The medical examiner’s office says a 2-year-old boy who died in the Pittsburgh zoo’s African wild dog exhibit bled to death after he was mauled by the animals.

Police and officials at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium are continuing to investigate the death of Maddox Derkosh, which happened Sunday after he fell from a wooden railing overlooking the painted dogs exhibit.

The Whitehall boy’s funeral is Friday and his parents are asking friends, relatives and other mourners to donate toy construction trucks in the boy’s name, which will be given to a Christmas children’s charity.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner has yet to rule on the manner of the boy’s death — that is, whether it was an accident or not — until police determine whether anyone will be charged.

The boy’s family has not commented.

 

A Pennsylvania man could spend up to 25 years in prison for stealing lobsters he planned to sell to support his drug habit.

Authorities say 47-year-old Charles Shumanis III repeatedly stole lobsters and meat from Allentown-area supermarkets, including a botched March 1 theft that included a parking lot car-jacking.

Police say Shumanis stole meat and lobsters on two other occasions before he was confronted when he walked out of the store with $350 in lobsters.

A Lehigh County judge on Monday recommended Shumanis serve time at a state prison able to help him deal with his drug and alcohol problems.

Shumanis pleaded guilty in September to charges including retail theft and robbery of a motor vehicle.

A Grand Island police officer remains in a Lincoln hospital after being injured in a weekend parachute accident while training with the Nebraska Army National Guard.

The Grand Island Independent says 25-year-old Brian Houser was injured Saturday during a training exercise with his unit near Beatrice.

Houser’s father, Craig Houser, says they were jumping from Chinook helicopters and he had a “rough landing.” He landed hard on his feet and was knocked onto his back. He suffered a broken vertebrae.

Brian Houser was taken to Bryan Health in Lincoln, where he was listed in fair condition on Monday.

He was hired by the city three months ago and was undergoing training at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Academy.

Authorities say a Minnesota couple starved their 8-year-old adopted son so severely his bones protruded and his brain atrophied.

A criminal complaint filed last week charges Mona Hauer and Russell Hauer of North Mankato with six felonies, including neglect and malicious punishment of a child.

The complaint says the boy weighed less than 35 pounds when he was taken to the hospital.

He allegedly was given a liquid-only diet, and an alarm was on his door so he wouldn’t steal food. He told authorities he had taken rotting food from a compost site because he was hungry.

The adoptive mother told authorities they put the boy on a liquid diet because he threw up his food.

It’s unclear if the Hauers have an attorney. Their home voicemail was full Monday.

Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks.

In a study in Miami and Baltimore, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients’ own cells for helping restore heart tissue, allowing the heart to pump more effectively.

The work involved just 30 patients, but proves the concept that anyone’s cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use in patients after heart attacks the way blood is saved now.

Stem cell therapy reduced the scarred area of patients’ hearts by about one third. Results were discussed Monday at a heart conference in California.

A new online tool can help Nebraska ranchers and farmers determine how much should be charged for grazing fields of cornstalks.

Cattle producers may be considering cornstalk grazing for the first time this year because the drought has decimated pastures and forced ranchers to use hay stockpiles earlier than normal.

So the University of Nebraska developed an online tool to help ranchers come up with a fair rate to pay for the cornstalk grazing.

Agricultural economist Matt Stockton says cornstalk grazing may be attractive for ranchers if they can find a field near where their cattle are.

The cornstalk grazing “Cow-Q-Lator” is one of several worksheets available online at https://bit.ly/Rtc5uk .

Lawyers say a Nebraska law extending legal protections to fetuses at any stage of development is being invoked for the first time in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by parents of a family killed in a September car wreck.

The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of Christopher and Diana Schmidt, a Maryland couple killed along with their two children and unborn son in September. The lawsuit cites a 2003 Nebraska law allowing wrongful death claims for fetuses, regardless of their gestation level.

Though still in district court, similar laws have led to appeals-court battles in Utah and Alabama and could bring the debate to Nebraska.

The suit accuses trucker Josef Slezak, his employer and two other trucking companies of negligence and wrongful death. It doesn’t seek a specific dollar amount.

The Nebraska Roads Department says it will be opening a new three-lane stretch of Interstate 80 between Omaha and Lincoln.

The stretch runs westbound from Exit 420 at Greenwood to Exit 409 at Waverly.

The opening is scheduled for Monday.

The department plans lane closures in both directions for seeding dirt areas and to finish removal of concrete barriers install permanent pavement markings.

Omaha police confronted a man after he wore a gun in a bank only to learn that the weapon was part of a costume.

KETV reports that police confronted Jonathan Menough with their guns drawn Saturday morning after he visited a bank near the hotel where the Anime NebrasKon convention was being held.

Menough says he doesn’t blame police for responding aggressively. He says he complied with their directions and then explained that he was in costume for the convention.

Menough says some of the officers even laughed when they realized he was in costume, but he has no plans to return to the bank in costume.

Ethanol production is gradually becoming more efficient.

Danish biofuel firm Novozymes says it has developed a new enzyme that will help ethanol producers make more fuel while using less corn.

Novozymes, which has a major enzyme plant in Blair, says its Avantec enzyme makes corn ethanol production 2.5 percent more efficient.

Novozymes officials say the development should help ethanol producers at a time when corn prices are high and profit margins remain narrow.