In Other News: ‘Blood rain’ falls in Russia; polar bear kills protective father

Published 4:44 pm Thursday, July 5, 2018

Editor’s note: “In Other News” is a list of state, national and global headlines compiled by the Daily Citizen-News staff. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories. To suggest a story, email the appropriate link to inothernews@dailycitizen.news. 

Man tossed kids out of car, drove off as child held onto bumper, police say

A New Orleans man kicked three of his children out of his vehicle, then drove off without stopping, even though one kid clung on to the car’s bumper, police said. Kenneth Watson, 57, was arrested and booked into the Orleans Justice Center on “three counts of child desertion and four of cruelty to a child,” the Times-Picayune reported. The suspect stopped his car, then tossed three of his children out of the vehicle, witnesses told police. The children appeared “distressed,” and one grabbed onto the car bumper as the suspect drove off, witnesses said. The child was dragged for about a block before letting go, they said. — Fox News

Polar bear kills Canadian man protecting his children, report says

A 31-year-old Canadian man hailed as a hero was killed while protecting his children from a polar bear in a popular Canadian fishing and hunting spot. Aaron Gibbons was on Sentry Island, located on the west coast of Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada, when he and his children encountered a polar bear, CBC reported. Gibbons, who was unarmed at the time, stood in front of his children to protect them from the animal. “Definitely Aaron died a hero, he protected his children,” Gibbons’ cousin, Eric Anoee, told CBC. “It’s (the) right word to say right now.” Gibbons was killed at the scene after he told his children to run to safety. The bear was later shot and killed by another adult. — Fox News

‘Blood rain’ pours down in Russian freak weather event, prompting ‘biblical plague’ panic

Rain in a remote region of Russia turned a blood-stained red in a shocking weather event. Extraordinary footage of the scene shows the red rain pour down in the Siberian city of Norilsk. Video of the rain shows cars parked at a local nickel and copper processing plant in the Arctic. The vehicles and ground were soaked in a blood-red rain. According to Russia Today, locals in Norilsk feared that the rain signaled an imminent apocalypse or a biblical plague. — Express

How smart TVs in millions of U.S. homes track more than what’s on tonight

The growing concern over online data and user privacy has been focused on tech giants like Facebook and devices like smartphones. But people’s data is also increasingly being vacuumed right out of their living rooms via their televisions, sometimes without their knowledge. In recent years, data companies have harnessed new technology to immediately identify what people are watching on internet-connected TVs, then using that information to send targeted advertisements to other devices in their homes. Marketers, forever hungry to get their products in front of the people most likely to buy them, have eagerly embraced such practices. — WRAL.com