Praying Mantis preys on cursor

.

Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many

This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.
More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.
The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.
Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.
Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.
City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.
"I guess we're going to find out what the tolerance level is for people," said businessman Chuck Fowler, who is helping lead a private task force brainstorming for city budget fixes. "It's a new day."
Some residents are less sanguine, arguing that cuts to bus services, drug enforcement and treatment and job development are attacks on basic needs for the working class.
"How are people supposed to live? We're not a 'Mayberry R.F.D.' anymore," said Addy Hansen, a criminal justice student who has spoken out about safety cuts. "We're the second-largest city, and growing, in Colorado. We're in trouble. We're in big trouble."
.

Dog got his coat stolen right of him

A New York pooch was left shivering in the buff after a coldhearted mugger stole his coat just days before a raging winter storm bore down on the city.
Donna McPherson, 42, says she tied up Lexie, her 10-year-old Westie, in front of Ace Supermarket "for two minutes" so she could buy milk.
When she returned, his $25 green wool coat with leather trim and belt was gone.
Fortunately, she said, Lexie wasn't wearing his pricier Burberry.
"How could anyone steal a coat off someone's back in the freezing cold?" McPherson said. "I asked him, 'Where's your coat?' like he could answer me. I looked all over and could not find it."
At Ace Supermarket on Seventh Avenue and Berkeley Place, employees insisted the neighborhood is normally safe for all dogs. "This is highly unusual for the area," said one.
.