Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe POLICE CONTINUE TO TARGET 'CHOP SHOPS' Authorities in the Kansas City, Mo., area are the latest to crack down on alleged "chop shops," auto-stripping garages. Advertisement The Kansas City Star says police in Independence, Mo., have arrested a man and seized his building after finding remnants of at least five different automobiles in the structure. The paper says when police arrived the owner of the building fled on foot. He later was captured. The 29-year-old man is described as a mechanic who rented the building just a few months ago. The paper says the man allegedly was seen at swap meets selling auto parts and piles of parts allegedly were found on the floor of the garage. Merchandise from two dismantled Ford Crown Victorias was identified as being from cars missing from a local dealership. Parts also were found from a pickup truck from another city. Advertisement REMOTE CONTROL CAR SEVERELY HURTS WOMAN A Michigan City, Ind., woman received two gashes on her legs when she was struck by a remote-controlled hobby car. The toy, described by the Michigan City News Dispatch as being the size of a shoe box and weighing about 10 pounds, struck the woman while she was checking her mailbox. The paper says the gashes in the 86-year-old woman's legs were so deep, one went to the bone. The toy was being operated from some 300 feet away by a 23-year-old man using radio signals. One local hobby store owner tells the paper cars of the type that struck the woman are gasoline powered and can reach speeds of up to 60 mph. POPULAR LILLY DRUG MAY CAUSE DIABETES Some medical experts are claiming Eli Lilly's popular schizophrenia drug Zyprexa can cause diabetes in some people. The charge was made in property liability suits against the huge drug manufacturer this week, as reported by the Indianapolis Star. The drug company is countering the charges, offering to conduct two large clinical re-trials of Zyprexa. There is a complication in sorting this out. Information gathered over the past few decades shows there already is a link between schizophrenia and diabetes. The correlation was noted as far back as the 1920s at some clinics. Advertisement One plaintiff charges her husband died of complications from diabetes that he acquired as the result of using the drug. RURAL RESORT COULD GET GAMBLING A hundred years ago the cities of French Lick and West Baden Springs in rural Indiana were hot spots -- and they could be again. The Louisville Courier-Journal says legislation that would allow legalized gambling in the former tourist meccas is moving through the Indiana Legislature. The latest OK for the concept came this week in a key Senate committee. The measure also has widespread support in the Indiana House of Representatives. Long before a lanky high school boy named Larry Bird gave the area national recognition, the Springs Valley area was famous for its mineral springs and spas -- catering to such figures as Al Capone, who sneaked away to the hills of southern Indiana to soak and gamble. That all came to an end in the 1940s. Gaming could bring a revitalization of the old West Baden Springs Hotel, an architectural treasure.
