Nothing Like a Aligator Firebug

Headline: Alligator Accused of Starting Fire at Abandoned School
Clip from: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 7.3.9
Caption: Nothing Like a Aligator Firebug

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A four-foot alligator rescued in an abandoned school on fire in western Pennsylvania may have also started the blaze.

North Beaver Township officials are not identifying the owner of the former elementary school that burned Thursday afternoon near New Castle, about 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

But they say the man was living with a menagerie of animals in the building, including the alligator, about 70 rabbits and unspecified "aquatic animals." The Pennsylvania Game Commission is involved in caring for the animal.

Fire Chief Paul Henry says the building's owner believes the alligator started the fire by knocking over a portable heater.

Headline: Celebrity Chef's Restaurant Sickens 400, Stays Closed
Clip from: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 6.3.9
Caption: So Much for the Fat Duck

BRAY, England — It's a culinary mystery worthy of Agatha Christie.
Britain's Health Protection Agency said Friday about 400 people reported falling ill after eating at The Fat Duck, a world-renowned British establishment reputed for dishes such as snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream. Health officials are baffled by the outbreak of diarrhea and vomiting while the celebrity chef, Heston Blumenthal, has said his restaurant will remain closed until the mystery is solved.

"It's so weird — we haven't found anything. But I can't take the risk of keeping open until we have exhausted every single avenue," Blumenthal told The Times of London last week, shortly after the first group of people reported falling ill.

Headline: Conn. Man Chewing On Charges Of Stealing Gum
Clip from: CBSnews.com
Date of clip: 6.3.9
Caption: I'm forever chewing bubble gum

Police in Connecticut have arrested a man with a several-pack-a-day habit _ of Orbit gum.

Twenty-one-year-old Kenneth McManus of Stratford has been charged with stealing hundreds of packs of the chewing gum.

Fairfield police say McManus turned himself in Thursday. He is accused of stealing 175 packs of gum worth more than $500 from a Shaw's supermarket in Fairfield in January.

Police say he also faces larceny charges of stealing $200 worth of gum from the Shaw's in Stratford and $75 worth of gum from a CVS store in Bridgeport.