oddly enough

oddly enough

Pa. man arrested for cutting city tree that floods home

PITTSBURGH

A Pittsburgh man has been arrested after police say he cut down a city-owned tree, which the man claims contributes to basement flooding.

David Harper, 39, is charged with criminal mischief and possessing an instrument of crime — his neighbor’s chain saw.

Police tell WTAE-TV that they charged Harper last week after he cut the sidewalk tree nearly in half. Public-works crews were called to cut the tree down after city officials determined it was unstable and could fall on someone.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Harper, and The Associated Press could not locate a listed home phone for him. Police say Harper told them he hated the tree because it buckled the sidewalk, causing rainwater to flow into his basement.

Pa. attorney claiming bias has no law license

ERIE, Pa.

Erie County’s executive wants the county’s Human Relations Commission to dismiss a discrimination claim filed by an attorney who claims he didn’t get a public defender’s job because of political bias.

Attorneys for County Executive Barry Grossman say there’s a simple reason Jeffrey Del Fuoco didn’t get the job: He doesn’t have a valid Pennsylvania law license.

Online records kept by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court show Grossman’s Pennsylvania law license is “inactive,” though he has petitioned to change that.

But Grossman’s attorneys tell the Erie Times-News that’s reason enough to dismiss his bias claim.

Del Fuoco has claimed he didn’t get the job because of age and gender discrimination and because he didn’t donate to Grossman’s political campaign.

The Human Relations Commission has yet to rule on the case.

Video shows whale ‘dancing’ at Connecticut wedding

MYSTIC, Conn.

Trainers say a beluga whale seen bobbing to the music of a mariachi band on a wedding video taken at a Connecticut aquarium wasn’t really dancing.

The video has become an Internet hit since being posted by Bill Kurtz of West Haven, a guest at the July wedding of Kimberly Mikenis and Kevin Van Aelst of New Haven.

But Mystic Aquarium senior trainer Kelly O’Neil tells the New Haven Register that Juno, the 1,200-pound beluga on the video, has been trained to bob in response to certain arm movements and apparently was responding to the movements of the band’s guitar player.

O’Neil says the whale’s apparent interest in the wedding probably was due to the music’s vibrations, those physical cues and the whale’s natural curiosity.

Associated Press