Two friends, aged 80 and 82, have abseiled down a five-storey building to raise money for a chemotherapy day centre.

Angela Turner and Joan Woodhouse descended a ward block at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on Saturday.

The pair volunteer at the centre, providing a listening ear for those going through chemotherapy, as well as their families, and making drinks and food for the patients.

After completing the abseil, Ms Woodhouse said she had found it “quite easy”.

She previously had treatment at the hospital, after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015.

She began volunteering at the centre six and a half years ago.

Ms Woodhouse said she was “so pleased” to have completed the abseil.

“It’s been coming on for three months now so just to do it is great,” she said.

“When I was stepping off, I thought we’ve raised so much money this is such a good thing to be doing.”

Ms Turner felt a connection to the centre, having watched her husband, two of her sisters and her daughter go through cancer.

After completing the challenge, she said: “It’s a very slippy surface, it was quite difficult to keep your feet in contact with the wall.”

“It’s all for a fantastic reason that we’ve done it,” she added.

A PLANE was forced into an emergency landing after a live mouse leapt from a passenger’s in-flight meal.

The aircraft was diverted for “safety reasons” in case the renegade rodent chewed through wires and caused a failure or fire, the airline said.

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Passenger Jarle Borrestad wrote online: “A lady next to me opened the food and out jumped a mouse.”

He said nobody panicked, but admitted he tucked his trousers in his socks in case the nefarious nibbler ran up his leg.

The Scandinavian Airlines flight from Norwegian capital Oslo to Spanish holiday destination Malaga was diverted to Copenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday.

Passengers swapped to another jet.

The airline said: “This is something that happens extremely rarely.

“We have established procedures for such situations, which also include a review with our suppliers to ensure this does not happen again.”

In 2017, a BA Heathrow to San Francisco flight was delayed for four hours after a mouse was seen.

After a four-hour delay, a replacement aircraft was found.

It is thought to have cost BA about £250,000.

(Reuters) – Southwest Airlines has warned employees that it will soon make tough decisions as part of a strategy to restore profits and counter demands from activist investor Elliott Investment Management, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday.

The airline is considering making changes to its flight routes and schedules to increase revenue, the report added, citing the transcript of a video message to employees by Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson.

“I apologize in advance if you as an individual are affected by it,” Watterson said, according to the report, adding that he didn’t offer any details on the pending moves.

Southwest did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The airline has been struggling to find its footing after the COVID-19 pandemic, in part due to Boeing’s aircraft delivery delays and industry-wide overcapacity in the domestic market.

It plans to offer assigned and extra-legroom seats to attract premium travelers and start overnight flights. It will present the details to investors on Sept. 26.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Elliott, which owns 10% of Southwest’s common shares, told one of the company’s top unions it still wants to replace CEO Robert Jordan, even after the carrier pledged to shake up its board.

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao)

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In March 2024, Carlos Ballestros of Injustice Watch reported that Lt. John D. Poulus, Chicago policeman and attorney, was running in the upcoming 2024 election for Cook County Judge and raised concerns about his tumultuous past. With the upcoming presidential elections at the peak of the news cycle, many voters are eager to collect as much information to pick their candidate of choice. For the citizens of Cook County, Chicago, there is a much more concerning candidate breaching the ballots.

Prior to his time serving as a police officer, he had several run-ins with the law, including a tampering charge as a result of his decision to try to remove a person’s tires from their car after they failed to pay a debt. His time as a police officer showed continued patterns of dishonesty and manipulation, according to the internal affairs office’s track record.

Even his limited legal career as a real estate attorney is mired by reports of malpractice. After notarizing several documents in which he held stake in one party, many have questioned his ability to perform his tasks as a county judge in an unbiased manner. Despite these concerns, Poulus has continued to hold his position in the Records Department of the Chicago Police Department. He is now asking the  citizens of Cook County to vote for him through a campaign platform based on being tough on crime.

This sentiment may reach many of the citizens of Cook County because according to the Chicago Police Department, there were 77,523 crimes committed in 2023. When a city has a high crime rate, it is important to have fair legal actions taken against perpetrators to serve justice for their victims. This being said, according to an article written in Chicago Magazine, “A new UIC report lists the Chicago area as the most corrupt region in the country, and Illinois as the third-most corrupt state in America.”

His continuous breaches of law and policy have caused a call for proper vetting prior to electoral candidacy and offered a peek into the prevalence of corruption in the Chicago Police Department. It also highlights the importance of voter education regarding candidates in state and local elections.

As of this writing, no major corporate media platforms have covered the story of Lt. John D. Poulus’s actions in correlation with his candidacy. Although his possible candidacy will mostly affect the citizens of Cook County, the possible implications of having a corrupt police officer as a judge, and the precedent that it sets for the legal system going onward is a story of national importance.

As citizens, we deserve to make informed choices about those running for election; without accurate  and comprehensive coverage, we cannot make informed decisions. There are only a few articles from local news sites that have reported on Poulos and his crimes. However there appears to be a lack of concern regarding his ability to carry out his duties as judge in conjunction with his past. With the monopolization of public attention that is held by major corporate media, it is simply not enough to have this pushed to marginalized local news sites.

Source: Carlos Ballesteros, “A Notorious Chicago Cop Wants to Become a Cook County Judge,” Injustice Watch, March 4, 2024.

Student Researchers: Anabelle Canavan, Kayla LaFleur, and Lisbel Vargas  (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Faculty Evaluator: Allison Butler (University of Massachusetts Amherst)