Council backs down over freedom campers

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Holidaymakers will have the freedom to park on the side of the road in Westland again, after a backdown from the local council.

The Westland District Council has announced it will stop enforcing a local bylaw which prevented freedom camping in the region.

The decision comes after a legalchallenge from the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZCMA), who in January fileda lawsuit in the High Court over the issue.

The bylaw, which came into effect in November, banned freedom camping within one kilometre of 18 West Coast towns and settlements.

NZMCA general manager Bruce Lochore says that the "hard-fought" victory reflected how illegal and unreasonable the bylaw was.

"This decision by the council is a victory for our members. This is a win for us and for the motor caravan community," he says.

"Workable bylaws strike the proper balance between protecting local authority areas and respecting the rights of responsible freedom campers."

The NZCMA claimed the law was in violation of the Freedom Camping Act, as it limited the right to freedom of movement. But Westland District Mayor Marueen Pugh says that fighting the law wasn't an option with the council's current budget, as it could be expensive to defend.

"It was going to cost us around $50,000," she says. "It simply wasn't worth it to us, we're too small to take [on] an organisation the size of NZMCA."

Ms Pugh says the council has stopped enforcing the bylaw but hasn't removed it, meaning it could be brought back into action quickly. The bylaw will be subject to a review but there is no deadline on that process, as the council is planning to wait and see if a legal precedent is set as freedom campers take on other councils.

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Council backs down over freedom campers

Shoelace Killer Sprints to Freedom from Texas Prison

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Two inmates one accused of strangling someone with a shoelace used their feet to make a mad dash to freedom Tuesday when they successfully broke out of a Texas prison. The Associated Press reports45-year-old capital murder suspect Brian Allen Tucker (above at left) and 40-year-old suspected burglarJohn Marlin King (right) escaped through the Hopkins County Jail female recreation yard Tuesday in Sulphur Springs, Texas, about 75 miles northeast of Dallas. Tucker was being held on $1 million bond for allegedly "strangling a 63-year-old man with shoelaces then stole his musical instruments in May 2011," according to the Dallas Morning News. The schools in the surrounding Sulphur Springs area have been placed on lockdown.

RELATED: Salary for a Year of Wrongful Texas Prison Time: $160,000

The scariest part is how easy their escape seemed. It was just two guys away from everyone else making a break for it. The Deputy Alvin Jordan told WFAA Dallas the two prisoners were separated from the rest of the inmates when they slipped between a gap in the prison gate and fence after fleeing through the rec yard. Somehow the guy in charge on monitoring the prison's video surveillance missed the whole escape go down. "Undoubtedly, they slipped out and he looked and they were gone," Jordan told WFAA.

RELATED: Texas District Attorney's Death Could Be Part of Larger Plot

So the two men are now out roaming the free world and they're not even in their prison suits, but the Texas Rangers and local authorities helping with the hunt already lost at least one obvious clue. Authorities found the black and white prison jumpsuits on the train tracks near the prison. So now the two men are either naked or in plain clothes, instead of the really obvious prison stripes. But they've got shoes, presumably, and those shoes are important.

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Shoelace Killer Sprints to Freedom from Texas Prison

Freedom award for Olympic gymnast

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2 April 2013 Last updated at 11:53 ET

Gymnast Beth Tweddle has been given the Freedom of the Borough of Cheshire East.

Borough mayor George Walton presented the Olympic bronze medallist with the award at a nursery school in Sandbach.

The 28-year-old also opened an adventure playground at the school.

The council has already announced that a road on a new housing development in Bunbury, where she grew up, will be called Beth Tweddle Close.

Ms Tweddle, who won bronze on the uneven bars at London 2012 to add to her four world titles, said she was "proud" to receive the honour.

The most decorated GB gymnast in history said: "I do gymnastics because I love it.

"I don't expect the recognition that you get from it but when your local community comes together and gives you something like the freedom of the borough [and] my street that's been named after me it is a very proud moment.

"It's only when you take a step back that you realise you do have an impact.

"I don't see myself as anyone different.

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Freedom award for Olympic gymnast

‘Tax Freedom Day’ is April 13 in Utah

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(Mike Mergen | Bloomberg News) So-called "Tax Freedom Day" will come a little later for Utahns this year.

This year, Utahns would need to work from Jan. 1 through April 13 just to earn enough to pay all their taxes but that, at least, is five fewer days than the national average.

That news came as "Tax Freedom Day" for the nation and each state was announced Tuesday by the Tax Foundation, a conservative but nonpartisan Washington, D.C., tax research group.

The national Tax Freedom Day this year is April 18, which is five days later than last year indicating tax burdens have increased.

William McBride, chief economist for the Tax Foundation, said Americans will pay 29.4 percent of their income this year in federal, state and local taxes. That "amounts to more money than is spent on food, clothing and housing combined," he said during a webinar.

Converting that to calendar terms, McBride said that means Tax Freedom Day does not come until day 108 in the 365-day year.

McBride said three major factors raised tax burdens this year.

"The biggest one is the fiscal cliff deal that raised federal payroll and income taxes. Second, there is the Affordable Care Acts taxes that go into effect this year. Lastly, despite these increases, the economy is continuing to grow. As incomes grow, people are boosted into higher tax brackets so their tax rates go up," he said.

Tax Freedom Day varies greatly among the states, depending on state and local tax burdens.

Mississippi has the earliest Tax Freedom Day, arriving on March 29 slightly earlier in the same day than Louisiana, followed by Tennessee on April 2.

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‘Tax Freedom Day’ is April 13 in Utah

Sterilising people with disabilities: eugenics or common sense?

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The rights of women with mental disabilities to bear children is the subject of intense public debate.

NO, my disabled daughter should never have a child!

There are those who believe everyone should have the right to become a parent, and those who do not.

The law in Queensland is clear on the subject. Under current legislation, it is possible for a third party to decide whether a woman can ever give birth, or a man can ever father a child.

That legislation relates to people with a disability. It's a law some people say has a foundation in eugenics. For others, a court ruling in favour of parents seeking to sterilise their child is seen as a common sense solution to a very complex problem.

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But an Australian senate inquiry currently underway into the involuntary or coerced sterilisation of people with disabilities could change all that.

Hopefully for the better, says Karin Swift, president of Women with Disabilities Australia.

To force someone to remove perfectly functioning organs is basically an abuse of their human rights, she says from her Brisbane office.

There are other options, but too often the most severe course of action is pushed to the front.

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Sterilising people with disabilities: eugenics or common sense?

Sea lion pups washing up on SoCal beaches at alarming rate

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Stranded sea lion A juvenile sea lion sits on shore near the Huntington Beach Pier. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times /March 31, 2013)

April 1, 2013, 2:32 p.m.

Federal marine wildlife officials said that a mass stranding of malnourished sea lion pups along the Southern California coast since January has intensified in recent weeks and researchers remain unsure of the cause.

Officials declared an "unusual mortality event" for the California sea lion, a designation that prompts immediate federal response after a significant die-off of a marine mammal population.

The declaration comes as sea lion pups have been found stranded on Southern California beaches -- from Santa Barbara to San Diego -- at rates exponentially higher than in years past.

In Los Angeles, for instance, nearly 400 pups have been stranded since the beginning of the year. Last year, just 36 were reported stranded.

As of March 24, officials said, 214 were reported stranded in San Diego County; 189 in Orange County; 108 in Santa Barbara County; and 42 in Ventura County.

The pups that survived have filled marine mammal sanctuaries along the coast, which have taken in record number of pups for this time of year.

The young pups have shown up lethargic and severely underweight, with their bones showing through their slick fur. It takes months of nursing to build up their health and their weight in order to be returned to the wild.

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Sea lion pups washing up on SoCal beaches at alarming rate