NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of young dancers in white tutus and tightly coiffed hair gathered in New York’s Plaza Hotel on Wednesday to break the world record for dancing on pointe in one place. The spectacle was organized by Youth America Grand Prix, a ballet scholarship program that is celebrating its 25th anniversary with […]
An escaped mountain goat that somehow got stuck under a Kansas City bridge has survived a rocky rescue effort and now may be reunited with the owners who suspect he was stolen from their farm two months ago. “It’s the story that captured the hearts of Kansas City,” said Tori Fugate, of the KC Pet […]
MARSHALL, Mich. (AP) — An animal a Michigan hunter thought was a big coyote when he shot it in January has been determined to be a gray wolf, the first time the species has been found in southern Michigan in more than a century, wildlife officials say. The hunter shot the wolf in Calhoun County, […]
HARPER WOODS, Mich. (AP) — A dog missing in California since the summer turned up more than 2,000 miles away in Michigan. Police in Harper Woods, a Detroit suburb, responded to a call about a stray dog last week, picked up the terrier mix and contacted an animal welfare group. Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society […]
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — It rained marshmallows at a suburban Detroit park on Friday as children raced to snatch up thousands of the gooey treats being dropped from a helicopter. The annual Great Marshmallow Drop took place at Catalpa Oaks County Park in Southfield, hosted by Oakland County Parks. Hundreds of children waved and cheered […]
COOLIDGE, Ariz. (AP) — It literally stinks that visitors to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in south-central Arizona might not be able to use the attraction’s picnic area until May. Monument officials announced Wednesday that the picnic area will be closed from March 28 through April 30 due to the density of an invasive and […]
FRANKLINVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Firefighters in southern New Jersey came to the rescue of a dog who got stuck in a spare tire. The Franklinville Volunteer Fire Company crew found Daisy, an 11-month-old yellow Labrador, when they responded to a Franklin Township home last Thursday. Her neck was deep in the middle of the tire […]
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman allegedly found a lucrative quirk at a gas station pump — double-swipe the rewards card and get free gas! Unfortunately for her, you can’t do that. The 45-year-old woman was arrested March 6 and faces felony theft charges accusing her of a crime that cost the gas station […]
ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — A rare calf born with two faces — four eyes, two noses, two mouths and two ears — continued to flourish Thursday, eight days after its birth at a southwest Louisiana farm. The owners of Breaux Farms LLC in Cossinade, a community about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Baton Rouge, […]
Donna Lindstrom was lying in bed and looking at her phone Wednesday morning when she heard a loud bang that rattled her 19th-century house in the central Connecticut town of East Hampton. Soon, the 66-year-old retired delivery driver and dozens of other town residents were on social media, discussing the latest occurrence of strange explosive […]
BABYLON, N.Y. (AP) — Four people were charged Wednesday with concealing a human corpse and tampering with evidence in connection with the discovery of body parts in parks on Long Island. The four — Amanda Wallace, 40, Jeffrey Mackey, 38, Steven Brown, 44, all of Amityville, and Alexis Nieves, 33, who police said is homeless […]
BOILING SPRING LAKES, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina have obtained arrest warrants for two people in a poaching case involving hundreds of Venus flytraps, which grow naturally in the eastern part of the state. Officers with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission obtained arrest warrants for two people accused of stealing nearly 600 […]
CLEVELAND (AP) — Drivers on an Ohio interstate came upon an unusual traffic hazard over the weekend — a pair of police horses trotting against traffic on the highway. The two animals on the lam caused an unusual traffic jam Saturday afternoon as they wove through slowing traffic and then stopped it on Interstate 90 […]
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — They rose up by the dozens from across Florida, caricatured competitors in tank tops and cutoff shorts, for a showdown that treats evading police and wrestling over beer like Olympic sports. Promoted as “the most insane athletic showdown on Earth,” the Florida Man Games poke fun at the state’s reputation […]
NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — Plunging into a frozen lake and swimming laps may not be everyone’s good time but for winter swimmers who return year after year to a northern Vermont lake near the Canadian border, there’s nothing better. The 10th annual Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival kicked off Friday with the 200-meter (218-yard) freestyle race […]
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York City man who admitted to smuggling three Burmese pythons in his pants through a U.S.-Canadian border crossing was sentenced Wednesday to a year of probation and fined $5,000, federal prosecutors said. Calvin Bautista, 38, crossed into northern New York with the hidden snakes on a bus from Montreal […]
BOSTON (AP) — A U.S. Customs and Border Protection dog sniffed out something unusual in luggage from a traveler returning from Africa — mummified monkeys. The passenger returning from a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that the luggage contained dried fish, but an inspection at Boston Logan Airport revealed dead and dehydrated […]
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge who sent more than 500 texts to her bailiff during a murder trial will resign, according to a court filing. In a proposed settlement agreement filed Thursday with the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary, District Judge Traci Soderstrom agreed to resign on Friday and never again seek a […]
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A wayward kangaroo was corralled safely by sheriff’s deputies Thursday after it was spotted hopping around the pool area of a Florida apartment complex. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released video and still photos of the kangaroo, including some footage shot from a helicopter. The agency also released audio of a […]
BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) — An inert rocket of the type used to carry a nuclear warhead has been found in the garage of a home of a deceased resident in Washington state, police said. Bellevue police responded Thursday to a report of a military-grade rocket in the garage of a home in the city across […]
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring Friday at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, the scene of the largest and best-known Groundhog Day celebration in the United States. The annual event is a tongue-in-cheek ritual in which Phil’s handlers, members of a club with roots in the late 19th century, reveal whether the […]
New York (AP) — This New York love story begins with a criminal act of sabotage. Under cover of darkness a year ago Friday, someone breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. Once inside, they cut a hole through a steel mesh cage, freeing a majestic Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco who […]
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A woman fell into a dumpster while throwing out her garbage and was later rescued from a trash truck that had compacted the contents while she was inside, fire department officials in New Hampshire said. Luckily, neighbors heard her screams and the trash compartment was equipped with a camera. The driver […]
KUTZTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The spotlight will be on Gobbler’s Knob in western Pennsylvania early Friday morning, when handlers of a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil will announce whether he saw his own shadow and predicts there’ll be six more weeks of winter — or didn’t, which signals an early spring. Thousands are expected to attend […]