Dog from animal shelter saves new owner from fire

Dog from animal shelter
saves new owner from fire

BOISE, Idaho — Sometimes rescuers need to be rescued, too.

Candace Jennings was sleeping on the couch when she was nudged awake by her dog, Anna, to find her mobile home engulfed in flames early Thanksgiving Day. The blond heeler, an abused stray dog Jennings had adopted from an animal shelter, whined and howled until they ran outside.

“I had an awful headache. The place was filled with smoke,” she told the Idaho Statesman for a story published Saturday.

But Jennings said she ran back into her burning home to save some items.

“I’m a janitor in town,” she said. “I had everyone’s keys in my backpack. I had to go back and get them.”

She crawled back into her burning home in Idaho City, about 40 miles northeast of Boise, with Anna close at her side.

But Jennings said she became disoriented and was nearly overcome by smoke. She tried to get back out but crawled in the wrong direction, heading toward the pantry instead of the door.

Anna showed her the way out.

“She pushed on me; she nudged me out the door,” Jennings said.

The roof collapsed as Jennings, barefoot and wearing only pajamas, ran to some trees in the 15-degree weather. Jennings suffered burns to her feet and then frostbite. Anna and two other dogs Jennings has were not injured.

Iranian-backed Shiites
say they bombed market

BAGHDAD — Four members of an Iranian-backed Shiite cell confessed bombing a public market in central Baghdad, a U.S. spokesman said Saturday. He also blamed Shiites for recent attacks on U.S. bases, raising fears that a three-month truce by the most feared Shiite militia may be at an end.

The blast Friday in the al-Ghazl pet market killed at least 15 people, wounded 56 and shattered a growing sense of public confidence that has emerged following a sharp decline in the bombings and shootings that once rattled the Iraqi capital daily.

During overnight raids, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers arrested four members of an unidentified Shiite “special groups cell” who confessed the bombing, U.S. spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith told reporters.

“Based on subsequent confessions, forensics and other intelligence, the bombing was the work of an Iranian-backed special groups cell operating here in Baghdad,” Smith said, adding that he was not accusing Iran itself of ordering the blast.

The market is in a Shiite area and has been targeted before by Sunni extremists. But Smith said the attackers wanted people to believe that the bomb, packed with ball-bearings to maximize casualties, was the work of al-Qaida in Iraq so that residents would turn to Shiite militias for protection.

FBI to help search for
ex-sergeant’s missing wife

CHICAGO — The FBI will join the search for the wife of a former suburban police sergeant, whom authorities have called a suspect in her disappearance nearly a month ago, a spokesman for the federal agency said Saturday.

The FBI’s involvement comes at the request of the Illinois State Police, which is leading the investigation into the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, 23, from the couple’s home.

The case has led prosecutors to re-examine the 2004 death of Drew Peterson’s third wife, Kathleen Savio. Authorities have said her death may have been a homicide staged to look like an accidental drowning.

Savio’s body was exhumed for a new autopsy. The state’s attorney’s office said it could be a couple weeks before investigators have results from tests on her remains.

Peterson, 53, has denied any wrongdoing in her death and has proclaimed his innocence in Stacy Peterson’s disappearance.

Producers, stagehands
agree to resume talks

NEW YORK — Striking stagehands and theater producers agreed Saturday to return to the bargaining table, nearly a week after negotiations collapsed and kept most of Broadway dark during the lucrative Thanksgiving week — the second full week of no performances.

The plans for today were announced by Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, and was confirmed by the stagehands union.

More than two dozen plays and musicals have been closed since Nov. 10, when the stagehands walked off the job.

A settlement was believed to have been in the works last Sunday after a marathon weekend of negotiating, but the talks ended abruptly with producers walking out. No negotiations were held during Thanksgiving week, traditionally one of the best weeks for Broadway business.

Associated Press