6 teenagers hospitalized after drinking hand sanitizer, health experts fear a trend

A dangerous new practice among teenagers converts hand sanitizer, a household product intended to prevent illness, into a distilled 120 proof shot of alcohol.

Six teenagers were recently admitted into the emergency room at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles after consuming the liquid to get drunk, reports MSNBC.

The average bottle of hand sanitizer contains around 62 percent ethyl alcohol. CBS reports the teens are using salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer.

Previously teenagers have guzzled cough syrup, mouthwash and vanilla extract to get drunk, The Los Angeles Times notes.

The Huffington Post reports health experts believe the trend could become an increasing problem if it goes viral since the product is inexpensive and available at most stores.

Doctors recommend buying foam hand sanitizer, which is more difficult to distill, reports Fox News.  

Alabama Senate approves ban on texting while driving

MONTGOMERY, Al.
Texting while driving would be banned, with some exceptions, for all drivers on public roads and highways in Alabama, under a bill approved today by the state Senate.
The Senate voted 24-7 for House Bill 2 by Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, which the House of Representatives approved by a vote of 92-0 two months ago.
The Senate added some exceptions to the proposed ban, but the House could give the revised bill final legislative approval if it were to go along with the Senate's changes.
Or the House could reject the changes and request that a conference committee of three House members and three senators try to draft a compromise version of the bill.
The bill would ban anyone from operating a vehicle on a public road or highway while manually using a cell phone or other wireless device to communicate by text message, instant message or electronic mail.
But under the Senate's version of the bill, exceptions to the ban on texting while driving would be allowed for:
--Emergency workers operating an authorized emergency vehicle ''in the due course of business.''
--Texting to obtain emergency services.
--Texting while the driver's motor vehicle was parked on the shoulder of a road or highway, or ''while the vehicle is stopped due to normal traffic being obstructed and the vehicle transmission is in neutral or park.''
Anyone violating the proposed ban on texting would face a fine of $25 for a first conviction, $50 for a second and $75 for each later conviction.
Each conviction also would carry a 2-point penalty on a person's driving record. A person's driver's license is suspended for at least 60 days if he or she gets 12 or more points in a two-year period.
Thirty-seven states already ban text messaging for all drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association in Washington.

Drug agents: 4 charged in group shipping marijuana from Texas to Alabama and Tennessee

BIRMINGHAM, Al.
 Three men and one woman from the Birmingham area have been arrested as part of a multi-state investigation into an operation that shipped marijuana from Texas into Alabama and then into Tennessee.
Cleto Romero Medina, Biato Jaramillo-Romero, Alveido Estrada-Diaz, and Reyna Patino-Espinoza were arrested Monday and charged with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham. The arrests followed the seizure of 270 pounds of marijuana.
The four are to appear at a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Hugo L. Black U.S. Courthouse in Birmingham before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Ott.
Efforts on Tuesday to reach Drug Enforcement Administration agents for comment were unsuccessful.
The drug investigation was conducted by DEA agents in Birmingham; Austin, Texas; and Nashville, Tenn., along with local and state law enforcement, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint by a DEA agent in Birmingham.
Medina was identified in the affidavit as the cell leader for the Bessemer-based cell of the organization and "oversees all aspects of the organization's activities in Alabama."
The organization obtains marijuana in Texas and transports it by bus to Bessemer, according to the affidavit. "The marijuana is placed in multiple suit cases and placed in the cargo hold of the bus," the affidavit states.
An amount of marijuana is transported to Tennessee for distribution while a portion is kept in Bessemer for distribution locally, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit:
DEA agents got information Saturday that Medina was expecting a shipment early Monday of 270 pounds of marijuana from the supplier in Texas.
Agents tracked the movements of Medina, of Bessemer, and his half-brother, Jaramillo, of Brighton, and three men who drove in from Tennessee. The agents had a warrant to track the GPS locations of Medina's and Jaramillo's cell phones.
At 3:30 a.m. Monday DEA agents saw Jaramillo, with the help of Estrada-Diaz load large black suitcases from a bus stopped at a truck stop off Interstate 59/20 in McCalla into a Ford Explorer. Passengers had already exited the bus.
About 8:20 a.m. Monday, Tennessee State Troopers stopped two vehicles carrying three men from Tennessee and found 115 pounds of marijuana in a suitcase in one of the vehicles. Medina and Estrada were arrested when they stopped at a rest stop in Alabama about 10 miles south of the Tennessee state line.
About an hour later Jaramillo was stopped and arrested as he drove back into Alabama.
DEA agents searched Jaramillo's home in Brighton and Medina's home in Bessemer on Monday. About 155 pounds of marijuana and $15,000 in cash was found in Jaramillo's home in Brighton and 18 ounces of methamphetamine inside Medina's home in Bessemer, according to the affidavit.
Earlier in the investigation DEA agents had bought methamphetamine from Jaramillo that was personally delivered by his wife, Patino-Espinoza, according to the affidavit.
No information on what happened to the men stopped in Tennessee was included in the affidavit. A spokesman for the Tennessee troopers referred questions to the DEA.

Agnes Simpson, longtime owner of Dothan's WOOF radio station, dead at 87

DOTHAN, Al.
 Agnes Simpson, longtime owner of Alabama's WOOF radio stations in Dothan and the first woman to be named Alabama Broadcaster of the Year, has died. She was 87.

Agnes Simpson

Simpson died Monday at her residence, officials with the Sunset Memorial Park Funeral Home and Crematory said Tuesday.
"In the radio business, she and I are old school," said longtime General Sales Manager Hal Edwards. "Not just because we were old but because we still cling to the ideal of serving our listeners. We always agreed that at WOOF Radio, our job was 'To serve the public interest and our business is the promotion of legal commercial enterprise' and we did that."
Simpson was born in Prescott, Ariz. and attended the University of Alabama, where she met her future husband, R.A. Dowling. She served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and moved to Dothan after the war.
She and her husband got a license to operate an AM radio station in 1947 and launched WOOF. After her husband died, Simpson obtained a license for one of Alabama's first FM stations, which launched in 1964.
Simpson sold commercials and also did news broadcasts on both stations. She won awards for her broadcasting, including the Silver Medal Award from the Dothan Advertising Federation and Alabama Broadcaster of the Year.
Simpson served as the president of WOOF until recently when she took ill.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity.

Three arrested in Decatur shooting, fourth suspect sought

DECATUR, Al.
 Decatur police arrested three people in connection with an April 10 shooting.

Delantry Marqous Bates

Tiera Shanae Jones

Police said that on the afternoon of April 10 Karee Langford and Donald Jones were driving in the area of 11th Avenue and 1st Street when their vehicle was hit multiple times by gunfire from another vehicle.
Investigators say they believe the shooting was in retaliation for Donald Jones' involvement in another shooting case where he also was the victim.
Investigators charged Delantry Marqous Bates as an adult and he is being held without bond. Bates was already out on bond for robbery and assault where another victim was shot multiple times less than a month prior to the April 10 shooting.
Also charged were Tiera Shanae Jones, whose bond was set at $30,000, and

Laportia Reed

Audrenna Reed

Laportia Rene Reed, whose bond was set at $30,000. Police say they are still looking for Audreanna Michelle Reed in connection with this shooting.

Decatur police are asking that anyone who may know where Audreanna Reed is to call Decatur police at 256-341-4660 or your local law
enforcement agency.
Photos courtesy Decatur Police Dept.

Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh wins GOP runoff for PSC president

MONTGOMERY, Al.

 Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh

 Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh has won the Republican nomination for president of the Alabama Public Service Commission.
According to unofficial results Tuesday night, Cavanaugh had 61 percent of the vote with 68 percent of precincts reporting. Mobile businessman Chip Brown trailed with 39 percent.
Cavanaugh, a commission member, will now face incumbent Lucy Baxley in the November general election.
Baxley is the only Democrat who holds statewide office in Alabama. She narrowly defeated Cavanaugh for PSC president in 2008. Cavanaugh then won a seat on the three-person commission in 2010.
Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman had predicted a low turnout of 2 percent to 4 percent for Tuesday's runoff.

Port Saint Joe, Fl. man arrested for Sex Crime

David Mike Aguirre

Dothan,Al.
David Mike Aguirre, white male, 74 years of age, of Port Saint Joe, Florida was arrested and charged with Traveling to Meet a Child for an Unlawful Sex Act with a $500,000 bond.

On April 20, 2012 the Dothan Police Department made a felony arrest following an ongoing investigation. Due to the sensitive nature of the case limited details are being released however police say 74 year old David Mike Aguirre was arrested and charged with traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act.