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Betty White: 'I am the luckiest old broad on two feet'

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Such were the words of wisdom from a woman who knows: 95-year-old Betty White.

A seven-time Emmy award-winner, who also boasts a Grammy and three Screen Actors Guild awards on her mantle, White joined CNN's Brooke Baldwin to reflect on her time in the industry, all 78 years worth.

"Do you remember the first time that you got a laugh?" Baldwin asked as the pair shared french fries in a Los Angeles restaurant.

"I think when I came out of the womb," White, naturally, joked.

The interview comes ahead of CNN's "The History of Comedy" series, which airs Thursday at 10 p.m.

"It was a little out of character, a little unfeminine, to be ... you shouldn't be funny," recalled White, reminiscing about her early days in Hollywood, when comedy was often left to her male colleagues. Noting that women were expected to simply "come in and be pretty," White countered: "No, it's so much more fun to get that laugh."

Active since 1939, White's first signature role came in the 1970s, when she appeared first as a guest star -- and soon after as a series regular -- on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." To a younger generation, however, White will forever be known as the naive simpleton from St. Olaf, Minnesota: Rose Nylund.

"'Golden Girls' was a big breakthrough," noted White, referring to the iconic 1980s hit. "A situation comedy about old women? What is that? I think it changed a lot of the thinking and opened the way for a lot of older women."

White has met multiple presidents, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. However, it's the latter's canine companion that truly captured the star's heart.

"I spent about an hour sitting with Bo on my lap, in a room all by myself," recalled White, a known animal lover and 1987 American Veterinary Medical Association Humane Award winner. "I'm having a better time even than I would sitting with the President, and I love the President."

CNN's comedy series -- which sets out to explore "what makes us laugh, why, and how that's influenced our social and political landscape throughout history" -- will feature a section dedicated to "groundbreaking women in comedy," a class in which White is no doubt a charter member. It's her work of nearly eight decades that helped pave the way for the modern females of funny, including the likes of Amy Schumer and Melissa McCarthy.

"Tina Fey may be the best," White noted, lengthening the list of noteworthy women in comedy. "They're craftsmen, they know what makes it work. They know timing."

For White, though, time is of no essence.

"I am the luckiest old broad on two feet," she told Baldwin. "I'm still able to get a job, at this age. I will go to my grave saying 'Can I come in and read for that tomorrow?' "

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betty white: 'i am the luckiest old broad on two feet' - cnn

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Betty White: 'I am the luckiest old broad on two feet'

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Such were the words of wisdom from a woman who knows: 95-year-old Betty White. A seven-time Emmy award-winner, who also boasts a Grammy and three Screen Actors Guild awards on her mantle, White joined CNN's Brooke Baldwin to reflect on her time in the industry, all 78 years worth.

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Should this be our new superintended! Facing a discrimination law suit .

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LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - Newly named Lee's Summit School District Superintendent Dennis Carpenter currently faces several age discrimination lawsuits stemming from his time as superintendent of the Hickman Mills School District.

After Carpenter was announced as the new Lee's Summit superintendent on Monday, 41 Action News uncovered court documents detailing the suits.

Related: Lee's Summit School Board president defends newly named superintendent
Related: Lee's Summit R-7 School District names new superintendent
A lawsuit against the Hickman Mills School District, filed by 27 current and former teachers with over 500 years of combined experience, describes a salary schedule put in place during Carpenter's term as superintendent that cut the salaries of the longtime teachers, while increasing the salaries of younger, less experienced ones.

According to the lawsuit, the salary schedule for the Hickman Mills School District was changed for the 2015-2016 school year, resulting in some teachers seeing pay cuts as high as almost $13,000.

Contract agreements obtained by 41 Action News show that Carpenter's superintendent salary increased during his time in the role.

Carpenter's 2013 contract agreement stated that Carpenter would receive a base salary of $180,000. His 2016 agreement showed that his base salary increased to $185,366.

Leta Hogge, who taught English in the Hickman Mills School District for 19 years, is one of the teachers named in the suit.

On Thursday, Hogge spoke to 41 Action News about the action from teachers and Carpenter's switch to Lee's Summit.

"We were stunned," said Hogge, explaining her reaction to Monday's announcement. "I never felt that he cared about the teachers. I think his actions as superintendent prove that."

Fmr Hickman Mills teacher retired after salary got slashed over $9,000 during Carpenter's time as superintendent pic.twitter.com/NuWmuqJZ9o
- Tom Dempsey (@KCTomDempsey) January 13, 2017

As a result of the salary system change for the 2015-2016 school year in Hickman Mills, Hogge changed from the Longevity Scale pay rate to the Step 17 pay rate. The lawsuit states that the switch led to a pay cut of $66,124 for the 2014-2015 school year, to $56,388 for the 2015-2016 school year.

Hogge said she tried talking with the district and Carpenter to keep her then-current rate from falling, but her efforts proved unsuccessful.

"We never asked for a raise," she explained. "We asked to be grandfathered in at our current salaries. It felt personal. It was my livelihood."

Hogge told 41 Action News that the pay cut led to her leaving her job.

"I made it one more year and then I retired," the former English teacher said. "I just couldn't do it anymore."

Hogge's story is one of 27 described in the lawsuit.

Carpenter currently faces at least three other lawsuits from principals whose contracts weren't renewed during his term as Hickman Mills superintendent.

According to a lawsuit obtained by 41 Action News, former Hickman Mills School District principal Bill Scully had to reapply for his job after his contract was not renewed by the district in 2013 after Carpenter took over as superintendent.

Scully's attorney told 41 Action News that after Scully was not rehired for the job, he was replaced by a "dramatically younger, less qualified" candidate.

Hogge said she was not shocked hearing about the other lawsuits, as she and the other plaintiffs share something in common.

"We're all definitely over the age of 40," she explained. "I would say the majority are over the age of 50."

The lawsuits involving the teachers and Scully are still pending and being decided in court.

The Lee's Summit School District declined to comment on the story.

No comment from @LSR7 on story dealing w/ lawsuits against newly named superintendent Dennis Carpenter pic.twitter.com/VHIemsBl08
- Tom Dempsey (@KCTomDempsey) January 13, 2017

After 41 Action News reached out to both Dennis Carpenter and the Hickman Mills School District on Thursday afternoon, the station was still awaiting a response by nighttime.

Carpenter's contract with the Lee's Summit School District is still waiting to be finalized.

The School Board hopes to have the contract ready to be signed by the next board meeting on Thursday, January 19th.
Tom Dempsey can be reached at Tom.Dempsey@KSHB.com.
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Follow @KCTomDempsey

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Newly named Lee's Summit superintendent faces age discrimination lawsuits

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LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - Newly named Lee's Summit School District Superintendent Dennis Carpenter currently faces several age discrimination lawsuits stemming from his time as superintendent of the Hickman Mills School District. After Carpenter was announced as the new Lee's Summit superintendent on Monday, 41 Action News uncovered court documents detailing the suits.

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The parents of Anissa Weier, one of two 12-year-old girls who allegedly stabbed another girl 19 times in an effort to impress fictional internet character “Slender Man,” said today they were as shocked by the 2014 attack as everyone else.

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Rock, Schumer and Chappelle hit the stage

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What doctors think about the Affordable Care Act

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"I love medicine. Medicine is great," Hill says with a big smile. "When you sit in the exam room, interact with patients, you operate, you do those things that we were trained to do. It's awesome."

The smile disappears. "When we have to deal with the industry of health care, when I have to deal with all of the bureaucracy and the burden that's built around the system of health care, that makes medicine difficult."

And how does Hill feel the Affordable Care Act affected that bureaucracy?

"I thought it was going to be a disaster. And I was right."

Doctors and Obamacare

Doctors have long complained about any rules and regulations that take them away from providing care for their patients. But for Hill, the Affordable Care Act took things too far.

"The ACA took this terrible broken health care system and added a lot of burden onto physicians," Hill says. "We're losing the focus of who we're supposed to be taking care of: the patient. You're not my customer anymore. Now, I've got to respond to the federal bureaucracy, not you."

Jamie Thomas hears a similar refrain from doctors every day. He's the vice president of recruiting for the Atlanta office of the Medicus Firm, which places physicians in new jobs.

"Older physicians or physicians that have gone into it as a passion want to have the continuity of care for their patients that I think they feel is jeopardized in this system," Thomas says.

"They tell us the Affordable Care Act has negatively affected their reimbursements, there are added non-clinical duties and paperwork, and they've got to see more patients to keep up with expenses. And it kind of drives their practice away from how they've created it, which was spending time with patients."

In Dayton, Ohio, family doctor Dr. Arvin Nanda has a different take.

Even though his practice of 18 years can't afford to take patients on Medicare and make ends meet, he still sees a significant benefit from the legislation.

"The Affordable Care Act has been beneficial to the poor, less fortunate in our city. They cannot afford medications, treatment and testing," says Nanda.

"The ACA was never meant to be a finished product. It was meant as a place to start by covering more people with health insurance."

Nanda echoes the stance of many of the major medical associations, which have sent letters to President-elect Donald Trump asking him not to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a solid replacement in place.

"Simply repealing the ACA and being devoid of regulation will allow insurance companies to achieve profits over the health care of most Americans," Nanda said. "At a time when obesity, diabetes and heart disease are prevalent in our country, should we trust insurance companies to aid us in confronting disease? I think not."

Nanda's point of view is more common among primary care doctors, especially those who work in safety net settings -- providing care to the uninsured, people on Medicaid and vulnerable populations -- or places where they have frequent interactions with patients struggling to afford care, says Dr. Benjamin Sommers, an internist and health economist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

"They see more patients now who have health insurance, who can afford their prescriptions, who can come in to be seen," Sommers said. "Meanwhile, doctors who see mostly patients with private health insurance are much less likely to have seen these benefits."

He adds that "some patients could even be struggling with aspects of their health insurance from the Affordable Care Act. So you get kind of a polarized view of the law, because each doctor is seeing a smaller part of the big picture."

What do surveys say?

It turns out that it's difficult to quantify what most doctors really think of Obamacare.

"Doctors tend to be a difficult group to survey and get their opinions in a really scientific sort of way," says Sommers. He points to a 2015 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund (PDF) that looked at the experiences and attitudes of primary care physicians during the first year of ACA coverage expansion.

"Like much of America, doctors are divided by ideology, by party," Sommers says. "We see more positive views toward the Affordable Care Act among liberal and Democratic-leaning doctors, and we see more skeptical views among conservative and Republican-leaning doctors."

Most other surveys of doctors are not much better than anecdotes, says Sommers, because thousands are polled, but only the most passionate or frustrated respond.

Still, they provide an interesting snapshot of what is on those vocal doctors' minds, such as Medicus' 13th annual Physicians Practice Preference and Relocation Survey.

In 2016, this survey was sent to 10,000 randomly selected doctors from the firm's database of 100,000 physicians. There were 2,314 doctors who responded, representing more than 21 specialties and 50 states.

Fewer than 3% of respondents awarded the ACA an "A," the survey found.

A 2016 survey by Merritt Hawkins for the Physicians Foundation found similar results. Only 3.2% of physicians gave the Affordable Care Act an "A" grade, down from a more favorable rating in 2014. Most physicians gave the law a "C."

A generational difference

Age also seems to play a role in how doctors might view the Affordable Care Act. Sommers reviewed some of the studies that have looked at attitudes among medical students and young physicians.

"What we found was a consistent pattern that younger physicians were generally more favorable towards the Affordable Care Act and more supportive of the idea that the government has a role to play in helping citizens afford their access to health care," explains Sommers.

"Older physicians, not all but many, are more opposed to the notion that the government has a responsibility here and often aremore likely to report frustration with changes in how medicine is delivered."

Sommers thinks some of this relates simply to what they're used to.

Thomas sees the same trend among the residents and younger doctors his firm tries to place.

"If you think about it, younger physicians, from residency and fellowship programs to five, six years out, this is all they know," he says. "I think that the Affordable Care Act and some of these changes that it has created has been a positive for those folks."

For example, the increase in patient access to health care has created a boom in hospital-based jobs, which are often more lucrative, require fewer hours and offer doctors a large administrative staff to assist with paperwork and coding regulations.

"Over 70% of residents and fellows that we polled last year indicated that the most important aspect to their job search was a quality of life or work-life balance," says Thomas.

"Older physicians tell us that they entered into medicine more as a calling, more as a passion, where younger physicians look at it as it's more of a career."

No choice but to sell

For Hill, hanging out his own shingle was a calling.

"I always wanted to be a doctor," he says with a chuckle. "It was one of those things I wanted ever since I was a young child."

But last year, he and his partners gave up their years of private practice to become partners with Northside, a large Atlanta-based hospital system.

Northside declined to be interviewed for this story.

For Hill, it was a long, hard path to arrive at such a painful decision, which started in 2010 when he and anothergroup of doctors consolidated to reduce expenses.

"You see, our employees get paid first, the overhead gets paid first, the bills get paid first, and then we get paid," says Hill. "And we were going through months where that wasn't happening; we weren't getting paid."

Then came the Affordable Care Act with its set of rules and regulations, and additional administrative overhead.

"I look at my office, and I've got a coder, I've got a biller, I've got someone who works on prior authorization, pre-certification, claims denial processes, quality care questions, discussing with an insurance company how we get paid.

"And it got to the point where we were really starting to look at ourselves, and we were working harder and harder, working longer and longer hours, and we just said, 'We just can't keep up with the administrative burden.' "

So like a growing number of private practice physicians, Hill joined forces with Northside and saw immediate benefits.

"It's all about clout. They have greater leverage in the marketplace and negotiate a better contract with insurance companies than I can."

While the new partnership with Northside has reduced Hill's costs, he worries about his patients, as the cost of health care continues to rise.

"Copays are going up. Deductibles are going up," frets Hill. "So while they can go and see me in my office at a copay of $50, if they need a procedure that's going to cost $1,800 or $2,000 or $4,000 to do, and they have a $6,350 deductible that you often see on the silver plans on the exchange, they go, 'I can't afford it.' So they don't get the care they need."

He's not alone in his concern. The Kaiser-Commonwealth study found that four of 10 providers "believe the ACA has had a negative impact on patients' out-of-pocket costs."

The Great American Physician Survey, done every year by Physicians Practice, a division of UBM that provides information and advice to physicians in private practice, found doctors worried about another backlash: patient payments.

In the survey, 45.1% said they were having problems collecting large deductibles from patients, while 23.8% were seeing claims denied due to a patient's non-payment of premiums.

A bigger problem than the ACA

Hill doesn't blame the Affordable Care Act for all of medicine's woes. He knows the trend toward consolidation has been around for some time, with physicians struggling with non-ACA regulations, such as implementing electronic health records and new coding rules, as well as realities of the health care marketplace.

"Even before the Affordable Care Act, even before a lot of the legal changes that came down, health care was in need of a fix," says Hill. "We didn't fix it. We just made it worse."

He wants to see the act repealed but doesn't want it replaced with more of the status quo, where hospitals and insurance companies are the winners.

"I think we, as physicians, have dropped the ball. We've given up our role," says Hill. "Our role should be the caretakers of health care, and instead we gave that to the insurance companies. We got other people to step in. We've got to look at a way to allow physicians to innovate, to change, to bring forward a better product than what's out there right now."

For Hill, this means it's time for doctors put on their entrepreneurial hats and take back the business of medicine.

He's currently working on an idea about telemedicine, and he points to transparent pricing and a movement toward "concierge medicine," in which doctors bypass insurance and charge a set rate to be readily available to patients. He believes this could make the doctor/patient relationship a priority and reduce cost.

"Why do I need 535 people in Washington, D.C., to fix things?" asks Hill.

"There are people out here that love health care, that love providing care for their patients and believe that there's a better way. And I think that's where this is going to come from," he said. "I think the solutions are going to come from us."

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obamacare: what doctors think about the affordable care act - cnn

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"I love medicine. Medicine is great," Hill says with a big smile. "When you sit in the exam room, interact with patients, you operate, you do those things that we were trained to do. It's awesome." The smile disappears.

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8-Year-Old Battling Cancer Gets Birthday Wish to See Amazon Shipping Facility.

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An 8-year-old boy's birthday wish to see an Amazon distribution center has been fulfilled.

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Ben Bicknese loves shopping on the e-commerce site so much that he wanted to see where all the magic happens.

"He was just floored," Ben's mom Cecilia Bicknese of Tucson, Arizona, told ABC News. "There's some pictures of his eyes popping out of his head. He was just stunned ... he couldn't believe he was there."

Ben was diagnosed with Wilms tumor, a type of kidney cancer, in 2014 and had removal surgery that same year. The cancer returned in 2015, and he's gone through chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Because of Ben's low immune system, doctors advised against him leaving the house. That's when his grandparents bought him an iPad to keep him occupied.

KSAZ

"He was online all the time, so he'd shop and figured out what two-day shipping was with Amazon," Bicknese said of her son. "Then he found the same-day shipping and that blew his mind. He was just obsessed with it. He loves getting packages. He's just like me."

Ben became intrigued as to how Amazon handles its customers' requests and asked his family if he could see one of its fulfillment centers someday.

Bicknese said she reached out to a friend who knew an employee of the company. Amazon then invited the family to its shipping facility in Phoenix on Tuesday -- just one day after Ben's 8th birthday.

KSAZ

Ben even got the chance to help employees in packing and shipping.

"We were incredibly touched by Ben's story and we were honored to host him, his family and care network at one of our Amazon fulfillment centers in Phoenix for a special behind-the-scenes tour," a representative of Amazon said in a statement to ABC News. "From his scavenger hunt picking birthday presents to learning how to use the tape machine, we had just as much fun as Ben did -- maybe even more! ... Ben is definitely an honorary Amazonian and we wish him all the best."

Amazon also donated 50 Kindle e-readers, Fire tablet devices and $2,500 in content gift cards to Banner Medical Center, where Ben received his treatment in Tucson.

"It was a blessing," Bicknese said. "It was a really good day for him after a lot of bad days."

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8-Year-Old Battling Cancer Gets Birthday Wish to See Amazon Facility

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An 8-year-old boy's birthday wish to see an Amazon distribution center has been fulfilled. Add Be Inspired as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Be Inspired news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Ben Bicknese loves shopping on the e-commerce site so much that he wanted to see where all the magic happens.

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Police say mom kept boy locked in bathroom for a year

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Authorities say Brandy James locked her son, now 12, in an upstairs bathroom in her Toquerville, Utah, home for perhaps as long as two years.

When they found him, the boy was so severely malnourished, he weighed just 30 pounds.

The conditions inside, as laid out in an indictment, are truly upsetting : The toilet bowl was so full of feces that there didn't appear to be any water inside. The door was locked from the outside. The light switches were duct taped in the off position, so the boy probably sat in darkness all the time. The boy so weak when he was found that he wouldn't have been able to stand up and take the duct tape off on his own.

Empty bean cans and a spoon were found in the shower, where the drain was covered with duct tape.

"I've seen the pictures. They're horrific," Washington County Sheriff's Lt. David Crouse told CNN affiliate KSL. "I've seen other horrible things, but this is one of those things I'll never forget. I wish I could unsee it."

Crouse said a video camera was set up so the mother could monitor the boy on her cellphone, and a baby monitor was set up so she could give him instructions but he could not reply.

Worst ever seen

The boy's father found him -- "laying on the floor of the bathroom with a blanket" -- on Sunday at James' house and rushed him to a hospital. Then the sheriff's deputies were called. Crouse said the mother and father are married but separated.

An emergency room doctor at Dixie Regional Medical Center said "it was the worst case of malnutrition he had seen."

The doctors said "the victim would be hospitalized for at least 3 weeks to get him healthy again," the sheriff's office statement.

James, the mother, told deputies she would sometimes lock her son for his own safety when she left the house. She also claimed he "wanted to sleep in this bathroom" despite the wretched conditions. She was charged with one count of felony child abuse. It's unclear if she's hired a lawyer.

The boy hadn't been to school in three years, Crouse said. Two other siblings lived in the house.

They didn't show any signs of abuse.

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police say mom kept boy locked in bathroom for a year - cnn

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Police say mom kept boy locked in bathroom for a year

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Authorities say Brandy James locked her son, now 12, in an upstairs bathroom in her Toquerville, Utah, home for perhaps as long as two years. When they found him, the boy was so severely malnourished, he weighed just 30 pounds.

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man convicted of rape for removing condom during sex

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an apparently drowned fox encased in a thick block of ice is on display in a small town in southern Germany.

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Central Illinois man files lawsuit over flag-burning arrest

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What doctors think about Obamacare afforable care act

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frozen fox he was walking on thin ice and fell and broke in Germany

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An apparently drowned fox encased in a thick block of ice is on display in a small town in southern Germany.

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Franz Stehle, a hunter, told German news agency DPA today that he came across the fox earlier this month, which he says fell through the frozen surface of the frigid Danube River and drowned.

Stehle had the block containing the frozen animal extracted from the river last week and put on display outside his home in Fridingen, which is nestled along the upper reaches of the Danube. The spectacle serves as a warning of the dangers of the icy river, the hunter told DPA.

It's not unusual for animals to break through the river's thin ice during the winter, Stehle said, adding that he has discovered frozen deer and wild boars a number of times.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Frozen Fox Extracted From River on Display as Warning of Ice Hazards

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An apparently drowned fox encased in a thick block of ice is on display in a small town in southern Germany. Add Weather as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Weather news, video, and analysis from ABC News.

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Ice storm warning issued for KC this weekend

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An ice storm warning has been issued for the Kansas City area this weekend.
Click here to sign up for weather alerts | Check closings, cancellations

The warning goes into effect Friday at 9 a.m. and continues to midnight Sunday.

The National Weather Service said an ice storm is increasingly likely this weekend.

Forecasters said the area could see a one-quarter inch to three-quarters of an inch of ice accumulate.

Light freezing rain will move in Friday afternoon, likely after 3 p.m.

There is a chance for light freezing rain Saturday morning. More freezing rain could develop late Saturday afternoon and continue into Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service said icing could develop Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Roads could become slick and power outages are possible if ice accumulates on power lines.

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Ice storm warning issued for KC this weekend

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An ice storm warning has been issued for the Kansas City area this weekend. Click here to sign up for weather alerts | Check closings, cancellations The warning goes into effect Friday at 9 a.m. and continues to midnight Sunday. The National Weather Service said an ice storm is increasingly likely this weekend.

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a motorist kills man that was beating a wounded cop in west California. The motorist warned the man to stop then shot him. then he called for help on the officers walkie talkie thing.

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Motorist kills man beating wounded cop - CNN Video

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An Arizona motorist shot and killed a man he saw beating a wounded Arizona trooper.

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A young boy, locked in a dank, dark bathroom for a least a year. And the person accused of putting him there? His own mother.

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Amazon Planning Hiring Spree in the United States. 100k jobs promised.

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VP Biden Surprised With Presidential Medal of Freedom

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Video: Index: Amazon Planning Hiring Spree in the United States

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The stories people have been buzzing about.

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family plans bucket list for 9 year old that has a brain tumor

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New York City's LaGuardia Airport had an unexpected arrival Thursday afternoon: A dead whale.

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WABC-TV

The 15-foot minke whale washed ashore in Flushing Bay and was discovered on an embankment leading up to one of the runways, WABC-TV reported.

It is unclear how the whale died.

The minke whale typically weighs between 5 tons and 6 tons, which is smaller than a humpback whale.

The airport is consulting with the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation -- which wants to examine the whale -- to figure how to remove the mammal without disrupting LaGuardia's flight operations, according to WABC-TV.

"To actually have a whale at this location is a new location," said Kimberly Durham, a biologist and the conservation group's rescue program director. "It's certainly in proximity to Port Authority and operations that go there, there's a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration and we'll be working with the Port Authority to see what we can do regarding this carcass."

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Dead Whale Washes Ashore at End of LaGuardia Runway

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New York City's LaGuardia Airport had an unexpected arrival Thursday afternoon: A dead whale. The 15-foot minke whale washed ashore in Flushing Bay and was discovered on an embankment leading up to one of the runways, WABC-TV reported. It is unclear how the whale died. The minke whale...

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Micheal Jackson episode pulled after backlash over white actor

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El Salvador, one of the world's deadliest countries, has recorded a rare day without a single homicide.

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Homicides fell by about 20 percent in 2016, but it was still one of the most violent countries with 81.2 murders per 100,000 residents.

By way of comparison, per 100,000 inhabitants, Britain's homicide rate in is about one, the United States' is about five, and Brazil's is 25, according to the latest available data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Neighboring Honduras had held the distinction of being the most murderous nation between 2011 and 2012, according to figures compiled by the United Nations. Respective national data showed El Salvador's murder rate surging past Honduras in 2015.

Much of the violence that plagues El Salvador, driving tens of thousands to seek refuge in the United States, can be traced back to the country's civil war that ended in 1992.

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El Salvador has first murder-free day in two years

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Homicides fell by about 20 percent in 2016, but it was still one of the most violent countries with 81.2 murders per 100,000 residents. By way of comparison, per 100,000 inhabitants, Britain's homicide rate in is about one, the United States' is about five, and Brazil's is 25, according to the latest available data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

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A former Canadian nursing home worker accused of eight counts of murder is facing six new charges.

Ontario Police Provincial charged Elizabeth Wettlauffer with four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Ms Wettlauffer already faces first-degree murder charges for patients under her care in two southwestern Ontario nursing homes. The new offences alleged took place between 2007 and 2016.

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A former Canadian nursing home worker accused of eight counts of murder is facing six new charges.

Ontario Police Provincial charged Elizabeth Wettlauffer with four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Ms Wettlauffer already faces first-degree murder charges for patients under her care in two southwestern Ontario nursing homes.

The new offences alleged took place between 2007 and 2016.

Police say the latest charges involve four residents of Caressant Care in the town of Woodstock, one resident of Telfer Place in nearby Paris, and one resident who lived in a private residence in Oxford County, Ontario.

Four of the six victims have since died, though police did not link Ms Wettlauffer to their deaths.

In a statement, Revera Living, which owns Telfer Place, said the case had been "disturbing and heart-breaking" but that the elderly resident involved in the alleged September 2015 assault "is doing well".

A Caressant Care Woodstock representative said the care home continues to co-operate fully with the police investigation.

Last fall, the former nurse was charged by police in the deaths of seniors between 75 and 96 years old.

Police said seven of the victims were given a fatal dose of a drug.

The victims were five women and three men and were all residents of Caressant Care and Meadow Park in London, Ontario.

Sandra Zisckind, a lawyer representing two of the victims' families, said on Friday that they plan to file a civil lawsuit against the care homes involved.

The 49-year-old made her first in-person court appearance in Woodstock, Ontario on Friday to answer the new charges.

Ms Wettlauffer registered as a nurse in June 1995 but resigned on 30 September 2016, shortly before police announced the charges against her.

Police identified the murder victims as:

James Silcox, 84 (died 2007)

Maurice Granat, 84 (died 2007)

Gladys Millard, 87 (died 2011)

Helen Matheson, 95 (died 2011)

Mary Zurawinski, 96 (died 2011)

Helen Young, 90 (died 2013)

Maureen Pickering, 79 (died 2014)

Arpad Harvath, 75 (died 2014)

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A former Canadian nursing home worker accused of eight counts of murder is facing six new charges. Ontario Police Provincial charged Elizabeth Wettlauffer with four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Ms Wettlauffer already faces first-degree murder charges for patients under her care in two southwestern Ontario nursing homes.

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Ambushed Arizona Trooper saved by armed passing motorist.

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A home invader killed a woman with her own samurai sword during a bizarre midday attack in Southern California, authorities said. A 40-year-old woman and a male pal, 42, were at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Temple City when the 44-year-old assailant broke in through an unlocked front door at 12:05 p.m. The violent lunatic attacked the woman with a wrench he brought with him, and then grabbed a decorative samurai sword hanging on a wall to finish her off, authorities said.

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Little Big Town's Kimberly Schlapman has adopted a baby girl named Dolly.

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kimberly Schlapman (@ohgussie)

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Mr. Kohl -  Yesterday, Amazon said it’ll add more than a 100,000 jobs in the US over the next year and a half. This comes as the company is set to open even more warehouses across the country that would make delivery times even faster.

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Mr. Kohl -  Yesterday, Amazon said it’ll add more than a 100,000 jobs in the US over the next year and a half. This comes as the company is set to open even more warehouses across the country that would make delivery times even faster.

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A succession of storms has been hammering the West Coast, triggering avalanches, mudslides and flooding -- and more weather warnings are in place Wednesday.

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The recent spate of winter storms have brought several inches of rain and snow in parts of California.

"This is an unusual event," said Doug Carlson, spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources, about the recent rainfall. "We haven't had to do anything like this for 10 to 11 years."

"It's shaping up to be one of the five or so wettest wet seasons in California's record-keeping history," he said.

Although the rainfall is a welcome respite from the longstanding drought, recent conditions have created challenges. California, Nevada and other parts of the West are grappling with flooding and heavy snow.

The National Weather Service warned of the "life threatening snowfall with blizzard conditions" in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The blizzard warning in the greater Lake Tahoe area is in effect until 10 a.m. local time Wednesday. About five to 10 feet of snow has accumulated in the area, according to the agency.

A portion of the Interstate 80, the main east-west connector through northern California, has been shut as state workers try to clear an avalanche that fell across the eastbound portion of the road.

The risk of too much rain

Apart from the snow, flash flood warnings have been hoisted as more rain pelted parts of California Tuesday night. Flooding was expected to get worse overnight.

Parts of California have already seen more than 15 inches of rain over the past week, CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said.

Many Western rivers will continue to rise as rain that fell over the weekend keeps flowing down the Sierra Nevada into valleys and other low-lying areas. Another 5 to 10 inches of rain could fall throughout the next week in these already water-swollen areas, Brink said.

The sudden influx has knocked over trees that have weakened from years of drought, into cars, homes and streets.

In San Francisco, a downed tree limb landed on the tracks of BART, the area's subway system. This stranded commuters in the Bay Area for hours during Tuesday's evening rush hour.

Across the state line in Portland, a heavy snowstorm brought the evening commute to a crawl. It led to several schools to close across the city on Wednesday.

Bundle up, Midwest

Meanwhile, another round of arctic air will spread into the northern Rockies and northern Plains into Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

Highs are expected to be 15 to 25 degrees below average, the weather service said.

And the Chicago area will get blasted with fierce winds, even by Windy City standards.

"Winds this strong could cause property damage & will make travel very hazardous for high profile vehicles," the National Weather Service's Chicago office tweeted.

And another quick round of rain and snow will fall in the Midwest on Wednesday, Brink said. But it won't last long because temperatures will rise this week from the Midwest to the East Coast.

Almost balmy in East

Many in the East will be able to shed their parkas by the end of this week.

"By Thursday, much of the eastern half of the US will see high temperatures at 15 to 25 degrees warmer than normal," Brink said.

"Above-average temperatures in the East are expected to persist through at least the middle of January."

CNN meteorologist Tom Sater, Taylor Ward and CNN's Joe Sterling, Samira Said and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.

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winter weather: storms rumble through west - cnn

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Another storm brings snow and rain to the West

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The recent spate of winter storms have brought several inches of rain and snow in parts of California. "This is an unusual event," said Doug Carlson, spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources, about the recent rainfall. "We haven't had to do anything like this for 10 to 11 years."