Miami

Online casino wins ‘Virgin Mary’ sandwich

An online casino said it placed the winning $28,000 bid for a 10-year-old partly eaten grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary, and wants to take it on a world tour.

“We believe that everyone should be able to see it and learn of its mystical powers for themselves,” said Richard Rowe, CEO of the GoldenPalace.com casino.

The casino said it invited the snack’s original owner, Diana Duyser, on the tour so people can hear her story and share her luck.

“We will definitely use the sandwich to raise money for charity, and we hope it will raise people’s spirits, as well,” Rowe said.

The half-sandwich with a corner bitten off and what appears to be a woman’s face visible on its surface, was first placed on eBay two weeks ago. The online auction house initially withdrew the item, but eventually allowed it back amid a flood of media coverage.

Los Angeles

County votes to close troubled trauma unit

The county Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to close a hospital trauma center in one of the city’s poorest, most gang-ridden neighborhoods, despite pleas from politicians, residents and civil rights leaders.

Four of the five supervisors voted to close the unit at Los Angeles County’s Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center; the supervisor who represents the area abstained.

The crowd in the meeting hall erupted in chants of “Save King-Drew!” and “No justice, no peace!” immediately after the vote.

King/Drew is in South Los Angeles, a bloody urban battleground where victims of gang shootings are routinely left outside the hospital doors. Over the years, U.S. military doctors have trained at the trauma center because of the many gunshot wounds treated there.

County supervisors and health officials had recommended the closing, saying the trauma center was draining money and manpower from the rest of the troubled hospital.

Las Vegas

Stripper, lover acquitted of casino heir’s murder

A former stripper and her lover were acquitted Tuesday of murdering casino heir Ted Binion, who prosecutors say was drugged and suffocated in a plot to steal his fortune of buried silver.

The jury found Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish guilty of lesser charges of conspiracy to commit burglary or larceny, burglary and grand larceny in a plot to steal a $7 million cache of silver bars and coins Binion had buried in the desert.

Defense lawyers had argued Binion, a longtime heroin addict, died of an accidental overdose.

Prosecutors said Murphy and Tabish hatched a plot to kill Binion by forcing him to ingest lethal levels of heroin and the anti-depressant Xanax and then suffocated him to hasten his death. He was found dead at his home on Sept. 17, 1998.

Binion’s family owned Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas, known for inexpensive steak dinners and high-stakes gambling. But he lost his gaming license over allegations of drug use and ties to a mob figure.