Gun advocacy group tours Idaho zoo while armed

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho members of a group that advocates for the right to openly carry handguns in public are turning heads by touring Zoo Boise while packing guns on their hips.
Ten members of OpenCarry.org were allowed into the zoo Saturday after some initial confusion at the entrance about whether it was legal to bring an unconcealed handgun inside.
Group member Carol Schultz of Nampa says: "Coming to the zoo was something we could do together, like any family would."
Schultz says she’s never without her handgun that she keeps in a holster attached to a heart-studded belt.
Zoo visitor Alex Lundgren of Boise questioned the group’s decision to bring firearms.
He says: "Legal and appropriate are two different things."

Woman attacked by kangaroo saved by pet dog

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — An elderly woman was attacked by a large kangaroo on a farm in Australia and was lucky to be alive after a pet dog leapt to her aid, her son said Saturday.
The 6-foot-5-inch kangaroo lunged without warning at 65-year-old Rosemary Neal as she went to check on some horses in a paddock on the property near Mudgee, 160 miles northwest of Sydney on Friday, son Darren Neal said.
The kangaroo "just jumped up and launched straight at her," Darren Neal said. "He hit her once and she just dropped and rolled. My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off.
"It wasn’t for the dog she’d probably be dead."
Rosemary Neal was hospitalized for for deep cuts to her face, hands and back and a concussion, he said.
Kangaroos are widespread across Australia and there are dozens of species in the family, ranging from tiny, 17-ounce potoroos to Red Kangaroos, the world’s largest marsupial that can grow past 6 feet tall and weigh more than 200 pounds.
Most species are not considered aggressive toward humans, and attacks are extremely rare. But males fight each other for mates, rearing up on their tails to scratch at the soft belly flesh of their rivals with the powerful legs they more commenly use for their trademark leaps.
Darren Neal said mobs of kangaroos had become common on their farm and his mother thought nothing of walking through them in the paddock. Usually, they just jump away.
"My mum is 65 years old and about five-and-a-half foot," he said. "Her whole body is sore where she has dropped to the ground."

Man robbed buying drugs calls cops, is arrested

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped charges filed against an East Hartford man who called police to report he had been robbed during a drug deal.
Max Minnefield called police Monday to report that he had paid a man and a woman $8 for some crack cocaine that he never received.
Police charged him with criminal attempt to commit possession of narcotics.
During his arraignment Tuesday, Judge Bradford Ward asked Minnefield, "Did you really think the police were going to go after the people?" He added that his question was rhetorical.
Laura Weslund, Minnefield’s public defender says the state made the right decision to dismiss the charges, because no drugs were found.

Man accused of faking heart attacks to avoid bills

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A 52-year-old Milwaukee-area man has been accused of faking heart attacks to avoid paying restaurant bills and cab fares.
Police say the Waukesha (WAWK’-uh-shaw) man took a cab to a mall Monday and pretended to have a heart attack. The cab driver left unpaid.
Authorities say the man then ran up a $23 bill when he had a steak dinner at Applebee’s. He again pretended to have a heart attack.
This time the fire department took him to a hospital. A doctor there recognized the man as having pulled the same stunt in the past few weeks.
He was charged Thursday with defrauding a restaurant as a habitual criminal. He could get up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Man out-spits father, claims pit-spitting title

EAU CLAIRE, Mich. (AP) — Brian "Young Gun" Krause has out-spit his father to claim his seventh championship at the International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship.
Krause’s winning spit on Saturday was 56 feet, 7½ inches.
That’s 6½ inches better than his father, the second-place finisher and defending champion, 54-year-old Rick "Pellet Gun" Krause of Tuba City, Ariz., who spit 56 feet, 1 inch.
Thirty-year-old Brian Krause, of Dimondale, currently holds the Guinness World Record after spitting a pit 93 feet, 6½ inches in 2003.
Amanda Jennings of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the first woman to place in the top three, did not qualify for championship competition but retained her title as women’s champion with a spit of 43 feet, 11 inches.

LA reservoir covered with balls to protect water

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of shimmering black plastic balls were dumped into one of the city’s last open-air reservoirs to prevent a sunlight-fueled chemical reaction that can harm the water supply.
Workers on Monday unleashed 400,000 of the hollow, 4-inch "shade balls" down a slope to cover the surface of the Ivanhoe Reservoir, which provides water to parts of downtown, central and south Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power drained two of its six remaining open-air reservoirs because a rare sunlight-and-chlorine reaction tainted the water with bromate, a cancer-causing chemical. The amounts were small and didn’t violate federal water regulations, but the water was dumped as a precaution.
The plastic spheres are "a cost effective method of creating shade without elaborate construction, parts, labor or maintenance," the department said in a statement.
The balls are a temporary fix while the city completes an underground water storage project to replace the open-air reservoirs within several years.

Pa. man walks 25 miles to court for DUI sentencing

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — A man facing sentencing on a drunken-driving conviction couldn’t get a ride to court. So he start walking.
And walking.
Stephen Shoemaker was scheduled to appear at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday for sentencing.
Shoemaker, 33, of Shippensburg, doesn’t have a car or driver’s license. So he started hoofing it to the courthouse at dawn. He kept walking for about 25 miles in 90-plus-degree heat.
Shoemaker arrived about 3:30 p.m. — after a detour to a hospital, where he was treated for dehydration.
Judge Edward Guido had issued an arrest warrant when Shoemaker failed to appear. But he agreed to defer sentencing until July. Guido said he hesitated only because "that means he’ll have to walk back to Shippensburg."
Deputy Public Defender Anthony Adams volunteered to give Shoemaker a ride home.