Ten months behind schedule, New York City on Monday launched what aims to be one of the world’s biggest bike share programs, following in the path already taken by Paris, Montreal, London and Barcelona.

New Yorkers will now be able to move around on the 6,000 blue “Citi Bikes” distributed among 333 stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn — the first phase of a network that is supposed to grow to 10,000 bikes at 600 stations.

Light traffic because of the Memorial Day holiday made for ideal conditions to try out the new subscription-based service on quiet city streets.

About 14,000 New Yorkers have paid an annual $103 fee entitling them to unlimited rides of 45 minutes. Daily and weekly plans will be available as well from June 2.

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The Boy Scouts of America said it will allow openly gay youths to join the organization but maintain a ban on gay adult leaders, after a vote at its annual meeting in Texas.

US teen births have dropped to a record low, but the country still has one of the highest rates among developed nations, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
“The overall rate declined 25 percent from 41.5 per 1,000 teenagers aged 15-19 in 2007 to 31.3 in 2011 — a record low,” the CDC report said.
The declines “have been attributed to a number of factors, including strong teen pregnancy prevention messages.”
According to the most recent National Survey of Family Growth, teens are increasingly using contraception during their first sexual encounter, and sexually active females and males are using dual measures — mainly condoms and hormonal methods.
For a comparison, the teen pregnancy rate in Britain in 2009 was 25 per 1,000, while in 2008 in France it was 10.2, according to UN figures.

New Orleans was struck by tens of thousands of swarming Formosan termites on Wednesday night causing hundreds of thousands of people’s skin to crawl.

Resembling something out of a creepy disaster movie, the termites made for any car headlights, streetlights or lit homes they could find in residential or commercial areas.

Formosan termites are not native to the United States and were introduced from the Far East in packing crates and other wood products during World War Two.

The reason for the huge swarms of the Formosan termites is because they only are capable of flying 300 yards in search of a mate and then the pair drop to the ground to burrow a nest if successful.

A powerful storm that may have spawned tornados ripped through northern Texas, killing six people and injuring more than 100, media reports said.
The fatalities Wednesday night came in the town of Granbury in Hood County as the storm destroyed nearly 120 homes in one neighborhood, CNN reported, quoting county sheriff Roger Deeds.
NBC news quoted him as saying 14 people were unaccounted for.
Officials in Hood could not immediately be reached for comment. The county is southwest of Dallas.
The Dallas Morning News ran photos of swirling dark blue masses in the sky, homes damaged by fallen trees and an 18-wheel truck tipped over onto a compact car.

Michael Jackson’s make-up artist warned in the 1990s that the star could die due to his drug addiction, she testified Friday, adding that people were initially lying after his 2009 death.

(CNN) — Amanda Berry was last seen after finishing her shift at a Burger King in Cleveland in 2003. It was the eve of her 17th birthday.

Georgina “Gina” DeJesus disappeared nearly a year later, in April 2004. She was 14.

Michele Knight vanished in 2002, at age 19, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.

All three were found alive in a home in a Cleveland neighborhood Monday night, police announced in a development hailed as a miracle by their families.

“Help me, I am Amanda Berry,” Berry told police in a frantic 911 call from a neighbor’s house. “I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for 10 years. And I’m here, I’m free now.”

Police swiftly moved in on the house where the three of them said they had been and arrested a 52-year-old man, identified as a former school bus driver. Two others, identified as his brothers, ages 50 and 54, also have been arrested, Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba told reporters late Monday. Police believe only the middle brother lived at the home, he said.

The men are being held in the city jail awaiting charges. An FBI team is collecting evidence in the house.

“This is a great, great outcome that we have them still with us,” Tomba said. “It’s just truly, truly amazing and it’s a blessing to the community and to the members of the police department and their families that they’re alive. I can’t tell you how happy we are.”

Those feelings were echoed at Cleveland’s Metro Health Medical Center where the three women and a fourth person were being treated.

“This isn’t the ending we usually hear to these stories, so we’re very happy,” said Dr. Gerald Maloney, an emergency room physician there. We’re very happy for them.”

The three women were in fair condition. Maloney would not identify the fourth person being seen at the hospital, but witnesses said Berry, who escaped from the house with the help of a neighbor, had a young child with her.

The escape

Neighbor Charles Ramsey was sitting down to a fast food meal when he heard screaming.

“I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house,” he told CNN affiliate WEWS. “I go on the porch and she says, ‘help me get out. I’ve been in here a long time.'”

Figuring it was a domestic dispute, Ramsey kicked in the bottom of the door and the woman came out with a little girl and said, “Call 911, My name is Amanda Berry,” according to Ramsey, who admitted he didn’t recognize the name or know she was missing.

Free from the house where they had been held captive, Berry pleaded for a phone.

“They were crazy, screaming, ‘Help, call police, please help.’ … They were desperate, crying, running,” said Angela Garcia, whose aunt provided the phone for them to call police.

Ramsey also called 911, less than a minute later.

“She’s like, ‘This (expletive) kidnapped me and my daughter,'” he told 911.

DeJesus’s mother, Nancy, met with her at the hospital, cousin Sylvia Colon, told CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.” She had never given up hope of finding her daughter alive.

“She has always said that she just could feel it, a link a mom can feel, but she always believed Gina was alive and well,” Colon said. “She always believed that. I just want to say what a phenomenal Mother’s Day gift she gets this Mother’s Day.”

Suspect’s identity

Read CNN story on three missing from 2009

Brian Cummins, a councilman who represents the area where the women were found, identified the suspect in whose home the women were found as Ariel Castro. His uncle, Julio Castro, told CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that his family had grown up in the same west Cleveland neighborhood and knew the DeJesus family.

Castro used to work as a bus driver for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, according to district spokeswoman Roseann Canfora. She did not have specifics Monday night on how long he was employed, when he left or whether he was fired or left voluntarily.

Ramsey told reporters the suspect wasn’t known for anything exciting — “until today.”

“We see this dude every day. I’ve been here a year. I barbecued with this dude. We eat ribs and listen to salsa music,” Ramsey said.

And Garcia said neighbors “never saw nothing suspicious.”

“We never saw the girls there, and we were always outside,” she said. “We only saw the guy.”

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said there were “many unanswered questions regarding this case, and the investigation will be ongoing.” But he added, “I am thankful that these three young ladies are found and alive.”