'King of the Hill' Star Johnny Hardwick's Cause of Death Undetermined, Body Too Decomposed

11/3/2023 8:52 AM PT

Johnny Hardwick's body was in bad shape when he died – so much so that officials haven't been able to figure out how exactly he died … this according to the medical examiner.

According to the 'King of the Hill' star's autopsy report, obtained by TMZ, Johnny was found dead in his bathtub back in August – and the water was running when he was found … but the drain was open and he was not actually submerged.

The M.E. says there were no obvious signs of trauma … adding that a toxicology test showed a "presumptive positive test for cannabinoids," with the report noting drugs were found at the scene – although it's unclear what sort of substance, precisely, was discovered.

With all that said, Johnny's cause of death couldn't be determined this due to the "extensive decompositional changes" his body was going through when discovered. Another interesting nugget the 5'7" voice actor weighed just 100 pounds at the time of discovery.

TMZ broke the story, Texas officers were called to his home in August for a welfare check, which is when they discovered his body – he was pronounced dead at the scene, and no foul play was suspected at the time.

Johnny lent his voice to the animated show for 258 episodes of the long-running series, famously playing Dale Gribble … only missing one episode in the show's entire run. He was also cited as returning for a supposed revival of the show, but it's unclear if he ever recorded for it before his death.

Fans mourned the loss of Johnny soon after he was pronounced dead – and Mike Judge, co-creator of the series and voice of the show's lead, Hank Hill, told us he was "deeply saddened" by his passing.

He was 64.

RIP.

https://www.tmz.com/2023/11/03/king-of-the-hill-johnny-hardwick-cause-of-death-body-decomposed/

Ingenious and bizarre way the US Government is preventing a rabies outbreak: Planes drop bait laced with vaccines for racoons to munch on

UPDATED: 16:12 EDT, 2 November 2023

American health officials are preventing an outbreak of rabies by dropping vaccines from planes as part of a half-billion-dollar federal program.

Over 9 million ketchup packet-sized pieces of food containing vaccines are scattered all over the Eastern United States to suppress the deadly neurological virus in raccoons and keep it from killing humans.

The packets come in two flavors especially designed to appeal to the trash-diving mammal — vanilla and fishmeal — but 'packet thieves' who don't need the rabies vaccine, like gray squirrels and opossums, do make off with a few morsels.

The annual airdrop, run by the US Department of Agriculture since 1997, has stopped the spread of rabies westward across the US, but now hopes to eradicate the disease in racoons in the east as well.

The news comes amid warnings from scientists that rabies-infected vampire bats are creeping up North America via Mexico, as habitats shift due to climate change.

'What we haven't been able to do,' according to Charles Rupprecht, a former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) rabies program, 'is eliminate it from any state where raccoon rabies currently exists.'

The USDA has renewed testing of a newer vaccine with a new flavor this year, in its effort to entice more raccoons: marshmallow with icing sugar, vegetable oil and a dark-green food dye.

'Our feelings are absolutely not hurt if skunks, foxes or coyotes pick them up. And they do,' said wildlife biologist Jordona Kirby, a field coordinator for the USDA's National Rabies Management Program.

'So, although raccoons are the reservoir and spread rabies primarily in the east,' Kirby told NPR, 'those other animals, just like any mammal, can contract rabies.'

Last year, in fact, researchers working with the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory determined that 'competition with opossums,' at least, was not holding raccoons back from getting their dose of the vaccine.

The researchers' proposed two solutions to get more raccoons vaccinated, as published this year in the Journal of Wildlife Management, focused less on the competition and more on the raccoons.

The first suggestion was 'altering the bait matrix to make it more attractive to raccoons,' meaning even more design and flavor experimentation.

Their second new proposal: drop the oral vaccine packets in winter months, when food is more scarce, 'to promote bait acceptance by raccoons.'

Up to the present, the USDA's oral vaccine airdrops have typically occurred between the months of July and October.

Starting last July, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) began the next phase of their marshmallow trials — which distributes approximately 3.5 million of the new oral vaccine baits, called ONRAB ORV, across parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

One other area, however, will be the focus of their data collection for this field test.

'APHIS is conducting the final year of a small-scale project during October in Chattanooga,' USDA officials announced, 'to evaluate the effectiveness of ONRAB’s distribution methods.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12702571/rabies-raccoons-vaccine-bizarre-USDA-planes-drop-bait-vanilla-fishmeal-marshmallow.html

Nepal earthquake kills at least 128, toll could rise, officials say

November 4, 20237:13 AM PDT

KATHMANDU, Nov 4 (Reuters) - At least 128 people were killed and dozens injured in Nepal when a strong earthquake struck the western area of Jajarkot, officials said on Saturday, as houses in the area collapsed and buildings as far as New Delhi in neighbouring India shook.

The quake occurred at 11:47 p.m. (1802 GMT) on Friday with a magnitude 6.4, Nepal's National Seismological Centre said. The German Research Centre for Geosciences measured the quake at 5.7, downgrading it from 6.2, while the U.S. Geological Survey pegged it at 5.6.

The quake is the deadliest since 2015 when about 9,000 people were killed in two earthquakes in the Himalayan country. Whole towns, centuries-old temples and other historic sites were reduced to rubble then, with more than a million houses destroyed, at a cost to the economy of $6 billion.

Officials feared the death toll in Friday's quake could rise as they had not been able to establish contact in the hilly area near the epicentre, some 500 km (300 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, where tremors were also felt. The district has a population of 190,000 with villages scattered in remote hills.

"The number of injured could be in the hundreds and the deaths could go up as well," Jajarkot district official Harish Chandra Sharma told Reuters by phone.

Police spokesman Kuber Kadayat said 92 people were killed in Jajarkot and 36 in neighbouring Rukum West district, both in Karnali province. The epicentre was in the village of Ramidanda.

At least 85 people were injured in Rukum West and 55 in Jajarkot, an official in the prime minister's office said, while Sharma said at least 50 people were in hospitals in Jajarkot alone.

"Many houses have collapsed, many others have developed cracks. Thousands of residents spent the entire night in cold, open grounds because they were too scared to go in into the cracked houses as aftershocks struck," Sharma said. "I have myself not been able to go in."

Search and rescue must clear roads blocked by landslides, triggered by the earthquake, to reach the affected areas, police officer Namaraj Bhattarai said.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal flew to the area early on Saturday with a 16-member army medical team to oversee search, rescue and relief, his office said.

Dahal, posting on the X social media platform, expressed deep sorrow at the loss of life and property in the quake and ordered security agencies to launch immediate rescue and relief operations.

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/nepal-hit-by-64-earthquake-felt-new-delhi-2023-11-03/

California assemblywoman arrested for DUI after horror crash in LA claims she SNEEZED and 'lost control' of her car - as witnesses say she was slurring her speech and stank of alcohol before almost falling over in front of cops

UPDATED: 11:48 EDT, 4 November 2023

A California assembly member who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence following a crash in Los Angeles claimed she 'sneezed' and lost control of the car.

Wendy Carrillo, 43, was taken into custody shortly after midnight Friday in Los Angeles, reportedly registering a blood alcohol level over double the legal limit.

She swayed and staggered across a road as she was arrested for allegedly drunk driving and crashing into several parked cars.

Video obtained by Fox11 shows the lawmaker, who is currently running for a seat on the LA City Council, telling police officers: 'I'm sorry I sneezed, I lost track of the vehicle.

Carrillo was captured in humiliating footage struggling to walk in a straight line as cops had her perform a field sobriety test, which she failed.

Residents at the scene described hearing a loud bang from the crash which deployed Carrillo's airbags and sent her Audi back into the middle of the road.

A witness who rushed to help Carrillo from her crumpled car told ABC7 it was 'really clear' she was intoxicated, adding: 'You could smell alcohol. She was slurring her speech. She was very impaired.'

The Democrat who has served in the California legislature since 2017, and has been seen on numerous occasions with Governor Gavin Newsom, including accompanying him on a trip to her home country of El Salvador in 2019.

Carrillo has rocketed up the Democratic ladder in recent years, after fleeing the El Salvadorian Civil War aged five and becoming the first former illegal immigrant to be elected to California's State Assembly.

She was seen in footage looking up at the sky while cops tried to help her begin a field sobriety test.

One of the officers was forced to catch her arm and adjust the lawmaker as soon as she took a small step forward, before she appeared to slump forward and stare at the floor.

Carrillo was later seen using a car bumper for support as she stumbled through the test before the officers allowed her to finish the test in private because she is a 'dignitary.'

She was booked into Los Angeles County jail just after 4am and was released without bail at around 1pm on Friday, according to her jail records.

Carrillo later apologized over the crash but did not address the allegations she was driving under the influence.

'As a public servant, I am aware that I must adhere to a higher standard that demands personal accountability for my conduct and I accept responsibility for my actions,' she said in a statement.

'I sincerely apologize, to my family, constituents, colleagues and staff for any actions of mine that have fallen short of that expectation. I intend to seek the necessary help and support.

'I intend to seek the necessary help and support. As I do so, I remain dedicated to my family, my constituents and the community that I grew-up in and am proud to represent.'

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She is due to appear in court on December 1.

The witness, whose car was struck by Carrillo, recalled the moment she slammed into the parked cars, describing it as a 'very loud, huge bang, and then heard like skidding.'

'There's crashes that happen right here all the time, so we knew right away that it was for sure a car crash,' he continued, adding that he and his friends looked out to find Carrillo still inside her crashed vehicle.

'As soon as we looked out the balcony, you could see her Audi was in the middle of the street, and airbags deployed, and she was in there and you could see her moving and stuff,' he continued.

'We walked out and asked if she was okay, she was hand gesturing like she was all good, thumbs up and stuff.

'As soon as she got out of the car and started talking to us, it was really clear to me, as a non-expert, that was she was intoxicated. You could smell alcohol. She was slurring her speech. She was very impaired.'

After Carrillo was allowed to finish her sobriety test away from any witnesses, the video captured one of the officers explaining that he let her do so because she is a politician.

'It was brought to my attention that this person is an elected official in the state senate,' the officer said.

'So sometimes, for people that are considered to be, for lack of a better term, dignitary, we allow them to do the investigation in a private area.

'It does not change the fact that she has been drinking. She has been involved in a crash.'

As a rising star in California's Democratic Party, Carrillo has been seen working with Governor Gavin Newsom on numerous events in recent years, including on a trip to El Salvador in 2019.

Ahead of her re-election last year, Newsom endorsed the 43-year-old as a 'tireless champion for working people, families, and safe COVID economic recovery efforts.'

Noting how he has 'worked closely with Wendy' on a number of issues, Newsom said Carrillo 'has a proven, progressive record' that he was proud to endorse.

Her arrest comes after two fellow California Democrats have also been arrested for drunk driving in the past six months.

In May, state Senator Dave Min was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and was booked into the Sacramento County jail.

Min later admitted his DUI misdemeanor arrest was 'irresponsible', and is now running for Congress.

His arrest was followed two months later by City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, 32, who was taken into custody in July for a second drunk driving offence.

Just weeks after convincing a judge to dismiss her previous DUI conviction from 2015, Cervantes was again arrested for driving under the influence.

The repeated boozy arrests led Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli to introduce a bill temporarily banning state lawmakers who have been convicted of a DUI to operate state pool cars while in Sacramento, reports the LA Times.

His bill was rejected by the Democrat-majority California legislature, however he has again spoken out to call for Carrillo to resign and to bar her from using state cars.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12710081/California-assembly-Wendy-Carrillo-sneezed-crash-los-angeles.html

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