SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) – Sam, the tiny dog whose hairless body and crooked teeth earned him a reputation as the World’s Ugliest Dog, has died.

The pooch died Friday, just short of his 15th birthday, his owner said. “I don’t think there’ll ever be another Sam,” Susie Lockheed said, adding: “Some people would think that’s a good thing.”

Lockheed said she initially was terrified of Sam when she agreed to take him in as a rescue dog six years ago on a 48-hour trial basis. Although she fell in love with him, his appearance repulsed her then-boyfriend and prompted the man to break up with her.

Later, however, Sam became a matchmaker by bringing together Lockheed and her current beau, who saw a picture of the two on an online dating site.

Lockheed said she had Sam euthanized after she learned Sam’s heart was failing.

She said she’s felt a little lost ever since, and is sleeping with Sam’s favorite toy – a stuffed bear he picked up and carried home.

Sam won the ugliest dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair this summer for the third year in a row. The pedigreed Chinese crested had made appearances on TV in Japan, radio in New Zealand and in Britain’s Daily Mirror tabloid. He also had met Donald Trump on a talk show set.

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) – Anglers fishing in a frozen river came home with a highly unusual catch – a live turtle they found trapped under the ice.

“My friends did not believe me but then saw it for themselves. And right then it moved,” Anna Nyberg said Monday.

After cutting a hole in the ice in the Rodan river, about 400 miles north of Stockholm, the group managed to remove the turtle, which is now temporarily living in Nyberg’s bathtub.

Nyberg said wildlife experts in Stockholm told her that the nearly 10-inch turtle probably was of a South or Central American species that would not be expected to survive the grim Swedish winter.

However, Nyberg said she believes it probably was a North American species that can remain under the ice for 150 days by lying dormant.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Some vandals in Omaha earned their way onto Santa Claus’ naughty list over the weekend.

The Salvation Army’s Tree of Lights – festooned just days before with 20,000 lights and a red star – has been stripped of its finery.

Police say vandals climbed the fence around the 55-foot-tall, 14,000-pound tree, slashed several electrical cords and yanked off strings of lights.

“We simply don’t understand the reason behind the vandalism, and it saddens us,” Lt. Col. William Harfoot with the Salvation Army said. “The tree is a symbol of hope for the less fortunate in our community.”

The red star atop the tree is supposed to start blinking once the Salvation Army reaches its $2.2 million fund-raising goal.

The lights and the red star are being repaired. And Omaha police will be trying to find out who earned lumps of coal in their stockings.

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FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Police accidentally hit a naked man in the genitals with a Taser after he was caught breaking windows and asking women to touch him, authorities said.

Jeremy J. Miljour, 26, tried to run away when sheriff’s deputies approached so one of them shot their Taser, said Cpl. Matt Chitwood. But one of the gun’s prongs accidentally hit Miljour’s genitals and got stuck, Chitwood said.

“The Taser is relatively accurate, but when someone is moving like that, it doesn’t matter if you have a Taser, or a pistol. (Officers) can’t aim,” Chitwood said.

Miljour was treated at a hospital before being taken to the Lee County jail. He was charged with indecent exposure, resisting an officer and criminal damage.