Con Ed workers and managers feel pain of lockout

Contract negotiations between the utility giant and the Utility Workers UnionLocal 1-2 broke down on July 1 — and Con Edison immediately ordered 8,500 union workers off the job. It replaced them with roughly 5,000 managers, former employees and contractors.

Chelsea Stahl/for New York Daily News

Unionized workers rally outside the Con Edison offices in Manhattan, New York on July 5, 2012. (Chelsea Stahl/for New York Daily News)

As the Con Edison lockout stretches into its third week, there remains no sign of a breakthrough.
Contract negotiations between the utility giant and the Utility Workers UnionLocal 1-2 broke down on July 1 — and Con Edison immediately ordered 8,500 union workers off the job. It replaced them with roughly 5,000 managers, former employees and contractors.

Family fears for Mass. pastor abducted in Egypt

This undated photo released Saturday, July 14, 2012 by the Free Pentecostal Church …

BOSTON (AP) — The family of a Boston Pentecostal pastor abducted in Egypt on Saturday appealed to his captor to release the 61-year-old man, saying he is a diabetic and the family fears for his health.

The son of Rev. Michel Louis told The Associated Press that his father was on a church trip to retrace Jesus' steps through the Holy Land with 23 other members of the clergy and worshippers when he was abducted. Along with him, a 39-year-old Boston woman in the group and a tour guide were kidnapped in broad daylight Friday.

Jirmy Abu-Masuh, an Egyptian Bedouin, told the AP he was armed when he stopped the bus on a road linking Cairo to Mount Sinai, ordered the three to get off and took them captive. He said they would be released only after police release his uncle from prison, and he vowed to take more hostages of different nationalities if his demands were not met.

Miss South Carolina & Miss South Carolina Teen Crowned

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Congratulations to the newest Miss South Carolina and Miss South Carolina Teen.
Ali Rogers, Miss Laurens County, was crowned Miss South Carolina 2012 Saturday night at the Township Auditorium. Rogers, 20, is the former Miss South Carolina Teen 200 and was a swimsuit preliminary winner.
The Clemson University student performed an original composition for the piano entitled "A Salute to our Armed Forces".  She will compete in the Miss America Pageant in January 2013 in Las Vegas.
Rachel Wyatt, Miss Greater Mauldin Teen, was crowned Miss South Carolina Teen 2012. Wyatt, 17, of Piedmont, is a student at Wren High School.

Brazil: Dead Penguins Washed Up On Rio Grande Do Sul Beaches By The Hundreds

SAO PAULO -- Marine biologists and veterinarians say the bodies of more than 500 penguins have washed up on beaches in southern Brazil over the past week.

They tell the G1 online news site that the Center of Coastal and Marine Studies is investigating what caused the deaths of the 512 penguins found on beaches of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The cause of death should be known in about 30 days.