TRAVIS SUES TO BLOCK DWI PATROL CAR VIDEO RELEASE: AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Country music star Randy Travis has filed a lawsuit to prevent the release of patrol car video of his 2012 drunken-driving arrest in North Texas.
The Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday that the lawsuit names the Texas Department of Public Safety and the attorney general's office.
A judge originally granted a defense request to block the video from being released. But media groups requested the video from DPS, and the attorney general's office ruled this month that the judge didn't have discretion to bar the video's release.
Prosecutors have said the singer was found naked by a road after crashing his Pontiac Trans Am. He pleaded guilty in January to driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to two years' probation.
FUNERAL HOME HAS BICYCLE HEARSE FOR 1 LAST RIDE: EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon funeral home in Eugene offers natural burials where the ride to the person's final resting place is on the back of a three-wheeled bicycle.
Sunset Hills Cemetery and Funeral Home director Wade Lind says he got the idea from bikers and designed the pedal-powered hearse himself. It has an electric motor to give him a little help hauling the casket.
Lind has bicycled five bodies so far and there's a waiting list for the service. The ride and a bamboo casket that looks like a basket costs about $3,500.
GIRL GETS SURPRISE REUNION WITH DAD AT RAYS GAME: ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Tampa Bay area girl throwing the first pitch at a Rays game got a big surprise from her father, who had been stationed in Afghanistan for the past two years.
Before throwing the pitch Thursday, 9-year-old Alayna Adams got to watch a pre-recorded video of her father, Army Lt. Col. Will Adams, on the field's video screen.
After she tossed the ball toward home plate, the catcher removed his mask, revealing himself to be her dad.
Alayna ran toward her father, and the two embraced.
Adams was expected to return home Monday, but the Rays and United Services Organization arranged the surprise early arrival. Adams' wife Dana, who was at the game with their daughter, was also surprised.
BIRTH OF ANTEATER HAS CONN. ZOO STAFF PUZZLED: GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) — An anteater has given birth at a Connecticut conservation center, prompting officials there to wonder how the mother conceived.
Officials at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center said they had removed the only male anteater from the enclosure in August, long before the six-month gestation period for baby Archie would have begun.
They feared that male, Alf, would kill another baby in the pen.
That left the mother Armani, and the young female, Alice, in the enclosure.
But little Archie was born in April anyway.
Marcella Leone, founder and director of the conservation center, suspects this might be a rare case of delayed implantation, when fertilized eggs remain dormant in the uterus for a period of time.
VA. POSTAL OFFICIAL SENTENCED FOR TAKING BRIBES: ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former U.S. Postal Service official has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for accepting at least $40,000 in bribes to help a Maryland company receive $6 million in contracts.
Forty-eight-year-old Gene Quarles of Spotsylvania pleaded guilty earlier this year in federal court in Alexandria to bribery of a public official. Prosecutors had sought a two-year sentence.
Court documents say the purchasing specialist regularly received payments between 2010 and 2012 from the owners of AH Computer Consulting, Inc. in Rockville, Md. On at least one occasion he received $3,500 cash in a brown paper bag.
In exchange, Quarles provided inside information that helped AHCC land two contracts totaling $6 million.
POLICE: GUN USED IN NJ HOSTAGE STANDOFF WAS FAKE: TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say the gun used in a 37-hour standoff between New Jersey police and a man holding three children and two dead bodies was fake.
State Police Lt. Stephen Jones says hostage-taker Gerald Tyrone Murphy had a replica semi-automatic handgun. Jones says that doesn't change the way officers responded. Jones says Murphy also was holding a large kitchen knife and other knives were found.
Police were called to the Trenton home May 10 after a relative of a victim reported not hearing from her for weeks.
Police found the body of Carmenlita Steven and her 12-year-old son, Quavon, when they entered the home. They retreated when Murphy said he had a gun and explosives. The two had been dead almost three weeks.
NYC PARENTS OF SLAIN CHILDREN EXPECTING BABY BOY: NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City couple whose two children police say were fatally stabbed by their nanny are expecting a baby boy.
Kevin and Marina Krim announced the happy news on their Facebook page for the Leo and Lulu Fund, created in memory of 6-year-old Lulu and 2-year-old Leo.
The children were found dead in the bathtub of their Upper West Side apartment on Oct. 25, 2012. The Krim's third child, 4-year-old Nessie, was not home at the time.
The Krims said on the Facebook page that "Nessie can't wait to welcome her new baby brother" in the fall.
They've posted numerous memories of their children and described their grief on the site.
The nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
Silent man with knife killed in Alhambra PD lobby
ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) — A man investigators say was carrying a large knife and a backpack has been shot and killed by officers in the lobby of the Alhambra Police Department.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Dave Coleman says the man was repeatedly asked before the fatal confrontation if he needed help or needed to see someone.
Coleman says the man never replied, or even acknowledged the questions, prompting officers in the lobby to call for backup.
He says three officers fired their weapons.
No one else was hurt, and the man's name has not been released.
