Jodi Arias Trial Live

An Arizona woman stands accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend in a jealous rage. Jodi Arias, 32, faces the death penalty if convicted of the brutal killing of Travis Alexander, which would earn her the dubious distinction as the fourth woman on Arizona’s death row. Her sensational trial began in late January as defense attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott square off against Maricopa County State Prosecutor Juan Martinez. Arias has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and has been in custody without bail since her arrest in late summer 2008 In her direct examination she told jurors that Alexander was emotionally and physically abusive, a philanderer, and a liar. Arias’ story has changed several times since her 2008 arrest – first she told investigators that she wasn’t in Alexander’s apartment when he was killed, and then when evidence placed her at the scene she told a harrowing story of masked intruders breaking into the apartment, killing Alexander and sparing her. Now she says an abusive Travis Alexander attacked her on June 4, 2008, and that she killed him in self-defense. Will her story hold water? We will find out as Jodi Arias has decided to take the stand. Cross-examination is currently ongoing.
See all the live action Monday - Thursday on  CozzaVision

77 year old Grandmother arrested by Texas police after argument escalates

Police dashboard camera and a second camera attached to a Keene County, Texas, police officer captured this dramatic video of a 77 year-old grandmother talking back to the officer, who had just pulled her over for speeding.

According to a local Dallas-Ft. Worth NBC affiliate, the woman, Lynn Bedford, was travelling 66 mph in 50 mph zone, when officer Sgt. Gene Gehab pulled her over on Aug. 19.

As the officer walked up to the vehicle, the woman announced she was speeding because she had a bladder infection and had to use the bathroom.

Neither the police officer nor the woman appear to listen to the other person and the confrontation quickly escalates with the officer demanding Bedford's license and the woman telling Gehab he would have to wait a minute.

Police in Keene County don't wait for grandmothers to finish talking.

After asking Bedford for her license numerous times, and both people talking over each other, Gehab's long arm of the law opened up Bedford's door and dragged the woman out of the vehicle and pulled her onto the ground.

Bedford was charged with failure to show her license and released later that day.

The police issued a statement supporting Gehab.

"This incident has been reviewed thoroughly by the Keene Police Department and the City of Keene Administration," Alberti said in a written statement. "All parties have concluded that Sgt. Geheb did not violate any state laws or department policies, and in fact was following department policy in regards to violators not providing identification."

Apparently, exercising judgement doesn't enter into the discussion with the Keene Police Department. It seems pretty obvious that if Gehab had not been so combative from the get-go, he could have calmed the lady, followed her to the nearest bathroom and then ticketed her. That would have taken less time than hauling her in, and booking her. What do you think? Did the officer act properly?

UConn's men's basketball coach to retire

After 26 years, countless magical moments and three NCAA championships, UConn men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun will retire on Thursday, according to reports in the Hartford Courant, ESPN.com and numerous other media outlets.

Calhoun, 70, who had battled health problems in recent years, will announce his retirement at a press conference at 2 p.m. Thursday. He beat cancer three times, and had spinal surgery to correct back problems last year. In August, he broke his hip after falling off his bike near his home in Madison.

In the past few years, Calhoun has drawn a suspension for recruiting violations, and the men's basketball program was barred from postseason play in 2013 because of poor academic performance.

Calhoun began his coaching career at Old Lyme High School after graduating from American International College in Springfield, MA. He coached at Northeastern University in Boston before taking over the Huskies in 1986. UConn as a university and its basketball program were literally noise in the woods before Calhoun arrived.

He finishes his career with 873 career wins, sixth all-time, and he won national titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011. During the Calhoun era, 27 of his players were drafted into the NBA. In 2005, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

According to multiple sources, Kevin Ollie, who played for Calhoun in the 1990s, will take over the program.

New York Soda Ban Approved

NEW YORK CITY — Say goodbye to venti Frappuccinos, gallon movie theater slurpees and big sodas.

The city's Board of Health approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban on large sugar-sweetened drinks at its monthly meeting Thursday morning. Nine members voted for it, and one abstained.

Under the plan, all restaurants, fast-food joints, delis, movie theaters, sports stadiums and even food carts will be barred from selling sugar-sweetened drinks in cups larger than 16 ounces.

The limits will not apply to drinks sold in grocery stores, diet sodas, drinks that are more than 70-percent fruit juice, or that contain alcohol.

Dairy drinks containing more than 50 percent milk will also be allowed thanks to their redeeming nutritional qualities — though that’s little solace for Frappuccino lovers since the Starbucks treats contain far less milk than that.

The plan, which requires no other authorization than the Board of Health's vote, has elicited outrage from many, including representatives of the beverage industry which launched an aggressive million-dollar lobbying campaign against the restrictions, accusing Bloomberg of running a Nanny State.

Bubble tea purveyors and deli owners also worry the ban could severely damage business.

Bloomberg argues the ban would be a huge blow against obesity in the city.

The mayor and his Health Commissioner Thomas Farley insist the plan will eventually gain favor, just like the smoking ban in bars and restaurants.

Customers who really want more sugar-filled soda can simply order extra servings, they said.

"We've heard these claims of pending apocalypse before when we proposed bold public health initiatives, and they have been proven false," Samantha Levine, a Bloomberg spokeswoman, said in a statement.

"Critics predicted the end of tourism and that businesses would sink when we banned smoking in bars and restaurants, yet we've grown tourism to record levels and the restaurant and bar industry continues to grow," she said.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found the plan has fallen flat with New Yorkers, with 51 percent of those polled opposed.

Once approved, restaurants will have nine months to comply with the limits before facing $200 fines.

Opponents say they are weighing their legal options.

Bill Gates wants to reinvent the toilet

You might not want to pack a picnic lunch for this summer event.

Researchers from China, Switzerland, Britain, the Netherlands, Canada and California have flocked to Seattle this week for the "Reinvent the Toilet Fair," a two-day showcase hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Forget the bathroom humor. This is serious sh*t.

In a YouTube video calling for a "toilet revolution," the foundation called for "new ideas to help reduce disease and find new ways to turn crap into valuable stuff, like fuel, fertilizer, and fresh water."

The problem was put succinctly by Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist, in a tweet this week: "4 out of 10 people don’t have a safe way to poop - that’s 2.6 billion!"

Gates took on the mission of building a better toilet a year ago. As he recently told the Times of India, 1.5 million children die each year due to severe diarrhea caused by poor sanitation because they lack the kind of toilets that affluent countries take for granted.

"Finding a new toilet design that is as good as the flush toilet should be possible. It does not exist now," Gates said. "That's why we have been putting in money asking people to design a new toilet."

And not just any kind of toilet. As All Things Digital explained, "The toilets have to be hygienic and sustainable, discharge no pollutants, generate energy, recover nutrients and only need a tiny amount of water. Oh yeah, and they also need to have a cost of operation of a nickel per person per day."

In other words, "Reinventing the Toilet" was no job for a plumber.

Last year, the Gates Foundation awarded $400,000 in grants to eight universities to help them develop a better way to go. On Tuesday, the grant recipients gathered to report their progress.

"Two-hundred years ago we had the invention of the flush toilet and we've really not done anything in the engineering of the toilet since then," Carl Hensman, who heads the foundation's water sanitation and hygiene program, told MyNorthwest.com. He described one suggested method called "hydrothermal carbonization."

That's "a really big term that really represents a pressure cooker," he said. "What you do is take the fecal material and the urine and you'll essentially cook it under pressure and the material you get out of that has an energy you can use to fuel your cooker or you can actually use it as a fertilizer as well."

A team at Cal Tech wants to use solar power to break down feces and urine into hydrogen gas that could then be used as a backup power source at night.

At Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, scientists have another idea: microwave human waste into electricity.

Hensman said he hopes the various ideas can be combined to find one ultimate solution that can be put into practice in the field.

"There are pieces of each of their technologies that can be combined,"he said. "That's what we're really looking for is how can we pull everybody together to sort the solution out."

Nasa's Panoramic views of Mars

Junk Drawer items ignite, blamed for house fire

We all know we should clean out our junk drawers, but the real reason has nothing to do with getting organized. A 9 volt battery in a messy junk drawer is being blamed for a recent house fire in Amherst, New Hampshire, and the state's fire marshal is warning people to take a good look at the stuff they stash away.

"The potential is there," Londonderry, New Hampshire, Fire Chief Kevin MacCaffrie told CBS News in Boston. "There are a lot of things in a normal junk drawer that do burn, and apparently the ignition source was a 9 volt battery."

The battery that sparked the Amherst house fire had been stored in the kitchen junk drawer inside a plastic bag filled with other batteries, the fire marshal's office said in a statement.

"The 9 volt battery rubbed against another battery and ignited the fire," the statement read. The fire spread to Post-It Notes, paper, and other flammable items in the drawer and "produced smoke throughout the first floor of the home."

The drawer, which the homeowner said had just been reorganized, also contained spare keys, a cigarette lighter, paper clips, and eye glass cleaner "along with everything else that you find in a 'junk' drawer," the fire marshal's office said. 

When it comes to those regular, rectangular 9 volt batteries, the problem is that both the positive and the negative contact points are on the same end. If those contact points touch a paper clip, a key, or the clip on a pen, it can generate heat; leave it there long enough and it could start a fire.

MacCafferie demonstrated how a paper clip touching the contact points of a 9 volt battery could scorch a square of tissue in minutes. A wad of steel wool glowed orange and set paper on fire in just seconds when it rubbed up against a 9 volt battery. 

In this case, the homeowners didn't lose everything -- "We were fortunate not have been away for the weekend," they told the fire department, which did not release their names -- but their experience has led fire officials around the country to issue junk drawer warnings. And, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, there are several other typical household items that can turn into fire hazards:

• Electrical outlets, when overloaded with extension cords
• Lithium batteries, when stored in the same place as clothing
• Clothes dryers, when too much lint gets caught in the vent or filter
• Space heaters, when placed too close to curtains, sheets, or other flammable materials
• Overheated laptop computers, when left on soft surfaces (like a bed or a tablecloth)
• Extra gasoline cans, when stored near dirty rags in the garage
• Fireplaces, when there is too much soot build-up

And if you must store your batteries in your junk drawer, officials at several different fire departments told Yahoo! Shine that the best way to prevent them from sparking a fire is to wrap the ends in electrical tape or keep them in their original packages.