NYPD horse tosses rider, takes day off
NEW YORK (AP) Police say a patrol horse found his own way back through Manhattan streets to his stable after throwing his rider.
The officer was treated for minor injuries after traffic noise spooked Aldo on Friday. The 8-year-old took off about eight blocks to the stable.
New York police spokesman Paul Browne says the horse "knows his turf."
Officer Martin Brown says Aldo suffered a few small cuts. The 21-year police veteran riding him had some injuries to his neck and shoulder.
Aldo has been a police horse for about a year.
Ban snuffs out pipes at convention
ST. CHARLES, Ill. (AP) There will be no indoor smoking at a large convention for pipe smokers in Illinois.
A new Illinois law bans smoking in public places. That's taken some of the steam out of this weekend's Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show in St. Charles.
The event draws 4,000 pipe collectors from more than 60 countries. Organizers tried to get around the new law by arguing their gathering was a private club meeting. Police and health officials said no.
Instead, a large smoking tent has been set up 15 feet away from the Pheasant Run convention center.
Convention-goer Al Shinogle of Denver likens it to a wine tasting without the wine.
Man wants to be
Mr. In God We Trust?
ZION, Ill. (AP) Steve Kreuscher wants a judge to allow him to legally change his name. He wants to be known as "In God We Trust."
Kreuscher (CROY'-shir) says the new name would symbolize the help God gave him through tough times.
The 57-year-old man also told the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald he's worried that atheists may succeed in removing the phrase "In God We Trust" from U.S. currency.
He recalls that the phrase "God Reigns" was removed from the Zion city seal in 1992 after courts deemed it unconstitutional. Zion was founded as a theocracy by a sect that believed the Earth was flat.
The school bus driver and amateur artist in the northern Chicago suburb says he has filed a petition to change his name in Lake County Circuit Court.
