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Customer threw iguana at restaurant manager, police say
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uPAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a customer at an Ohio restaurant pulled out a turquoise iguana from under his shirt, swung it around and threw it at the manager.

Police say the Madison man walked into Perkins Restaurant in Painesville, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Cleveland, on Tuesday. He laid down in a booth, threw a menu at a waitress then threw the lizard at the manager who tried to talk to him.

Authorities did not say what provoked the attack.

Records show bond has been set at $10,000 for 49-year-old Arnold Teeter. He’s been charged with animal cruelty, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. It wasn’t clear whether he has a lawyer.

Police say the iguana they named “Copper” has a fractured leg.


u2 MISSISSIPPI MEN SAY THEY BEAT MAN IN VIDEOTAPED ATTACK: WAYNESBORO, Miss. (AP) — Two Mississippi men admit they took part in a beating captured on video and shared on social media.

WDAM-TV reports 32-year-old Landon McCaa and 28-year-old Tomas Sion Brown told Wayne County Justice Court Judge Charles Chapman on Wednesday that they assaulted an unnamed man.

McCaa says he attacked because he mistakenly believed the victim had insulted his family. McCaa says he was “drinking and out of control” and says he apologized before the victim left his house.

Wayne County Sheriff Jody Ashley says the victim was badly injured, underwent surgery and is recovering at home.

The judge set bails of $500,000 for each man on aggravated assault charges. Both remain jailed.


uFLORIDA MOTHER CHARGED AFTER 4-YEAR-OLD SON LEFT IN CAR DIES: MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida woman is charged with manslaughter after drinking and using drugs while her 14-month-old son was in a hot car. The boy eventually died from heat stroke.

Emily Hartman was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated manslaughter by neglect, as well as drug possession.

Online court records show Hartman was being held in jail without bond Wednesday. She was appointed a public defender, but the name of the lawyer wasn’t listed.

Police in Melbourne, Florida, say Hartman told detectives she had left her son in a car for four hours while she was inside a house getting cocaine and smoking marijuana. The affidavit also says she had been drinking at a bar and a friend’s place with her son in the car before that.


uCOLORADO CITY VOTES TO RENAME ‘SWASTIKA ACRES’ NEIGHBORHOOD: CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado city has voted to drop the name “Swastika Acres” from a subdivision.

KDVR-TV reports the Cherry Hills Village City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a name change to “Old Cherry Hills” to prevent future controversy.

The neighborhood in the Denver suburb was named Swastika Acres decades before the symbol was adopted by the Nazis.

Councilman Dan Sheldon spearheaded the change and says the name comes from the Denver Land Swastika Company that divided area land into plots near the turn of the 20th Century.

While the name cannot be found on road signs, it still appeared on real estate closing documents.

Sheldon says one woman opposed the change to preserve the historical value of the symbol, despite having lost family in the Holocaust.


uPINTEREST PRICES PUBLIC OFFERING AT $19 PER SHARE: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pinterest is pricing its shares at $19 for its initial public offering Thursday, putting it on track to raise more than $1.4 billion.

The digital scrapbooking and image search site said last week it expected to sell 75 million shares at a price between $15 and $17 each. The company will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PINS.

Pinterest had revenue of $756 million last year and a loss of $63 million. It has more than 250 million monthly users.

Pinterest and Zoom, also scheduled to go public Thursday, are the first tech companies to list their stock since the highly anticipated Lyft debut. Lyft shares are down more than 30 percent from their high in late March.


uEXPERIENCED DIVER RESCUED FROM TENNESSEE CAVE: JACKSON COUNTY, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say an experienced diver who was reported missing in a Tennessee cave has been found alive.

The Chattanooga Hamilton County Rescue Service posted on its Facebook page that the diver was brought out of the cave Wednesday night and was safe on the surface. Multiple rescue crews participated in the effort.

Jackson County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Derek Woolbright told news outlets that about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, a group of experienced divers reported that one of its members had not returned from a dive. He said they went back in to find him but could not.

Woolbright did not identify the man who went missing but said he is highly trained and had previously visited the Jackson County site.


uPOLICE: MARYLAND MAN SPREAD HIV TO 4 WOMEN HE MET ONLINE: FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Police say a Maryland man knowingly spread HIV to four women after meeting them on dating sites and apps.

The Frederick News-Post reported Tuesday that 34-year-old Rudolph Jericho Smith has been charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

He also faces counts of knowingly transferring or attempting to transfer HIV to another person. The charge is a misdemeanor under Maryland’s general health law.

Frederick police Lt. Kirk Henneberry said Smith was charged following a 21-month investigation. The time was needed to build the case.

He said detectives found alleged victims and scoured dating sites. They also filed requests for medical records.

Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith said police and prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person was aware they were HIV-positive before they can be charged.