PITTSBURGH (AP) - Cincinnati Reds fan Charles Trimble owes his life to fans of the rival Pirates. The 60-year-old Trimble suffered a heart attack while at a Pirates-Reds game in Pittsburgh recently. A doctor sitting nearby began CPR. Stadium staff grabbed a portable defibrillator, and a nurse and emergency medical technician in the crowd also helped. Trimble is still recovering in a Pittsburgh hospital. He's showing his gratitude by wearing a Pirates cap. But Trimble says he's still a Reds fan -- at heart.
PLASTIC PINK FLAMINGOS
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Madison City Council is thinking pink. The council in
Wisconsin's capital has voted to name the plastic pink flamingo the city's
official bird. It's in recognition of one of the greatest college pranks ever.
Student leaders at the University of Wisconsin in 1979 placed 1,000 pink plastic
flamingos on the steep hill that leads to the dean's office. One council member
says that prank is captured in their "imaginations forever."
BARE-BOTTOM CONTROVERSY
SILT, Colo. (AP) - The bare truth is a little too much for some folks in the
western Colorado town of Silt. There's a new sculpture of a bare-bottom rock
climber at a downtown intersection. Someone covered the climber's derriere with
a cloth. But town workers bared the bottom again. Mayor Dave Moore says he's
sympathetic to the critics, but adds the sculpture reflects the artist's vision.
Sculptor Blaine Peters calls his artwork "a human in the rawest form climbing a
rock."
BRAZIL-INTERNET DIVORCE
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Web surfing can get you trouble with your honey. But
soon divorces could be as quick as a mouse click. At least in Brazil. The
Brazilian Senate has approved a bill that would allow uncontested divorces to be
filed and settled on the Internet. The Senate's official news agency says the
bill would speed divorce proceedings, allowing couples to split without lawyers
or having to wait in line in court. The online divorce bill must still be
approved by the Brazilian House and signed by the president.
STUCK RACCOON
PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) - A Gulf coast raccoon found itself in a tight spot. The
critter got its head stuck in a peanut butter jar. A Florida sheriff's deputy
(Pinellas County) responded to the raccoon in distress call and used a gentle
approach. The deputy managed to ease the jar off the animal and set it free. The
sheriff's office reports no injury to either the deputy or the critter.
DRUNKS WITH GUNS
NEW YORK (AP) - Getting loaded -- with a gun -- would be illegal in New York
City. A least that's the way Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants it. He's proposing a
local law that would impose a one-year jail sentence and a fine of up to $10,000
for gun possession while drunk. The city's gun control laws are already among
strictest in the nation. Under the proposal, the legal blood alcohol limit for
gun possession would be the same as for driving. A number of states have similar
drunken gun laws.