On:

In 1994, a New Mexico jury awarded $ 2.9 million in damages to 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who suffered third-degree burns to her legs after spilling a cup of McDonald?s coffee on herself. This case inspired the annual Stella Awards for the most frivolous lawsuit in the U.S. This year?s candidates are listed below.

January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $780,000 by a jury after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running around inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were surprised at the verdict, considering the little boy was Ms. Robertson?s own son.
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Federal law enforcement officials are investigating whether sleeper cells or freelance agents of Osama bin Laden may have smuggled small, portable nuclear weapons or radiological bombs into the United States.

Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., chairman of the House subcommittee on national security, says, ?It?s possible, and it?s very scary. If you asked me if bin Laden really had these weapons, I would say probably not, but, on the other hand, I wouldn?t be the least surprised if there were a nuclear explosion in Israel or the United States.?
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Scientists think there is just a one in 20 chance that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) will collapse in the next 200 years. The WAIS is crucial to future sea levels, because if all the ice melts in this region, it could raise ocean levels by several feet.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains about 13% of all the ice in Antarctica, and scientists believe it melted about 120,000 years ago when temperatures were warmer than they are today. In parts of the West Antarctic, temperatures are now rising much faster than they are in the rest of the world, and the researchers involved in the UK study have concluded there is now a one in 20 chance in the next two centuries of the ice sheet once again collapsing.
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The Rocky Mountain News reports that the sale of wild horses to slaughterhouses is on the rise. The 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act was written to end the mass slaughter and abuse of wild horse herds in 10 western states. The Bureau of Land Management gathers the horses, lets suitable owners adopt them and, after a year, turns over title.

?If you look at the legislative history, it?s clear that Congress never intended these horses to be slaughtered,? says Andrea Lococo, of the Fund for Animals? western office in Wyoming. Wild horse advocates, including the Fund for Animals, have BLM records that show hundreds of wild horses were sold for slaughter shortly after the owners received title.
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