■ United States
Man in drunken bikini romp
A man wearing a woman's wig and a string bikini was charged with taking a drunken afternoon romp through an Ohio park, officials said. Steven Cole, a 46-year-old volunteer firefighter, told an officer he was on his way to a Dayton bar to perform as a woman in a contest offering a US$10,000 prize, the arrest report said. He pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of drunken driving, public indecency and disorderly conduct. Cole was arrested on Tuesday after police received a report that an intoxicated man was walking and driving around Heritage Oak Park in Mason. Police said Cole was wearing a blond wig, pink flip-flops and a red-black-and-white striped bikini with the top filled out by tan water balloons. His blood-alcohol test registered 0.174, more than twice Ohio's legal driving limit of 0.08, the arrest report said.
■ United States
Cat saves family from death
A cat helped spare a family from death by carbon monoxide poisoning by jumping on the bed and meowing wildly as fumes filled the home, the owners said. Eric and Cathy Keesling said their 14-year-old cat, Winnie, played a crucial role in saving their lives on March 24 after a gasoline-powered water pump caused the odorless but deadly gas to build up. About 1am, the cat began nudging Cathy's ear and meowing loudly. "It was a crazy meow, almost like she was screaming," said Cathy. When she climbed from bed, she realized she was nauseous and dizzy and couldn't awaken her husband. Because he had undergone minor neck surgery the previous day, she decided to call 911 but was so disoriented she had trouble dialing. Paramedics found the couple's 14-year-old son, Michael, unconscious on the floor near his bedroom.
■ United States
Voters approve space tax
Voters in a southern New Mexico county have approved a tax to raise an estimated US$49 million toward a US$198 million tourism spaceport that would house British millionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, according to unofficial returns. Residents of Dona Ana County voted on the sales tax on Tuesday in what backers said was a make-or-break election for the state-supported Spaceport America. The unofficial returns were released on Thursday. "This positive vote for the spaceport ballot initiative means America's new frontier begins in southern New Mexico," Governor Bill Richardson said on Thursday. The complex would cover 70km2 of desert near White Sands Missile Range, where the US launched its first rocket after World War II. Virgin Galactic would be its anchor tenant. Branson envisions starting suborbital rocket flights, at about US$200,000 a person, in 2009.
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