ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – A golden retriever who was 400 miles from his Atlanta home booked a trip back by simply looking pathetic outside of a Florida travel agency.

Nine months ago, Pepper ran away from Atlanta while his family was on vacation. He somehow made it down to St. Petersburg. It’s unknown if he got a ride or wandered on his own.

Then Pepper turned up outside 66th Street Travel last week during a thunderstorm.

Employee Jay Getman described Pepper as “just soaking wet, filthy, dirty, flea-infested.”

Feds: carrier kept 9,000 pieces of mail

DETROIT (AP) – In a case that echoes a “Seinfeld” episode, a former postal worker has been charged with stealing thousands of pieces of mail that authorities say she had kept in a storage unit northwest of Detroit.

Federal investigators say they’ve recovered more than 9,000 pieces of mail from a storage unit in Fowlerville. Authorities allege that Jill Hull admitted storing the mail because she couldn’t deliver it on time. Some mail has postmarks from 2005.

Hull worked for the Postal Service in the Howell area for 3-½ years. She quit in August, about three weeks before the mail was discovered.

A phone number listed for Hull was disconnected.

In a 1996 “Seinfeld” episode, Newman (Wayne Knight) stored mail in Jerry Seinfeld’s storage unit instead of delivering it.

Protection sought for Wolverines

HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Environmental groups sued the federal government Tuesday to protect wolverines under the Endangered Species Act, saying the Interior Department disregarded scientific conclusions that the species was in jeopardy.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the species Endangered Species Act protection in March by saying that even if wolverines disappeared from the Lower 48, the species would survive because there are larger populations in Canada.

“Americans want these animals protected on our own soil,” said David Gaillard, Northern Rockies representative for one of the plaintiffs, Defenders of Wildlife.

The nine environmental