PETA SEEKS CRIMINAL CHARGES IN IDITAROD DOG DEATH: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The asphyxiation death of a dog removed from the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has outraged animal rights activists who have long criticized the 1,000-mile race as cruel.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is urging Alaska prosecutors to file cruelty charges for those responsible for the death of 5-year-old Dorado, who died last week after being buried by drifting snow at a checkpoint during severe wind. Dorado was removed from the race March 11 because he was moving stiffly, according to a blog posted on the website for the Squid Acres Kennel run by the dog's owners.
"It's a horrifying death, and we feel it was totally preventable," PETA cruelty caseworker Kristin Simon said Tuesday.
ASIAN CARP SPAWNING AREAS WIDER THAN EXPECTED: TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Asian carp are reproducing in more places and under more varied conditions than experts had believed they could, yet another reason to worry about the greedy invader's potential to infest waterways and crowd out native species, scientists said Tuesday.
Several varieties of carp imported from Asia have migrated steadily northward in the Mississippi River and its tributaries since escaping from Southern fish farms and sewage treatment ponds in the 1970s. They've been spotted in more than two dozen states. Bighead and silver carp gobble enormous volumes of plankton, a crucial link in the aquatic food chain, while silver carp sometimes collide with boaters by hurtling from the water when startled.
Research based largely on data from their homeland has indicated the carp can spawn successfully only under the right circumstances, including temperatures of about 70 degrees and long stretches of continuously flowing water where fertilized eggs can drift while incubating. But a study led by Reuben Goforth of Purdue University has found their eggs in places that previously
1,000-YEAR-OLD CHINESE BOWL SELLS FOR OVER $2.22M: NEW YORK (AP) — A rare Chinese bowl bought at a tag sale for $3 has sold at a New York auction for more than $2.22 million.
The 1,000-year-old bowl was part of the opening session of Sotheby's fine Chinese ceramics and works of art auction Tuesday.
Sotheby's says it was sold to a London dealer for $2.225 million, far above the presale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.
The person who put the bowl up for auction bought it at a tag sale in 2007 and had it displayed in the living room for several years before becoming curious about its origins and having it examined.
The bowl is 5 inches in diameter, white in color and from the Northern Song Dynasty.
MICH. WOMAN, 75, CONVICTED OF MURDERING GRANDSON: PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A 75-year-old woman was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder for killing her teenage grandson last spring in her Detroit-area home, after jurors rejected her claim that she shot him six times in self-defense.
Sandra Layne cried quietly when she heard the verdict, which was delivered during the first full day of jury deliberations. She was also found guilty of using a firearm during a felony and likely faces at least 14 years in prison for the death of her grandson, Jonathan Hoffman.
POLICE: WHISTLE-AVERSE PA. WOMAN PARKS ON TRACKS: MONONGAHELA, Pa. (AP) — Police say a drunk and disorderly woman so dislikes train whistles that she parked her car on some southwestern Pennsylvania railroad tracks to stop trains from coming through town.
Monongahela police Chief Brian Tempest tells the (Washington) Observer-Reporter that 42-year-old Bridgett Dixon was "sick and tired of hearing the horn blowing" though, he noted, "she doesn't even live that close to the tracks."
Police found Dixon's car parked on the tracks, with the driver's door open and no keys in the ignition, about 11:30 Friday night. They found it after responding to a report of a woman screaming at a convenience store that her car was stuck on the tracks.
FORMER NBA STAR HAS NEW JOB AS CROSSING GUARD: SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Former NBA star Adrian Dantley spent years guarding opponents on the court. Now he's guarding schoolchildren as they cross the street.
Radio station WTOP (http://bit.ly/YlNvyo) reports that Dantley, a hall-of-famer and former star for the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons, started working as a crossing guard in September. He works an hour a day at Eastern Middle School and New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md.
Ths 6-foot-5 Dantley grew up in the area and says he took the job for the health care benefits and to have something to do. Montgomery County civil service records show he gets paid $14,685.50 a year. Dantley says he doesn't need the money.
He says he enjoys giving the young children high fives and encouragement.
'SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE' SINGER FRAN WARREN DIES: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fran Warren, whose 1947 recording of "A Sunday Kind of Love" was one of the classic hits of the big band era, has died.
Alan Eichler, a spokesman for the singer-actress, said Tuesday that Warren died March 4 of natural causes at her home in Brookfield, Conn. She was 87.
Warren's career spanned more than 50 years with hits that included the Tony Martin duet "I Said My Pajamas (and Put On My Prayers)," the Lisa Kirk duet "Dearie" and "It's Anybody's Heart." Her films roles included "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd."
She frequently appeared and performed on the talk shows of Johnny Carson, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin and Steve Allen.
Warren is survived by two daughters, a son-in-law and two nieces.
