TEXAS SENIOR, 18, BAGS 800-POUND RECORD ALLIGATOR : HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston-area high school senior has bagged a 14-foot, 800 pound alligator — the heaviest ever certified in Texas — on his first alligator hunt.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials say 18-year-old Braxton Bielski bagged the record gator last week at Choke Canyon State Park, about 90 miles south of San Antonio.
The agency says in a statement that Braxton shot the giant reptile after hooking it on a line using raw chicken as bait.
Bielski's father, Troy Bielski, won a Parks and Wildlife drawing for a five-day permit to hunt in the Daughtry Wildlife Management Area. The Houston police officer says his son had been dreaming of hunting alligators for years.
Parks and Wildlife says the alligator was between 30 and 50 years old.
ARIZ. WOMAN ACCUSED OF TRYING TO GIVE AWAY BABY: PHOENIX (AP) — A woman is facing a child abuse charge after police say she tried to give her baby to strangers outside a Phoenix convenience store.
Police spokesman Sgt. Tommy Thompson says officers were called to the store Wednesday evening to check on 36-year-old Rozenna Luna and her 6-month-old daughter.
Witnesses told officers that Luna was asking strangers if they wanted a free child.
Police say Luna had been drinking and smoking methamphetamine two days ago and had made no attempt to contact any safe haven locations, government agencies or family members for help.
Luna ended up calling police herself. They say she knew she would be taken to jail on outstanding misdemeanor warrants and would not have to take care of her daughter.
BEA ARTHUR TOPLESS PAINTING FETCHES $1.9M IN NYC: NEW YORK (AP) — A painting of actress Bea Arthur topless has sold for $1.9 million at a New York City auction.
The painting is by artist John Currin and is titled "Bea Arthur Naked." It sold at Christie's auction of postwar and contemporary art on Wednesday. It had been expected to bring in between $1.8 million and $2.5 million.
Christie's hasn't said who bought it.
The 1991 oil painting depicts the late television actress nude from the waist up. Christie's said Thursday the image was based on a photograph of her with her clothes on.
Arthur gained fame for her Emmy Award-winning roles in "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" in the 1970s and '80s. She died of cancer in 2009 at age 86.
JAIL FOR TYING KID TO CHAIR: ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — A central Pennsylvania woman will spend 60 days to two years in jail for hog-tying her 5-year-old grandson to a chair so she could go to a methadone clinic.
The Altoona Mirror reports 49-year-old Evelyn Himes, of Duncansville, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading no contest to endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.
Police charged Himes after the boy's preschool called county social workers after noticing a mark on his wrist. The boy told investigators he'd been tied down and investigators later determined Himes bound him with scarves. Himes claimed the boy was badly behaved and reminded the judge the court had given her custody of the boy.
Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva told Himes that the boy has been well-behaved since he was placed in foster care and called Himes "misguided."
EXHIBITION OF SECRETLY SHOT PHOTOS UPSETS NYERS: NEW YORK (AP) — Residents of a New York luxury apartment building are livid over an exhibition of photos secretly snapped through their apartment windows.
Photographer Arne Svenson pointed his camera at the oversized windows of the Tribeca (try-BEHK'-uh) building from his second-floor apartment across the street. The images show residents doing mundane things like napping, cleaning and putting children to bed. The photos don't reveal their faces.
They're on sale for up to $7,500 at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea.
Some of the residents are considering legal action. One said she recognized her daughter's bedroom.
Svenson says his neighbors were performing "on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised."
WASH. STATE WOMAN SPOTS STOLEN CAR IN DRIVE-THRU: KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — A Washington woman whose car was stolen from her apartment complex saw the stolen SUV hours later — in the drive-thru of the McDonald's restaurant where she works.
Virginia Maiden called police Tuesday after seeing her SUV in the drive-thru.
Officers arrested the driver, a 22-year-old Kennewick woman, at the restaurant.
POLICE: GA. WOMAN KILLED FATHER, LIVED WITH BODY: CANTON, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia woman has been charged with murder and concealing a death after police found her living with her father's dead body.
Cherokee County Sheriff's Lt. Jay Baker says authorities were performing a welfare check Tuesday and found that 77-year-old James Reece had been dead for several days.
Baker says Reece's daughter, Andrea Blanton, was his primary caregiver and failed to report his death although Reece was in an advanced state of decomposition.
The 45-year-old Blanton, of Ball Ground, was arrested and charged with concealing a death. She was later released on $11,200 bond.
Baker says an autopsy showed Reece died of strangulation. Blanton was arrested again Wednesday morning and charged with murder.
HEAD OF FORT CAMPBELL HARASSMENT PROGRAM ARRESTED: FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — The manager of the sexual harassment and assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post, authorities said Thursday.
Lt. Col. Darin Haas (HAHZ') turned himself in to police in Clarksville, Tenn., late Wednesday on charges of violating an order of protection, and stalking, authorities said Thursday.
Master Sgt. Pete Mayes, a spokesman for the massive Army post on the Tennessee-Kentucky line, said Haas was immediately removed as manager of a program meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault and encourage equal opportunity.
Haas, 42, and his ex-wife have orders of protection against each other, Mayes said. The two are involved in a child custody fight, Clarksville Police Sgt. Chuck Gill said.
