Ohio 8th-grader suspended for wild Bengals haircut

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) -- A young Cincinnati Bengals fan has been penalized for clipping. Dustin Reader got the NFL team's stripes and "B" insignia cut into his hair as a tribute to the team's good season. When he showed up to school in the southwest Ohio city of Hamilton on Monday, officials put the eighth-grader into in-school suspension. The school said its code of conduct prohibits extreme and distracting hairstyles---More

Wild! Ohio family visits 52 zoos in 52 weeks

COLUMBUS, Ohio – It's been a wild year for members of an Ohio family, who say they've accomplished a goal of visiting 52 zoos in 52 weeks.

Columbus resident Marla Taviano, her husband and three daughters began last August with the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky and spent weekends and vacations going to zoos across the country. Their visits included the Dallas Zoo, New York's Central Park Zoo and the San Diego Zoo. Their Web site shows they wound up hitting 55 animal parks to see giraffes, reindeer and snow leopards.

Taviano says she got the idea while trying to think of an adventure that would feel like traveling the world and seeing exotic creatures but on a budget.

The family's 22,000-mile tour ended Saturday with a visit to their hometown Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

Taviano plans a book about their journey.

Information from: WBNS-TV, http://www.10tv.com/

Odd News-Monkey eludes dragnet at Tokyo train station

Odd News-Monkey eludes dragnet at Tokyo train station

TOKYO - Morning train commuters in Tokyo were joined on their way to work by an unusual companion Wednesday: a wild monkey.

A security guard spotted the monkey near ticket gates in Shibuya Station, said Norihiru Masui, a spokesman for train operator Tokyu Corp.

The monkey climbed to a perch high atop a departure board, and around 30 policemen surrounded the area and attempted to snare it with a variety of nets, as commuters crowded around and snapped pictures with their cell phones.

The standoff ended when the monkey climbed down and dashed out of the station, with several policeman and local TV crews in tow. News reports said the monkey was last seen heading in the direction of nearby Yoyogi Park.

The animal appeared to be a Japanese monkey, which are native to the country, and was about 27 inches (70 centimeters) long from head to the tip of the tail. No one was injured and no trains were delayed in the incident.

Japanese media have reported several monkey sightings in Tokyo recently, but it was unclear if they involved the same animal.

Monkeys have long made appearances in rural parts of Japan, where they have been known to damage crops, swipe food from grocery stalls and even bite humans. In recent years, growth in the monkey population has meant more frequent forays out of the forests and into farms and towns.