COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio zoo's snake, which is replacing it's record-breaking mother, has been named Hanna after the zoo's celebrity zookeeper, Jack Hanna. "Hanna the snake was acquired last month from the same private breeder who had sold the zoo her mother, Fluffy. At 24 feet, Fluffy was the longest snake in captivity when she died in October of an apparent tumor," the Star Tribune said. "The zoo says a name-the-snake contest on Facebook awarded Hanna the most votes, slightly more than second-place, Fuzzy," CBS News said.
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MARTINSVILLE, Ind -- An Indiana man was arrested after mistakenly sending text messages about drugs he was trying to sell to a prosecutor, police said. "The Herald-Times of Bloomington reports that the 26-year-old Martinsville man sent messages last month to deputy prosecutor Courtney Swank on her department-issued cell phone," the Star Tribune said. "Police tell the newspaper the wording refers to oxycodone and other prescription drugs," the LA Times said.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Two teenage boys have been accused of stealing at least 17 calves while attempting to start their own dairy farm. "Authorities this week arrested a 19-year-old from Rothsay and a 16-year-old from Barnesville," the Kansas City Star said. "Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner says deputies received a tip that led them to 17 calves and eventually the teens. The calves are believed to have been stolen from three counties: Douglas, Stearns and Todd," the Star Tribune said.
Denver -- A Colorado man has invented a special kind of underwear, with a strategically placed fig leaf, the man says will get you through airport screenings with your dignity intact. "Jeff Buske says his invention uses a powdered metal that protects people's privacy when undergoing medical or security screenings," the Star Tribune said. "Buske of Las Vegas, Nev.-Rocky Flats Gear says the underwear's inserts are thin and conform to the body's contours, making it difficult to hide anything beneath them. The mix of tungsten and other metals do not set off metal detectors," CBS said.
Former Playboy Club bunny and Milwaukee police officer Laurie "Bambi" Bembenek convicted of murder, died Saturday of liver failure at a hospice care center in Portland, Oregon, her longtime attorney, Mary Woehrer said. "The prison escape of former Playboy Club bunny and Milwaukee police officer Laurie "Bambi" Bembenek popularized the phrase "Run Bambi Run" and seemed tailor-made for the TV movie it inspired," the MSNBC said. "But despite the fame garnered by her flight, Bembenek died having spent more than two decades insisting on her innocence but never fully clearing her name," the Star Tribune said.
HOUMA, La. -- A full-grown deer trashed a house after smashing through a glass door, a Louisiana family said. "The rampaging buck created chaos for close to a half hour Friday while trying to get out of the house in Houma, about 50 miles southwest of new Orleans," the Washington Post said. " It smashed belongings, upended furniture and chased the women and child inside before it was shot and killed by a deputy," the Star Tribune said.
TAMPA, Fla. - A Florida man shot at an alligator to save his dog, which had been dragged underwater in the alligator's jaws. "Tom Martino said he and his Jack Russell terrier were taking their afternoon walk along the Hillsborough River in Tampa on Thursday when he heard splashing -- the alligator had snatched the 15-pound dog off riverside rocks and pulled her into the water," MSNBC said. "Martino started shooting into the water around the alligator to scare it into releasing the 9-year-old dog. He performed CPR on the dog until it coughed up water and started breathing again," the Star Tribune said.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Anchorage man has been sentenced prison for robbing a bank and then fleeing the scene on a bicycle, which he crashed into a police car. "Christopher Todd Mayer of Anchorage was sentenced Friday to 6 1/2 years in federal prison," said WTOP. "Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle French says the 47-year-old man robbed a Wells Fargo branch bank in Anchorage on May 27 and took $1,731," the Star Tribune said.
Theodore C. Sorensen, assistant to President John F. Kennedey, died at the age of 82 on Sunday due to complications from a recent stroke. "Wife Gillian Sorensen says he died at noon at a New York hospital from complications of a stroke," said MSNBC. "He was best known for working with Kennedy on passages of soaring rhetoric, including the 1961 inaugural-address proclaiming that "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans" and challenging citizens: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." He drew on the Bible, the Gettysburg Address and the words of Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill as he helped hone and polish the speech," the Seattle Times said.
Pontiac, who invented the muscle car and defined a generation, is going out of business on Sunday. "The 84-year-old brand, moribund since General Motors decided to kill it last year as it collapsed into bankruptcy, had been in decline for years. It was undone by a combination of poor corporate strategy and changing driver tastes. On Oct. 31, GM's agreements with Pontiac dealers expire," MSNBC said. "At Pontiac's pinnacle, models like the GTO, Trans Am and Catalina 2+2 were packed with horsepower and sported colors like "Tiger Gold." Burt Reynolds and Sally Field fled the law in a Firebird Trans Am which raced through the 1970s hit movie "Smokey and the Bandit."," CBS said. Prior to GM's bankruptcy, Pontiac's sales had fallen from their peak in 1968 of nearly one million cars.
