Lifestyle

While a handful of local officials in Kentucky, Texas, and other southern states still stubbornly refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex partners, a judge in Tennessee is acting out in court. In September, Thomas Bumgardner and his wife Pamela filed for divorce after nearly 13 years of marriage. But Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffery Atherton had other ideas. He refused their divorce petition, citing the Supreme Court's June ruling in favor of gay marriage in his reasoning. He lamented that because the Supreme Court has declared that "a marriage is no longer a marriage," he is unable to issue traditional divorces without further clarification from SCOTUS. His reasoning appears to go something like this: marriage is between one man and one woman; gay marriage is now legal; QED, noth...

Two young children have passed away after an oak tree limb fell on the tent they were sleeping in at a popular Yosemite National Park campground Friday. Because they were minors, authorities say they will not be releasing the names or the ages of the children involved, and they ask for privacy after this tragedy. Park spokesman Scott Gediman also says the deaths are currently under investigation. "Our thoughts are with the families as they grieve this tragedy," park superintendent Don Neubacher said in an official statement. Reports say that the children were sleeping in a tent at Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley when the limb fell around 5 in the morning. After receiving several 911 calls to report the incident, medics arrived to find the two dead. The event is under investigat...

A North Carolina woman who won $188 million in the February Powerball lottery likely spent millions of dollars bailing out her fiancé, twice. The New York Daily News reported that Lamar “Hot Sauce” McDow, who is engaged to lotto winner Marie Holmes, has been released on bond from prison two times this year. McDow as arrested in November of 2014 for charges of trafficking heroin, which posted a $3 million bail. He was then sent back to jail in July on similar charges, with an escalated bail of $6 million. While Brunswick County Police have not released the name of the individual responsible for paying McDow’s bail, it is likely that Holmes fronted the bill for her fiancé's wrongdoings. These incidents were not the first crimes committed by McDow, who has a long criminal history. His crim...

When someone suggests you "boil water," one would hope they're giving you instructions on how to cook pasta, not take a comfortable shower. Oddly enough, the latter was the case for a group of unlucky students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. According to local news affiliate KHON-2, the campus's student housing service sent out the strange e-mail after students complained of a wide range of plumbing issues. The e-mail included the phrase, "if you absolutely cannot have a cold shower or want to clean dishes and the like, you might want to get a big pot or bowl and heat up your water." Um, what? UH-M student Raquel Lasconia said the bathroom floor of her apartment is constantly soaked. To add to her problems, she claims that "once you turn (the shower handle) to the hot side, it t...

A new study posted in the most recent edition of the Journal of Neuroimaging has reported that patients with untreated sleep apnea may be harming their brains. Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder in which the patient experiences multiple pauses in breathing during their sleep, and is thought to affect approximately 22 million Americans. There are many different causes for sleep apnea, including obesity, allergies, or acid reflux. Sleep apnea is most commonly treated by a special type of medical equipment that allows the opening of blocked passages, known as a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. “The technology available in CPAP/BiPAP machines have become pretty impressive as well,” says Bo Brown, President, Mobility Healthcare. “Most insurance plans will require proof t...

The Wall Street Journal reports that a new trend is sweeping the nation: a growing number of couples are utilizing fertility centers. However, not all of these couples are looking for help conceiving. More and more fertile couples are now visiting fertility centers with hopes of being able to control the sex of their future child. Only 7.4 million women, or 11.9% of women, have ever received any fertility services in their lifetime. Most men and women who visit fertility centers have difficulty conceiving. However, more and more fertile couples are now visiting these medical centers seeking out so-called "family balancing" services. The process that is being used in these cases is known as in vitro fertilization (IVF). During the IVF treatment, the woman’s egg is met with the male’s sper...

According to a recent report from CNBC, the average American is saving less money for retirement than they did a year ago, with fewer than one in five American workers saving more. In a recent Bankrate.com survey, it was reported that 10% of people haven't put any money into their retirement accounts in the past two years. This is the highest percentage of non-contributing participants since Bankrate began its surveys in 2011. That being said, the percentage of workers who are saving less for retirement is down from 18% to 14%, while people who are saving more saw a bump from 18% to 19%, from 2012 until now. In addition, CNBC reports that larger companies are encouraging their employees to save for retirement. They have started to enroll employees in company-sponsored 401(k) plans, while...

Nearly two-thirds of divorces are filed by women, and after the recent Ashley Madison scandal, women everywhere are more ready than ever to split, according to report by local affiliate WTVF Richmond. Last week's reveal of the more than 32 million members of extramarital adultery website Ashley Madison has led to an unsurprising onslaught of divorces. The leak, initiated by hackers posing as "women" on the site, revealed that nearly 95% of the website's users were men, who found their name, credit card numbers, emails, home addresses, even their sexual preferences leaked and public when the news broke last week. On the flip side, Virginia Attorney Van Smith reports that of the nearly 10 divorce-related calls he receives every day, 95% of the contacts are female. Smith describes that the...

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) outlines the link between drinking water and infection. The report focuses on drinking water in the United States between 2011 and 2012, detailing 32 outbreaks with 431 infections. Hospitalization was needed for 102 of those infections, and there were 14 deaths. Additionally, the CDC found that 21 of the outbreaks -- 111 cases -- were caused by legionella. Only two outbreaks were linked to norovirus; however, those two outbreaks caused 138 infections. Other outbreaks over these two years were linked to Escherichia coli (56), Shigella sonnei and Pantoea agglomerans. Perhaps what is more worrying than the outbreaks themselves is the fact that half of the outbreaks occurred in hospitals or other healthcare centers. Next, 13% of infecti...

While carpet covers nearly 70% of all American floors, all-American teens were busy watching their favorite stars take over the red carpet on Sunday's Teen Choice Awards. According to a recent report from CNN, the Teen Choice Awards brought on a new tradition this year by letting the kids pick the award categories, as well as its winners. As a result, several famous Vine makers and Instagram influencers made history by taking home awards without ever making their big-screen or top-of-the-chart debuts. The show was riddled with topical stars and subjects, like the cast of the upcoming film Straight Outta Compton or Australian boy band superstars 5 Seconds of Summer. Wiz Khalifa, rap star, teleprompter ignoring specialist, and performer of the smash summer hit "See You Again," also made a...