SIGNS POSTED FOR OHIO DOG SEARCH PROMPT COMPLAINTS: NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — A central Ohio woman on a crusade to find her missing dog says she didn't intend to cause the trouble that erupted when she put up more than a hundred yellow and red yard signs seeking help and offering a reward.
Officials in Newark say Jody Gardner violated local rules because she didn't get the proper permit when she posted signs all around town, prompting complaints. Officials have removed some signs that were considered potential safety hazards but categorized the signs in a way that allows Gardner to post them in certain locations.
Her Afghan hound, Flower, disappeared in December.
FLA. WOMAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN 'TOXIC TUSH' CASE: FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman accused by authorities of illegally injecting toxic substances into women's buttocks as an enhancement procedure has pleaded not guilty.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports Oneal Ron Morris sent a written plea of not guilty to a Broward County judge on Thursday.
She faces unlicensed practice of medicine and related charges in Broward County. Morris, who police say was born a man and identifies as a woman, was arrested in November on similar charges in Miami-Dade County.
Her attorney says his client maintains her innocence.
Authorities say Morris injected flat-tire sealant, glue, caulk and cement into women's buttocks. All three victims suffered medical complications and infections.
ACCUSSED KILLER MET GIRLFRIEND VIA FACEBOOK: URBANA, Ohio (AP) — A man suspected of stabbing, suffocating and dismembering his girlfriend told a newspaper that he met her through Facebook while looking for new friends and that he met two of his alleged accomplices at a library just three days before the killing.
Matthew Puccio, 25, is among five people charged in connection with the death of 21-year-old Jessica Rae Sacco, whose remains were found in the bathtub of their Urbana duplex apartment in late March, about a week after police believe she was killed. A couple from Fenton, Mich., and two people from Urbana are accused of failing to intervene in the killing and helping Puccio cut off or transport limbs that were dumped in southern Ohio and Kentucky, about 70 to 85 miles away.
In an interview, Puccio said he met Urbana residents Sharon Cook and Christopher Wright at a local library days before the killing, then contacted them afterward and was stunned that they helped him cover it up instead of calling the police, the Springfield News-Sun reported Sunday.
7-YEAR-OLD BOY TIED TO ALASKA ARSON FIRES: JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A fire marshal in Alaska's capital city says a 7-year-old boy has admitted setting five arson fires over a little more than four months.
Juneau fire marshal Dan Jager said that the boy caused about $1,000 in damages by setting fires in restrooms at Harborview Elementary School and the Terry Miller Legislative Building, plus a downtown grass fire and two fires at a Fred Meyer store.
Jager says the boy told him he used a lighter.
Surveillance footage at the legislative building recorded the boy entering and leaving the bathroom at the same time as the fire in the building.
REPORTS: 1 DEAD, 2 WOUNDED IN TEXAS BEACH SHOOTING: SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas (AP) — One person has been killed and two others have been wounded in a shooting during a packed Texas Gulf Coast beach party.
Word of mouth about an unauthorized party spread on social media Saturday, drawing thousands to Surfside Beach, about 40 miles south of Galveston.
The shooting started around 9 p.m. It identified the person killed as 25-year-old Derrick Milam, quoting his stepsister, Danielle Banks.
Milam was hit in the neck by a stray bullet and died at the beach.
TULSA POLICE SAY SHOOTINGS MAY HAVE BEEN REVENGE: TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Two men were arrested Sunday in a shooting rampage that left three people dead and terrorized Tulsa's black community, and police said one suspect may have been trying to avenge his father's shooting two years ago by a black man.
Police identified both suspects as white, while all five victims in the rampage early Friday were black.
Police and the FBI said it is too soon to say whether the attacks in Tulsa's predominantly black north side were racially motivated. Police spokesman Jason Willingham said that investigators are considering many possible motives but based on Facebook postings, revenge appeared to be a factor.
In a Thursday update on Facebook that appeared to have been written by 19-year-old Jake England, he angrily blamed his father's death on a black man and used a racial slur. He said Thursday was the second anniversary of his father's death.
"It's hard not to go off," given the anniversary and the death of his fiancée earlier this year, the posting said.
"It's apparent from the posting on the Facebook page that he had an ax to grind, and that was possibly part of the motive," Willingham said. "If you read the Facebook post and see what he's accused of doing, you can see there's link between the two of them."
NBC PRODUCER FIRED OVER ZIMMERMAN 911 CALL: NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News has fired a producer for editing a recording of George Zimmerman's call to police the night he shot Trayvon Martin, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.
The person was not authorized to talk about the situation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The identity of the producer was not disclosed.
The producer's dismissal followed an internal investigation that led to NBC apologizing for having aired the misleading audio.
NBC's "Today" show first aired the edited version of Zimmerman's call on March 27. The recording viewers heard was trimmed to suggest that Zimmerman volunteered to police, with no prompting, that Martin was black: "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."
But the portion of the tape that was deleted had the 911 dispatcher asking Zimmerman if the person who had raised his suspicion was "black, white or Hispanic," to which Zimmerman responded, "He looks black."
Later that night of Feb. 26, the 17-year-old Martin was fatally shot by Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla. Though Martin was unarmed, Zimmerman told police he fired in self-defense after Martin attacked him.
Questions subsequently have arisen over whether Zimmerman was racially profiling the teen, a theory the edited version of the tape seemed to support.
On Tuesday, NBC said its investigation turned up "an error made in the production process that we deeply regret." It promised that "necessary steps" would be taken "to prevent this from happening in the future" and apologized to viewers.
