| Baby sitter gets 10 years in prison in shaken-baby death
WAUKESHA - A 21-year-old Mukwonago woman who was convicted of reckless homicide following the shaken-baby death of an infant in her care was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday. Christy Woppert maintained her innocence in the case, but Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. told her that as hard as it may be for Woppert to acknowledge that her actions caused the death of 9-week-old Mason Maciosek in April 2005, "all the evidence points in that direction." Maciosek, who would have turned 2 today, died of brain injuries consistent with having been shaken violently, testimony at Wopperts trial showed. Woppert, a friend of the babys mother, Michelle, on April 12, 2005, was watching the boy, who was healthy when he was entrusted to Woppert. Woppert reported hearing the baby make a sound, and then he was unresponsive.
SF mom is insane in killings of sons
SAN FRANCISCO - No one doubted LaShuan Harris was mentally ill when she killed her three children. Now that San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ksenia Tsenin has declared the Oakland woman was legally insane, shell finally get the care everyone always agreed she needed. "Its a sad commentary on our society that something like this has to happen for someone to get treatment for severe mental illness," defense lawyer Teresa Caffese said Wednesday following Tsenins ruling. On Oct. 19, 2005, Harris tossed her three sons, ages 6, 2 and 16 months, over a low railing and into the chilly waters of the bay. A witness watched, fearful and unbelieving, as she first undressed them, struggled a bit with the older ones and hurled them each into the water. Passers-by said she seemed dazed and disoriented.
Double quads' Mum conceives 10th baby
A Brisbane couple who made worldwide headlines for having two sets of quads through fertility treatment are expecting baby number 10. Life in the household of Dale and Darren Chalk, from Strathpine in Brisbane's north, is about to become even more hectic with the couple revealing to New Idea magazine they are pregnant again. And despite being plagued with morning sickness, Mrs Chalk, 28, said they couldn't wait to have more babies. "It's not morning sickness, it's all-day sickness, but hopefully it will soon pass," she told New Idea. "We adore children, so there are no plans to stop at 10." Mrs Chalk and her husband, a taxi driver, became parents to quads in August 2004 using an anonymous sperm donor through the Queensland Fertility Group.
Diverse crowd joins in march
At 3 p.m. Sunday, about 150 people marched to the beat of the Wilson Middle School Drum Line down High Street to the Old Courthouse from First United Church of Christ at 30 N. Pitt Street. To the rear, about 10 young women from the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church of Carlisle and nearly 20 male basketball players in warm-up suits from Carlisle High School were "just helping out, showing support for the community," team member Adolph Comer said. At the front of the line were several police escort vehicles and most of the speakers. Mayor Kirk Wilson noted not only that the number of march participants was increasing each year, but that the audience itself was "more diverse than it used to be." In saying this he pointed to the groups of children and adults, clergy and athletes that were passing by.
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