| By NBC News staff and wire services A 13-year-old Pennsylvania boy charged with fatally shooting his grandparents in their home was upset because they called his mother a "whore" and were "speaking poorly about her," according to state police and court documents. Zachary James Proper, of Oil City, was arraigned Tuesday morning as an adult before District Judge Michael Snyder in Franklin, Pa., on two counts of criminal homicide. He was remanded to Venango County Jail without bond, Pennsylvania State Police said. Troopers found the bodies of Dorothy Fross, 67, and George Fross, 69, on Monday night in their home in Sandycreek Township in Venango County. They went there after the Frosses' son – the boy's father – called police to ask them to check on the couple's welfare. Proper's parents were concerned that their son had gotten drunk and high on Sunday night and had stolen a car belonging to his grandparents, police said in a criminal complaint, The Associated Press reported. Proper lived about 10 miles away in Oil City with his parents but often spent time at his grandparents' home, investigators said. Police believe the Frosses were shot in their home late Sunday afternoon. Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com According to the police affidavit, the boy admitted to the killings, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The affidavit outlined this sequence of events, according to the Post-Gazette and the AP: Proper used bolt cutters to break into a gun safe at his grandparents' home and took a handgun. He put on headphones, sneaked up behind his grandmother and fatally shot her. He then called his grandfather and told him that he would meet him at the front door to help him carry in groceries. When the grandfather came home, Zachary took a pizza from his hands and then shot him repeatedly until the gun jammed. Asked to explain the shootings, the boy told police "that he was mad at his grandparents because they had called his mother a whore and were speaking poorly about her." Police did not elaborate on the remarks. The boy told police he then drove his grandparents' car to Oil City, dumped the gun in a storm drain and spent the night partying at a cousin's house, the Gazette and the AP reported, citing the affidavit. More content from NBCNews.com:
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10/09/2012
Cops: Boy kills grandparents who called mom 'whore'
Mom who glued tot's hands to wall could get life
| View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com. By NBC News staff and NBCDFW.com The Dallas mother who confessed to gluing her toddler to the wall then beating her as potty training punishment was in court Tuesday for a second day of testimony in her sentencing hearing. Prosecutors were seeking 45 years in prison for 23-year-old Elizabeth Escalona but she could spend the rest of her life in prison on the felony injury to a child conviction, the Dallas Morning News reported. The grandmother of the girl, Ofelia Escalona, was expected to testify Tuesday against her daughter. Doctors say the torture that the 2-year-old endured at the hands of her mom put her in a coma for several days. The doctor who saved the toddler's life testified on Monday why her mom should spend the rest of her life behind bars. "The entire picture was very shocking. I see a lot of children. This was one of the worst, shocking cases that I've seen," said Dr. Amy Barton, a former pediatrician at Children's Medical Center. Watch video, read latest on Escalona case on NBCDFW.com Barton fought back tears while testifying. It's been more than a year since she first saw 2-year-old Joselyn Cedillo in intensive care. She says the toddler was brought into the emergency room on September 7, 2011 with extensive bruising. The little girl was clinging to life. "The child was brought in by a private vehicle with extensive trauma. It looked like the child had been abused and wasn't sure the child was going to make it. She had bruising on her belly," said Barton. Barton also showed pictures of the little girl's injuries during the sentencing hearing. Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com  Dallas County Sheriff's Department / AP Elizabeth Escalona, who is being sentenced after admitting that she beat her 2-year-old daughter and glued her hands to a wall. Police say Escalona was so mad that her daughter soiled her pants that, as punishment, she super glued the girl's hands to the wall then beat her in front of her other siblings. Escalona's kids told investigators their mother kicked the girl in the stomach and repeatedly hit her. The girl did recover after the beating in September 2011, and the state took custody of her and Escalona's other kids. Escalona did plead guilty to first-degree injury to a child over the potty training punishment. The judge could sentence Escalona to from five years to life in prison. More content from NBCNews.com:
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County considers 'violence tax' on guns and ammo
| By Lauren Petty, NBCChicago.com A proposed new tax in Cook County, Ill., home of violence-plagued Chicago, takes aim at guns, and gun rights activists aren't happy about it. County President Toni Preckwinkle wants to introduce a "violence tax" on guns and ammunition to help plug a $115 million budget gap in 2013. Under the tax, guns and ammunition would cost more, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, but Preckwinkle isn't saying how much more just yet. The aim of the proposal is to curb the number of guns in circulation, Preckwinkle's chief of staff, Kurt Summers, told the newspaper. Summers cited a report from last summer showing that nearly one-third of the guns recovered on the Chicago's streets were purchased in suburban gun shops. The idea follows a violent Chicago summer, when some weekends saw multiple people killed and dozens injured in shootings. The city's murder rate is up 25 percent and the Cook County Jail is near capacity, with 9,000-plus inmates. Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter "If it's going to deal with crime, I'm all for it," said Vincent Fracassi, who says he is not a gun owner. But some residents questioned how much this would raise for the county and whether the tax would really cut down on crime. "If we can tax cigarettes, it seems we can tax bullets and guns," said Chicago resident Cathryn Taylor. "But at the same time, I get the point that if people are buying the stuff illegally, then the tax doesn't matter because they aren't going through legal channels anyway." Brandi Swafford said she doesn't think it will be effective. "You can get this from anywhere. You can go outside the city. There's always a way to get something illegally." Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com No such tax exists in Illinois, experts say, but two bills that would create an explicit tax on ammunition are in consideration in the Illinois Legislature. Elsewhere in the country, Tennessee has an ammunition tax, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. And right now, guns and ammunition sold across the country are subject to a federal excise tax that funds conservation projects. In Illinois, the local sales tax rate is applied to such purchases. Preckwinkle's budget proposal is set to be unveiled Oct. 18, and an ammunition tax isn't the only potential money maker on the table. The board president reportedly wants to lease the top two floors of the County Building in Chicago's Loop for what she estimates could net at least $1 million a year for 10 years. NBC News staff contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com:
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1 in 5 Americans is religiously unaffiliated, survey shows
| By Becky Bratu, NBC News One in five Americans -- and one in three of adults under 30 -- is religiously unaffiliated, the highest percentage ever, according to a Pew Research Center study released Tuesday. Over the past five years, the study found, the number of religiously unaffiliated adults has increased from slightly over 15 percent to just under 20 percent, a figure that includes more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, as well as almost 33 million adults who do not identify themselves with a particular religion. Survey takers were able to choose from a list that included more than a dozen possible affiliations, including "Catholic," "Protestant," "Orthodox," "don't know" and "nothing in particular." But, according to the nationwide survey, many of the 46 million unaffiliated adults or so-called "nones" are spiritual or religious in some way:
Most "nones" said religious institutions can benefit communities through their social outreach, but an overwhelming majority thinks religious organizations are too focused on rules, money and power and too involved in politics. Pew says the rise of the religiously unaffiliated is mainly due to a generational shift, with 32 percent of adults under 30 saying they're religiously unaffiliated, compared with only 9 percent of those aged 65 and older. Politically, the "nones" skew heavily toward the Democratic Party, making up 24 percent of the Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, the largest religious constituency. Black Protestants at 16 percent, white mainline Protestants at 14 percent and white Catholics at 13 percent are some of the other large religious groups skewing Democratic. With social issues such as same-sex marriage taking center stage this election season, 73 percent of "nones" say they support gay marriage and 72 percent support legal abortion. According to Pew, a counterpoint to the rise of the religiously unaffiliated has been a dip in the share of the population that identifies as Protestant. That figure now stands at 48 percent, down from 53 percent in 2007. It is the first time the number of Protestants has fallen significantly below 50 percent, according to Pew. This is a continuation of a long-term trend, as the Protestant population has been declining since the early 1990s. The number of Catholics, which now stands at 22 percent, has been steady for a few years, the study shows, owing in part to immigration from Latin America. More content from NBCNews.com:
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1 in 5 Americans are religiously unaffiliated, survey shows
| By Becky Bratu, NBC News One in five Americans -- and one in three of adults under 30 -- are religiously unaffiliated, the highest percentage ever, according to a Pew Research Center study released Tuesday. Over the past five years, the study found, the number of religiously unaffiliated adults has increased from slightly over 15 percent to just under 20 percent, a figure that includes more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, as well as almost 33 million adults who do not identify themselves with a particular religion. Survey takers were able to choose from a list that included more than a dozen possible affiliations, including "Catholic," "Protestant," "Orthodox," "don't know" and "nothing in particular." But, according to the nationwide survey, many of the 46 million unaffiliated adults or so-called "nones" are spiritual or religious in some way:
Most "nones" said religious institutions can benefit communities through their social outreach, but an overwhelming majority thinks religious organizations are too focused on rules, money and power and too involved in politics. Pew says the rise of the religiously unaffiliated is mainly due to a generational shift, with 32 percent of adults under 30 saying they're religiously unaffiliated, compared with only 9 percent of those aged 65 and older. Politically, the "nones" skew heavily toward the Democratic Party, making up 24 percent of the Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, the largest religious constituency. Black Protestants at 16 percent, white mainline Protestants at 14 percent and white Catholics at 13 percent are some of the other large religious groups skewing Democratic. With social issues such as same-sex marriage taking center stage this election season, 73 percent of "nones" say they support gay marriage and 72 percent support legal abortion. According to Pew, a counterpoint to the rise of the religiously unaffiliated has been a dip in the share of the population that identifies as Protestant. That figure now stands at 48 percent, down from 53 percent in 2007. It is the first time the number of Protestants has fallen significantly below 50 percent, according to Pew. This is a continuation of a long-term trend, as the Protestant population has been declining since the early 1990s. The number of Catholics, which now stands at 22 percent, has been steady for a few years, the study shows, owing in part to immigration from Latin America. More content from NBCNews.com:
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