In brief: Lodge to pool resources to help with hippo heave-ho

Johannesburg – A hefty hippo chased away from his herd at a South African game reserve has found a refreshing place to relax: the lodge’s swimming pool. Now it’s stuck there.

The young hippopotamus plopped into the pool on Tuesday at the Monate Conservation Lodge north of Johannesburg. The pool is big enough for the hippo to swim but it’s 8 feet deep with no steps and “there’s no way he can come out,” lodge manager Ruby Ferreira told the Associated Press on Thursday.

A game capture team will sedate the 4-year-old hippo and lift it out of the pool with a crane, said MuIsabel Wentzel of South Africa’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Much of the water has already been drained to make the extraction easier. A veterinarian will be present during operation hippo extraction today.

Rep. Akin, in hot water for remarks, receives threats

Washington – U.S. Capitol Police said Thursday that officers are investigating a reported threat against Rep. Todd Akin, the Missouri congressman who has been criticized for comments he recently made about rape.

Police spokeswoman Lt. Kimberly Schneider said there was “an active, open investigation” into a reported threat against the Republican, though she declined to detail the threat because it involved security of members of Congress.

The six-term congressman, who is running for the U.S. Senate, created a firestorm when he said in a television interview Sunday that women’s bodies have ways of preventing pregnancies in cases of what he called “legitimate rape.” He has repeatedly apologized, saying he misspoke, and has refused demands by top Republicans to withdraw from the Senate race.

Several threats have been made against the congressman, his family and staff since the interview aired, Akin spokesman Steve Taylor said. Taylor said threats of rape and other violence have been aimed at Akin through phone calls, emails and tweets.

Akin is challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

King, who drowned in pool, had drugs in his system

San Bernardino, Calif. – Rodney King had been drinking and was on drugs when he plunged into a swimming pool and accidentally drowned, a coroner’s report released Thursday concluded.

The report confirmed a police conclusion that King died by accident and the case will be closed, Rialto police Capt. Randy DeAnda said.

“The investigation is now completed and basically the autopsy and toxicology reinforces our conclusions,” DeAnda said.

King, whose videotaped beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 led to deadly rioting, had long struggled with addiction.

A call from King’s fiancee brought police to his Rialto home at 5:30 a.m. on June 17. Officers pulled him from the bottom of the pool and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Toxicology tests showed that King had a blood-alcohol level of 0.06 and amounts of PCP, cocaine and marijuana in his system, the captain said.