oddly enough

oddly enough

Pittsburgh board apologizes for school experiment

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Public Schools board has apologized for failed changes to a chronically underachieving high school.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Monday that the board apologized last week to the predominantly black community that Pittsburgh Westinghouse 6-12 School serves. The apology was prompted by board member Mark Brentley Sr., who is black. He wanted the apology to list reasons he believes expanding the school from a high school only have gotten off to a rocky start, including alleged racial segregation and the decision not to separate middle- and high-school-aged students.

The school also has had turnover with administrators and scrapped a trimester system in addition to dropping single-gender classes after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue.

NC man loses collection of poisonous snakes worth $49K

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C.

A North Carolina man is losing his exotic-reptile collection worth $49,000 after police found dozens of venomous lizards and snakes in his home.

Walter Kidd, 51, of Hendersonville pleaded guilty Friday to 30 misdemeanor charges of possessing endangered animals and failing to properly label containers of poisonous snakes.

Police seized the reptiles in August after Kidd was bitten by an exotic venomous snake and rushed to a hospital. Officers said his mobile home was packed with snakes in plastic containers.

Kidd’s attorney says the reptiles were not a danger because they were kept inside his home.

The creatures were taken to the state natural-sciences museum in Raleigh.

Associated Press