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It’s Even Too Cold for Polar Bears in Chicago

lincoln-park-zoo(AP) — It’s even too cold for Chicago’s resident polar bear.

The city’s Lincoln Park Zoo says its polar bear, Anana, was kept inside Monday because of the record-low temperatures.

Zoo spokeswoman Sharon Dewar says that while the below-zero weather might be comparable to what polar bears experience in the wild, Anana doesn’t have a thick layer of fat that bears typically get from eating things such as seals and whale carcasses.

That extra insulation would make it uncomfortable to live in Chicago during the rest of the year, so Anana gets a different diet.

While she stayed inside, Anana lounged in her comparatively balmy indoor climate that’s kept at 40 to 50 degrees.

Anana usually has access to both an indoor and outdoor area. She’ll be allowed to venture outside Tuesday.

Ohio Boy, 9, Breaks Through Pond Ice and Drowns

icy-pondFRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a 9-year-old boy drowned when he fell through the ice on a pond in southwestern Ohio.

The boy’s sister also fell through the ice on the pond in Clermont County east of Cincinnati on Sunday, but she was rescued and is expected to recover.

A dive team recovered the boy’s body. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The property’s owner, Landon Wiliams, says he told three children to get off the ice, and the brother and sister broke through as they were leaving.

Williams says he used an electrical extension cord to help pull the girl to safety. But the girl’s brother went underwater as rescue crews arrived.

Their names haven’t been released.

MMA Fighter May Be Charged After Killing Burglar

Joseph Torrez (Facebook)
Joseph Torrez (Facebook)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An attorney for a professional mixed martial artist who deputies say killed a man suspected of breaking into his New Mexico home says his client is no longer cooperating with authorities.

C.J. McElhinney said Monday that Joseph Torrez is at “beginning of a very long fight” and he fears the 27-year-old still may face charges even though he was protecting his family.

Dona Ana County sheriff’s officials say 25-year-old Sal Garces died last week from stab wounds after he and three other men broke into Torrez’s mobile home north of Las Cruces.

Deputies say Torrez, his fiancee and a toddler were home at the time.

McElhinney says Torrez fought off the intruders and one “suffered serious facial injuries.”

Two men are facing charges.

According to Tapology.com, Torrez is a lightweight fighter with a 1-5 professional record.

Study Finds Medicaid Expansion Drove Up ER Visits

medicaid(AP) — A new study has found that previously uninsured people who were given health coverage through Medicaid used the emergency room 40 percent more than others who weren’t able to join the program.

The findings were published Thursday by the journal Science. They suggest that hospitals and health officials around the nation need to be prepared for an increase in emergency room trips as millions of Americans gain insurance this week under the federal health care law, many of them through Medicaid.

Researchers looked at 25,000 people in the Portland, Ore., metro area in a randomized, controlled experiment that allowed researchers to pinpoint Medicaid coverage as the cause of the higher use.

The study was done by researchers at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Report: 70 Journalists Died on the Job in 2013

cpj(AP) — A media advocacy group says at least 70 journalists were killed on the job around the world in 2013.

A year-end report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says that 29 journalists died covering the war in Syria. Ten were slain in Iraq. Six died in Egypt.

Committee deputy director Robert Mahoney says the Middle East has become a “killing field” for journalists.

He says the international community must prevail on all governments and armed groups to respect the civilian status of reporters.

The committee has been tracking deaths among print and broadcast journalists since 1992.

Most of the killings it has documented over the years involve people who are covering news in the places they live.

Cali. Nativity Features Trayvon Martin Instead of Jesus

trayvon-martinCLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California church nativity scene is featuring a bloody Trayvon Martin in place of the infant Jesus in an effort to stir a community conversation about gun violence.

The Los Angeles Times reports Sunday that the nativity scene on the lawn of the Claremont United Methodist Church was created by congregant and artist John Zachary. Martin is shown in a hoodie, slumped over and bleeding.

But critics on Facebook have blasted the depiction as sacrilege.

The church’s Rev. Dan Lewis says the scene featuring the Florida teenager whose shooting death captivated the nation was meant to be thought provoking.

The scene will remain in place at the church 35 miles east of Los Angeles through Jan. 5.

2 Quakes, 1 a 4.1 Mag, Rattle Okla. Before Dawn

us-geological-surveyOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a 4.1 magnitude earthquake rattled an area about 30 miles north-northeast of Oklahoma City early Sunday and was followed by a smaller quake hours later in the state. There were no reports of any injuries or damages from either temblor.

Geophysicist Randy Baldwin at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said the larger quake at 2:14 a.m. CST was centered 4.3 miles southwest of Langston and prompted several dozen reports from residents who felt the ground shake. But he told The Associated Press by phone that no area resident had reported feeling the 2.5 magnitude quake centered near Jones, recorded at 5:34 a.m.

Baldwin said Oklahoma has sporadically recorded several minor quakes in recent months but those are without any discernible pattern.

Family Seeks Transfer of Brain Dead Calif. Girl

Jahi-McMathOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A lawyer for the family of a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy says Jahi McMath’s relatives want to transfer her to a nursing home that is willing to keep caring for her.

But lawyer Christopher Dolan said Thursday that doctors at Children’s Hospital Oakland need to insert breathing and feeding tubes into the girl before the nursing home can take her.

Dolan declined to name the care facility, but said it is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and is not equipped to perform surgeries.

Children’s Hospital wants to take Jahi off life support, a move that her family opposes.

A judge this week gave the hospital permission to proceed after 5 p.m. on Monday to give the girl’s mother time to appeal.

Montana Man Pleads Guilty After Girl Hands Out Pot Candy

pot-candyHAMILTON, Mont. (AP) — A 40-year-old Hamilton man has pleaded guilty to drug charges more than a year and a half after his daughter was found distributing marijuana-laced candy on a school bus.

Robert McCoy accepted a plea-bargain agreement Wednesday that recommends he pay $5,000 to the Ravalli County Drug Fund and serve between 15 and 30 days in jail.

Sentencing is set for March 5.

McCoy and his wife were out of the country in May 2012, when the girl handed out the candy.

Authorities found in their home more than twice the legal amount of marijuana allowed to a medical pot provider, along with a small amount of hashish.

McCoy pleaded guilty to operating an illegal grow operation, possessing hashish and unlawful conduct by a cardholder.

Man Throws 3-Year-Old Son, Himself off NYC Roof

police-lights-red(AP) — Police say a man involved in a custody dispute who was supposed to turn his 3-year-old son over to the boy’s mother instead threw the child off the roof of a 52-story Manhattan building before jumping to his death.

Police say they received an emergency call around noon Sunday about two jumpers. Officers found 35-year-old Dmitriy Kanarikov and his son on the lower rooftops of two nearby buildings.

The Brooklyn man was pronounced dead there and his son, Kirill Kanarikov, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Officials say the boy’s mother had custody of the child. They say that the father had visiting rights and was supposed to hand the boy over to the mother at a police precinct Sunday afternoon.

Police say Kanarikov didn’t live in the building.

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