Florida: Botanical director loses forearm to alligator

An alligator bit off a man’s right forearm, which was retrieved from the animal’s stomach but was too damaged to reattach, wildlife officials said Tuesday.

Don Goodman, the director of the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville, was weeding a water lily garden Monday when the 11-foot alligator bit his arm off from just below his elbow, said Justin Lagotic, spokesman for Alachua County Fire Rescue.

Authorities shot the alligator and slit its stomach open, finding Goodman’s arm inside. The arm was taken to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida but doctors could not reattach it, botanical garden spokeswoman Barbara Bennett said.

Los Angeles: Homosexual beaten in apparent hate crime

A gay man was assaulted by two men who yelled anti-gay epithets and wielded a metal pipe and a baseball bat, the third suspected hate crime attack in Los Angeles in less than a month.

The latest victim, a 55-year-old man, was walking alone about 3:15 a.m. Sunday when he was assaulted by the men, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Patterson said.

A passing taxi driver stopped and yelled at the attackers, who fled, Patterson said. The taxi driver gave the victim a ride home.

New York: Miss Universe crowned; predecessor dethroned

A new Miss Universe, 23-year-old Justine Pasek of Panama, was crowned Tuesday after pageant officials fired the original winner.

The former first runner-up was crowned a day after Russian law student Oxana Fedorova, who won the May pageant, was dethroned because pageant officials said she was not fulfilling her duties. It was the first time a titleholder had been fired.

Paula Shugart, the organization’s president, said Fedorova didn’t show up for some photo shoots and charity events.

“She needed to spend a lot of time in Russia,” Shugart said on NBC’s “Today” show. “I believe her mother was ill at one point.”