• Chris Villavicencio, 9, of Union City, N.J., said he had the best day of his life when he got separated from his family at the Central Park Zoo and wandered around Times Square in New York City for two hours, eventually being found by police more than a mile away from the zoo.
• Selma Iris Gonzalez, 25, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was charged with intent to kill or harm a service animal after police say she slapped Greyhawk, one of their patrol horses, loud enough to be heard by a crowd outside a nightclub.
• LaWanna Williams, a psychology professor at Grambling State University in Louisiana, sent a bracelet she bought in 1970 bearing the name of Staff Sgt. Dennis Hammond to his sister, Carlene Tackitt, 44 years after Hammond, who was a POW, died in captivity.
• Allen Del Vecchio, the fire marshal in Totowa, N.J., said he felt a blast from Pharmachem Laboratories at his house a mile away after a vat of eggnog exploded, injuring two workers.
• Demeza Delhomme, the mayor of Spring Valley, N.Y., was charged with contempt of court and spent a night in jail after doors to a building hosting a children's day camp were locked, despite orders from state Supreme Court Justice Gerald Loehr to open them, after Delhomme and the camp's youth director had a disagreement.
• Ria Buford, 32, faces charges of robbery of a motor vehicle and public drunkenness after Pittsburgh police said she tried to drive away in an unmarked police car with two plainclothes officers still inside, telling them she intended to drive to where her vehicle was parked.
• Robert Patton, director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, has had security increased around him at a cost of $40,587 after receiving threatening phone calls and emails that began after convicted killer Clayton Lockett began struggling and convulsing during his execution in April.
• Juan Saenz, 20, reported his car was stolen, only to be arrested on suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle by Corpus Christi, Texas, police after they recovered the car and determined it had been stolen from his ex-girlfriend.
• Larry Kurtz, the fire captain in Santa Ana, Calif., said a 16-year-old boy suffered first- and second-degree burns on his face, neck and hips after setting his chest on fire for a "fire challenge" that has spread on social media.
A Section on 08/04/2014