The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Shopper takes cart with baby, causing lockdown
PORTLAND, MAINE » Police say an absent-minded shopper at a Maine grocery store took somebody else’s cart with a sleeping baby inside, causing a lockdown and a police investigation.
Portland police say the shopper was mortified when he realized his mistake but didn’t bother to alert anyone on Friday. Instead, the shopper left the cart in another part of the store and retrieved his own cart. Police say store video backs up his claim.
Police Chief Michael Sauschuck says grocery store staff quickly locked down the store. Police determined the conduct didn’t warrant criminal charges.
The baby was restrained in a car seat and slept through the entire scare.
450-pound seal removed from Alaska airport’s runway
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA » In Alaska, it’s not uncommon for wildlife like polar bears to wander onto an airport’s runway, but a lounging seal is far more unusual.
But that’s what workers found at the airport in the nation’s northernmost city on Monday. A seal estimated to weigh 450 pounds (204 kilograms) was removed from the runway at the airport at Utqiagvik (pronounced by way of sled, KTVA reported .
A photo and video of the bearded seal lounging on the runway in the town formerly known as Barrow was shared by Scott Babcock on Facebook .
The state Department of Transportation got in on the fun by warning pilots of “low sealings” at the airport.
Meadow Bailey, the department’s communications director, said Utqiagvik, an Arctic Ocean coastal community on Alaska’s North Slope, experienced heavy storms Monday. Staff found the seal while clearing the runway.
The department’s staff members are not allowed to handle marine mammals, so the seal was removed by North Slope Animal Control.
The workers have seen birds, caribou, polar bears and musk ox on the runway, but the seal sighting was a first, Bailey said.
Police post ‘pumpkin lineup’ after recovering stolen squash
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO. » Police who caught three teenagers orangehanded with 48 stolen pumpkins — and one gourd — are asking residents of a St. Louis suburb to view a “pumpkin lineup” online to see if their Halloween squash are among those recovered.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch re- ports that pumpkins began vanishing last week from subdivisions of Maryland Heights. Police quickly tracked down the boys and their pumpkin-crammed SUV that Capt. Scott Will says was “top-to-bottom orange.”
The next day, officers snapped a picture of the abducted decor and posted it to Facebook . Will says police have been “inundated” with people coming to track down their Halloween pumpkins. About a dozen remained unclaimed Tuesday. None are carved.
Two 18-year-olds are charged with misdemeanor stealing, while a 16-year-old has been referred to juvenile court.