Good Morning! Thank goodness it’s Friday. What are your plans for the weekend? If you haven’t made any yet, be sure to check out Toni’s picks for some weekend fun in her column On the Town with Toni. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter and stay up to date on events going on around the Qcity.

This weekend, the weatherman is forecasting cloudy skies with highs in the low 90’s with a chance of thunderstorms on Sunday. Today, expect partly cloudy skies with a possible stray thunderstorm this afternoon and a high of 91°.

Here’s what’s brewing in the news:

A reason to just say no! 

Experts are blaming an outbreak of a flesh-eating disease in Los Angeles and New York on tainted cocaine, and they say the problem is national. According to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, over 80 percent of the nation’s coke supply is laced with the veterinary drug levamisole, reports ABC News.

Levamisole is used to deworm cattle, pigs and sheep. But doctors say when the drug is consumed or snorted by humans, it can cause skin to turn black and rot from various parts of the body, including the nose, ears and cheeks. Multiple cases of rotted flesh have already been reported.

It is believed that street drug dealers, who have traditionally used baking soda as a filler, are now using levamisole because it is a cheap way to extend a cocaine-induced high.

As if rotting flesh were not enough reason to say no to drugs, experts say cocaine cut with levamisole also can impede the body’s immune system by preventing the bone marrow from producing infection-fighting white blood cells.

"It's a little bit like having HIV," Dr. Noah Craft, a dermatologist with Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, told ABC News. Craft said that without medical attention, the condition can be fatal.

"About 10 percent of those patients will die from severe infections," he said. "They may be walking around like a time bomb."
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Report: Daycare worker falsified documents in toddler’s death

Two-year-old Jazmin Green died Monday after she was left in a sweltering hot van following a field trip to Chuck E. Cheese. The Atlanta Journal Constitution is now reporting that a staffer at the Georgia daycare center where Jazmin died falsified documents in relation to her death.

Daycare operators in the state of Georgia are required to complete and sign a checklist documenting that every child is accounted for after returning from any outing in a vehicle. They are also required to conduct a final sweep of the vehicle to ensure that no child has been left behind. Apparently, that did not happen in this case.

According to an affidavit filed in connection with the arrests of the center administrator Marlo Fallings, 41, her 23-year-old daughter Quantabia Hopkins and a juvenile assistant, the required checklist was actually filled out and signed by Hopkins before the van even arrived back at the center.

According to the affidavit, Hopkins later found Jazmin “still strapped into her car seat in the most rear seat, driver’s side.”

The affidavit also suggests that an hour or more elapsed between the time when the center personnel realized that Jazmin was missing and when they phoned 911.

Fallings and Hopkins were arrested Tuesday on charges of cruelty to children, reckless conduct and involuntary manslaughter. They were released Wednesday on $35,000 bond.
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Whites losing U.S. majority among babies

Preliminary census data shows that the face of America is changing.

Two-parent households and heterosexual couples are no longer the norm. Plus, the nation’s minorities are becoming the majority. For the first time, more than half of U.S. children under age 2 are ethnic and racial minorities.

Demographers say “minorities” will become the U.S. majority by mid-century. The data also shows that the number of African-American households headed by women now exceeds African-American households with married couples, reflecting the trend of declining U.S. marriages overall.

Final 2010 census results detailing breakdowns by age, race and household relationships will be released later this summer. Question: What cultural changes across the country do you anticipate when minorities become the majority? (Read more here)

*** This is your chance to speak out. Share what’s brewing on your mind this morning in the comments section below. Happy Weekend!!

Got news to share with Qcity readers? Email us at editor@qcitymetro.com.
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