COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSTAIN FROM VOTE ON ABSTAINING: YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Three members of a Michigan city council have abstained from voting on a measure that would have prevented them from abstaining on future votes.
AnnArbor.com reports that Ypsilanti City Council member Pete Murdock proposed a resolution Tuesday that would have required council members to only vote "yes" or "no" on each issue unless they had a financial or professional conflict.
Mayor Paul Schreiber and council members Susan Moeller and Brian Robb abstained from the vote to show their disapproval of the resolution.
The resolution failed, with Murdock and another City Council member voting "yes" while two other council members voted "no."
INDICTMENT: 84-YEAR-OLD NM WOMAN TRAFFICKING DRUGS: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An 84-year-old Albuquerque woman on an oxygen tank has been indicted for drug trafficking.
KRQE-TV reports (http://bit.ly/10pHzTh) that Lillie Smith was recently indicted by a Bernalillo County Grand Jury for trafficking, conspiracy to commit trafficking, tampering with evidence and possession.
Court documents show the charges stem from a warrant served at Smith's apartment back in 2011. Deputies suspected that the woman's son, Nathan Jones, was running a small drug operation out of her Albuquerque apartment.
Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Aaron Williamson says deputies found cocaine and marijuana on her and she tried to stash them during the investigation.
Court records show that Smith was arrested and has been released. Her son was also arrested.
MAN SETTLES OLD RESTAURANT BILL AFTER 16 YEARS: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man who couldn't pay a Valentine's Day date restaurant bill as a teen has return to pay his debt — sixteen years later.
KOB-TV reports that Matt Sanchez repaid owner Claus Hjortkjaer this month after the owner recently reopened his French restaurant Le Cafe Miche in Albuquerque.
The 30-year-old Sanchez says he took a date to the older restaurant as a 14-year-old to impress his girlfriend. But then he realized he didn't have enough money.
Sanchez says Hjortkjaer came in and lent the young Sanchez the money from his own pocket and promised that he wouldn't tell Sanchez's date.
When Sanchez got older and was able to repay, the restaurant closed.
Sanchez say when the restaurant reopened near his office this month, he found Hjortkjaer and gave him $100 — more than what was owed.
DAN BROWN HOUNDED FOR CALLING MANILA 'GATES OF HELL' : MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Dan Brown's description of Manila as "the gates of hell" in the American novelist's latest book has not gone down well with officials in the Philippine capital.
The book "Inferno," which is being sold in the Philippines, includes a character who is visiting the city and taken aback by poverty, crime and the sex trade.
The chairman of metropolitan Manila, Francis Tolentino, wrote an open letter to Brown on Thursday, saying that while "Inferno" is fiction, "we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis."
Tolentino objects to the "gates of hell" description, and to Manila being defined by what he calls terrible descriptions of poverty and pollution.
He says the novel fails to acknowledge Filipinos' good character and compassion.
FUGITIVE IN LA ATTEMPTED-MURDER CASE HELD IN COLO.: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man wanted for 13 years on attempted murder charges in Los Angeles was captured in Colorado after someone called police to report he was urinating on a wall outside a KFC restaurant.
Miguel Sanchez, 59, initially gave officers a false name when he was arrested Wednesday, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department. After he was fingerprinted, police discovered his identity and that he had a $2 million warrant in California.
"Kentucky Fried Chicken called and said he was peeing on the wall," said Colorado Springs police Lt. Dan Lofgren. "On the run for 13 years, and then they get caught for being stupid."
Sanchez is accused of stabbing someone multiple times after an argument in 2000, then stabbing a second person before running away.
Los Angeles police Sgt. Albert Gonzalez said the crime was classified as domestic violence, and that one victim was male and the other female. He declined to provide more details.
LA COUNTY WOMAN FINDS BEAR ON KITCHEN COUNTER: DUARTE, Calif. (AP) — Officials say a woman in a Los Angeles suburb found a bear cub sitting on her kitchen counter.
A Los Angeles county sheriff's statement says the department received a 911 call Wednesday from the woman, who said the bear had climbed through her window and she had locked herself in an upstairs bathroom.
On a recording of the call, the woman can be heard shouting "Oh my God, a bear is in my house!"
Deputies and an animal control officer arrived at the home near the San Gabriel mountains in Duarte and found the cub sitting on the counter eating.
They left the door open and made noises to scare the bear, who eventually ran out and into surrounding forest area. The bear was estimated to be a year old.
