Blog Posts by Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News

Click image to see more photos. (Photo courtesy maryannerussell.com)

On March 11 2005, Kevin Berthia wanted to take his life. He had climbed over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge and was prepared to take a fatal jump into the San Francisco Bay when he heard a voice calling out to him from above.

It wasn’t the voice of a spiritual presence, but rather that of California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Kevin Briggs. The two talked for 60 life-changing minutes before Berthia decided to climb back up the bridge and give life another chance.

Eight years later, the pair reunited as part of an emotional ceremony honoring Briggs and other members of the CHP whose job is to verbally persuade suicidal men and women from jumping off that bridge.

“It was phenomenal,” Berthia, 30, told Yahoo News about his reunion with Briggs at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention public service ceremony.

“I didn’t know what I was going to feel, or how I was going to react,” he said. “But when I first

Former President Jimmy Carter speaks at the opening of the George W. Bush presidenital library. (Fox News)Americans really, really trust Hollywood. They are, however, far more skeptical of Washington, D.C.

A new survey on the most trusted people in America finds actors taking the top three spots: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and Denzel Washington. The first politician to appear on the list is former President Jimmy Carter, who comes in at number 24.

Carter, 88, often referred to as the most successful ex-president in American history, has earned bipartisan praise since leaving office for his work on behalf of various humanitarian causes.

During his successful 1976 presidential campaign, Carter won over a majority of American voters with his “Trust Me” campaign slogan.

The surveyed asked 1,000 participants who they trusted the most and was conducted by The Wagner Group for Readers Digest.

President Obama made the list as well but came in at number 65.

According to the list, Obama was edged out by none other than Adam Sandler, named the 64th most trusted person in America.

No other former

Tomato plants that have not yet grown fruit (Reuters)You say “tomato”, I say, “illegal pot farm on a Brooklyn rooftop.”

A resident in a Brooklyn apartment building got an unexpected, and unmerited, visit from the police after his superintendent called the cops to report an illegal pot-growing operation on the building’s roof.

There was just one small problem―the plants growing on the building’s roof were actually tomatoes.

“I don’t know much about plants. I’m not too good with that,” building superintendent Christian Delarosa told the New York Daily News. “When I saw them, the first thing I thought was ‘Oh, my God.’ Right there I looked it up on my phone and they looked close to marijuana plants, but I thought I should call someone who knew about plants, so I called police.”

After Delarosa put in the call, a lieutenant and two officers were sent to the scene to investigate the 15 Solo cups and the mysterious green seedlings contained within.

An unapologetic Delarosa, 34, says that while the plants turned out to be entirely legal, he

Kayla Wheeler is preparing to compete in the 2016 Paralympic Games (altso.org)Kayla Wheeler was born with three congenital amputations: missing both legs and one arm. Her doctor recommended swimming as a form of physical therapy.

And now, at age 16, Wheeler is literally breaking world records.

Washington CNN affiliate KCPQ reports that Wheeler already has competed in Brazil, Mexico and the Netherlands and has her sights set on competing in the next Paralympics in 2016.

In April, Wheeler set the world record for the women’s 50-meter butterfly at the 2013 Can-Am Championships, a prelude to the 2016 Paralympics.

"It's kind of indescribable. When they announce her name and she's representing the United States, I get goose bumps all over. I'm so amazed that's my child," Joyce Wheeler, Kayla's mother, said.

"We always told her there is nothing you can't do, we just might have to figure out a different way for you to do it, and she has pushed the envelope.”

And when she’s not swimming, Wheeler also plays baseball, bowls and skis.

She’s also reportedly a top student,

Russian officials say Oleg Topalov used only a spoon to escape from a maximum security prison (Federal Prison Supervision Service)

One man, using only a spoon, has escaped from one of Russia’s most infamous prisons.

Sky News reports that 33-year-old Oleg Topalov escaped from Matrosskaya Tishina, apparently by using a single spoon to dig a hole through his cell’s ceiling.

He is only the fourth person in 20 years to escape from the prison. Russian investigators have blamed Topalov’s escape on the prison staff, whom they say engaged in a "dishonest or careless attitude to their work that was made use of by the prisoner Topalov."

Topalov, who was sentenced for double murder and arms trafficking, used the spoon to create a hole in the cell’s roof, opened a ventilation shaft and then climbed to the prison’s roof, finally escaping over the building’s perimeter fence.

"Because of the building being rundown, Topalov had no difficulty in widening the vent of the air-shaft, through which he got to the prison’s roof,” Russian Federal Penitentiary Service representative Kristina Belousova told RIA Novosti. “Using sheets tied

Gun homicides have declined nearly 50 percent over the past 20 years. (Atlantic Wire)If you think gun violence has reached a new high, you're far from alone. However, according to a new statistical survey, you’re also wrong.

The study, published Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, says that gun homicides have declined by a full 49 percent since their peak in 1993. There has been an even steeper decline, 75 percent, in nonlethal crime victimization (with or without a gun) in the period between 1993 and 2010.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show there were 11,078 gun homicide deaths in the U.S. in 2010, compared with 18,253 deaths in 1993.

Nonfatal gun crimes dropped by 69 percent during that same period, according to a separate report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics that was also released Tuesday.

Interestingly, the Pew study finds that 56 percent of respondents believe that deaths caused by guns are more frequent than they were 20 years ago, compared with just 12 percent who accurately said the rates had declined.

Still, there are some

The offending Tweet that got class president Wesley Teague suspended (Twitter)Was his tweet a bullying act, or merely the stating of a fact?

Either way, reports the Wichita Eagle, the senior class president of Heights High School in Kansas has been suspended and banned from participating in most of this year’s graduation activities after posting a tweet about the school’s athletic program.

“‘Heights U’ is equivalent to WSU’s football team,” 18-year-old Wesley Teague wrote last Thursday on his personal Twitter account.

The phrase "Heights U," the paper explains, was "coined" by underclassmen who "sometimes use the hashtag #HeightsU on tweets about Falcon football or other athletic endeavors." WSU refers to the now-defunct Wichita State University football squad.

Several students complained about the tweet, and administration officials, agreeing it was disrespectful, sent a letter to Teague’s home that said he had “acted to incite a disturbance.” It informed his parents he had been suspended.

“Wesley posted some very inappropriate tweets about the Heights athletic

Kia, the miracle puppy. (Kansas City Pet Project/Kansas City Star)A 12-week-old puppy has miraculously overcome a harrowing ordeal and survived being locked inside an impounded car for nearly a month.

The Kansas City, Mo., animal shelter now caring for the terrier and schnauzer mix they’ve named Kia said she survived by eating trash left in the car from a McDonald’s restaurant. However, she apparently did not have access to water, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A car lot worker spotted Kia on Monday. Danny Rotert, spokesman for the Kansas City municipal government, said the employee was tagging cars for auction when Kia jumped on top of the dashboard of the Chevy Suburban in which she was trapped. The lot attendant then called the police, who broke into the impounded vehicle to rescue her. The vehicle had been sitting in the lot since April 8.

The Kansas City Star reports that on May 1, the owner of the vehicle, who has not been publicly named, showed up to inspect the car. However, he reportedly made no mention of owning a dog. Authorities say