CLEVELAND (AP) – The Cleveland Clinic says it may take up to a week to evaluate the injuries a Connecticut woman suffered when a friend’s pet chimpanzee mauled her.

The hospital said in a statement Friday that 55-year-old Charla Nash is in critical but stable condition with injuries described as “severe trauma to her face, scalp and hands.”

She is being evaluated by a team of plastic surgeons, nurses and eye and bone specialists.

In the statement, her family thanked the medical team and asked for privacy.

Mice drop from ceiling in court

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – There are so many mice in one Florida county courthouse that they’ve been seen falling from ceiling tiles.

One judge at the Palm Beach County Courthouse calls it an infestation. Some staffers say they check their handbags for stowaways before leaving the building each day.

Court employees and lawyers say the rodents scuttle down corridors, munch legal papers and scratch behind the walls. Last week, one mouse ran around a courtroom floor for an hour during a burglary trial.

The courthouse facilities manager says he’s put out a few dozen traps to capture the rodents. He says he’s not sure there has been an uptick in mice lately but says they’re getting more press than they deserve.

Rookie K-9 helps find big pot stash

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Not bad for a rookie.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency says a drug-sniffing patrol dog on its first night on duty Tuesday helped its handler find a 477-pound load of marijuana.

The agency said Thursday that the drugs were found in nine duffel bags off a remote stretch of highway in Jacumba, about 75 miles east of San Diego. The route is popular with traffickers bringing drugs into the U.S.

The precocious pooch was described as a 2-year-old male German shepherd.

Agents arrested two suspected illegal immigrants who allegedly brought the drugs across the border.

The marijuana is estimated to have a street value of about $380,000.

AP-ES-02-20-09 1144EST

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