Amherst, Mass. (AP) – Amherst College has whittled its list of possible new athletic mascots to five and, sorry, rodent fans, the Hamsters didn’t make the cut. Hamsters was on the list of 30 semifinalists selected out of about 600 initial suggestions by a committee put together to come up with a new mascot for the Massachusetts school. The five finalists announced this month are the Fighting Poets, the Mammoths, Purple and White, the Valley Hawks, and the Wolves. The committee said all five have connections to the school or region. Trustees dropped Lord Jeffs last year partly because the 18th century British general, Jeffery Amherst, had suggested giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. Alumni, students, faculty and staff can vote for their favorite finalist starting Monday. The winner will be announced this spring.
Stolen 70-pound popcorn ball, valued at $700, returned
Chagrin Falls, Ohio (AP) – Police say a 70-pound popcorn ball worth hundreds of dollars that was swiped from a suburban Cleveland shop where it was being auctioned has been returned. The oversized snack dyed red, white and blue was taken from outside the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop over the weekend. But it was found intact in front of the shop Wednesday. Police had earlier asked residents to keep an eye out for it. Shop owner Dewey Forward had told Cleveland.com that the popcorn ball could be returned with no questions asked and no charges filed. It was created for a New Year’s Eve popcorn ball drop and is being auctioned this week, with the proceeds slated to go toward renovations of a town hall. It’s valued at $700.
Police: Robber breaks leg, calls for help, gets arrested
Alexandria, Va. (AP) – A robber in Virginia ruined his own getaway – first by breaking his leg in a jump off a balcony, and then by calling the authorities to help him. Police say 21-year-old Leoul Yosef will be charged with burglary for robbing an Alexandria apartment on Wednesday and then jumping off the second-story balcony after the owner returned home. Fairfax County Police Officer Don Gatthardt says Yosef left tracks in the snow when he jumped. Officers say they were following the snow trail when they received a 911 call from a man in the vicinity saying he’d broken his leg. Responding officers matched the identity of the caller to the burglary suspect. Gatthardt says Yosef will be charged after his release from the hospital. It’s unclear if Yosef has an attorney.
A pair of coin-operated binoculars stolen in Massachusetts
Florida, Mass. (AP) – Massachusetts State Police are investigating the theft of a pair of 305-pound, coin-operated, binocular-like devices that gave tourists spectacular views along the state’s famous Mohawk Trail. The scenic viewers are mounted on metal posts that are often found at inspiring vistas. Police said Wednesday they think the bronze and cast iron viewers were cut from their wooden platform next to the Eastern Summit gift shop in the town of Florida sometime between February 27 and March 7. Police say the devices, manufactured by Tower Optical, are considered collectibles because so few are made. Tourism officials say the views from the Eastern Summit extend 65 miles on a clear day.
You’re nabbed! French gendarmes find thief stuck in window
Paris (AP) – Arrests can’t come any easier than this. French gendarmes called to a robbery found the suspected thief stuck in a hole he’d made with a hammer in a shop window. The national gendarmerie on Sunday published a photo appearing to show the man half-in and half-out of the hole. “Drunk, he robbed a shop but got stuck … in the window before being arrested,” the gendarmerie tweeted, with the hashtag “ThugLife.” The 46-year-old man was arrested Thursday morning in the Pyrenees town of Mauleon-Licharre in southwest France, a duty officer for the regional gendarmerie told The Associated Press. Firefighters were called to free the man, who was then taken into custody, said the officer, who wouldn’t be quoted by name, citing official policy.
