Race in high heels for Hannah Montana tickets trips Conn. man collecting workers comp

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Prosecutors say a video shows a Connecticut correction officer running a 40-yard-dash in women’s clothing and high heels — at a time he had claimed he was too injured to work.
Garrett A. Dalton of Naugatuck has been charged with workers compensation fraud. He’s accused of taking part in a radio station’s contest for Hannah Montana concert tickets last year. Not only did he have to dress in drag but he had to carry an egg on a spoon.
Authorities were alerted after someone saw Dalton in a TV news report. Prosecutors say the 41-year-old collected more than $5,000 in workers’ compensation after he reported a work-related injury in June.
Court documents do not list an attorney for Dalton, and his phone number is unlisted. And no, he didn’t win the contest.

Baby rattlesnake stowed away in luggage bites Va. high school coach; man taken to hospital

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press Writer
McLEAN, Va. (AP) — A high school coach emptying his luggage after a team trip to South Carolina was bitten by a small rattlesnake that had somehow gotten into his bag, authorities said.
Andy Bacas was released Tuesday after an overnight hospital stay.
Bacas, a rowing coach at Yorktown High School in Arlington, told authorities he felt a sharp pain on his hand Monday when he reached into his luggage after returning from the road trip. He then saw the nearly foot-long snake and slammed the suitcase shut.
Fire and rescue workers took the suitcase outside, opened it and blasted the snake, a juvenile canebrake rattler, with a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher. The chemical froze the animal to death.
”The guy who responded had seen (the fire extinguisher technique) done on TV,“ Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Ben Barksdale said.
Bacas’ son, Peter, said the luggage had been left open on a porch during the trip. Barksdale said he had no information that the snake was deliberately put into the luggage.
Bob Myers, director of the American International Rattlesnake Museum in New Mexico, said it’s conceivable that a snake would crawl into luggage seeking warmth or shelter.
The venom from a canebrake rattlesnake can be particularly harmful, but a young snake is not usually large enough to deliver enough to be lethal, Myers said. Adult canebrakes can grow to 6 feet.
”There’s an old wives’ tale that says a baby rattlesnake bite is worse than an adult bite, but that’s just not true,“ Myers said.
Three or four people die each year from rattlesnake bites in the United States, out of perhaps 8,000 bites a year, Myers said.

Washington state child’s message in a bottle ends up in Alaska 21 years later

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE (AP) — Merle Brandell and his black lab Slapsey were beachcombing along the Bering Sea when he spied a plastic bottle among the Japanese glass floats he often finds along the shore of his tiny Alaskan fishing village.
He walked over and saw an envelope tucked inside. After slicing the bottle open, Brandell found a message from an elementary school student in a suburb of Seattle. The fact that the letter traveled 1,735 miles without any help from the U.S. postal service is unusual, but that’s only the beginning of the mystery.
About 21 years passed between the time Emily Hwaung put the message in a soda bottle and Merle Brandell picked it up on the beach.
”This letter is part of our science project to study oceans and learn about people in distant lands,“ she wrote. ”Please send the date and location of the bottle with your address. I will send you my picture and tell you when and where the bottle was placed in the ocean. Your friend, Emily Hwaung.“
Brandell, 34, a bear hunting guide and manager of a water plant, said many of the 70-plus residents of Nelson Lagoon were intrigued by his find. Beachcombing is a popular activity in remote western Alaska. Among the recent discoveries was a sail boat that washed onto shore last October.
”It’s kind of a sport. It keeps us occupied. It’s one of the pleasures of living here,“ Brandell said of the village reachable only by plane or boat that is too small to have its own store.
Brandell tried to track down the sender: a fourth grader from the North City School in the Shoreline School District.
No one answered when Brandell called the school in December so he sent the school district a handwritten letter, which eventually ended up on the desk of district spokesman Craig Degginger.
After some searching, Degginger discovered Emily Hwaung is now a 30-year-old accountant named Emily Shih and lives in Seattle. She was in the fourth grade during the 1986-87 school year at a school building that closed more than a year ago.
Shih said she was flabbergasted by the news and immediately shared it with her Kirkland co-workers.
”I don’t remember the project. It was so long ago. Elementary school is kind of foggy,“ Shih admitted during a recent interview. ”I’ve been getting a kick out of it for a month now.“

VW Beetle turned into police cruiser but won’t be catching criminals in high-speed chase

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Blount County’s newest police cruiser has been turning heads, but whether it could keep up in a high-speed chase seems unlikely.
Assistant Chief Deputy Archie Garner retrofitted a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle to add to the sheriff’s fleet of police interceptors, but with a top-end speed of about 70 mph, he’s not writing a lot of speeding tickets.
The ”bug-erceptor“ was seized in a DUI case and boasts a new paint job, sheriff’s decals and tags, a siren, radio, barred rear side windows, a side-mounted spotlight and police lights.
The car even has the same number, 53, as Herbie the Volkswagen race car in the movie ”The Love Bug.“
Garner said the car will be used mostly as a public relations tool for the department, making appearances in parades and at school events.

Michigan attorney general nixes free barbershop beer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — The owner of Jude’s Barbershops will continue offering haircuts and shaves to his customers, but no more free beer.
The Michigan attorney general’s office says Thomas Martin’s 11 shops in the Grand Rapids area may not hand out a brew with each cut because he needs a liquor license.
Martin says he was just continuing an old-fashioned complimentary service for his customers that started years ago.
Police had told him that handing out free beer violated local and state laws.

After 38 years, LA man to be reunited with stolen Mustang

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles man is getting his stolen Mustang back — 38 years after it was stolen.
The vehicle has an extra 300,000 miles and a different paint job, but Eugene Brakke’s 1965 Mustang is evidently running just fine.
Brakke reported the car stolen to Burbank police in May 1970.
One month later, a Long Beach teenager named Judy Smongesky received the car as a high school graduation gift from her father, who had bought it at a Bellflower used car dealer.
Smongesky, who now lives in San Diego, said Thursday she had been driving and maintaining the car for nearly four decades, and only learned that it had been stolen when she recently prepared to sell it. San Diego police verified the car was hot.
”It’s his car, even though he had it for four years and I had it for 38,“ Smongesky said. ”He seems like a real nice gentleman, though.“
Brakke found out Smongesky had twice rebuilt the engine and painted the Mustang from its old gold color to silver-blue.
”He wasn’t too happy with that,“ Smongesky said.
The pair planned to meet up to transfer the car soon.
”It was hard but it was the right thing to do,“ Smongesky said. ”I haven’t really cried yet, but when he drives it away, I think I’ll fall apart.“

Japan appoints its first cartoon ambassador

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) — Japan has created an unusual government post to promote animation, and named a perfect figure Wednesday to the position: a popular cartoon robot cat named Doraemon.
Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura appointed the cat an ”anime ambassador,“ handing a human-sized Doraemon doll an official certificate at an inauguration ceremony, along with dozens of ”dorayaki“ red bean pancakes — his favorite dessert — piled on a huge plate.
Komura told the doll, with a voice actress inside, that he hoped he would widely promote Japanese animated cartoons, or ”anime.“
”Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people’s understanding of Japan so they will become friends with Japan,“ Komura told the blue-and-white cat.
The appointment is part of Japan’s recent effort to harness the power of pop culture in diplomacy. Japan also created an International Manga Award last year under comic enthusiast former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who likened it to a ”Nobel Prize“ for an artist working abroad.
Manga, the name used for Japanese-syle comic books, often combine complex stories with drawing styles that differ from their overseas superhero counterparts, particularly in their emphasis on cuteness.
This year, the ministry plans to arrange showings of a Doraemon film in Singapore, China, Spain, France, and at other Japanese diplomatic missions around the world.
Doraemon, through voice actress Wasabi Mizuta, promised Komura that ”through my cartoons, I hope to convey to people abroad what ordinary Japanese people think, our lifestyles and what kind of future we want to build.“
Created by cartoonist Fujiko F. Fujio, Doraemon is a Japanese cultural icon and is popular around the world, especially in Asia. The robotic cat travels back in time from the 22nd century and uses gadgets such as a ”time machine“ and an ”anywhere door“ that come out of a fourth-dimensional pocket on his stomach to help his friends, allowing them to travel anywhere and to any time they wish.
Astro Boy, another cartoon icon, was named last November as ambassador for overseas safety.

California man gets 30 days in jail for taco scam posted in online video

By ANDREW DALTON
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who pretended to be a CEO complaining about his fast-food order in a taco scam was sentenced to 30 days in jail after authorities saw the prank in an online video.
Rialto police said it was an easy case to crack because the video, called ”How to Scam Del Taco“ and posted on YouTube.com, shows Robert Echeverria, 32, calling the restaurant about 50 miles east of Los Angeles on Feb. 19.
In a friendly tone he claims to be a CEO named ”Robert Kennedy“ who has already spoken to the store’s manager and corporate office about some unwanted sour cream and the lack of a receipt in a previous order.
”I love your guys’ tacos,“ he said.
One of his two 18-year-old co-stars is later shown walking into the restaurant and claiming the food. The video ends with the three men feasting and laughing.
Echeverria even provided a pair of personal phone numbers in the video, Rialto police Lt. Joe Cirilo said.
A Rialto resident saw the video online last month and called police, authorities said.
On Tuesday, Echeverria pleaded guilty to misdemeanor burglary and received a sentence of 30 days in jail, three years’ probation and one special condition: a ban from the Rialto Del Taco.
”I tried to get him to stay away from all Del Tacos, but the judge said just the one,“ Deputy District Attorney Doug Schaller said.
Schaller said the two teens can expect a similar plea deal, most likely minus the jail time.

Naked man accused of causing thousands in damage to Pennsylvania hotel and grocery store

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — A hotel and grocery store are assessing the damage after a naked man ran amok and allegedly did thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.
West Lampeter Township police said they were dispatched to the Willow Valley Resort, and later Darrenkamp’s Market, on Friday amid reports of a nude man on a rampage.
Some office space at the resort was trashed, and a forklift was driven into an interior wall, also damaging an overhead sewer pipe, authorities said.
Police said the suspect, whom they identified as Nicholas Hadzick, 28, of Freeland, then crossed the street and entered Darrenkamp’s in the Willow Valley Shopping Center, causing more destruction.
Joe Darrenkamp, company president, said Hadzick threw chairs and tossed a 300-pound pizza oven to the floor, as well as three scales, valued at about $7,000 each. Also damaged was a $90,000 meat-wrapping machine, several soda coolers and the windshield of a delivery truck.
The incident was captured on the market’s surveillance cameras, Darrenkamp said. He estimated the cost of the damage at about $40,000.
Police charged Hadzick, who had been a guest at the resort, with risking a catastrophe, criminal mischief, open lewdness, public drunkenness and related counts. He was being held on $200,000 bail.
Telephone messages left at three phone listings for a Nicholas Hadzick in the Freeland area were not returned.

Sheriff in Nevada town reminds Old West re-enactors they should be sober, guns empty

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (AP) — History re-enactors posing as Old West gunslingers here need to follow some modern rules, the sheriff says: Guns and alcohol don’t mix.
A Storey County ordinance prohibits alcohol consumption by history re-enactors wearing a gun, but Sheriff Jim Miller said he’s going to increase enforcement of the ordinance because some people have abused it.
”They want to drink and carry a gun and look like cowboys,“ Miller said. ”But you can see how easy that would be for someone drinking to accidentally put a live round in there and hurt someone.“
Under a program sponsored by the Virginia City Convention and Tourism Authority, volunteers dress in period costumes, including six-guns, and pose for photographs for tourists each summer.
Joe Curtis, a member of the authority board, said stricter enforcement comes after several people with felony convictions showed up in town dressed as gunslingers.
”If you have one of these guns and you have real ammunition, the potential for accidents is great,“ Curtis said.
The ordinance in this former mining town about 25 miles south of Reno requires gunfighter performers and other re-enactors to obtain a permit from the sheriff’s office that includes a background check.
The weapon must be holstered and must remain empty of all ammunition at all times, unless someone is directly participating in a scheduled event. A group called the Virginia City Outlaws performs gunfights in an outdoor theater during the summer.

Surprise! Michigan girl opens her birthday present and finds her soldier stepdad hiding inside

SANFORD, Mich. (AP) — At her seventh birthday party, Amber Birdsall thought the huge gift box wrapped in pink paper likely hid a pair of bicycles.
She was wrong. Inside was something she wanted even more — her stepfather, a soldier who had been deployed overseas.
”This is way better than bikes,“ Amber said.
The surprise began a few weeks ago when Amber told her inquiring mother that all she wanted for her birthday was to have her stepfather return home from serving 10 months in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Her mother, Trisha Johnson, 34, relayed Amber’s wish to her 39-year-old husband the same day that the girl expressed it. Army Spc. Glenn Johnson immediately started on the paperwork, not expecting his request for a leave to be granted because he is scheduled to come home for good in June.
Much to their surprise, his request for more than a week of leave was granted.
The soldier’s flight arrived in Flint, Mich., early Sunday afternoon and he was whisked away to Northern Lanes Recreation, a bowling alley in Sanford where his stepdaughter’s birthday party was taking place.
Northern Lanes employees were in on the ruse and kept him hidden in the bar.
When Amber and her 9-year-old sister, Kathy Birdsall, opened a colorfully wrapped refrigerator box, Glenn Johnson was inside.
In addition to spending a lot of time at home with his family, Glenn Johnson and his wife planned a late celebration of their five-year wedding anniversary, which was on Valentine’s Day.
”I told her she needs to get a baby sitter and a new outfit,“ he said. ”I’ll take care of the rest.“

After St. Patrick’s Day comes traditional Bag Day at Irish pub in Atlantic City

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Paul Murphy came all the way from Glasgow, Scotland, to stand against the back wall of The Irish Pub with a pint in his hand and a paper bag on his head.
He did not stand out in the least at the bar, which was packed Tuesday afternoon with people wearing brightly decorated paper bags atop their heads, for this was Bag Day, the second-greatest day of the year at The Irish Pub.
Each March 18, the day after St. Patrick’s Day, people come from far and near to jam the joint, most wearing some sort of bag fashioned into a hat atop their head. The tradition dates back 24 years to a group of exhausted waitresses and casino workers who realized they had worked through the entire night and missed St. Paddy’s Day.
”We said, ’We didn’t have too much fun on St. Patrick’s Day; let’s start our own holiday,“’ said Cathy Burke, who owns the pub. ”The bartender had just brought out a pile of bags that they use behind the bar, and we put some on our heads and said, ’We declare today Bag Day, the official holiday of The Irish Pub and anyone who has to work on St. Patrick’s Day.“’
That day, the staff met people at the door and told them they couldn’t enter unless they wore a bag on their heads, handing them out to the slightly startled patrons. As the years went by, people started bringing their own bags, many richly painted and decorated.
Rich Crofton drove 40 miles from Williamstown to wear a white bag bedecked with shamrocks, drawings of two sudsy mugs, and the words ”Beer Me, I’m Irish“ on his hat.
”It’s a chance to let your hair down a little bit,’ he said.
His friend Karen Peacock, also of Williamstown, said people come year after year to see friends they made at Bag Day. She had the same take on the origin of the name as did most of those interviewed at the bar.
”Because you’re still in the bag after St. Patrick’s Day,“ she laughed between sips of a Bloody Mary. ”It’s an excuse to have some hair of the dog.“
Each year, Lois Werth of nearby Margate comes to Bag Day for the buzz, in more ways than one. She leads a group of revelers who call themselves ”The Bees,“ all wearing bag hats with a bee motif.
One was shaped like a giant marijuana cigarette (a ”doo-bee“); Werth’s was adorned with a list of things you can’t do around her, including the admonition, ”Do Not Pet Me; I’m Working.“ She is a ”don’t-bee.“
A friend of Werth’s had a high-heeled shoe atop his hat; he was a ”shoe-bee,“ in honor of the derogatory term that residents of the southern New Jersey shore used for day trippers to the area, who were said to carry their lunch to the beach in shoe boxes.
”You meet so many interesting people here on Bag Day,“ she said. ”It’s not like a typical drinking night. People come from all over for this.“
Revelers wore hats shaped like a Bishop’s miter, a boat, a pirate hat, a crown, a hippie headband, the Wicked Witch of the West, a Dalmatian puppy, and one adorned with cut-outs of centerfold models.
Derek Berkett, who traveled about 50 miles from Bellmawr to help hold up the back wall Tuesday afternoon, summed up the appeal of Bag Day.
”You can wear a paper bag on your head and fit in with everyone else in the room,“ he said. ”When else can you do that?“

Swarm of bees closes California highway after truck carrying the insects flips over

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Millions of swarming honey bees are on the loose after a truck carrying crates of the insects flipped over on a California highway.
The California Highway Patrol says 8-to-12 million bees escaped Sunday from the crates in which they were stored and swarmed over an area of Highway 99 and stung officers, firefighters and tow truck drivers trying to clear the accident.
CHP Officer Michael Bradley says a tractor trailer flipped over while entering the highway on its way to Yakima, Wash. The flatbed was carrying bee crates each filled with up to 30,000 bees.
Bradley says several beekeepers driving by the accident stopped to assist in the bee wrangling.
The bees had been used in the San Joaquin Valley to pollinate crops.

NYC businessman sues club, claiming stripper injured him with shoe during lap dance

NEW YORK (AP) — A businessman claims in a lawsuit that he was injured when a stripper giving him a lap dance swiveled and smacked him in the face with the heel of her shoe.
Stephen Chang, a securities trader, said in court papers filed Friday that he was at the Hot Lap Dance Club near Madison Square Garden and was getting a paid lap dance when the accident occurred early Nov. 2, 2007.
According to the lawsuit, as the dancer swung around, the heel of her shoe hit him in the eye, causing him ”serious injuries.“
A man who identified himself as the manager of the Hot Lap Dance Club said he was unaware of the accident or the state Supreme Court lawsuit. The club’s lawyer, Stephen Ateshoglou, did not immediately return a call.
On its Web site, the club describes itself as the ”Playboy Mansion of Manhattan party lofts.“ The site says admission is $50 plus a one-time club membership fee of $10 for newcomers. Lap dances cost around $40, plus admission, according to the Web site.

In Mexico, underpass collision cancels 800-pound man’s date

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) — When Manuel Uribe went out on a date, he made all the necessary arrangements: a forklift to carry him out of the house and a flatbed tow truck big enough to haul the formerly half-ton man and his bed to a party.
But even the open road wasn’t big enough to handle Uribe’s dream of celebrating a budding romance and his success in losing about 440 pounds.
Uribe was halfway to a picnic near his Monterrey-area home on Sunday when one of the posts holding a sun-shielding tarp over his bed hit an overpass.
Uribe’s blood pressure dropped so much his doctors advised him not to go on and the celebration — being documented by about two dozen photographers and reporters from around the world — was canceled.
”We were going to celebrate that I’ve been losing weight for two years and that it was my girlfriend’s birthday,“ Uribe said in a telephone interview. ”The saddest part was that I couldn’t fulfill my dream of taking my girlfriend out to eat.“
Uribe says that after losing weight on a high-protein diet he started two years ago, he’s down to about 800 pounds.
Last year, Uribe left his house for the first time in five years. Six people pushed his iron bed on wheels out to the street as a mariachi band played and a crowd gathered to see the man who once weighed 1,235 pounds).
At the time, the 42-year-old mechanic rode through the streets of his native San Nicolas de los Garza to enjoy the sun and wave to neighbors.
Uribe weighed more than 250 pounds as an adolescent, and he just kept growing.
Since the summer of 2002, Uribe has been bedridden, relying on his mother and friends to feed and clean him. He drew worldwide attention when he pleaded for help on national television in January 2006.
Uribe says despite the setback, he still hopes to go out with his girlfriend on June 11, when he will turn 43.
”We’ll just have to plan it better,“ he said.
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On the Net:
Manuel Uribe’s website: http://www.manueluribe.com (Spanish only)

Ex-drug officer turned DVD pitchman for marijuana is running for Congress in Texas

DALLAS (AP) — A former narcotics officer who advocates the legalization of drugs has a new career goal — congressman.
Barry Cooper is running as a Libertarian candidate in the 31st Congressional District in Central Texas. He faces Republican incumbent John Carter and Democrat Brian P. Ruiz, a consultant.
None of the three has an opponent in Tuesday’s primary.
Cooper, a police officer in several Texas towns, became a successful narcotics officer after joining the Permian Basin Drug Task Force, a regional group in West Texas.
Cooper, 38, said he took part in 800 drug busts, and seized more than 50 vehicles and $500,000 in cash and assets.
However, he soured on his former profession and now advocates the legalization of drugs, saying that would mean addicts could receive better treatment and drug-related crimes would decrease.
Cooper said laws prohibiting the growing, selling and consumption of drugs, marijuana in particular, are misguided.
”Americans are not going to stop growing it, they’re not going to stop buying it, they’re not going to stop smoking it, even if you continue to put them in jail,“ Cooper said.
He has been selling tips on marijuana use. His latest DVD, ”Never Get Raided,“ shows how to buy, sell and grow pot without going to jail, and how to identify undercover officers.

Arkansas feline down to 7 lives after surviving tornado and fire

CLINTON, Ark. (AP) — Charlie Brown is down to seven lives.
Donna and Danny Pistole’s black-and-white cat survived a February tornado that destroyed the family’s mobile home, coming out of nearby woods skittish but no worse for wear. However, the cat took up refuge in a large pile of debris from the storm that the Pistoles set afire last Sunday while cleaning up their property.
Thursday, Donna Pistole followed Charlie Brown’s weak meows and found him stuck in briars. His paws and nose were scorched, his eyes matted shut and his coat singed a dingy yellow — but he was alive.
That night, Charlie Brown underwent an exam by veterinarian Doug Mays.
”He smells like an old, scorched wool blanket,“ Mays said. ”His feet pads are peeling off. But they’ll heal. I think he’ll be OK.“
The Pistoles sought shelter in a storm cellar during the tornado. Donna Pistole took one of their cats, Bubby, but couldn’t find Charlie Brown and fellow feline Sanbo.
Sanbo is still missing.
”I think the storm got him because we haven’t seen him since the storm,“ Danny Pistole said. ”Two’s enough, I guess.“

Leap Day cash giveaway promo turns into free-for-all at park in Manhattan

NEW YORK (AP) — Even giving away something for free can turn into a hassle in New York.
A video-sharing Web site set out to observe Leap Day by handing out prizes worth up to $29 on Feb. 29 outside Union Square Park.
As the clocked toward the event’s scheduled time — 2:29 p.m. — people shouting ”Make it rain!“ and ”Give me my money!“ trampled one another and mobbed the costumed representatives of CashTomato.com
Some people wrested bags of cash-stuffed envelopes and other items from the CashTomato workers, said Jason Buzi, who identified himself as the company’s senior vice president.
The prize givers weren’t the only ones who were overwhelmed.
”Before I knew it, I was on the floor“ and under a pile of people, said Anabel DeJesus, 17. She left without any prize. ”It’s not worth it.“
Police didn’t have any information Saturday on whether anyone was injured or arrested.
Buzi said CashTomato has staged relatively uneventful giveaways in other cities, and he was startled by the Manhattan mayhem.
”It turned out to be a lot of aggressive people,“ he said. ”Maybe next time, I would plan this better.“
———
On the Net:
CashTomato: http://www.cashtomato.com/

Washington state detectives say man asked friend to shoot him in the arm so he could skip work

PASCO, Wash. (AP) — What happened to faking a cough?
Sheriff’s detectives in Franklin County, Wash., say a man had his friend shoot him in the shoulder so he wouldn’t have to go to work.
When he first spoke with deputies, Daniel Kuch (KOOCH) told them he’d been the victim of a drive-by shooting while he was jogging Thursday. But detectives told KONA radio that Kuch later acknowledged that he asked his friend to shoot him so he could get some time off work and avoid a drug test.
The friend has been arrested for investigation of reckless endangerment. Kuch is expected to be charged with false reporting.
Detectives declined to say where Kuch works, or whether he still has a job. It wasn’t known if he had obtained a lawyer.

NYC childhood pals who met up online years later linked by ‘lifeline’ after kidney transplant

NEW YORK (AP) — Two grade-school friends from New York City who are now connected by more than shared memories are recovering after one gave the other a kidney.
Recipient Ricardo Manier called donor Karl Celestin’s gift ”a lifeline“ at a news conference Friday. It came less than two weeks after the surgery at a Manhattan hospital.
The 21-year-old Manier has been hospitalized repeatedly with a kidney-scarring disease since he was 5. The illness forced him to put his premedical studies on hold last June.
Celestin is studying for a medical degree in the Dominican Republic. Manier hopes to join him.
The two were classmates at Holy Family School in Queens. They reconnected last year through the social networking Web site Facebook.

Leap Day redux: Wis. woman born on Leap Day welcomes grandchild who arrived on same day

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — It was the perfect gift for someone born on Feb. 29 — a Leap Day grandchild.
As Julie Austin of Galesville prepared to observe her Leap Year birthday on Friday, she was hoping to share the special day with the latest addition to her family.
And that’s what happened when her daughter, Melissa Boudreau, gave birth to a girl at 3:23 a.m. at Franciscan Skemp Medical Center. Adilyne Rejoyce weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20 inches long.
”I’m so thrilled,“ said Austin, who was born Feb. 29, 1956. ”I never thought we’d have two Leap Day babies in our family, and to have a granddaughter on my birthday is so special.“
Feb. 29 only comes around every four years as a way of keeping the calendar in synch with the seasonal or astronomical year.