"Big cat" was no kitty, as Wyo. dispatcher reported

Critters

A police officer didn't think much of a call to shoo off a "kitty cat" in Casper, Wyo., until he arrived at Beverly Hood's home to find a mountain lion weighing 80 to 90 pounds. Officer Mike Ableman said he ran into Hood's home when he saw the cougar. Hood said she was inside when she saw the mountain lion on her porch Monday and called 911, animal control and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. She reported a bothersome "big cat." A dispatcher told Ableman it was a house cat. The animal was tranquilized and relocated.

Worth a try

$1.75 buys a house

A Chicago woman won an eBay auction for an abandoned home in Saginaw, Mich., by bidding $1.75. "I am going to try and sell it," Joanne Smith told The Saginaw News. "I don't have any plans to move to Saginaw." Smith must pay about $850 in back taxes and yard cleanup costs.

Law & disorder

A robbers' hot spot

A La Mesa, Calif., Wells Fargo branch had an especially difficult day this week. Two men the FBI call "The Hard Hat Bandit" and "The Chatty Bandit" robbed the branch about three hours apart Monday, authorities said. The FBI believes "The Chatty Bandit" has held up nine banks since March and "The Hard Hat Bandit" has struck three times this week. Neither has been arrested.

Let's eat

NYPD wins pizza fight

There's only one NYPD — and it's not on a menu. That's what Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said about the New York Police Department's recent settlement of a trademark dispute with a Florida pizzeria chain. N.Y.P.D. Pizza — for New York Pizzeria Delicatessen — must redesign its logo so it doesn't resemble a uniform patch. And it can't open restaurants in the New York area. Owner Paul Russo said he's pleased a settlement was reached.

Oops!

Another fine mess

Thousands of dollar bills stolen from a restaurant in California's high desert could not have been marked more clearly: The Homestead had a tradition of customers writing messages on currency and hanging it on the walls. Authorities said that didn't stop Donald Dejarnette, 34, from using some of the cash last week to pay a court fine. Kern County sheriff's Sgt. Tyson Davis said a clerk recognized the bills, some of which had "Homestead" written on them. Dejarnette and four others have been arrested on suspicion of taking $8,000 from the restaurant.

Passages

Marian McQuade, 91, an advocate of care for the elderly who founded National Grandparents Day, died Friday at a nursing home in Hilltop, W.Va. She had 43 grandchildren.

Today in History

1944: Nazi troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which 250,000 people were killed.

1967: Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the Supreme Court, was sworn in as an associate justice.

1985: Actor Rock Hudson died at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 59 after battling AIDS.

Today's Birthdays

Former Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills, 76. Movie critic Rex Reed, 70. Singer-songwriter Don McLean, 63. Actor Avery Brooks, 60. Photographer Annie Leibovitz, 59. Singer-actor Sting, 57. Actress Lorraine Bracco, 54. R&B singer Freddie Jackson, 50. Actress-talk show host Kelly Ripa, 38.

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