Bail set for Vermont man accused of crushing police cars
NEWPORT, Vt. — A Vermont man, who authorities say was angry over an arrest and used his tractor like a monster truck to drive over seven police vehicles, is being held on $50,000 bail.
During a Friday appearance in court in Newport, 34-year-old Roger Pion invoked his right to delay entering a plea to the 14 charges filed against him for allegedly crushing seven vehicles belonging to the Orleans County sheriff's department.
Damage is estimated to be at least $250,000.
Pion was apparently mad over his recent arrest on resisting arrest and marijuana possession charges.
Sheriff's deputies working inside their building didn't know what was happening until a neighbor called 911. They didn't hear the ruckus outside because their air conditioners were humming, then couldn't pursue him because their cars were crushed.
Puerto Rico mayor camping out to prove streets are safe
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The mayor of Puerto Rico's capital says he will sleep aboard a bus on the streets of San Juan to prove they are safe.
Jorge Santini said Thursday that he and his family will spend several nights on a bus parked in different neighborhoods. He also plans to cook a typical rice-and-beans dish for residents of those communities as part of his re-election campaign.
Santini said he wants to prove that crime has not taken over San Juan, though many of the island's 1,117 homicides last year occurred in the metropolitan area.
Santini spokesman Ramon Alejandro Pabon did not respond to requests for more details.
Santini is known for occasional quirky acts. He recently sent out a holiday postcard that featured his family along with a taxidermied leopard sinking its teeth into an antelope.
Santini said his wife and three children also will participate in the sleepover.
Santini has been mayor since January 2001 and faces a challenge from local Rep. Carmen Yulin Cruz in the November elections.
Swarm of thousands of bees delays flight
IMPERIAL, Pennsylvania — A beekeeper says he had to be called into gather up a swarm of thousands of bees that delayed a Delta Air Lines flight from Pittsburgh International Airport to New York.
Master beekeeper Stephen Repasky tells KDKA-TV he was called out on Wednesday when the bees gathered on the wing of the plan as crews were getting ready to fuel the plane.
Repasky says such swarms form when colonies become too large and the queen leaves half of her bees behind to find a new home. Some swarms can contain 25,000 to 30,000 bees.
Repasky says it's likely there's a wild honeybee colony at the airport somewhere.
The beekeeper was called to remove the insects because they're a protected species that cannot legally be killed.
Nose for crime: $1.2 million in French perfume nabbed
PARIS — French police say 1 million euro ($1.2 million) worth of Givenchy perfume has been recovered after it was stolen by masked thieves from a warehouse in the middle of the night.
The scented bounty was taken a week ago from Beauvais, near Paris, and was discovered on Tuesday, according to local police official Jean-Marie Salsat.
Salsat, who revealed details of the perfume heist Friday, said the bottles were found unused, with the stoppers still in.
The Sipa news agency, quoting unnamed police sources, reports that several robbers had overpowered a perfume warehouse night watchman. They later loaded trucks with the fragrances produced by the French house Givenchy, part of fashion giant LVMH.
The thieves are still at large.
Chihuahua finds 2 girls lost in Georgia forest
NEWNAN, Ga. — A Chihuahua is being hailed as a hero after authorities say it sniffed out two girls who were lost in a Georgia forest.
The girls, ages 5 and 8, disappeared Monday for a couple of hours when they were walking on trails near their neighborhood about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta. As police and firefighters began to search for the girls, neighbor Carvin Young grabbed his 3-year-old Chihuahua and joined the search.
Young tells CBS Atlanta the dog, Bell, picked up the girls' scent and began running until she reached them.
Rebecca Parga, the girls' mother, says her children play with Bell almost every day, and the dog is very familiar with them.
The girls, Carlie and Lacey, were scared when they were found but were not hurt.
Piggy-bank robber sent to jail for 4 months
ITHACA, Mich. — A central Michigan man who couldn't keep his hands off a piggy bank has been sentenced to four months in jail.
Adam Spence of Ithaca was sentenced Monday in Gratiot County court. The Morning Sun says he was accused of stealing about $450 while visiting a baby sitter.
The bank has a label that says, "My very first piggy bank." Gratiot County Prosecutor Keith Kushion says the 26-year-old Spence also must write a letter of apology.
Police: Woman tried to break into Ohio jail
HAMILTON, Ohio — Police in southwest Ohio are perplexed about why a woman tried to sneak into a county jail before telling authorities to arrest her.
Deputies with the Butler County Sheriff's Office arrested 36-year-old Tiffany R. Hurd on July 29 after she was caught trying to climb over a fence into Butler County Jail in Hamilton, near Cincinnati. It happened after jail staff leaving a late-night shift told Hurd to leave the property, but she told them to arrest her.
"She was repeatedly told to stop," Sgt. Monte Mayer said. "They couldn't talk her out of it."
Deputies asked Hurd to leave numerous times, but she refused and attempted to climb the fence again. That's when police took action.
"She got her wish," Mayer said. "It wasn't in a traditional manner."
Deputies say Hurd appeared to be intoxicated. In a statement about the incident, Sheriff Richard Jones said Hurd's actions caught him by surprise.
Hurd was arrested on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. Bond was set at $2,500 during an arraignment Monday.
Minnesota bikini parade falls far short of record
MADISON LAKE, Minn. — Only an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny number of bikini-wearers turned out to strut their stuff in a southern Minnesota town.
Organizers had hoped for hundreds of women to march July 28 in what was billed as the World's Largest Bikini Parade.
But the number of bikini-wearing women — and a couple of men in bikini tops — at the Paddlefish Days Parade in Madison Lake fell far short of the world record.
The (Mankato, Minn.) Free Press reported the number appeared to be 39. Women were told they could wear shorts over their bikini bottoms once it was clear the record of 451 was unattainable.
A majority of City Council members opposed the bikini parade. Some said it was inconsistent with the festival's family-oriented nature.
Men floating down Alaska river save drowning bear
KENAI, Alaska — Three Alaska men are being credited with saving a brown bear from drowning.
The Peninsula Clarion reports that Dustin Klepacki was floating the Kenai River with his father and their friend last weekend when they came upon the bear cub drowning in a whirlpool.
They tried to bump the bear out of the whirlpool, but the water caught their boat and they turned in circles as the bear became more frantic.
Finally, the current brought the boat up against the bear, and Dustin's father, Mike Polocz, was able to nudge the bear to slower-moving water. The bear swam to shore.
Another friend, Charlie Mettiale, filmed the rescue on his iPhone. The video has been posted to YouTube, complete with the bear's cries.
Crop circles appear in Washington wheat field
SEATTLE — Mysterious crop circles have appeared in an eastern Washington wheat field — not far from the nation's largest hydropower producer — but area farmers preparing for the summer's harvest find the distraction more amusing than alarming.
"You can't do anything other than laugh about it," said Cindy Geib, who owns the field along with her husband, Greg. "You just kind of roll with the theory it's aliens and you're special because aliens chose your spot."
Friends called the Geibs on July 24 when the pattern of flattened wheat was spotted off Highway 174, about five miles north of the town of Wilbur. The field is about 10 miles south of the Grand Coulee dam, which the Bureau of Reclamation says is the largest hydropower producer in the United States.
The circles resemble a four-leaf clover and remind Cindy Geib of Mickey Mouse ears. The design knocked down about an acre of their wheat. Some of it could be salvaged by combines when the harvest starts in a week or two, she said, but some will be lost.
"Of course, we don't have alien insurance," she said.
Crop circles have been a worldwide phenomenon for decades, and this is not the first one in Lincoln County. Similar circular patterns were left in crops in the Wilbur area in 2010 and in 2008 or 2009, Geib said.
Enraged man smashes girlfriend's laptop over Romney photo
CLINTON, Tenn. — Could be Lowell Turpin would know Mitt Romney by sight — now.
A Tennessee sheriff deputy's report said the 40-year-old Turpin was clueless on July 22 when he became angry after seeing a photo of a man he didn't recognize on his girlfriend's Facebook page. It was the Republican presidential contender.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the officer said Turpin smashed the laptop against a wall and then punched his girlfriend.
He was still in the Anderson County Jail, northwest of Knoxville, on Friday morning. Assistant Public Defender Ann Coria was in court and was not immediately available for comment.
