Apartment put up as bail in NY prostitution case

Apartment put up as bail in NY prostitution case

NEW YORK

A suburban New York mother accused of running a high-end Manhattan escort service is hoping to make her recently reduced bond with her former lawyer’s apartment as collateral.

Prosecutors were given paperwork Friday outlining Anna Gristina’s plan. If prosecutors and a judge OK it, she could get out of jail early next week with an ankle monitor.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office hasn’t responded to an inquiry.

Gristina initially was jailed on $2 million bond. An appeals court lowered it Tuesday to $250,000.

Former Gristina lawyer Peter Gleason owns the $2.5 million apartment proposed as collateral. Gristina is now represented by Connecticut-based attorney Norman Pattis.

Prosecutors say Gristina peddled prostitutes for 15 years and boasted of law-enforcement contacts. She says she was just starting a dating business. She has pleaded not guilty.

Hurricane Carlotta nears Mexico

MEXICO CITY

Carlotta grew into a powerful Category 2 hurricane Friday as it neared Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, where it is expected to brush the resort town of Puerto Escondido and then lash Acapulco.

Authorities opened emergency shelters, and tourists began leaving Puerto Escondido, a laid-back port popular with surfers. Hotel owners gathered up furniture and other potential flying objects in preparation for the hurricane, which was expected to move over or near the coast early today.

Gag lifted on girl who criticized food

LONDON

A 9-year-old blogger won a food fight with authorities in her Scottish town Friday after an online outcry prompted officials to lift a ban on posting photos of her school lunches.

Martha Payne’s images of uninspiring school meals — one consisted of two croquettes, a plain cheeseburger, three slices of cucumber and a lollipop — drew international attention. The blog, set up about six weeks ago as a writing project and to help raise money for a school-meals charity, has drawn more than 2 million hits.

Martha, who lives in the coastal town of Lochgilphead, about 130 miles west of Edinburgh, gave each meal a “food-o-meter” rating, and offered an assessment of its contents.

Local officials weren’t amused, and ordered the schoolgirl to stop taking pictures.

In a statement, Argyll and Bute Council said Payne’s photos were misleading and had caused distress to cafeteria staff.

Wallenda walks wire across falls

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario

Daredevil Nik Wallenda has finished his attempt to become the first person to walk on a tightrope 1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of roaring Niagara Falls.

The seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted. Other daredevils have wire-walked over the Niagara River but farther downstream and not since 1896.

An estimated crowd of 125,000 people on the Canadian side and 4,000 on the American side watched Wallenda’s stunt Friday night.

ABC televised the walk and insisted Wallenda use a tether to keep him from falling in the river. Wallenda said he agreed because he wasn’t willing to lose the chance and needed ABC’s sponsorship to help offset some of the $1.3 million cost of the spectacle.

Associated Press