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Firefighters deliver baby in elevator

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A pregnant woman in Florida shopped until her baby started to drop, authorities say.

When the mother's water broke Saturday -- while she was shopping for shoes at a Coral Springs mall -- firefighters rushed her to a hospital and into the elevator, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. But as soon as the elevator door closed, the baby started coming out and by the time the elevator reached the second-floor delivery ward, she was almost born, the Sun-Sentinel said.

Mother and daughter were reported in good condition after firefighters finished the delivery and handed both over to hospital personnel, said Mike Matonak, one of the firefighters.

"I guess I could call it a special delivery," Matonak told WFOR-TV.

Bush interrupted by ad for musical

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A New York TV station says it was just coincidence a speech by President George W. Bush about the economy was overlapped by an ad with a timely literary phrase.

Bush's speech Saturday was interrupted on WNBC-TV by a commercial for the Broadway musical "A Tale of Two Cities," the New York Daily News reported.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," the commercial said, showing the blade of a guillotine slamming down.

The phrase is the well known opening line of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" -- an epic story set against the French Revolution depicting the wide gap between the super rich and the growing number of poor people.

After several seconds, WNBC's picture reverted to Bush, with the station later saying the incredible timing was a coincidence.

"We fixed the problem quickly and apologize for the error," WNBC said in a release.

Great pumpkin tops 1,568 pounds

WARREN, R.I., Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A 1,568-pound pampered pumpkin was bumped from contention in the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin contest because it leaked.

Steve Connolly, 53, of Sharon, Mass., had hoped his big baby would break the world record for heaviest pumpkin, but it weighed 121 pounds less than the record and, in the end, was disqualified because of a leaking hole along a rib, The Boston Globe reported.

"I think everyone's more disappointed about it than me," Connolly said. "The reason is, because I did it. They can't take the weight away from me. It gives me something to shoot for next year."

Top honors in Saturday's pumpkin weigh-off in Warren, R.I., went to Joe Jutras of North Scituate, R.I., whose pumpkin set the world record last year. Jutras's winning pumpkin this year weighed 1,507 pounds.

Jutras and Connolly said their pumpkins grew to such extremes thanks to lots of water and a diet of manure, molasses and ground bone, blood and fish. Each of the pumpkins would make an estimated 5,000 pies, the Globe reported.

New Web site locates NYC toilets

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A New York Web site helps those who need to make an emergency bathroom stop avoid catastrophe by using their cell phone, its creators say.

Diaroogle.com is a phone accessible search engine that purports to give frantic users a reliable list of clean public and private bathrooms in a given part of New York by typing in an address, the New York Post reported.

Software developer Evan Cooney and graphic designer Kevin Burg told the newspaper they came up the idea as a joke but after finding serious interest, began touring and photographing some of Manhattan's best-kept bathroom secrets.

If no bathroom can be found, they suggest using a toilet at a New York firehouse -- but only if you ask nicely, the newspaper said. The New York Fire Department said no one will be turned away.

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