■ MEXICO
Politician stripped of title
A politician stripped of his first-place title in a marathon after apparently taking a shortcut said he never intended to complete the race and simply went to the finish line to collect his belongings. Roberto Madrazo, who finished a distant third in last year's presidential election, was lampooned in Mexican and German media after photographs and video footage showed him running across the finish line pumping his arms and grinning in the Sept. 30 Berlin marathon. After a race photographer noted Madrazo finished the marathon wearing a jacket and long running tights and barely sweating, officials opened an investigation and eventually disqualified his age-55 category 1st place win.
■ UNITED STATES
Six-year-old tries to drive
A hungry six-year-old grabbed his grandmother's car keys, positioned his child seat behind the steering wheel and tried to drive himself to a neighborhood restaurant. He did not get far. Unable to take the car out of reverse, the boy backed up 23m from her house into a transformer on Tuesday, knocking out electricity and phone service to dozens of townhouses in Broomfield, Colorado, north of Denver. No one was injured and the boy, whose name was not released, got out of his car and told his grandmother what happened.
■ UNITED STATES
Madam pleads guilty
A woman accused of running a brothel out of her million-dollar, suburban Atlanta home, pleaded guilty to prostitution and cocaine possession while more serious charges were dropped, her attorney said. Lisa Ann Taylor, 43, the so-called "Mansion Madam," also pleaded guilty on Wednesday to keeping a house of prostitution and was sentenced to seven years of probation. Prosecutors said the exotic dancer who advertised under the name Melissa Wolf charged men to have sex with her and other women at her home at the Sugarloaf Country Club in Duluth, Georgia.
■ UNITED STATES
Cop files suit after rescue
A police officer in Florida has sued the family of a one-year-old boy she rescued, saying she slipped and injured her knee while saving the child. The young boy, Joey Cosmillo, fell into the family pool in January. He was resuscitated, but suffered brain damage and now cannot walk, talk or swallow. Casselberry police Sargent Andrea Eichhorn alleges the boy's family left a puddle of water on the floor, causing her fall during the rescue efforts. She broke her knee and missed two months of work. "The loss we've suffered, and she's seeking money?" said Richard Cosmillo, 69, the boy's grandfather, who lived in the home with his wife and the boy's mother.
RSS