■UNITED STATES
Bear uses ladder to escape
A bear that wandered into an inground skateboard park and got stuck was rescued when officials lowered a ladder so it could climb out. The bear was discovered on Tuesday morning in the Colorado resort town of Snowmass, KUSA-TV reported. Officials say it apparently was in the park all night, and couldn’t get out because of the steep concrete sides. Workers from the Parks and Recreation Department lowered a long ladder. The bear eventually climbed the ladder and wandered away. No injuries were reported to people or the bear.
■UNITED STATES
Migrants crammed in truck
Police pulled over a refrigerated truck and found 97 illegal immigrants in the back among near-freezing produce on Wednesday. An officer stopped the truck on a highway a few kilometers north of the border city of Nogales, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said. An inspection found 97 adults and children from Mexico and Guatemala crammed into the trailer, which was heavily chilled. No one was harmed, and the immigrants were handed over to Border Patrol agents, who processed them for deportation.
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‘Skinniest’ house for sale
It’s 2.9m wide by 12.8m long and is billed as the narrowest house in New York City. But there’s nothing small about its asking price: US$2.7 million. Located in Greenwich Village, the red brick building was built in 1873 and sandwiched between two larger structures. It’s famous for other reasons, too. Corcoran real estate broker Alex Nicholas says anthropologist Margaret Mead and poet Edna St Vincent Millay once called it home. The three-story structure boasts plenty of light with large windows in the front and back and a skylight. The current owner bought it in 2000 for US$1.6 million.
■UNITED STATES
No real nudes at The Met
It seems the only nudes allowed at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are the ones in the collection. Police say they arrested a 26-year-old woman who was posing naked for a photographer, and in full view of visitors, in the museum’s arms and armor department on Wednesday. Model Kathleen “K.C.” Neill faces a charge of public lewdness. Defense attorney Donald Schechter says the museum is full of nude art and to call what the model and her photographer were doing obscenity “is ridiculous.” Photographer Zach Hyman, who has gained fame in the city for photographing nude models on subways, directed the shoot.
■UNITED STATES
‘Thursday’ thief gets jail
A New Jersey man who robbed banks every Thursday has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison. Peter Bielecke pleaded guilty in June to one count of bank robbery but admitted five other holdups on consecutive Thursdays in January, February and March. He robbed banks in several cities including Brick, his hometown. He didn’t give a reason for choosing Thursdays. But authorities say the pattern made it easier to track him. The 40-year-old was arrested after a March 5 robbery in Old Bridge. He will also have to pay US$12,000 in restitution under the sentence handed down on Wednesday in the US District Court in Trenton.
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