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Circus nixes kangaroo boxing plans

OXFORD, Tenn., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A Tennessee police chief said a circus has canceled a previously announced boxing match involving a clown and a kangaroo.

Oxford Police Chief Joey East said police opened an investigation after hearing complaints about a planned kangaroo boxing event during a Star Family Circus performance scheduled for next week National Guard Armory in Oxford, WMCTV, Memphis, reported Tuesday.

"It was first brought to our attention by a concerned citizen," East said. "It was the first I'd heard about it. I was taken aback about the deal so I heard concerns that they were actually going to bring something up here and someone was going to be boxing a kangaroo."

The circus owner, who said the marsupial only boxes against a clown who does not actually hit the kangaroo, has agreed to call off the boxing portion of the event, East said.

"If there is any type of animal cruelty, we will be there to enforce the laws," East said of the performance.

Noisy boys sent walking alone at 4:30 a.m.

MIDDLETOWN, Conn., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Authorities in Connecticut said a woman is facing charges after having two boys, ages 10 and 11, walk home on their own at 4:30 a.m.

Police said they responded to a call at 9:12 a.m. Sunday from a Middletown mother who said she awoke at 8:30 a.m. Sunday to find her 11-year-old son and his 10-year-old friend were in her home instead of at the sleepover down the street they had been attending the previous night, The Hartford Courant reported Tuesday.

The woman said the boys had been told to leave the sleepover at 4:30 a.m. and they walked to her house. The distance between the two houses was unclear.

Barbara Aiello, 71, said the boys were having a sleepover with her 14-year-old grandson and she made them leave at 4:30 a.m. because they were being too loud.

Police said outside temperatures were in the 20s Sunday morning.

Aiello was charged with two counts of risk of injury to a minor.

Offers pour in to replace stolen tools

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A Texas man said he was "overwhelmed" with more than 100 offers of help after his tools were stolen while he was with his dying wife at a hospital.

Interior-exterior remodeler Steve Cartelli, 62, of Round Rock, said his air compressor, nail guns, chain saw and other items were taken from his pickup truck while it was parked in the parking lot of University Medical Center Brackenridge, where his wife is dying of ovarian cancer, Jan. 18 or 19, The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Tuesday.

Cartelli, whose wife was transferred to hospice care Saturday, said he did not know how he would replace the tools, some of which were worth $700-$900 each, until more than a hundred offers of money and tools started pouring in from the public.

"I am overwhelmed," Cartelli said Monday. "The compassion from everybody who's called and the prayers are amazing. I'll probably have enough tools to open a wood shop. I'm not kidding."

Cartelli said his wife, Dee Dee, held a birthday party for two grandchildren in her room Sunday and then watched the Super Bowl with her husband. Cartelli said Dee Dee was pleased with the game's outcome.

"She wanted to see [retiring Ravens linebacker] Ray Lewis go out with a big new ring," Cartelli said.

IHOP fundraiser gives out free pancakes

GLENDALE, Calif., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- IHOP's California headquarters said the restaurant chain celebrated National Pancake Day Tuesday with free breakfasts.

The Glendale-based chain said the eighth-annual pancake giveaway was aimed at encouraging diners to donate money to the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals instead of paying for their morning pancakes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at more than 1,500 IHOP locations across the country, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The restaurant said the festivities also included Miss America 2013 Mallory Hagan flipping and serving up flapjacks at a Hollywood location.