Tractor

Crooks using a tractor smashed through the wall of a jewelry store early Thursday and stole a safe containing $500,000 worth of jewelry, police said. They left an 8-by-12-foot hole in the exterior wall of Little Neck Jewelers in the borough of Queens.

SAN DIEGO -- Seven people suspected of being illegal immigrants from Mexico were discovered in the Imperial Valley inside a chilled tractor-trailer that was carrying watermelons, the U.S. Border Patrol said. The vehicle was stopped for inspection at 4 a.m. Thursday at the checkpoint on Highway 86 between Salton City and Westmorland, on the edge of the Salton Sea. A Border Patrol dog alerted agents to possible illegal immigrants, the Border Patrol said. A woman and six men, ages 20 to 52, were found in the trailer, which was refrigerated to 48 degrees.

A San Juan Capistrano resident working in Oceanside was killed Saturday when a tractor fell on him, police said. Another worker was injured in the accident. The dead man was identified as Gino Leone, 51. Injured and taken to Tri-City Medical Center was Peter Crooks of San Marcos, who was treated for minor back injuries and released. The accident occurred at 1:45 p.m.

TULARE - At this year's annual World Ag Expo there was a star exhibit: a young man and an old tractor. Ryan Haas, 19, of Devine, Texas, a two-time national grand champion at the Delo Tractor Restoration competition, is at the top of a hotly contested field largely unknown to urbanites. But in rural places that aren't color-coded blue versus red, but rather green versus orange - as in big green John Deere tractors, or smaller, sunny-colored Cases - tractor restoration is an obsession.

On a slightly overcast Wednesday afternoon, Catherine Metcalf put on her blue floral bikini, grabbed her purse and a white tiger-print towel and headed to the Esplanade near Avenue F in Redondo Beach. The 20-year-old Lawndale woman has always loved sunbathing in Manhattan Beach but decided she wanted a "change of scenery." Shortly after 1 o'clock, as she lay on her towel with her eyes closed, Metcalf heard a loud rumbling noise.

Re "A Deadly Collision" (Aug. 1): Another precious life is crushed by a tractor-trailer, this time in Orange. Every day in the news we hear of an overturned truck, a diesel spill, jackknife or burning semi. A motorist colliding with a big rig (which can weigh up to 80,000 pounds) doesn't have a chance. Fatal crashes due to trucks continue to be much more frequent than that of passenger cars when mileage is taken into account. The expansion and development of Orange County creates an alarming problem which concerns everyone.

Bud Grose seemed like the last person who should attract the attention of police when the 76-year-old retiree hopped on his antique tractor and rumbled through the annual parade in this small Wyoming town. But what was supposed to be a day of fun at an end-of-summer festival ended abruptly when police shot Grose with a Taser in a dispute about where to end the parade route. The incident nearly incited a riot as outraged neighbors rushed to his defense. Now residents of this tight-knit town of 2,400 are seething over what they see as police brutality, and town officials are scrambling to ease the tension.

A farm tractor pulling a wagon loaded with wedding guests fell into a canal Friday, killing 13 people, according to a news report. About 30 people were riding on the tractor and in the wagon near West Godavari, about 825 miles southeast of New Delhi.

Journalist Hunter S. Thompson's scheduled performance Tuesday at the Coach House has been postponed until Thursday because Thompson reportedly injured himself when he fell from a tractor. Tickets for the Tuesday show will be honored Thursday. Information: (714) 496-8930.

During the 1920s and '30s, one could find in Los Angeles a real estate office in the shape of a sphinx, an ice cream shop shaped like a giant ice bucket and a florist's shop in the shape of a flowerpot. Although no longer standing, those roadside buildings, shaped like merchandise being sold or a related product, were meant to stand out to passing motorists, amuse them and, merchants hoped, lure them in to buy whatever the shop had to offer.

Rex Reed, the famed film critic of the New York Observer, is no fan of Melissa McCarthy nor her latest flick, "Identity Thief. " In his review, Reed trashed the zany comedy that costars Jason Bateman as a victim of McCarthy's felonious identity-stealing con artist. But the film wasn't the only thing taking a beating. Reed went on to describe the Emmy Award-winning "Mike & Molly" star as "cacophonous," "tractor-sized," a "humongous creep" and a "hippo" in the review.  REVIEW: Laughs stolen in 'Identity Thief' "Melissa McCarthy is a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success," Reed wrote . "Poor Jason Bateman.

Deputies with the Orleans County Sheriff's Department were rousted from a quiet Thursday afternoon in their Newport, Vt., office this week by a car alarm - from their own parking lot. Two deputies bolted for the door. In the back lot, they found five cruisers, one transport van and another department vehicle crushed on the concrete like soon-to-be-recycled cans. They also saw a large tractor rumbling down the road and out of sight. Without cars, the deputies couldn't start a car chase, so they set out on foot.

It didn't take long for the families to swarm Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, one of the three main rides at Disney's California Adventure's Cars Land, which opened to the public Friday morning.   Tractors zipped around in circles, not unlike the Mad Tea Party ride at Disneyland next door, swinging the passenger-bearing trailers behind them. In the background, Mater, the rusty tractor character from the "Cars" films voiced by comic Larry the Cable guy, sang a rotation of square-dance ditties to banjo and fiddle accompaniment.  Visitor reactions to the ride, and to Cars Land overall, were generally positive from a first-day crowd of admitted Disney fans.

What better reason to take a trip to Northern California than to catch holiday tractor parades? Dazzling lights strung on farm vehicles has become a tradition in towns with a strong agri-centric ethic. How else could you explain such a spectacle? Calistoga : The 16th annual Lighted Tractor Parade begins 7 p.m. Saturday on Main Street in the Napa Valley town known for its vineyards and small-town vibe. And it's not just decked-out tractors that line up. Trucks and construction equipment join tractors new and old in getting decked out for the occasion.

The Lakers might still be talking three-peat if the Milwaukee Bucks had kept Dirk Nowitzki after taking the sharpshooting German phenom in the 1998 NBA draft.… Instead the Bucks traded the No. 9 pick to the Dallas Mavericks in a draft-day deal that brought them No. 6 pick Robert "Tractor" Traylor , found dead Wednesday in Puerto Rico.… Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle this week called Nowitzki a "top 10 player in NBA history....

The driver of a tour bus that crashed on an expressway early Saturday, killing at least 14 people, said he lost control after being clipped by a tractor-trailer that didn't stop as the bus veered across the road, tipped onto its side and slid hundreds of feet before being sliced nearly in half by a metal post. On Saturday evening, state police said they were questioning the driver of a tractor-trailer who had been in the vicinity of the pre-dawn crash and were inspecting his vehicle, which was found in two places: the tractor was in Westchester County, north of New York City, and the trailer was found on Long Island.

OKLAHOMA * An 89-year-old man who needs help to walk accidentally ran over his wife with a tractor, then crawled 23 hours to summon help. Florence Ruth Holba died after the tractor driven by her husband, Edwin, rolled over her on the couple's Billings farm. Florence Holba, 80, was standing behind the tractor when her husband's foot slipped off the clutch, officials said. Holba fell when he went to check on his wife, and was unable to get back up.

Re Lucas Benitez's sign, "No soy tractor"--he is so right (photo, March 28). If these workers were tractors, their owners would be taking excellent care of them. Where is America's conscience when our hardest workers are treated with such callous disdain? EILEEN BIGELOW Whittier

Rising commodity prices may be stoking inflation worries abroad and starting to pinch U.S. consumers at the grocery store, but for farmers strolling the grounds of the world's largest farm equipment show the good times are rolling. People good-naturedly jostled to be the first to test drive John Deere's new skid loader at the World Ag Expo, a 60-acre stretch of dusty earth and buffed machinery. They smiled as they flocked to place orders for new combines, cotton balers and top-of-the-line tractors.

The first question was the obvious one. Why are you known as Mullah Tractor? "I read one or two Islamic books, so people call me Mullah. And then I bought a tractor. So I am Mullah Tractor. " Mullah Tractor wore an orange jumpsuit, signaling maximum security. He looked to be about 60 years old, with thin downturned lips, a contoured nose that might once have been broken and a short black-and-white beard. His real name is Gul Shah Wazir, and he is in U.S. detention in Afghanistan, accused of being a member of the Taliban.