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NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City bus driver was being hailed as a hero for saving a 7-year-old girl who fell three stories from an air conditioning unit outside a Brooklyn building. "I just prayed that I'd catch her," Stephen St. Bernard recalled after rescuing the child on Monday.

HOUSTON - The teacher caught on tape attacking a 13-year-old student has had a pending criminal charge against her for more than a year. 40-year old Sheri Lynn Davis has had a warrant out for her arrest since March of last year, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Conn. Girl Lights Teacher's Hair On Fire Jonathan Law High School Student Arrested, Expelled Milford officials have expelled a Jonathan Law High School student accused of lighting her science teacher's hair on fire during class. Police say the girl was arrested after she ignited the ponytail of George Lardas with a lighter. A police spokesman says Lardas did not require medical attention, but his hair was singed. School officals say the incident occurred in late January, but became public on Tuesday. School officials called police at the time and the girl has been charged with reckless endangerment, third-degree assault and...

Pet dumpers are the real cat haters By Jim Stevenson Special to The Daily News Published November 21, 2007 Editor’s note: A mistrial was decalred in the animal-cruelty case against Jim Stevenson, after jurors said they could not reach a verdict about his shooting of a cat. Despite neither reading any newspaper articles nor watching any TV newscasts since the infamous cat incident a year ago, I’ve become aware of a few discrepancies that I would like to publicly address. Most importantly, this matter was not about cats vs. birds. It was about biodiversity, especially on Galveston Island. In the...

<Cat-shooting trial could end today By Scott E. Williams The Daily News Published November 15, 2007 GALVESTON — The trial of an island bird lover could end today with closing arguments this morning in his animal-cruelty case. Jim Stevenson, 54, faces the charge for shooting a cat in November 2006 near the western tip of the island. Stevenson is president of the Galveston Ornithological Society. At issue in the case is whether the cat was a pet, belonging to a San Luis Pass toll-bridge worker. The worker had claimed he had been feeding and caring for the cat and that...

Birdwatcher's trial asks feral or felony? By Scott E. Williams The Daily News Published November 14, 2007 GALVESTON — Does feeding an animal make it yours? Upon that question hangs the fate of one of Galveston’s top bird-watchers. His own lawyer admitted Tuesday that Jim Stevenson, 54, shot a cat near the island’s western tip on Nov. 7, 2006. However, in his opening remarks in Day 1 of Stevenson’s animal-cruelty trial, defense attorney Tad A. Nelson said the cat was feral. Prosecutor Paige Santell said a San Luis Pass toll-bridge worker had been feeding the cat and considered it his...

Aug. 21, 2007 Statement by Robert Black, spokesman for Texas Governor Rick Perry, concerning the European Union’s appeal that Texas enact a moratorium on the death penalty: "230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas."

Darwin Award nominees Shouldn't we just end the contest right now? GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — It’s a bad idea to burglarize a place marked "K-9 training facility.“ Police dog handlers arriving Wednesday at the abandoned nursing home where they hold training sessions discovered two men and a woman dismantling the building’s copper pipes and wiring, Hall County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kiley Sargent said. When the officers arrived, the three dropped their tools and ran. That was their second mistake. "For anyone to try to run from a whole unit of canines, it’s just a no-win situation,“ Sargent said.Pamela Puckett, 37, quickly...

A Fort Worth man who only wanted to protect his wife stuck in an Albertsons store during a robbery is being hailed for his heroics by police. The retired man may have shot one of the robbers early Wednesday at the store in the 3500 block of Sycamore School Road. Three men armed with guns robbed the store shortly after midnight and stole wallets and purses belonging to customers, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, a Fort Worth police spokesman.

In many Greek households, one of the highlights of New Year's Day is the cutting of St. Basil's cake. Made from flour, eggs, butter, sugar, orange flavoring, and other ingredients, this special round cake also contains a surprise—a foil-wrapped coin. In some recipes, the coin is added to the batter before baking; in others, it's slipped under the cake when the cake is placed on a serving platter. In Greek tradition, the cutting of St. Basil's cake reveals what the new year has in store for the family, and the person who gets the slice containing the hidden coin is...

Gang: I hope you will excuse the vanity. I am going to be an election judge at a precinct in Galveston County tomorrow. It will be a loooong day (polls open from 7am to 7pm) and we are going to be using a lot of new equipment (including an e-Slate and e-Scan machine). in the final analysis the buck stops with me, the election judge. I have been an election judge before, but I know it is going to take a lot of patience and more than a little wisdom to get the job done right. If I might bother...

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Reported Captured The commander of Hezb-i-Islami and al-Qaeda ally detained during a raid in eastern Afghanistan On the day of the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 attack, Coalition forces score a high value target in Afghanistan. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the commander of Hezb-i-Islami and ally of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, has been captured during a joint U.S. and Afghan Army raid in “eastern Afghanistan.” Hekmatyar, contrary to his rhetoric gave up to the Coalition forces without a fight. Hekmatyar's arrest is said to be part of an 'ongoing operation.' Hekmatyar has been designated by the U.S. Department of State...

Lt. Michael L. Licalzi's funeral cortege moved through Nassau County, slowly and a hundred cars strong. SNIP At the head of the procession were those who suffered most — friends and family — though riding point out front was a group of strangers who, if they had not suffered personally, had at least decided they would not forget.

Death Before DishonorGreyhawkThe latest Iraq war urban legend: Several female service members have died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day due to fear of being raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark. This is absurd for countless reasons - the most obvious being that death by dehydration takes a little longer than a couple hours without fluids, even in the hottest conditions. But this fabrication has an interesting source: Col. Janis Karpinski, former commander of the unit responsible for torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. And she's found...

For almost half a century, Russian rockets and space travelers have assaulted the heavens from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Soviet spaceport in Central Asia that was portrayed as the shining symbol of a communist future. Now one of the last sights for departing space crews is the shiny domes of a new Russian Orthodox church — where they have their own way of reaching toward heaven.

Sept. 25, 2005, 11:52PM ANALYSIS Too many people and no way out The evacuation shows more need to stay put, and all lanes should be outboundBy DAN FELDSTEIN and MATT STILES Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Hurricane planners have a little ditty that goes, "run from the water, hide from the wind."It means evacuate if you are in a coastal surge area, but hunker down if you are in an area that will get hurricane-force winds and rain only.The biggest problem in Houston's painful evacuation last week was that perhaps a million people, almost half of those who left, ran from...

While Americans are donating generously to Hurricane Katrina relief funds, they're apparently running out of patience for stars telling them to give. Friday's benefit, "Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast," was seen by fewer than 24 million viewers despite being shown on 29 networks. That's less than one third of the 89 million people who watched its model, the somber "America: A Tribute to Heroes," which ran shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to Nielsen Media Research. It's also fewer than the number of people who typically tune in to a new episode...

Judge rips Kmart raid's mass arrests Calling actions unconstitutional, she rules 10 suits can now proceedBy HARVEY RICECopyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Calling the operation "almost totalitarian," a federal judge says a Houston police plan that led to 278 arrests in a Kmart parking lot almost three years ago was unconstitutional. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas allows all 10 lawsuits filed in the wake of the Aug. 18, 2002, mass arrest, and a smaller operation the previous night, to proceed.The "plan to detain all persons ... with no regard for the existence of open businesses and their customers,...

A mom's best gift: Once-wayward son finds sense of purpose in Iraq 08:49 PM CST on Wednesday, December 24, 2003 By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning News For Michael Zeagler, a Dallas soldier fighting in Iraq, one of the sweetest moments of coming home for the holidays occurred just before Christmas at Valley View Center mall. The Army specialist, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, had arrived at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after a grueling 72-hour journey from Mosul, Iraq. The first thing the 22-year-old wanted to do, even in full desert "camo," was head to the...

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Izzat Ibrahim, right-hand man to Saddam Hussein and the next most wanted Iraqi leader, has been killed or captured in a U.S. raid near the city of Kirkuk, Iraqi Governing Council sources said on Tuesday. "There was a major action against a highly suspicious objective last night in Kirkuk and it is very possible that Izzat Ibrahim has been captured or killed," said one member of the Council, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, adding he had been in contact with U.S. forces. Another high-level source in the U.S.-appointed Council said he had been informed that Ibrahim had been captured...