Fi’s playing speed down to a mere 16.66 RPM, half that of a normal vinyl album. In technological terms, this was seen as a minor miracle.

The Highway Hi-Fi, in action.

And yet, within a year of launch, sales were plummeting, and 12 months after that the Highway Hi-Fi was being withdrawn—also soon to be the fate of the companies that were to "copy" the format.

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You may not want to swallow your chewing gum, but if you did, it wouldn’t kill you. It wouldn’t stay in your stomach for seven years, either. The dangers of swallowing your gum have been greatly exaggerated.

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We talk a lot about computer security and data security here at Lifehacker, but you can never have too many reminders of the basics. Here, in a nutshell, are the security tips and habits every computer user should know. Consider it a quick way to audit your own security or help others you care about get the essentials down.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Only months ago Mateusz Kijowski was a computer specialist unknown to the Polish public. Today the 47-year-old is leading the largest civic protest movement that Poland has seen since Lech Walesa’s Solidarity defied the communist regime.

His Committee for the Defense of Democracy took form in November, soon after the right-wing party Law and Justice took office and started consolidating its grip, weakening the power of the constitutional court and other institutions that should be checks on government power. That has prompted the European Union and international human rights groups to express alarm about the state of democracy and the rule of law in the EU’s largest eastern member.

Kijowski’s group, which is supported by many former Solidarity activists and embraces the same values of nonviolent resistance, has organized a string of protests over the past months that have brought many thousands of people into the streets. But he has come under withering verbal attack from the Law and Justice leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who has denounced the movement as anti-patriotic and even guided by foreign interests.

In early April Kijowski will travel to Washington for meetings on Capitol Hill and at the State Department, a trip organized by Freedom House, the U.S.-based group that advocates human rights worldwide. His said his message to U.S. officials will be that democracy is under attack but that much of Polish society remains committed to democratic values — and that the country should therefore not be sidelined internationally.

“We want to put strong pressure on the government but we do not want to build barriers between Poland and other countries,” Kijowski told The Associated Press in an interview.

As the movement, generally known by its Polish acronym, KOD, has brought people to the streets over the past four months, Kaczynski has lashed out. First he called the protesters “Poles of the worst sort” — a slogan they adopted and now use sarcastically on buttons and banners.

Recently, with the country under greater international censure, Kaczynski’s accusations have become stronger. He said the supporters of KOD “despise” Poland and have taken their complaints to the Russian embassy. An adviser to the president also accused the protests of being an element in Russian “hybrid warfare” aimed against Poland.

“I have never been in the Russian embassy,” retorted Kijowski. “They are trying to discredit us, and are lying about us to show that we are not true Poles, that people shouldn’t trust us.”

“If we treat the language seriously it is horrible because it’s going in the direction of fascism,” Kijowski said. “But it’s probably more funny because he wants to be a dictator but doesn’t have the power for that.”

Kaczynski is on a mission to create a stronger nation state that is built on traditional, small-town Catholic values, pushing back against pressure to accept gay rights and other values that have arrived with EU membership. A key mainstay of his worldview is that the country is radically flawed by the 1989 deal that ended communism because it left a large degree of influence and wealth in the hands of former communists, the price paid at the time for a peaceful transition. Law and Justice defends its various political moves as necessary to root out liberal and post-communist influences that it sees as harmful.

Kijowski criticizes the ruling party’s values, saying they exclude many Poles who don’t share its conservative view.

“We are trying to be a civic society that connects every citizen, which is open to every citizen, open to all political sympathies, all religions,” he said.

He accuses the ruling party of dismantling the legal order. Like the EU and human rights groups, he points to new laws that have paralyzed the Constitutional Tribunal, tightened government control over the state media, given police greater power to spy on citizens and broadened its scope for investigating citizens.

“But the most dangerous thing is the whole affair around the constitutional court because all the other things could be stopped by the Constitutional Tribunal if it could proceed normally,” he said.

Kijowski was too young to be a part of Solidarity but says that a lot of his movement’s support comes from people active in that anti-communist resistance. He said he has sought the advice of Walesa, who has given the movement his support.

“The people who knew communism have deja vu now,” Kijowski said.

The post Computer specialist becomes face of Polish protest movement appeared first on WTOP.

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — A teenager who surrendered before carrying out a suicide bombing attack in northern Cameroon says she is one of the Chibok girls abducted from a Nigerian boarding school nearly two years ago.

Idrissou Yacoubou, the leader of a Cameroonian self-defense group, said Saturday that the girl is about 15 years old and turned herself in before detonating her explosives.

He described her as “tired, malnourished and psychologically tortured.”

Dozens of the Chibok girls were last seen in a video alongside the leader of Boko Haram, who has pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State.

The plight of the more than 200 girls still missing has remained a mystery, though many have feared they were married off to fighters or are being used as suicide bombers for the extremist group.

The post Teen in north Cameroon says she is a missing Chibok girl appeared first on WTOP.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two police officers and a prisoner they were transporting were killed early Saturday in a fiery crash on an interstate highway in Iowa that investigators say was caused by a wrong-way driver, who also died.

Des Moines officers Susan Farrell and Carlos Puente-Morales, who had been on the job less than six months, were killed in the crash that occurred around 12:40 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 80 west of Des Moines, police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said.

The officers had been returning the prisoner, identified as 32-year-old Tosha Nicole Hyatt of Des Moines, from Council Bluffs to Des Moines when their sport utility vehicle was struck by a vehicle driving the wrong way on the freeway, police said. Police had not named driver of the other vehicle by late Saturday afternoon.

Both officers and the driver of the other vehicle were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, Parizek said. Investigators had not yet determined by Saturday morning whether Hyatt was wearing a seat belt, he said.

The Iowa State Patrol is investigating.

Parizek and Police Chief Dana Wingert were visibly upset at a news conference held later Saturday morning to give initial details of the crash.

Farrell, 30, and Puente-Morales, 34, had graduated from the police academy in October, Parizek said.

“We face a nightmare that no one ever wants to experience,” Wingert said during the conference. “Words cannot express what this loss means.”

The last Des Moines officer killed in the line of duty was Officer Sean Wissink, 35, who also died in a crash, Parizek said. Wissink was killed in February 2007 when he lost control of his sport utility vehicle on Iowa Highway 141 north of Grimes.

Gov. Terry Branstad issued a statement Saturday extending sympathy to the families of those killed and saying he would issue an order next week for flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor the officers.

“Our hearts are heavy this Easter weekend,” Branstad said.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the crash happened west of Des Moines, not east of Des Moines.

The post 2 Iowa police officers among 4 killed in wrong-way crash appeared first on WTOP.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A western Kansas woman is suing the state and some of the agencies involved in questioning and removing her 11-year-old son from her home after he spoke up at school about her possessing and using marijuana.

Shona Banda’s federal lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges the state of Kansas and its agencies deprived her of her civil rights to treat a debilitating condition that she says is Crohn’s disease, the Wichita Eagle (bit.ly/1Sm0kDU) reported.

The Garden City woman, 38, also claims officials have infringed on her parenting, and that local police and school employees improperly questioned her son without her permission.

Banda’s son was removed from her custody in March 2015 after authorities said he made comments during a drug-education program at his school that his mother and other adults at home were avid drug users. Police said a subsequent search of her home uncovered more than a pound of marijuana, as well as cannabis oil and other drug-related items.

Spokespeople for Garden City public schools and Gov. Sam Brownback’s office are declining comment, citing the pending litigation. The Kansas Department for Children and Families, which is also named as a defendant, recommends that children be removed from their homes when serious safety issues exist — but not solely for marijuana use, spokeswoman Theresa Freed said.

“The court has final say regarding placement of children,” Freed said. “Marijuana is an illegal substance in the state of Kansas. It can have both direct and indirect detrimental consequences on families.”

Banda, who according to court records is acting as her own attorney in the lawsuit filed on the one-year anniversary of the police raid, seeks unspecified damages.

Banda’s lawsuit insists she educated her 11-year-old son about the substance and told him “it is a medication.” She never allowed that boy to use the drug, according to the lawsuit.

Banda, the author of a book recounting her use of concentrated cannabis oil to treat Crohn’s, which is an inflammatory bowel disease, faces marijuana-related charges in Finney County. The status of that case was not immediately available Saturday.

___

Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com

The post Kansas marijuana advocate sues state over son’s removal appeared first on WTOP.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A coalition of environmentalists and seafood industry professionals is campaigning to make the case that traceability in the seafood industry is about success in the marketplace as much as it’s about ethics.

Ocean conservation group Oceana, based in Washington, D.C., has assembled the contingent of fishermen, processors, wholesalers and others to make the case that customers will pay a premium for verifiable seafood. They seek to link customers with the backstory of the product, such as where the fish was caught, whether it was sustainably harvested and when it was brought ashore.

The group includes representatives from more than a dozen businesses, including Virginia oyster farmers, a Boston seafood distributor and the fishmonger for a D.C. restaurant group. It is making its case as federal regulators consider tightening seafood importation standards.

Oceana reported in a 2013 study that illegal fishing causes more than $10 billion in global losses every year. But the organization said its latest effort is about illustrating the market potential for traceable seafood products that can sell a story along with the meal.

Steve Vilnit, marketing director for Maryland-based seafood wholesaler J.J. McDonnell, said his employer is participating in Oceana’s effort — and that business has grown in the eight years since the company started providing restaurants with more information about the backstory of their fish.

“I think what we’re seeing is the chefs caring more about where their products come from,” Vilnit said. “We’re seeing more and more restaurants that won’t buy product unless you tell them where the product was harvested, and with what kind of gear.”

Tejas Bhatt, director of the Global Food Traceability Center at the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists, said traceability can add 5 to 25 percent to the price point of a seafood product.

But traceability also comes at a cost. Providing the story of the catch means disentangling the seafood supply chain, which involves communicating with harvesters, shippers, wholesalers and retailers on the chain of custody. Buyers might also require some kind of independent third-party certification program.

Bhatt said selling seafood companies on traceable seafood means changing transparency “from a responsibility issue to a value-added issue.”

The supply chains of seafood importers have been under scrutiny since a series of media and human rights reports found Southeast Asian fishermen and shrimp processers were abused and enslaved. An expose by The Associated Press last year found that Thai companies ship seafood to the U.S. that was caught and processed by trapped and enslaved workers.

Federal authorities are also considering new rules designed to stop illegal, untraceable fishing imports that they say threaten the domestic seafood industry. The Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud released a plan to improve transparency in the seafood industry about a year ago.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said proposed changes would create a new system to collect data about the catch, trip ashore and chain of custody of fish and fish products imported into the U.S. NOAA is accepting public comments on proposed new rules about seafood traceability until April 5.

Oceana released a report touting the work of its group earlier this month at the Seafood Expo North America in Boston, a high-profile trade meeting. Beth Lowell, Oceana’s seafood fraud director, said she hopes the group’s work puts pressure on the government to tighten the rules about the seafood supply chain.

“We timed this report to help show the government that people are doing it and having success with it,” she said. “We’re hoping to show there’s value in doing this, and it makes sense to do this for all species and extend traceability through the whole supply chain.”

The post Traceability in seafood chain about money, not just ethics appeared first on WTOP.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Descendants of a bison herd captured and sent to Canada more than a century ago will be relocated to a Montana American Indian reservation next month, in what tribal leaders bill as a homecoming for a species emblematic of their traditions.

The shipment of animals from Alberta’s Elk Island National Park to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation follows a 2014 treaty among tribes in the United States and Canada. That agreement aims to restore bison to areas of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains where millions once roamed.

“For thousands of years the Blackfeet lived among the buffalo here. The buffalo sustained our way of life, provided our food, clothing, shelter,” Blackfeet Chairman Harry Barnes said. “It became part of our spiritual being. We want to return the buffalo.”

The 89 plains bison, also known as buffalo, will form the nucleus of a herd that tribal leaders envision will soon roam freely across a vast landscape: the Blackfeet reservation, nearby Glacier National Park and the Badger-Two Medicine wilderness — more than 4,000 square miles combined.

Bison were hunted to near-extinction in the late 1800s as European settlers advanced across the once-open American West.

Most of the animals that survive today are in commercial herds, raised for their meat and typically interbred with cattle. The Blackfeet have a commercial bison herd established in 1972 that numbers more than 400 animals.

The lineage of Elk Island’s bison, which experts say are free of cattle genes, traces back to a small group of animals captured by several American Indians on Blackfeet land just south of Canada.

Those bison were later sold to two men, Charles Allard and Michel Pablo, who formed what became known as the Pablo-Allard herd. By the early 1900s, the Pablo-Allard herd was said to be the largest collection of the animals remaining in the U.S.

After U.S. officials rejected a sale offer from Pablo, the Canadian government purchased most of the bison. The animals were then shipped train from Ravalli, Montana, to Elk Island, according to park officials and Western historians.

“They’ve made a big circle, but now they’re coming home,” said Ervin Carlson, a Blackfeet member and president of the Intertribal Buffalo Council.

The relocation comes as the restoration of genetically-pure bison to the West’s grasslands and forests have gained traction. The efforts include the relocation of some genetically-pure bison from Yellowstone National Park to two Indian reservations in eastern and central Montana.

The tribes — the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation and the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservations — are signatories to the 2014 treaty. But ranchers and landowners near the reservations have strongly opposed the tribes’ plans, driven by concerns over disease and the prospect of bison competing with cattle for grass.

Brucellosis, the disease found in Yellowstone’s bison herds, is absent from Canada’s Elk Island, according to the park’s superintendent, Stephen Flemming.

“The difficulty (with Yellowstone bison) is the stigma attached to them. In this case, the animals (coming from Canada) have never been exposed to brucellosis,” said Keith Aune with the Wildlife Conservation Society, which has been working with the Blackfeet on their bison program.

Over the past five years, Flemming said, about 180 Elk Island bison were relocated to form a private herd maintained by the American Prairie Reserve, which controls a large area between the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap reservations. Those animals, too, have met some resistance from ranchers, but the absence of brucellosis has largely neutralized that issue as a point of contention.

The Blackfeet will loan 20 of the Elk Island bison to the Oakland Zoo in California for a special exhibit slated to open this fall, according to tribal officials and the zoo’s president, Joel Parrott.

Offspring from the animals would be returned to Montana, and there are plans to promote eco-tours to the Blackfeet Reservation among zoo patrons.

“Bison historically are native California animals, too,” Parrott said. “We’re going to highlight the efforts of the Blackfeet. A big part of this which is so unique is the return of buffalo to tribal lands after all these years.”

___

Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at https://twitter.com/matthewbrownap .

___

This story has been corrected to say the bison herd was sent to Canada more than a century ago.

The post Bison coming ‘home’ to Montana Indian reservation appeared first on WTOP.

What’s supposed to be a cherished Easter tradition turned into a mess after pushy parents caused a scene at egg hunts over the weekend.

Saturday’s event at the visitor center of candy company Pez in Orange, Connecticut, drew hundreds of people, some of whom ignored the rules.

“Everyone just rushed the field and took everything,” Pez General Manager Shawn Peterson told WFSB-TV.

Event organizers placed more than 9,000 eggs on three fields with the intention of having staggered start times for each age group. But Pez officials say parents didn’t wait.

Peterson said the crowd was “kind of like locusts.”

Pez in a statement apologized for “an unfortunate situation,” adding that the actions of a few turned the event into “a mess.”

“We sincerely tried our best to create a fun, free activity for everyone to enjoy,” the statement said.

People who attended the hunt took to Facebook to comment on the event, calling it “a joke” and blaming “greedy parents” for ruining the hunt. The event ended early. No injuries were reported.

In Proctor, Vermont, police were called to an overbooked Easter egg hunt Saturday at Wilson Castle after someone reported “multiple irate parents.” Organizers say more than 1,200 people turned out for the event.

Michael Cuthbertson, 34, of Newbury, Vermont, turned his anger toward police, allegedly threatening them before fleeing. A foot chase ensued, and police used pepper spray to subdue him. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Cuthbertson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The post Pushy parents create mess at Easter egg hunts appeared first on WTOP.

A woman preparing a send-off for a relative entering the military was killed when she crossed a railroad track on a path used by locals between houses in a small North Carolina town, authorities said.

Before she was killed Saturday afternoon, the woman had been helping to tie balloons for the party at a house in Four Oaks about 30 miles southeast of Raleigh, said Police Chief Stephen Anderson.

“Witnesses said they heard the train blowing the horn,” Anderson said. “She must not have heard it and walked in front of the train.”

A young man related to the woman was going into the military, so the family was having a party for him, Four Oaks Mayor Linwood Parker said. He said the woman was walking between houses along a path that crossed the railroad but wasn’t considered a marked crossing.

“The houses, some of them were built prior to automobiles, and they had a path across the track,” he said.

A level of comfort and familiarity around the tracks appears to predate the founding of the town, which now has about 2,000 people and hosts a yearly Acorn Festival. The town’s website says it developed around the tracks and owes its name to the railroad. It was chosen as a site for a supply depot because of an unusual landmark — a tree 50 feet from the tracks that had four trunks growing from one base, the site says.

The mayor referred questions about the woman’s identity to the police chief, who said he might release it later Sunday.

Anderson said no charges are expected in the death.

Mike Tolbert, an Amtrak spokesman, says the accident occurred at 3:37 p.m. Saturday.

“The person was on the right of way, but didn’t have authorization to be on the tracks,” he said.

None of the crew or 217 passengers were injured, he said. The train was traveling from New York to Savannah, Georgia.

The post Train kills N. Carolina woman readying serviceman’s send-off appeared first on WTOP.

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LORTON, Va. (AP) — A woman who police say attempted to run down a man in her convertible in suburban Washington is undergoing a mental health evaluation.

Media reports say the woman deliberately tried to strike the man’s vehicle in Lorton with her red convertible Friday morning in an apparent road rage incident. Fairfax County police say the two drove to nearby parking lot and she attempted to run him down. She was not successful.

Prince William County police took the woman into custody Friday near her house in Woodbridge.

She was taken to a local facility for a mental evaluation. Police said the woman would not be charged.

The post After apparent road rage incident, driver evaluated appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON —Another eaglet has hatched in the District— this time at the Metropolitan Police Department Academy in Southeast.

The baby bird emerged Saturday as bird watchers nationwide observed, thanks to a live stream perched at the bald eagle nest. The parents, “Liberty” and “Justice,” have nested at the location for 11 years, police say. The eggs were laid Feb. 18 and Feb. 20.

If all of this sounds familiar it’s because there was a similar hatching caught on live video: two eaglets hatched at the U.S. National Arboretum last week.

Live stream courtesy of MPD/UStream

The post Eaglet hatches at Metropolitan Police Department Academy appeared first on WTOP.

(BETHESDA, Md.) — Specialist Andrew Brown has reunited with his beloved military dog, Rocky, months after they were both injured in Afghanistan and received Purple Hearts.

Their reunion was caught on video Friday, three months after they were injured, separated and this photo of Rocky with his Purple Heart went viral.

Brown and Rocky had been partners for two years when they were searching a compound in Afghanistan in December and both were injured by shrapnel from an improvised explosive device (IED).

“When the explosion first happened, I was more worried about him than myself,” Brown said.

After the explosion, they were flown together to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where Brown and Rocky were awarded Purple Hearts. Brown said flying together helped them both stay calm.

Brown said being apart was difficult, but he knew Rocky “was in good hands.”

Rocky is considered an American soldier, Brown explained to ABC News earlier, adding that a dog’s rank is one above his handler’s.

“He does everything,” Brown said. “I’m just really a guy with a leash. I bring him to the area and let him do his thing. If he responds, I translate that … let them know my dog got a response right here.”

After undergoing treatment for his injuries, Rocky left Germany Thursday and began his trip back to the U.S.

Friday, Rocky reunited with Brown in Bethesda, Maryland.

Brown said this was the longest he and his dog had been apart.

“Just excitement — it’s the only way I can describe it,” Brown said of the reunion.

Brown, a father and husband, described Rocky as “a big part of me and a big part of my family.”

“I’ve known him longer than both of my sons have been alive,” he said. “I think we make a pretty good team — you know, you’ve got to have 100 percent trust in your dog.”

Since Afghanistan, Brown said he is doing well but doesn’t “have a timeline of when I’ll be back to Fort Hood or be back to active duty. So I’m just taking it day by day and hopefully I’ll be back there soon.”

Rocky is also doing well after suffering a broken femur in one of his hind legs and some injuries to his tail.

Brown said he’ll adopt Rocky if the dog medically retires, but added that Rocky has “a high drive, so if he goes back to work I know he’ll do great things.”

For now, Brown is looking forward to their first weekend together in three months — their plan is “just spending time together, just like when we were in Afghanistan. He was with me the whole time.”

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

The post See soldier’s heartwarming reunion with military dog in Md. (Video) appeared first on WTOP.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A little bird stole the show at Bernie Sanders’ rally in Portland, and gave new meaning to a phrase made popular by the TV show “Portlandia” — “put a bird on it.”

The Democratic candidate smiled and the audience of more than 10,000 went wild when a tiny bird joined Sanders at the podium on Friday.

Without losing a beat, the Vermont senator said even though it didn’t look like a dove, it must have been one that came to ask for world peace.

The video of Sanders and his feathered friend went viral on social media, with the hashtag #BirdieSanders.

The phrase “put a bird on it” is a line that was used in the TV show “Portlandia” as a reflection of the city’s quirky ways.

The post Little bird steals the show at Sanders rally in hip Portland appeared first on WTOP.

(WYLIE, Texas) — He’s more lamb than lion.

Even though he’s king of the jungle, Lambert the lion is a gentle, playful cat who can’t seem to catch some zzzs without his blanket.

“It’s pretty adorable,” Angela Culver, spokesperson for In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center in Wylie, Texas, told ABC News Friday.

Lambert, an African lion, first came to the rescue center in June 2014 when he was just a few months old. “There was a family in west Texas that purchased him privately and realized really quickly things weren’t working out and donated him to the facility,” Culver said.

He began to adjust very quickly to the new environment, according to Culver, due to his domestic upbringing. “He was happy and exploring but it seemed that something was missing,” she said.

The owner of the rescue center, Vicky Keahey, realized that when Lambert was privately owned he used to sleep in a bed, so “she went and got him a blanket and that did the trick,” Culver said.

Every night for almost two years since Lambert first got a blanket, he has slept with a blanket every night.

“It is a mandatory,” Culver. “Everybody knows he gets his blanket.”

The blankets have gotten bigger as Lambert has grown over time. The workers and volunteers at the rescue center try to keep his blanket in his den area, but he sometimes drags it out into the playground area as well, according to Culver.

Lambert gets a fresh blanket every day. “We try to spoil all of our cats,” Culver said.

And Lambert loves living in the rescue center, according to Culver. He plays with a fellow lion that lives next to him, but they do not play in the same gated area because of personality differences.

He has all day access to a giant playground area with grass and even a pool, which he likes to swim in despite the general aversion of cats to water.

Lambert has also learned how to “skateboard.”

“When he was younger, every week the cats would get enrichments to keep their brains stimulated,” Culver said. “It’s important for animals in captivity.”

One of the enrichment items he had was a plastic storage tub and he put his paws in it and “scooched it around,” Culver said. They then decided to see what would happen if they gave him a skateboard and he immediately started shredding it.

Lambert recently celebrated his second birthday on Tuesday, and was given “lots of toys and whipped cream,” according to Culver.

But his most prized possessions are still his blankets, Culver adding that “He always needs to have his blankets.”

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

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FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) — Police in a suburban Philadelphia town have charged a man with animal cruelty in the death of a dog found sealed in a crate earlier this month.

Upper Dublin Township Police said 22-year-old Charles McCafferty IV, of Lansdale, owned the Staffordshire terrier that was dumped on March 9. He was charged Friday.

Police said the female dog, estimated at six months to a year old, had been dead a few days when it was found inside a metal cage that was wrapped in plastic and sealed with tape.

Officials said the dog suffocated, and they allege that the animal was alive when the crate was wrapped in plastic.

A listed number for McCafferty couldn’t be found Saturday. It’s unclear whether he had an attorney who could respond to the charges.

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WASHINGTON — A woman has been taken into custody following a road rage incident that took place during the Friday morning rush in Fairfax County, Virginia.

The woman was apprehended near her home in Woodbridge. She was taken to a local facility for a mental evaluation. The Fairfax County Police Department will not seek any criminal charges against this person, according to a press release.

The incident happened around 7 a.m. Friday. A man told Fairfax County Police that a woman in a red convertible intentionally struck his car from behind on Ox Road.

Police spokesman Don Gotthardt said the man sought refuge in a nearby parking lot, but the woman apparently followed him off the road.

“Once he was in the parking lot, he at some point exited his vehicle,” Gotthardt said. “He says the woman driving the red convertible attempted to hit him.”

The man was not hurt.

A witness saw the two arguing in the parking lot and called police.

Police are looking for the woman, who drove off after the incident. She could face charges of attempted malicious wounding.

Gotthardt said the man did the right thing by going to a crowded parking lot to escape the other driver.

Once in the parking lot, he said, it’s best to stay in the car and call 911. Park the car in a place that’s hard for someone to get to and wait for police to arrive.

“Park in a space where you are less vulnerable, pull up next to a building where you are less vulnerable,” Gotthardt said.

The post Woman taken into custody after Friday morning road rage incident appeared first on WTOP.

Editor’s note: This video contains explicit language and may not be appropriate for some readers.

WASHINGTON — A responding D.C. police officer’s body camera captured the arrest of an assault suspect Wednesday morning.

Officers responded to the 1900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast for the report of a robbery around 9:45 a.m.

Upon arrival, police say officers heard the victim’s cries for help and saw the suspect standing over the victim with a knife in an alley.

Christopher Alexander Galloway, 48, was arrested and charged with assault with intent to commit robbery.

Police released footage of the incident from one of the officer’s body cameras (shown above).

The post D.C. Police body camera captures assault arrest appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — A Fairfax County man, whose computers in his basement bedroom contained more than 600,000 images of child pornography, has been convicted.

On Wednesday, a circuit court jury found Adrantes Bruzual, of Herndon guilty, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison with a $4,000 fine.

In February 2014, a Fairfax County detective who was monitoring a file sharing network for people trading child pornography, discovered an Internet Protocol Address, which geo-located within Fairfax County.

After confirming the files contained child pornography, detective Nick Boffi traced the physical address of the IP to the home on Missouri Avenue, in Herndon, that Bruzual shared with his parents and sisters.

While executing a search warrant, Boffi located two computer towers and two monitors in Bruzual’s basement bedroom.

In an initial interview, police say Bruzual admitted he was the only person who used those computers.

A forensic search found several hard drives, containing over 600,00 images of child pornography.

Bruzual was charged with 20 counts of child pornography, and later indicted.

In trial, Bruzual testified other people used the computers found in his room, and he had no idea the pornographic images were on the computers.

The post Virginia man convicted of having half-million child pornography images appeared first on WTOP.

As food retailers and restaurants announce to the public that they plan to switch to all cage-free eggs on their shelves and in their products, here’s something to keep in mind: the retailers, at least, are going to make more money after the change is fully phased in. That’s because cage-free eggs only cost only fifteen cents per dozen more to produce, but retailers can charge double for them.

That’s according to analysis from Bloomberg, which looked at the rush in recent months for retailers to join the cage-free egg party. At retail, people will pay $3.42 on average for a dozen cage-free eggs, and $1.45 per dozen at most for conventional eggs. Even if that includes other egg types like pastured or free-range, it’s a significant difference that can make the egg business more profitable…once farmers have invested in the new setups for their hens.

Most companies, especially the biggest ones with the most complex supply chains, plan to hit 100% cage-free as far as 10 years out. That’s because they must wait for existing supply contracts to run out, and for the farmers in their supply chain to change over to cage-free setups for their hens.

Cage-Free Eggs May Be Golden Goose for Retail Profits [Bloomberg]

When preparing to hit your car’s brake pedal, the last thing you want is for the control to be broken. Unfortunately, that could be the case for more than 800,000 Volkswagen and Porsche SUVs. 

The recall of 800,477 model year 2011 to 2016 VW Touareg and Porsche Cayenne vehicles was initiated after the company found that their foot pedals could come loose, Bloomberg reports.

While the recall hasn’t been posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yet, the issue reportedly involves a clip that could be loose on the bearing bracket for the pedals on the cars.

VW says it found the potential defect during internal checks. Owners of the affected vehicles will be notified and dealers will fix the issue in less than half an hour.

VW Recalls 800,477 Touareg, Porsche Cayenne SUVs to Check Pedals [Bloomberg]

Sure, shopping from the comfort of your couch can be an easy, convenient alternative to schlepping to the mall or grocery store. But there are just some things that might not be worth the trouble to have shipped. Case in point: chocolate. The sweet treat can be a real pain to transport, for both the company and customer. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that chocolate makers are having a difficult time finding balance when it comes to ensuring their product arrives in perfect condition and the mounting costs to actually ship the goods.

Companies like Hershey and Mars usually employ refrigerated trucks to ship pallets of their products to retailers, ensuring the chocolatey cargo doesn’t melt or “bloom” — the white film that covers the treats when sugar and fat rise to the surface.

But that type of shipping isn’t exactly economical when a customer orders a single box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day online.

The WSJ reports that keeping such a small shipment cool often costs more than the chocolate itself. For example, a $4.25 bag of Hershey Kisses has a shipping cost of $6.95.

But that’s not the only shipping related cost customers might encounter when shopping their favorite chocolate maker online. Hershey also “strongly suggests” that customers buy liquid ice packs and a foam cooler for another $4.99. All together that $4.25 bag of chocolate now costs you about $20.20, and that’s without figuring in taxes.

These high costs, and other logistical issues, have many chocolate makers looking for ways to revamp and streamline their shipping options.

Hershey’s recently hosted a competition in which people competed to design the lightest, most-affordable packaging to keep its goods from melting for at least 48 hours. The company hasn’t announced a winner for the $25,000 prize yet.

“We were talking about it, and our e-commerce team said, ‘We need to find a better solution,’” Eric Zampedri, a packaging engineer in Hershey’s research and development office, tells the WSJ. “If we can reduce the cost for us, we can reduce it for consumers too.”

For now, the company continues to ship its products from distribution centers using parcel carriers, packing on sometimes two to three pounds of ice to keep each five-pound box of chocolate cool, Zampedri says.

The WSJ reports that it’s not just large chocolate companies that are struggling with shipping their goods directly to consumers; smaller, speciality chocolatiers are also looking for ways to decrease shipping costs.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat, a Chicago company that sells truffles and chocolate bars, tells the WSJ that it loses money on most cold shipments to consumers. Yet, it can’t discontinue the service, as online sales made up 20% of the company’s $26 million in revenue last year.

To help offset the costs, the company includes a $10 shipping surcharge to cover cool shipping on customer orders. In order to decrease the costs passed on to customers, the company is looking to use a combination of gel packs and ice pack.

“The biggest hurdle is…maintaining that balance of what the customer is willing to pay for, and how to ship it to them in the best condition possible,” Zach Jarosz, Vosges’s supply-chain planning manager, says.

High Cost of Keeping Chocolate Cool Tempers Online Sales [The Wall Street Journal]

There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done that you need to, right? Maybe that’s why a man who was keeping an eye on an acquaintance’s 11-year-old brought the boy with him to a Pennsylvania Walmart to pick up some tools. Police say that he walked out of the store without paying for the tools, leaving the boy behind.

Security confronted the man as he exited the store after loading his tools into plastic bags, and he ran for his car, driving off in a silver Ford. The kid was still in the store, though, and that didn’t seem to concern him very much.

Police found the child’s mother and had some questions for her about the incident, but she claimed not to know the name of the man she had left her son with. Police apparently didn’t believe this, and have labeled her “uncooperative.”

Her son was allowed to come home, but the police contacted youth and family services about the incident.

Suspected Shoplifter Flees Scene, Leaves Boy Behind In Montgomery County [CBS Philly]

Remember that brief, weird moment a few years back when your Facebook feed was suddenly full of just-ironic-enough comic strip versions of your friends? Well, now you’ll probably see that all over Snapchat, as the messaging app reportedly agreed to pay $100 million to acquire Bitstrips. 

Fortune, citing multiple unnamed sources, reports that Snapchat finalized a cash and stock deal to purchase Toronto-base Bitstrips, the maker of personalized emojis known as bitmojis.

Bitstrips began in 2007 by allowing users to build personalized digital comics featuring an avatar in their likeness. These scenes – which featured avatars in different scenarios like the one pictured above, making toast – regularly showed up on Facebook.

Two years ago, the company created a third-party keyboard that allows users to send a version of their avatar in different poses or scenarios to friends via text message.

While it’s unclear what Snapchat plans to do with Bitstrips, the idea of allowing users to create and send personalized emoji versions of themselves seems in line with the messaging system, which created the puking-rainbow selfie filter.

A rep for Snapchat declined to comment on the deal, and Bitstrips has yet to reply to Fortune’s inquiry.

Exclusive: Snapchat Buys Bitmoji Maker [Fortune]