Barking dog could cost Seattle family their home

Like bullies and illnesses, lawsuits can be ignored, but they won’t go away. Denise Norton learned this valuable lesson the hard way this week when she found out that a lawsuit she has tried to ignore could wind up costing Norton her North Seattle home. 

Her neighbor Woodrow Thompson filed a lawsuit alleging that the sound of barking from Norton’s dog, Cawper, was intentionally causing him “profound emotional distress.” In his detailed, 36-page complaint, Thompson claimed that the canine’s “raucously, wildly bellowing, howling and explosively barking” was capable of reaching 128 decibels. For context, the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration — the Labor Department agency tasked with enforcing safe working conditions — says a person should not be exposed to a noise of 115 decibels for more than 15 minutes a day. That said, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’sNoise Meter, Thompson’s claim would mean that Cawper’s bark is louder than an ambulance siren and just slightly softer than a jet engine at takeoff. 

“In my head, everything was so bogus that he’d been doing, I don’t know why, I just didn’t think it was real or something,” Norton told the local ABC News affiliate, KOMO-TV. That’s why, even when she was served with papers, Norton simply didn’t respond.

Unfortunately for Norton, however, the suit was very real, and because she didn’t challenge her neighbor’s claims, Thompson — who has not spoken to the press — won $500,000 by default. 

“The sheriff comes, puts the papers on the garage and the wall and everything and saying they were going to put the house up for sale,” Norton said. Now she and her family are fighting to reverse the decision — spending a good chunk of their savings on lawyers — before they lose their home. 

Mike Fandel, a civil attorney unrelated to the case, explained to KOMO-TV that winning a frivolous lawsuit is easy when the other side doesn’t respond. Getting the case dismissed now that a judgment has been made, on the other hand, will be a challenge. 

“If you think it ought to be dismissed, it will only be dismissed if you ask the court to do it,” Fandel said. Norton acknowledges her mistake and is determined to fix it.

“How can you give somebody a half-a-million-dollar lien over a dog barking?” Norton asked, defending Cawper. “He’s just a loving, nice dog.”

Man admits road rage killing of four-year-old New Mexico girl: police

A 32-year-old New Mexico man who was arrested following an anonymous tip to police has admitted to fatally shooting a 4-year-old girl in the head during a road rage incident on a major highway in Albuquerque, police say.

The girl, Lilly Garcia, was a passenger in her family's red four-door Dodge truck when she was shot on Tuesday afternoon by the driver of another vehicle who had cut them off on Interstate-40 and exchanged words with her father, police said.

The suspect, Tony Torrez, faces charges including murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and assault with intent to commit a violent felony in connection with Garcia's death, Albuquerque police said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Torrez is also charged with child abuse, child abuse resulting in death, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and evidence tampering, the department said.

The statement said that on Wednesday evening Torrez "confessed to investigators he was responsible for the murder."

Police said earlier that day an anonymous caller had reported knowing who shot the girl and gave detectives Torrez's name.

"With that information and multiple tips from the community, detectives were able to find the suspect," police said.

Police said that on Tuesday officers had received a 911 emergency phone call just before 3 p.m. from the girl's father saying his daughter had been shot.

"The father stated he had just picked up his daughter and 7-year-old son from school and were attempting to exit the freeway," the police statement said, before a maroon or red Toyota sedan cut across traffic and forced him out of his lane.

"The two drivers exchanged words when Torrez pulled out a gun and shot at the red truck driven by Lilly's father. Lilly was hit at least once in the head," the statement said.

Torrez is being held in the Bernalillo County Metro Detention Center on a $650,000 bond, police said.

(Reporting by Joseph Kolb; Writing by Daniel Wallis)

Putin's popularity at record high, government-funded poll says

Russia's military operation in Syria has pushed President Vladimir Putin's popularity to a "historic maximum" of 89.9%, according to a new government-funded poll.

The Russian Public Opinion Research Center said Putin's high popularity trumped his previous record of 89.1% in June.

"Such a high rating of approval of the Russian president is registered, first of all, in connection with events in Syria, Russian aviation's airstrikes at terrorist positions," the center said.

The center said the poll of 1,600 people had a statistical margin of error of 3.5% and was conducted between Saturday and Sunday.

Russia in Syria

Russia launched airstrikes in Syria on September 30, saying it was targeting ISIS, al Nusra Front or other terrorist groups recognized by the U.N. Security Council or Russian law.

The Kremlin has since acknowledged that it is intent on shoring up the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, the Assad regime has been battling moderate opposition forces as well as extremist groups such as ISIS.

"Our task is to stabilize the legitimate government and to create conditions for a political compromise ... by military means, of course," Putin told the state-run Russia 24 TV on October 12.

Critics say Russia is trying to wipe out Syrian dissidents who oppose Assad.

Read: Assad regime may have fallen to ISIS without us, Russian ambassador says

'He is a very Soviet man'

Putin's popularity was polling high before his military went to Assad's aid.

The daughter of one of Russia's most prominent opposition leaders, shot dead this year near the Kremlin, told CNN this month that Putin's popularity could be chalked up to propaganda and "nostalgia."

"He is a very Soviet man. He is of this culture. He is not more than a tool," Zhanna Nemtsova told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

"Putin has two truths: He has oil price and propaganda," said the daughter of Boris Nemtsov.

"Now oil prices fell down. They lost half of its value. Now he has only one tool left, and that is propaganda. And that is why he is so popular in Russia."

Fireworks erupt between Clinton, Republicans at Benghazi hearing

The bitter political undercurrents surrounding the Benghazi attacks erupted Thursday with Democrats and Republicans feuding over the role of a special investigative panel while Hillary Clinton came under intense fire for her handling of the tragedy.

The panel's top Republican, Trey Gowdy, and Democrat, Elijah Cummings, began shouting and interrupting each other over what information the committee should release while Clinton sat silently in the witness chair, watching the heated exchange and nodding her agreement with Cummings.

The Democratic presidential front-runner -- who seemed collected and in command for the first phase of the hearing -- mounted a passionate defense of her response to the violence, telling the Republicans arrayed against her that she had lost more sleep over the deaths of four Americans in Libya than anyone else on the panel.

"I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together," she said. "I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done."

22 photos: Photos: Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi

Fast facts on the Benghazi attacks

But she came under repeated attack from Republicans, who didn't accept her explanations and, in some cases, version of events.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio submitted the former secretary of state to a dramatic period of questioning when he alleged that she and other Obama administration staff tried to blame the attack on the consulate on an anti-Muslim YouTube video to avoid undercutting President Barack Obama's claims that he had crushed Al-Qaeda.

"You could live with a protest about a video, that won't hurt you, but a terror attack would," Jordan said, saying that Americans could accept, reluctantly, compatriots being killed abroad but "what they can't live with is when their government is not square with them."

Clinton rejected the claim, saying in the desperate hours after the attack on September 11, 2012, that information on the true nature of the assault on the compound by a mob was unclear.

"I am sorry that it doesn't fit your narrative congressman, I can only tell you what the facts are."

Another Republican, Rep Mike Pompeo of Kansas, tried to rile Clinton by asking why her old friend and political operative Sidney Blumenthal had been able to send her personal emails, requests for more security from U.S. staff in Libya did not reach her desk.