Monday – 5/20/13

Human Interest News   —   Posted on May 20, 2013

18-year-old bags 800-pound record alligator in Texas

A Houston-area high school senior has bagged a 14-foot, 800 pound alligator – the heaviest ever certified in Texas – on his first alligator hunt.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials say 18-year-old Braxton Bielski bagged the record gator last week at Choke Canyon State Park, about 90 miles south of San Antonio.

The agency says in a statement that Braxton shot the giant reptile after hooking it on a line using raw chicken as bait.

Bielski’s father, Troy Bielski, won a Parks and Wildlife drawing for a five-day permit to hunt in the Daughtry Wildlife Management Area. The Houston police officer says his son had been dreaming of hunting alligators for years.

Parks and Wildlife says the alligator was between 30 and 50 years old.

9-inch copter lands in arms of Ohio court statue

MARION, Ohio — An unwanted modern addition has flown into the arms of a Lady Justice statue that sits atop a county courthouse in north-central Ohio.

A 9-inch, remote-control helicopter flew into Lady Justice on the Marion County Courthouse on April 27 and has been there since — resting on the hilt of her sword more than 100 feet high.

Video producer Terry Cline tells the Marion Star that he was using the $1,500 camera-equipped helicopter to shoot a promotional video for the city when it was caught by an unexpected breeze.

Since then, Cline has been trying figure out how to get the helicopter back.

County officials say they won’t pay to remove it or risk anyone’s life for it.

For now, Lady Justice gets to keep her new toy.

Dubai-style island off coast of Spain provokes dismay

A multinational consortium led by US-based Mobilona unveiled its ambitious project last week when it lodged a request for planning permission with Barcelona City Hall.

With an initial investment of 1.5 billion euros ($1.93 billion), the hotel complex will also include a 24 hour shopping mall, a marina capable of mooring yachts up to 656 feet in length, and private apartments, some of which will be available on a “timeshare” system of 20,000 euros ($25,700) for an annual one-week occupancy right.

Rooms at the 2,000 suite hotel will range from 300 euros ($386) to 1,500 euros ($1,928) per night while the six-story private penthouse mansion with infinity pool, optional helipad and mooring for a superyacht comes with a 70 million euro price tag.

The plans however have already been dismissed by Barcelona’s mayor as “not in keeping” with his vision for Barcelona.

“We have no need or desire to take on projects of this nature,” Xavier Trias, the mayor from Catalonia’s centre-right nationalist CiU party, said in an interview with the Catalan news channel 3/24, while admitting the City Hall will give the proposal due consideration.

“We are a city of culture, knowledge, of creativity, and of innovation, and our project (for the city) will follow a different path.”

“We have no intention of turning Barcelona into a spectacle,” he added.

A spokesman at the planning department of Barcelona City Hall commented: “This seems more suitable for somewhere like Dubai. Any plan to advance Barcelona must be in keeping with the present model of the city.”

Mobilona have also unveiled plans for similar “Space Hotels” in Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

From Yahoo News and London’s Daily Telegraph.