‘Hey, hey, hey goodbye’ to Steam’s Gary DeCarlo at 75 years of age

The singer that brought us one of the most recognized songs ever has passed away from lung cancer at the age of 75.

Photo via Wikimedia by Fontana / Fair Use

Gary DeCarlo, the lead singer of the band Steam, has reportedly passed away at the age of 75 after a battle with lung cancer.

Gary DeCarlo Dies; Leader Singer of Steam Was 75 https://t.co/OKyypYhf1B pic.twitter.com/F9AxkKVdqc

— MwBuzz Magazine (@mwbuzz) June 28, 2017

DeCarlo and his band Steam are best known for their 1969 hit song, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss him Goodbye,” which went on to become one of the most well known songs of the time.

A close friend of DeCarlo, Pat Horgan, told TMZ that he passed away in hospice care in Connecticut with his wife by his side. DeCarlo had been battling with lung cancer, which eventually spread, affecting the rest of his body.

His hit song was famously chanted in Congress recently after the House moved to pass the Obamacare repeal.

Democrats chant "na na na na hey hey goodbye" as the House passes the Obamacare repeal bill https://t.co/6KitWdxyRi pic.twitter.com/7p5zfs13F2

— POLITICO (@politico) May 4, 2017

RIP Gary DeCarlo.

Michigan man wrongfully accused of murder released after 41 years

Ledura Watkins, 61, was accused of first-degree-murder in a 1975 fatal shooting and has finally had his innocence confirmed.

Ledura Watkins - screen capture from Fox 2 video

61-year-old Ledura Watkins spent four decades in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He was convicted of first-degree murder based on a hair found at the scene and sentenced to life behind bars. Watkins was released from the Wayne County Jail in Detroit on June 15 after legal experts overturned his conviction.

41 years behind bars for an innocent man

Watkins was 20 years of age when a court found him guilty of the first-degree murder of a teacher, Yvette Ingram, 25, during a robbery at her home. His guilt was based on the hair found by police forensic analysts on the victim’s pants at the scene of the murder.

Watkins case was taken by the Innocence Project, set up by the Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School who, based on the flimsy evidence found at the scene, asked the court to set aside Watkins’ conviction in January this year.

According to the Innocence Project director, Marla Mitchell-Cichon, the hair comparison carried out at that time was not based on science. She said it was just based on a lab analyst’s opinion and that it had no place in system of criminal justice. Mitchell-Cichon went on to say a state-wide review is essential in hair comparison cases.

Once the Innocence Project took up Watkins’ case and spoke about the flimsy evidence which convicted their client, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office agreed that the evidence in the case was flawed under new FBI standards for hair comparison.

Freedom for the Michigan man at last

When Watkins was released from Wayne County Jail on Thursday, he said it felt “really surreal” and that it was unbelievable to be released after so much time. Watkins, who had always denied involvement in the crime, did say he is feeling great and that he expected it to happen, but he didn’t believe it would take so long.

Detroit man freed after 41 years In prison for a murder he didn't commit. https://t.co/8EscEg9aNt pic.twitter.com/SPuD4GQ37F

— Okayplayer (@okayplayer) June 16, 2017

Watkins went on to say he was looking forward to enjoying dinner with his family and that it would probably be in a Chinese restaurant. He added that it has taken years to get to this point and he doesn’t ever want to touch a law book again.

According to a report by Fox 2, under a new Michigan law, Watkins may be eligible for a $50,000 payment for every year in compensation for the time spent behind bars. Prof. Norman Fell, Executive Director of the Innocence Project said that is the next phase and as the bill has now been passed, Watkins could be eligible.

Second Michigan inmate to recently have a conviction overturned by the Innocence Project

According to a report by the IBTimes, Watkins is the second inmate in Michigan to have a conviction overturned in recent weeks. In May, Desmond Ricks was released after spending 25 years in prison for the murder of a friend. The Innocence Project also took up his case, where it was found by analysis that the two bullets removed from the victim did not match the murder weapon placed in evidence at the 1992 trial.

Woman who was suffering headaches had a spider nestled in her ear [video]

Anyone who, like the writer, is scared of spiders probably shouldn't watch this video, as a doctor coaxes a spider out of a woman's ear canal.

Photo screen capture from YouTube / Newslions Media Network

A woman, named only as Lekshmi L., visited her doctor in India because she was suffering from a severe headache and tingling sensation in her head. Lekshmi lives in India and had reportedly fallen asleep on her veranda. When she awoke, she felt a painful blockage in her right ear. 

When the doctor examined her, he made the shocking discovery that a spider was living inside her ear. Dr. Santosh Shivaswamy of the Columbia Hospital then used a light to slowly coax the eight-legged critter out of her ear canal. Dr. Shivaswamy filmed as the spider slowly emerges, revealing its horrific little face to the world.

As noted by the New York Post, Dr. Shivaswamy said it’s pretty common for people to visit the emergency room due to the presence of a foreign object in their ear. He said it is a simply procedure to remove those objects.

 “However, when a living insect makes its way inside a human ear, the patient’s anxiety makes it difficult to continue the procedure,” he added, saying it was a rare experience to see a live spider moving around inside someone’s ear canal.

As for Lekshmi, she was naturally terrified when she could feel the movement of the spider in her ear. However the acute earache she was experiencing, followed by sharp pains was so uncomfortable that she couldn’t think of anything and had to get the doctor to do something about it.

However, she added she was petrified when the doctor confirmed there was a spider in her ear. What happened to the little arachnid after its removal is not reported.

Anyone brave enough can watch the little critter emerging from her ear in the video below.

Mississippi 12-year-old girl helps deliver her new baby brother

12-year-old Jacee Carraway was in the delivery room right next to her mother when the doctor asked her if she would like to help.

Dede Carraway was in the delivery room of a Jackson, Mississippi hospital on Tuesday, about to give birth to her third child. Her eldest child Jacee was right there with her for emotional support and was following the process eagerly and with interest, ready to meet her new baby brother.

Dr. Walter Wolfe noticed the young girl’s eager interest and asked Jacee if she would like to help him bring her brother into the world. Jacee instantly agreed. The doctor then helped the 12-year-old through the entire process, even letting her cut the baby’s umbilical cord. 

It turns out Jacee also wanted to help when Dede gave birth to her middle son 18 months ago, who, according to her mother, Jacee has had a close emotional bond with ever since, but at that stage Dede and husband Zack decided their daughter was too young.  

However knowing that the latest baby would be her last, Carraway said she and her husband decided it was time for young Jacee to experience the miracle of childbirth.



She told Fox News that she couldn’t describe how it felt to have Jacee helping with her brother’s birth. She said if they had told her 12 years ago that her daughter would be delivering her last born son, she would have said, “Never in a million years,” adding she would have said they were crazy.

As for Jacee, the image above, posted by Dede on Facebook, clearly shows the emotion the young girl was feeling.

Brad Pitt debuts as world’s worst weatherman on ‘The Jim Jefferies Show’ [video]

Australian comedian Jim Jefferies pulls no punches when giving his opinion on the Comedy Central Show. This week it was climate change.

With President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Accord, some comedians are trying to make light of the situation. Australian comedian Jim Jefferies has openly voiced his opinion on all kinds of subjects in the past including the U.S. gun debate and dubbing Piers Morgan a “human fecal sample.”

This week the Comedy Central late night show “The Jim Jefferies Show,” which debuted on Tuesday night, had a huge Hollywood star on board. Jefferies hasn’t exactly been shy about his opinion of Donald Trump in the past and his feelings came right to the fore in the last segment of his show.

Speaking of the Paris Accord, and the fact Trump has made the U.S. only one of three nations not contributing – along with Syria (who have other worries) and Venezuela (ditto) – Jefferies went on to say how the world is still grappling with Trump’s decision.

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He said he wanted to address the issue one more time before he said goodnight. Jefferies then went on to say “To help us understand climate change and what it means to the world, here’s our own “Jim Jefferies Show” weatherman.”

None other than Brad Pitt (recent star of “War Machine” and former husband of Angelina Jolie) appears in a terrible suit with a graphic map of the planet on the wall behind him. Every area of that graphic is showing different levels of red, orange and yellow colours to indicate global rising temperatures.

Weatherman Pitt stood there, first indicating one side of the world and saying, “Things are going to be getting warm in this area here,” then pointed to the other side of the world and said, “and this area here.”

With a deadpan face, Jefferies then asked if Pitt had any future predictions, to which Pitt cheerfully responded, “There is no future.” 

It turns out Brad Pitt is a terrible weatherman, but regrettably his weather forecast might be spot on.