Daily Dispatch News

On a cold Christmas night, an urgent plea from a frantic mother for the safe return of her son has flooded the internet. The teen has been missing for days and according to his mother, Cassidy Payton has mental issues. Lisa Folis says her son does not have medication and she fears he could be in danger. He was last seen leaving his aunt's midtown house in the 19-hundred block of Court Avenue two days ago. Folis says her son can't take care of himself and hopes someone knows where he is. She says you won't miss him, the 19-year-old could be carrying his teddy bear. Folis says emotionally, he's like a child. "He's 19, but he's a frightened child. He's a frightened child right now," says Folis. "He is 19 years old, he is an adult, but he's bi-polar and he's unmedicated. He's terrified." She says the 6'1" 200 pound teen refuses to take medication. In July, he came to Memphis and was living with his aunt and her...

Hardhat Jose Paulino breaks four ribs, but is 'lucky to be alive' after 8-story fall BY Kevin Deutsch and Douglas Feiden DAILY NEWS WRITERS Gabel, Pearl The hardhat who plunged from midtown scaffolding had one thought after miraculously cheating death - he would see and hold his precious family on Christmas. "I was hurting and in pain, but I knew I was still alive, and right then I knew I would see my wife and kids again," Jose Paulino told the Daily News Friday from his bed in St. Vincent's Hospital . The 29-year-old construction worker plummeted from a 16th- floor plank on Christmas Eve after it snapped beneath his feet - but survived when he landed with a horrifying thud on scaffolding eight floors below. "I took a step, and I was falling, falling, falling. ... It felt like it was happening to somebody else," Paulino said. "First I tried to hold on to something, to grab on to something. ... But I just kept falling and fall...

Singer Shemekia Copeland gets some help from a soldier singing 'Baghdad Daddy,' at Speicher Base in Tikrit, Iraq. Copeland was part of the 'Bluzapalooza' tour in Kuwait and Iraq -- an all-star troupe of American blues artists who traveled to various military bases in the region to entertain the troops. Photographer Joseph A. Rosen was along for the tour Click Here for More Photos

DARBY, Pa. - Police say a pastor from suburban Philadelphia fatally shot his son during a family gathering on Christmas Day. Police say Kirk Caldwell killed his 21-year-old son during a domestic dispute while more than a dozen people were at their Darby home on Friday. Darby Police Chief Robert Smythe says the son, Jordan Caldwell , was involved in a violent confrontation with a woman at the house. Smythe says the elder Caldwell intervened and fired a gun, hitting his son in the chest. Kirk Caldwell had not been charged as of Friday evening. There was no answer Saturday at the Darby Borough Police Department . A woman who answered the phone Saturday at Caldwell's home declined to comment. Caldwell is a 44-year-old pastor at End Times Harvest Mission for Christ in Philadelphia.

An Xbox marked the spot where a Bronx man stockpiled a treasure trove of pilfered electronics, police said. Jeremiah Gilliam, 22, was caught after playing a stolen game console online -- allowing cops in Pelham, where it was stolen, to trace the IP address to his grandmother's address, cops said. There, detectives found dozens of video games, laptops, and GPS devices believed to have been stolen from as many as 200 car break-ins and several home burglaries in Westchester County. Gilliam was already under investigation for 13 robberies of unlocked cars, Pelham Detective John Hynes said. Jeremiah Gilliam. A kid whose Xbox was stolen in one of the burglaries noticed that someone was playing online with his game system and told his parents, who reported it to police. "On the day of the burglary, the victim used another Xbox and saw his system was already online," Hynes said. "At the house, we found Xboxes, PlayStations, GPS units,...

By Michael S. Rosenwald “Here comes Leonard,” Mike Sykes said. Sykes is on the grill at a Waffle House in Frederick. Leonard Howard is a regular. Howard walks in, shivering. Christmas is one of the year's big days at Waffle Houses across the nation, as at IHOP and other places that offer respite from yet another big family meal at home. Sykes: “Scrambled or over easy, Leonard?” Howard: “Scrambled.” He takes his seat at a back corner table. His spot. Less than two minutes later, in front of him: scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast, and two sausage patties. Coffee, of course. Howard is 83 years old, but he doesn’t look it. “My wife died two years ago,” he said. “This is my family here.” Sykes: “Santa good to you this morning, Leonard?” Howard: “I’m too old for that stuff now.” Outside, in the parking lot, Daryl Hatten was waiting for his ex-wife to bring his teenage son to breakfast, as she had apparently promised. Hatten, hungry when he showed up an hour ago, ate wit...