Ayvani Hope Perez Found: Police Chief Says Abducted Teen Found Alive/Operation Confidence  

            Click here: Ayvani Hope Perez Found: Police Chief Says Abducted Teen Found Alive

ELLENWOOD, Ga. — A 14-year-old Georgia girl abducted in a home invasion robbery was found alive on Wednesday after a massive search by multiple law enforcement agencies.

Ayvani Hope Perez had been taken from her home early Tuesday after authorities said robbers broke in, demanded money and jewelry and were told there was none. Authorities have said the robbery and abduction appeared to be random.

Clayton County Police Chief Gregory Porter said the girl was found in Conyers and has been reunited with her family.

"She's in good health, she's being evaluated as we speak," Porter said.
He said two suspects were in custody.

The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation assisted Clayton County police in the search.
Two men, described as wearing black clothing and armed with handguns, pried open a back door of the home in the Ellenwood area around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, demanding the items, authorities said.

The family had moved in about a month ago and apparently didn't know the suspects, authorities said.
Ayvani's mother had her daughter and her 15-year-old son hiding inside the home, but the intruders were able to find them, police said in a statement. The men abducted Ayvani with no explanation, police said.

The crime happened on a cul-de-sac in Ellenwood, a small community about 10 miles southeast of Atlanta, police said. The subdivision of two-story homes is on the northern edge of Clayton County, just south of the DeKalb County line.

On Tuesday evening, more than 150 people gathered in a circle and held hands in prayer at the candlelight vigil at Dutchtown High School in Hampton.

Operation Confidence comments: As parents we are thrilled Ayvani is back at home.

Baby Elephant Weeps When Separated From Mother/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Baby Elephant Weeps When Separated From Mother - PawNation#photo=1

It's not unusual to hear of new mothers rejecting their young in zoos and in the wild, but we may not think about how it affects the rejected newborns emotionally. In the case of an elephant calf named Zhuang-zhuang, it was devastating.

Operation Confidence comments: Ah, don't cry little baby elephant 

Counter-terrorism Team Helps Deliver Baby at Penn Station/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Counter-terrorism Team Helps Deliver Baby at Penn Station : Growing Your Baby

Rush hour at Penn Station was more exciting than usual yesterday morning after a baby boy decided to make his appearance into the world.

New mom Marie Boothe recalled the overwhelming moment during a press conference, “Forget the ambulance, forget everything else — I’m going to have the baby right here,”

Luckily for her, three members of the police department’s counter-terrorism patrol team who were in the station. Along with an Amtrak police officer, the 4 stepped in to help deliver the seven-pound baby boy under the departures sign at 7:20 a.m.

The newborn was greeted by fellow commuters in typical New York City fashion.

“They started yelling, ‘Name him Penn, after Penn Station!’” said Marie Medina, one of the NYPD officers who aided in the special delivery.

Caesar Penn Boothe, whose middle name reflects his birthplace, was taken to Bellevue Hospital along with his mother, and the two were reported to be doing well.

Operation Confidence Comments: Welcome to the world little Caesar Penn

Jaylen Bledsoe, High School Sophomore, Builds $3.5 Million IT Company In Little Over 2 Years/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Jaylen Bledsoe, High School Sophomore, Builds $3.5 Million IT Company In Little Over 2 Years

Few entrepreneurs can say they've grown their business into multi-million dollar enterprises in just a couple years. Far fewer can say they've done so all before even graduating high school

Jaylen Bledsoe, 15, of Hazelwood, Mo., however, is just that rare breed of high school sophomore. He started his own tech company that specializes in web design and other IT services, Bledsoe Technologies, when he was just 13 years old and worked to expand it into a global enterprise now worth around $3.5 million, Fox 2 in St. Louis reports.

The local news station followed up with Bledsoe on Monday after first interviewing the teen back in March 2012. Since that first interview, Bledsoe has grown his company from two workers to about 150 contracted employees in order to meet demand.

Meanwhile, Bledsoe has pursued other, more traditional goals for a high school kid. He's held leadership roles in a variety of student organizations, such as president of the Student Council and the Parent Teacher Student Association. Outside of school, he's served as the chief technology officer of St. Louis Volunteen, a program to promote teen volunteerism, according to Patch. He was even partly responsible for bringing vegetarian options to his former middle school's cafeteria.

“I don’t see many eighth graders do the things that he does but it’s all his doing,” Curtis Bledsoe, Jaylen's father, told Patch in 2012. “I’m very proud of him.”

Jaylen said an interest in web design, which he first discovered while attending classes at his school's gifted-education program, was the foundation for his business. But he says it's taken a lot of hard work and courage, too.

His most important advice for young entrepreneurs? "Take risks," Bledsoe, who plans to attend Harvard University before becoming a copyright lawyer, told Fox 2. "As a minor, there's nothing you can do that will shoot you down for too long. You can always jump back up and keep going."

Operation Confidence comments: We are so proud of you Jaylen,,,, mentor and other young kids to follow your direction. You are a role model for us all.... As you said....Jump back up and keep going 

Study reveals high heels are actually hurting you/Operation Confidence 

                                 Click here: Study reveals high heels are actually hurting you!

Let's all face it, women have a love-hate relationship with high heels. In a recent study conducted by the College of Podiatry in the UK, nine in ten in the UK women suffer from foot conditions (nearly 20 million) as a result of high heels. Almost half of these women admit to wearing shoes that are uncomfortable all for the love of fashion!

According to the study, the higher the heel, the greater the pressure (aka pain). The bad news is, heels are getting higher! The average high heel is six inches high, which has nearly doubled since the 1970's. Shoe designer Christian Louboutin, known for his iconic red soles boasts to having heels over 7 inches.

Did you know that the foot makes up a quarter of all the bones in the human body? Each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles according to the study. All these bones can mean only one thing ... painful feet! Women are apparently willing to suffer, with 20% of respondents reporting acute pain after a mere 10 minutes in heels.

This pain can result in poor posture, osteoarthritus, muscle contraction in the calf, tightening of the achilles tendon, hammer toes, bunions and more!

While most women continue to ignore the pain, many doctors recommend limited walking in high heels or giving your feet a break. Tell that to Lady Gaga and Beyonce, two women who know a thing or two about high heels!

Operation Confidence comments: The women in our office love high heels and although we don't have to wear them everyday at work, we all agree they do look beautiful  and professional when attending a business meeting or an event.

Dusten Brown Turns Himself In: Father Of 'Baby Veronica' In Custody Fight Surrenders/Operation Confidence 

      Click here: Dusten Brown Turns Himself In: Father Of 'Baby Veronica' In Custody Fight Surrenders

 OKLAHOMA CITY — The father of a Cherokee girl at the center of an adoption dispute appeared in court Thursday to fight an order from the Oklahoma governor that he return to South Carolina to face charges of parental interference.

Dusten Brown appeared before a judge in Sequoyah County Thursday morning after turning himself in to authorities and was later released on bond. Brown was charged last month with custodial interference out of South Carolina for failing to show up with the girl to a court-ordered meeting with the couple who adopted 3-year-old Veronica.

Brown has been fighting South Carolina couple Matt and Melanie Capobianco for custody of Veronica for years. The dispute has raised questions about jurisdictions, tribal sovereignty and a federal law meant to help keep Native American tribes together.

Brown had used the Indian Child Welfare Act to gain custody of the girl, but the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that the law couldn't be used in this case. A South Carolina judge subsequently ruled in favor of the Capobiancos. The girl is living in Oklahoma with Brown's family, and a court there ordered that the girl immediately be transferred to the Capobiancos.

That didn't happen because the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued an emergency stay to keep the child with Brown. The court has not publicly disclosed an explanation for its decision.

Meanwhile, South Carolina issued an extradition order for Brown. The girl has been living with Brown's family in the Cherokee Nation, and the extradition order doesn't affect that.

Records in the custody case are sealed and family court hearings are typically held in private. Courts have also ordered all parties not to talk publicly about the case.

As far as the criminal case against Brown, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin had said she wouldn't sign the extradition order until after a court hearing in Sequoyah County next week. But on Wednesday, Fallin said Brown wasn't negotiating in good faith with the Capobiancos.

Brown's lawyers appealed the order, and Brown was released Thursday on his previous bond of $10,000, according to Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart. A new hearing date before District Judge Jeff Payton is set for Oct. 3.

Lockhart said he was surprised that Brown was allowed to be released and that he consulted with the governor's office to make sure it was OK.

"This is very unusual. I've never seen a governor's warrant work this way," Lockhart told The Associated Press.

Payton said after Thursday's hearing that Brown has a right to fight the extradition.
"We may have to send him back to South Carolina. That decision has not been made yet and he's got a right to a hearing – and for that matter, a constitutional right for a hearing. You can't just throw people in jail," he said.

The girl's birth mother, who is not Native American, was pregnant when she put the girl up for adoption. The Capobiancos had been lined up to receive custody of her since 2009. But Brown and his family claimed the Indian Child Welfare Act mandated that the child be raised within the Cherokee Nation, and he won custody when the girl was 2.

Alex Weintz, a spokesman for Fallin, reiterated Thursday the governor's belief that the dispute should not go on indefinitely, for the sake of the young girl.

Betty White, 'Breaking Bad' Win Guinness World Records/Operation Confidence 

                        Click here: Betty White, 'Breaking Bad' Win Guinness World Records

 Betty White already has many accomplishments to her name, and now she can add Guinness World Record holder to the list.

The 91-year-old actress has earned the record for “Longest TV Career for an Entertainer (Female),” which spans 74 years of work in the industry.

White made her debut in 1939 and has since appeared on some of television’s most popular shows, including "The Golden Girls," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and "The Carol Burnett Show." She currently stars in TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" and hosted two seasons of NBC's hidden-camera show "Betty White's Off Their Rockers," which was recently canceled. She is also the oldest person to have hosted "Saturday Night Live" following a Facebook campaign to get her the gig.

“I was astounded when [Guinness World Records] called to tell me. Who? Me!?! It’s such as honor. The book has always been fascinating to me. I can’t believe I’m now associated with it,” White said of her appearance in the 2014 edition of the book, adding that acting hopefuls should “do their homework and take the time to appreciate their profession. It is a privilege to do what we do.”

AMC's "Breaking Bad" also makes an appearance in the 2014 edition of Guinness World Records as the “Highest-Rated TV Series,” earning a metascore of 99 out of 100 on MetaCritic.com, which aggregates reviews from leading critics.

Guinness World Records 2014 will be available in stores from September 12.

Operation Confidence comments: Congratulations Betty, we love you

Spring High School Stabbing: Life Flight Responds As Photos Of Blood Surface In Houston/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Spring High School Stabbing: Life Flight Responds As Photos Of Blood Surface In Houston

SPRING, Texas — A fight inside a Houston-area high school escalated into a series of stabbings Wednesday that left a 17-year-old student dead and three others wounded, sheriff's officials said.

The stabbings happened during a fight between several students in a school corridor. The Harris County Sheriff's Department said 17-year-old student Luis Alonzo Alfaro pulled a knife during the fight and fatally stabbed one student and wounded three others.

Alfaro admitted to the stabbing under questioning by homicide detectives and was charged with murder, the Sheriff's Department said Wednesday evening in a statement.

Alfaro is booked into a Harris County jail with bail set at $50,000.

A preliminary court hearing is scheduled for Friday. Online court records list no attorney for Alfaro. A telephone call to a number listed with his home address connected to a fax machine.

Authorities provided few details on what may have led to the fight, and no other information was available on the teenager who was killed.

"We believe a confrontation of some sort occurred ... that ultimately led into a physical confrontation that produced weapons," Sheriff Adrian Garcia said. "There has been some information that this may have been gang-related."

School district officials canceled classes at the high school for the rest of the week.

Some parents said the fight was the continuation of a disturbance that broke out Tuesday. Officials at the school, which has about 3,500 students, would not confirm their comments.

"Every parent sends their child to school believing school should be one of those safe haven places," Spring Independent School District Superintendent Ralph Draper said. "This is what we spend our nights and days working toward and what I lose sleep over.

"In my nearly 30-year career, this is the one thing you pray never to experience."

Parent Tara Campbell said she received text messages from her daughter about the fight and that her daughter said students who witnessed the episode snapped cellphone photos of the victims as they lay on the ground.

Campbell said she intended to have her daughter home-schooled, saying she's grown tired of fights at the school.

"Last year there were gang fights consistently," she said. "This is ridiculous. This is an ongoing situation."

Lakesia Brent said her son, a sophomore at the school, sent her multiple text messages asking her to come pick him up.

"He's just afraid," she said, adding that fights at the school were a problem in the last academic year.

The school was placed on lockdown following the stabbings, which occurred about 7 a.m., and students were released to the care of their parents later Wednesday.

Many parents were upset that the school district did not provide them information in a timely manner.

Draper defended the district's actions, saying they focused on two goals – securing the school and making sure no action was taken to compromise the investigation – before communicating information to parents about what had happened. He said students were not immediately released because some of them were potential witnesses who needed to be interviewed by investigators.

"When street violence pours into the school, it compromises the safety of all our students," Draper said.

Operation Confidence comments: This is a horrible and our hearts goes out to the family and to the other students having nothing to do with this crime. 

Richard Thomas, Rapist, Upset He Might Have Gotten HIV From Victim/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Richard Thomas, Rapist, Upset He Might Have Gotten HIV From Victim

 A convicted rapist collapsed after police told him he may have contracted HIV from the woman he assaulted.

The BBC reports that Richard Thomas, 27, was sentenced last week to five years and four months for raping a woman while she slept. He pleaded guilty to the crime in Liverpool Crown Court on July 20.
Thomas will find out from test results later this week whether he's contracted the disease.

Thomas "let himself into her home uninvited in the middle of the night and she awoke to find him raping her from behind," the Telegraph reports.

"He was arrested and interviewed and said he had been drinking heavily, taken cocaine and ecstasy and could not recall the incident," prosecutor Harry Pepper said in court, according to the Telegraph.

Thomas' attorney told the court his client had started using cannabis at age 9 and binge drinking at 11, before moving on to cocaine and ecstasy in his early teens, according to the Mirror.

Operation Confidence comment: Ha Ha Ha

Christie Black Steals $5,000 From Boyfriend Bobby Gulley, Hides It In Her Butt/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Christie Black Steals $5,000 From Boyfriend Bobby Gulley, Hides It In Her Butt: Cops

Money can be a real pain in the butt.

Christie Black, 43, is accused of stealing $5,000 from her boyfriend, then hiding the cold, hard cash inside her rectum.

The boyfriend, 46-year-old Bobby Gulley, told cops he suspected Black had been stealing from him, so on Aug. 26, he "set a trap" to find out if he was right, according to the Times News. The "trap" consisted of two envelopes -- one containing $4,000 and one containing $1,000, both in hundred-dollar bills -- in a bag that he then placed on a foosball table in the couple's Bulls Gap, Tenn. home.

He went to bed, and when he got up at around 1 a.m., he found that the cash was missing from the bag, according to a Hawkins County Sheriff's report obtained by The Smoking Gun. When he confronted Black about it, he said she "became sick and threw up a saran wrapped baggy of partially dissolved pills," the report states.

The impromptu vomiting didn't throw Gulley off the scent, though. He continued to question Black about the missing cash until, the report states, "she admitted to him that she had wrapped it up and stuck it in her rectum."

Gulley says she then tried to get the cash out "with a toilet brush and tongs," but to no avail. "Bleeding severely," she was taken to a local hospital "the wad of money was removed and collected as evidence," according to the report.

Black was charged with theft.

Operation Confidence comment: What the ????

Blinded Boy’s Aunt Accused of Gouging/Operation Confidence

The chief suspect in the cruel blinding of a boy in China is the boy’s aunt, who recently committed suicide, police told the official Xinhua News Agency.

The case horrified the Chinese public and the police offered $16,000 as a reward for capturing the boy’s assailant. On Tuesday, the police claimed that they had found traces of the boy’s blood and DNA on his aunt’s clothes.

Guo’s aunt, Zhang Huiying, 41,  reportedly committed suicide by jumping into a well on Aug.  30. After her death, police named her as the chief suspect.

The boy, Guo Bin, was attacked by an unidentified woman while he was playing outside his home in the Chinese city of Linfen on the evening of Aug. 24. The woman lured him to field where she gouged out his eyes.

According to Chinese media, Guo Bin, 6, told his parents that he was lured off by a woman with dyed blonde hair and an out-of-town accent.

Guo Bin’s mother said the boy was disoriented after the traumatic attack, the Associated Press reports.

“He said her accent was from another region, but later amended that. He then said it was a local accent, but he did not say it was his aunt,” Guo bin’s mother told AP. She also denied there was any dispute between them and the aunt.

The aunt’s motives in attacking the boy and committing suicide remain unclear.

Guo Bin is recovering in the hospital. Hong Kong-based eye specialist Dr. Dennis Lam has offered to treat Guo Bin at no charge. He has sent doctors to evaluate the boy’s eyes, and they are optimistic that the boy can be fitted with ocular implants which will restore some of his vision.

Operation Confidence comments: God bless little Guo Bin, you will be in our prayers to restore your vision. 

Chaz Bono Half the Man He Used to Be/Operation Confidence

Chaz Bono

Half the Man He Used to Be/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Chaz Bono -- Half the Man He Used to Be | TMZ.com

Chaz Bono is the incredible disappearing man -- 'cause dude has nearly shed a whole Honey Boo Boo worth of lbs since dramatically changing his diet last year.

Chaz was barely recognizable as he was spotted in Los Angeles today ... walking around in shorts and a pretty tight tee.

Earlier this year, Chaz talked about how he dropped nearly 70 pounds -- not through surgery -- but through sticking to calorie-controlled meals ... and doing a ton of martial arts training.

Chaz's original goal was only to lose 50 lbs. -- so he's clearly blown that away.

Operation Confidence comments: You go Chaz

Ariel Castro Dead: Cleveland Kidnapper Found Hanging In Prison Cell/Operation Confidence 

                   Click here: Ariel Castro Dead: Cleveland Kidnapper Found Hanging In Prison Cell

Convicted kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro was found dead on Tuesday evening, 19 Action News reported. He was 53.

On Aug. 1, Castro was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison for kidnapping and raping Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, and holding them captive in his Cleveland home for more than a decade.

He pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table, CNN reported.

During the sentencing, Castro denied being abusive and insisted that most of the sex was consensual.
'I'm not a violent person," Castro said. "I simply kept them there without them being able to leave."

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004. They escaped on May 6, when one of the women broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help. Castro was arrested that same night.
According to JoEllen Smith of the Ohio Department of Corrections, Castro was found hanging in his prison cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday. Although prison medical staff performed lifesaving measures, he was later pronounced dead at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

At the time of his death, Castro was isolated from other inmates for his own protection.
Ohio State Police and the Department of Corrections are investigating the death.
More from the AP:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The man who held three women captive in his home for nearly a decade before one escaped and alerted authorities has been found dead and is believed to have committed suicide, a prison official said. 

Ariel Castro, 53, was found hanging in his cell around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, located south of Columbus in central Ohio, JoEllen Smith, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman, said early Wednesday.
Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 10:50 p.m. 

He was in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes, but was not on suicide watch, Smith said. She said suicide watch entails constant observation. 

Castro was also watched closely in Cuyahoga County Jail in the several weeks after his arrest and before his case was resolved by a guilty plea, with logs noting his activity every 10 minutes. He was taken off county jail suicide watch in early June after authorities determined he was not a suicide risk. 

Castro's attorneys tried unsuccessfully to have a psychological examination of Castro done at the Cuyahoga County Jail, where Castro was housed before he was turned over to state authorities following his conviction, his attorney, Jaye Schlachet, told The Associated Press early Wednesday. Schlachet said he could not immediately comment further.
In an interview last month after Castro's conviction, Schlachet and attorney Craig Weintraub said their client clearly fit the profile of sociopathic disorder and that they hoped researchers would study him for clues that could be used to stop other predators.

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. They escaped from Castro's Cleveland home May 6, when Amanda Berry, one of the women, broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help.
"Help me," she said in a 911 call. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now." 

The two other women were so scared of Castro that they held back initially even as police officers began to swarm the house. But quickly they realized they were free.
"You saved us! You saved us!" another of the captives, Michelle Knight, told an officer as she leaped into his arms. 

Castro was arrested that evening. He had also fathered a child with Berry while she was in captivity; that girl was 6 years old when freed. A judge rejected Castro's request to have visiting rights with his daughter. 

Elation over the women's rescue soon turned to shock as details emerged about conditions of their captivity. Investigators say they were bound with chains, repeatedly raped and deprived of food and bathroom facilities. Knight told investigators she was beaten and starved several times to force her to miscarry. 

Messages left for the women's lawyers were not immediately returned early Wednesday.
Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape. 

In a rambling statement, he told the judge he was not a monster but a man suffering from a pornography addiction. 

"I'm not a monster. I'm sick," Castro said at his sentencing. 

Knight was the only one of the three who appeared in court at his sentencing.
"You took 11 years of my life away, and I have got it back," she said in the hushed courtroom. "I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning." 

Operation Confidence comments: His family will be the only ones to miss him. 

Type 2 Diabetes: 4 Signs of Trouble/Operation Confidence 

Diabetes complications can occur if you don't regulate your blood sugar (glucose) levels properly. Blood sugar is produced in your liver and muscles, and most of the food you eat is converted into blood sugar. This is your body's source of energy, but when your blood sugar gets too high, diabetes is the result.

Your pancreas produces the hormone insulin, which then carries blood sugar into your cells, where it’s stored and used for energy. When you develop insulin resistance, high levels of sugar build up in your blood instead of your cells and you start to experience signs and symptoms of diabetes. You may notice fatigue, hunger, increased thirst, blurred vision, infections that are slow to heal, pain and numbness in your feet or hands, and increased urination. For awhile, your pancreas will work to keep up with your body’s sugar demand by producing more insulin, but eventually it loses the ability to compensate and serious diabetes complications — including blindness, kidney failure, loss of circulation in your lower extremities, and heart disease — can develop.

For most people with diabetes, the target blood sugar level is 70 to 130 mg/dL, but your doctor will work with you to pinpoint your individual target range. Your doctor can also help you learn what to eat and how to keep your blood sugar within a healthy range.

Joel Zonszein, MD, director of clinical diabetes at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, says it’s very important to work with and see your doctor regularly and to consult a diabetes educator. If your diabetes is well-controlled and you're monitoring your blood sugar level at least once or twice a day, seeing your doctor four times a year should be sufficient to maintain good diabetes control.

Four Signs of Diabetes Complications

One of the main reasons monitoring your blood sugar level is so important is that it can change quickly and unpredictably. The sooner you detect any changes, the sooner you can catch early signs of diabetes complications. Be aware of these four specific diabetes problems:

Hyperglycemia. The most common cause of diabetes complications is hyperglycemia, or when your blood sugar level rises above 180. This kind of spike indicates that either there isn’t enough insulin in your body or that insulin isn’t being properly used. You can experience high blood sugar from overeating, medication deficiency, or as a reaction to new medication. Signs of hyperglycemia include being very thirsty, experiencing extreme fatigue, having blurry vision, needing to urinate a lot, and feeling sick to your stomach. Although regular exercise may help stabilize your blood sugar level, it’s important to contact your doctor because your meal plan, your medication, or both may need to be adjusted. If left untreated, hyperglycemia can become a life-threatening condition.

Hypoglycemia. A quick drop in your blood sugar level is called hypoglycemia. Blood sugar levels below 70 are dangerously low and can be caused by missing or delaying a meal, exercising too much, or taking too much medication. Hypoglycemia may cause feelings of weakness, confusion, irritability, shakiness, hunger, and fatigue. You can prevent passing out or having a seizure from hypoglycemia by eating regular meals, taking your diabetes medication, and checking your blood sugar level often. When your blood sugar begin to drop, you should drink fruit juice or regular soda, take glucose tablets, eat a spoonful of sugar or honey, or eat five or six pieces of hard candy to stabilize your blood sugar. If you experience hypoglycemia, contact your doctor as soon as possible. Until your blood sugar level has stabilized, repeat the sugary drink or food every 15 minutes. Always carry food with you for this reason.

Diabetic ketoacidosis. When there isn’t enough insulin or sugar for fuel, your body starts breaking down fats for energy instead. As a result, your body produces ketones, which are waste products found in the blood. Because your body can’t tolerate high levels of ketones, your system will try to eliminate them through your urine. If ketones build up in the blood, a life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis can poison your body and lead to a coma or death.

Early symptoms include thirst, dry mouth, shortness of breath, fruity smelling breath, frequent urination, fatigue, dry skin, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, confusion, high blood sugar, and high levels of ketones in your urine. You can check your ketone levels with a simple drugstore urine test. Diabetic ketoacidosis, which is relatively rare with type 2 diabetes, can be prevented by regularly checking for ketones, particularly when you're sick. Symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis develop slowly, increase quickly, and can create an urgent medical situation. If you suspect you have diabetic ketoacidosis, call your doctor immediately and go directly to the emergency room.

Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketonic syndrome (HHNS). HHNS occurs you’re your blood sugar level is extremely high — greater than 600 mg/dL. It’s most common in older people with type 2 diabetes and develops over days or weeks, especially after an illness or infection. The high level of sugar in your blood makes it thick and syrupy, and your body will work to rid itself of excess sugar by passing it through your urine. If you don’t drink enough liquid, you run the risk of dehydration, and HHNS can also lead to a seizure, a coma, or death. Warning signs of HHNS include a dry mouth, extreme thirst, a fever greater than 101° F, drowsiness, confusion, vision loss, hallucinations, weakness on one side of your body, and dark urine. The best way to prevent HHNS is to check your blood sugar level regularly, and more often when you’re sick. If warning signs begin to appear, drink liquids at least every hour and call your doctor or 911.
Follow your doctor's recommendations about how often to check your blood sugar level. In general, Melissa Li-Ng, MD, an endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, advises people who take diabetes medication to check their blood sugar once a day, and if you're on insulin, check it three times a day before each meal. Monitoring your blood sugar closely can help you prevent serious diabetes complications from developing.

Last Updated: 06/14/2013

This section created and produced exclusively by the editorial staff of EverydayHealth.com. © 2013 

EverydayHealth.com; all rights reserved.

Diabetes Management

• Signs of High and Low Blood Sugar

  One of the challenges of living with diabetes is maintaining consistent blood sugar levels. Some situations can cause high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, while others can bring on low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. Get tips for managing blood sugar levels.
• • Controlling Blood Sugar at Meals
• • Type 2 Diabetes: 4 Signs of Trouble
• • Avoiding Diabetes Complications
• • Exercise Safety
• • Stock Your Pantry for Diabetes
• • Discussing Diabetes With Friends and Coworkers

Diabetes Treatment

• Make Blood Sugar Testing Part of Your Routine

  Although your doctor or diabetes educator can show you how to test your blood sugar, it's up to you to make it a regular part of managing diabetes every day. Get 10 tips to help you make blood sugar testing second nature.
• • Better Medication Management
• • Insulin Injection Tips
• • Newer Insulin Delivery Methods 
  
  
  Operation Confidence comments: Our executive director has boarder line  Diabetics and must take medication each day. She is good by eating the right foods, such as veggie, fish, bake chicken, herbs, drink lots of water, no sweets, soda's, candy and exercise. Take care of yourself people.  

727-Pound Gator Caught In Mississippi River Is A Record Breaker/Operation Confidence 

                        Click here: 727-Pound Gator Caught In Mississippi River Is A Record Breaker

No, it's not a crock: Two hunting parties in Mississippi both bagged alligators weighing more than 700 pounds.

Only three days into the start of Mississippi's alligator hunting season, NBC News reported that Dustin Brockman of Vicksburg and his hunting party nabbed a record-breaking 13-foot, 727-pound gator on Saturday.

Brockman's massive catch broke the previous state record. Beth Trammell caught a 723-pounder only an hour before, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

The epic battle between Brockman and beast took two hours to win. He and his party chased the behemoth by motorboat along the Mississippi River. They were able to get close enough to spear the scaled creature with a crossbow before finally blasting it with a shotgun.

"We killed the alligator at 4 a.m.,” Brockman said. “We waited until 6:30 (a.m.) before I called three or four more guys to help us load it into the boat.” 

Trammell, who was hunting in a six-person party in Redwood, said it took her team four hours to get their gator in the boat.“We had to flag another boat down to help us out it was so big," she said.

Both teams hunted their prey at night because it's easier to spot the reptiles' reflective eyes with a flashlight.
"In the daytime, if they're lying on a bank underneath the tree, you ain't going to see them," Brockman said.
Brockman said it took his team a total of about four-and-a-half hours to bring the beast to shore after first spotting it.

"He broke all the lines we could put in him," Brockman told MSNewsNow.com. "Finally put a snare on him and got him up high enough and put a shot on him."

Prior to Trammell and Brockman's catches, the previous weight record 697 pounds. The current length record, which has yet to be broken, is 13 feet, 6.5 inches.

Both gator-hunters said they planned to eat the meat and give it out to friends. Brockman plans to use the gator's skin to make a gun strap and a picture frame.

Operation Confidence comments: What the ?????

Click here: Arabian Gayles, 11-Year-Old New Orleans Girl, Shot Dead While Cradling 1-Year-Old 

 Click here: Arabian Gayles, 11-Year-Old New Orleans Girl, Shot Dead While Cradling 1-Year-Old

Relatives say that an 11-year-old New Orleans girl was fatally shot in the head early Monday while cradling a 1-year-old in her arms.

Arabian Gayles died five hours after the incident, in which police say a group of unidentified gunmen opened fire on a house where at least four young children were in bed.

Derek Moffett, Arabian’s uncle, described being stunned by the violence.

“When they woke me up, I thought they were playing,” he told The Advocate. “Then I saw blood coming out of her head.”The shooting also left Gayles' cousin and a 38-year-old man with non-life threatening injuries.

"This is a case of unconscionable, reckless violence, which has devastated yet another New Orleans family, who must now make funeral arrangements for one of its children," Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said, according to the TImes-Picayune.

A variety of bullet casings were found at the scene, leading police to search for multiple suspects, WDSU reports.

Police have yet to announce a motive for the shooting.

Operation Confidence comments: This is another horrible senseless child's death. 

Antiq Hennis, 1-Year-Old Boy, Shot To Death In Stroller On New York City Street/Operation Confidence 

 NEW YORK -- Police investigating the death of a 1-year-old boy shot in the head in his stroller said Monday they believe his father was the target.

Click here: Antiq Hennis, 1-Year-Old Boy, Shot To Death In Stroller On New York City Street

Authorities have some leads in the killing of Antiq Hennis on a Brooklyn street on Sunday night and believe his death may be gang-related, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Antiq's father, Anthony Hennis, has a criminal record and wasn't cooperating with police in their investigation, said Kelly, who didn't elaborate.

Hennis, 21, had just gone to pick up Antiq at the home of the baby's mother, Cherise Miller, and take him to visit Hennis' grandmother, police said. Hennis put the boy in the stroller and was pushing him across a street in the Brownsville neighborhood when shots rang out, police said.

Hennis' grandmother, Lenore Steele, said she heard shots before Hennis ran up to her.

"And he fell on the ground and said, `Grandma, my baby got shot! My baby got shot, Grandma!'" said Steele, flanked by community group leaders and mayoral candidate Bill Thompson. "He was such a beautiful little baby, smiling and talking to everybody."

Grief and outrage over Antiq's shooting loomed over the annual West Indian Day Parade about a mile and a half away, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the killing "a tragedy for his family, for this community, for the entire city" and political candidates talked about gun violence.

Four shots were fired, and one hit Antiq in the left side of his head; he was declared dead on arrival at a hospital.

Hennis and Miller couldn't immediately be reached for comment Monday. Possible phone numbers for their homes were disconnected or rang unanswered, the offices of attorneys who may have represented Hennis were closed and activists who spoke at a news conference said Miller wouldn't be making a statement Monday.

Bishop Willie Billips, who drove the parents to the hospital to identify the body of their only child, said, "The family is suffering right now."

"To have to take a young couple to identify their baby's body is horrible," said Billips, of the Church of Faith, Hope and Charity.

While killings hit a record low in the city last year and are on track to drop further this year, Bloomberg said, "that is cold comfort to any grieving parent or friends."

As of Aug. 25, killings and shootings were down about 26 percent compared to the same time last year, the mayor's office said. In the police precinct that includes Brownsville, there had been seven killings this year, half as many as during the same period last year.

Brownsville is a struggling section of central Brooklyn, with a poverty rate about twice the citywide rate, according to a 2012 analysis of government data by New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.

Antiq's killing was at least the second case of a toddler being shot to death in a stroller this year.
In March, a woman walking home from a post office in Brunswick, Ga., with her 13-month-old son was accosted by a gunman who demanded her purse and then shot her in the leg and fired a shot at the child in his stroller, killing him, authorities said.

In another case of violence toward toddlers in New York, a 3-year-old boy was shot in the head and wounded Aug. 24 as he slept in his family's Brooklyn apartment.

Operation Confidence comments: This is a horrible crime, baby's being shot to death in the streets. . Something must be done.

Billy Ray Harris, Homeless Man Who Returned Diamond Ring, Gets A New Home!/Operation Confidence 

Click here: Billy Ray Harris, Homeless Man Who Returned Diamond Ring, Gets A New Home! (VIDEO)

Homeless Man Returns Ring, Sarah Darling, Impact News

Billy Ray Harris, Missouri homeless man who returned a diamond ring dropped in his cup, now has a home and a car.

One act of kindness has given a Missouri homeless man a new lease on life.

Back in February, while panhandling on a Kansas City street, Billy Ray Harris noticed that a woman had accidentally dropped a diamond engagement ring in his cup, KCTV reported. He debated selling it, but decided to hold onto it instead in case the woman returned, a decision that would prove to change the course of his life forever.

Sure enough, three days later, an exasperated Sarah Darling came back and asked if Harris had the ring. He retrieved it from the cup and put it back on her finger.

“It just makes you realize there are good people out there,” Darling told KCTV back in February.

So grateful for his honesty and kindness, Darling and her husband, Bill Krejci, decided to launch a fundraiser for their hero. They hoped to raise about $1,000, but as the word spread of the do-gooder’s kindness, donations starting pouring in. They’ve collected more than $190,000.

Harris now owns a car and has put a down payment on a home. He hopes to launch a house painting company too. He also reconnected with his family in a heartwarming reunion in March.

“When I think of the past, I think –- thank God it’s over,” Harris told TODAY. “I feel human now.”

Operation Confidence comments: We are so happy for Billy Ray for his integrity and good heart. We hope everyone who reads his story understands when doing the RIGHT thing it always pays off in another way.

CBS, Time Warner Cable Agreement Reached/Operation Confidence 

 Click here: CBS, Time Warner Cable Agreement Reached

Time Warner Cable and CBS have reached a "content carriage agreement."

According to a CBS press release, programming is scheduled to resume by 6 p.m. ET Monday. The agreement includes carriage of Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel.

A fee dispute one month ago resulted in the cable provider blacking out CBS and Showtime in New York, Los Angeles and other markets. Nearly 3 million subscribers were left without CBS channels.
AP story continues below:

Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The agreement includes retransmission fees that the cable operator pays to CBS per subscriber, which had been a sticking point.

Added pressure was on the two companies to reach an agreement since the start of football season, plus the U.S Open tennis tournament, are slated for next weekend.

Operation Confidence comments: We are just happy Time Warner brought back Channel 2 and 9. We missed our favored shows. 

Pregnant Halle Berry Looks Gorgeous In Blue And White Maxi Dress/Operation Confidence 

                      Click here: Pregnant Halle Berry Looks Gorgeous In Blue And White Maxi Dress

Halle Berry looks positively glowing.

The expecting mother was spotted in Beverly Hills, Calif., last Thursday with her 5-year-old daughter Nahla. Berry dressed up her blossoming bump in a blue and white maxi dress and looked absolutely gorgeous while running errands.

The Oscar-winning actress and her husband, Olivier Martinez, are expecting a baby boy together this fall.
Berry has been keeping busy this summer, pushing for a bill which will restrict paparazzi from photographing celebrities' children.

Operation Confidence comments: Halle you look beautiful .. We wish you and your family the best.