Odds and Ends

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - There's some unwanted dribbling going on at the Basketball Hall of Fame.

City officials say the $109 million dome-shaped building has sprung some leaks since it was built about two years ago.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, along with its parking garage and 18.5-acre site, are owned by the city. The property is rented to the hall in a 99-year lease.

The state put up $42.5 million for the museum's construction, and about $80,000 of that is left, said city economic developer Thomas McColgan. He expects the remaining money to cover repair costs.

"I think it's minor. But before we go ahead and spend whatever balances are left in the various accounts, we want to make sure the problem gets addressed and corrected," he said.

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HARARE, Zimbabwe - A man allegedly bit off and swallowed another man's finger during a bar brawl, authorities said.

Alex Nyarubakora, 39, appeared in court in the town of Chitungwiza on Wednesday charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Isau Janhi said Nyarubakora was arguing with his wife in a bar last week when he allegedly became incensed by the second man's attempts to intercede.

After the two men began fighting, Nyarubakora is accused of biting off his opponent's finger and chewing and swallowing it. No remains of the finger were found at the scene, Janhi said.

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ST. LOUIS - After briefly considering keeping $21,500 he found in a shopping cart at work, 17-year-old Jeff Aitken fought the temptation and reunited the cash with its rightful owner.

That honesty this month made his mother mighty proud, though she couldn't communicate it well. For the past three years, Lou Gehrig's disease had robbed 53-year-old Bev Aitken of her ability to speak.

So when she lost her fight the day after the Christmas, Bev Aitken left feeling quite rich about her son's conscience, relatives say.

"I think it gave her hope that everything was going to be OK once she left," Jeff's 20-year-old sister, Jen, said Tuesday from the family's home in Overland, a St. Louis suburb.

Jeff Aitken's life - and that of his family - could have taken a different path Dec. 11, when he spotted a bag full of $100 bills in a cart at a Schnucks supermarket at the end of his shift.

All told, the bag held $21,500 - cash Aitken knew could have had many uses, including covering some of the family's health-care costs.

Aitken admitted that the thought of pocketing the money crossed his mind. The only identification with the cash was a check made out to Aladdin Wireless.

He took the money to police two days later as businessman Kamal Abusharbain, having just reported losing the loot, was leaving the station.

Recognizing the bag, Abusharbain hugged the teen and gave him a $2,000 reward, a new cell phone and a job offer at a business where Aitken can learn how to sell and fix wireless phones.

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WINNIPEG, Manitoba - It didn't take Winnipeg police long to solve the great Christmas tree heist - a trail of pine cones from the scene of the crime led directly to a suspect's living room.

"It's got to be the dumbest crime of the century," apartment caretaker Cindy Peterson said Wednesday. "You could see where they dragged it into the house."

The Yuletide theft happened early Dec. 23 when someone cut down an 18-foot blue spruce from in front of Peterson's apartment building. The tree wasn't sawed at the base of the trunk, but about six feet up.

Peterson said she only noticed the tree had been lopped off when she went out to shovel the walk.

"A neighbour asked me if I couldn't afford a real tree," she said. "She pointed and I looked and thought, 'What the... ?"

Peterson and neighbour Ralph Mehmedov went to investigate and found a small cedar tree apparently discarded in favor of the larger spruce. A trail of pine cones, needles and broken limbs led directly to a residence across the street.

Police questioned the 22-year-old occupant, who told them he had bought the tree from an unknown door-to-door tree salesman for $5.

The man was charged with possession of stolen goods and released on a promise to appear in court at a later date.