In brief: Kinkade’s death ruled accidental

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Thomas Kinkade’s death has been ruled an accident after he overdosed on a cocktail of alcohol and Valium, a new report says.

NBC Bay Area posted to its website Monday evening a portion of the autopsy from the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner’s Office. Officials at the coroner’s office said they could not provide the report until this morning.

Kinkade, the “Painter of Light,” was 54 when he died at his Monte Sereno, Calif., home on April 6.

Also contributing to Kinkade’s death, the report said, were “hypertensive and atherosclerotic heart disease.”

Man jumps into acid to save co-worker

CLIFTON, N.J. – Fire officials say a roofing company employee jumped into a vat of nitric acid to save a co-worker who fell 40 feet through a roof and into the tank.

Clifton Fire Chief Vince Colavitti said the men were part of a crew working at Swepco Tube LLC in Clifton when the accident occurred around 8:40 a.m. Monday.

Martin Davis, 44, suffered a broken rib, punctured lung, and burns on his legs and side, relatives said. He is in critical condition.

Colavitti said 51-year-old Rob Nuckols was on the ground floor and jumped into the vat. He was waist-high in acid while he and three others pulled Davis out. Nuckols was treated for burns.

Famed obese cat dies at shelter

SANTA FE, N.M. – A cat that got national attention for tipping the scales at 39 pounds has died from apparent complications of his morbid obesity, an animal shelter said Monday.

The orange-and-white tabby named Meow, who was between 2 and 5 years old, was taken to the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society last month after his 87-year-old owner could no longer take care of him.

The shelter put Meow on a diet and posted all his weigh-ins on a Facebook page that got national attention.

Meow had lost 2 pounds and was doing well when he began having breathing problems Wednesday, shelter Director Mary Martin said Monday.

Meow underwent a battery of tests, including X-rays and a cardiac ultrasound, and was put on oxygen.

Despite the shelter’s best efforts, Meow died on Saturday.

“We all fell in love with him,” Martin told the Associated Press through tears.

She said people across the country contacted the shelter after Meow’s story made national news, with many telling her he inspired them to put their pets and themselves on diets.