GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Police say a woman stole a vehicle after throwing a nonpoisonous snake at the driver, then crashed through barricades set up for a pole vaulting exhibition in a South Carolina city.

In a news release, Greenville Police identified the suspect as 29-year-old Hilmary Moreno-Berrios. They she was hurt in Friday’s crash, and released from the hospital on Monday.

Authorities say Moreno-Berrios demanded a woman’s keys and threw a live, black snake at her. They say she then drove the stolen SUV with the snake still in it into barriers set up for the Liberty Bridge Jump-Off.

Moreno-Berrios is charged with carjacking, malicious damage to property and five traffic violations. It wasn’t known if she had a lawyer.

Police say the snake was released in nearby woods.

EAST WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) — Police and bystanders teamed up to rescue a 6-foot-long snake that had wrapped itself around the engine block of a car in Connecticut.

East Windsor police say the reptile had to be removed from a resident’s vehicle on Thursday.

Police wrote in Facebook post that it “was not exactly the call” they were expecting on the July Fourth holiday. Later, they said: “This may surprise you but we, the police, are not normally in the business of wrangling snakes.”

The reptile was put in a crate and will be turned over to a nature center.

Police said the snake might have been a boa constrictor and speculated that it was an escaped pet. They tried calling an animal control officer or another expert, but none were available because of the holiday.

Eleven-time champion Joey Chestnut says he expects this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest to be ‘a battle’

NEW YORK (AP) – Eleven-time champion Joey Chestnut says he expects this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest to be “a battle.”

But the 35-year-old Chestnut said Wednesday that he’ll “find a rhythm and do what it takes” to win the Fourth of July eat-off in Brooklyn’s beachside Coney Island neighborhood.

Chestnut joined other competitors at the Empire State Building for the weigh-in for Thursday’s contest.

Chestnut weighed in at 216.5 pounds (98 kilos), while defending women’s champion Miki Sudo weighed 114 pounds (52 kilos).

Chestnut ate 74 wieners and buns to claim the 2018 title. Sudo ate 37 to triumph on the women’s side.

Thursday’s top five winners of each gender will split $40,000. The two first-place winners will each earn $10,000.

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP) – Authorities say a Texas woman ate half a cake while roaming the aisles of a Walmart store and then refused to pay full price for it, claiming she had found it half-eaten.

Wichita Falls police Sgt. Harold McClure says the woman picked up the cake at the store’s bakery last Tuesday and ate half of it before getting to the checkout counter. He says a manager called police after the woman claimed she had found the cake that way and would not pay full price for it.

Officers ordered her to pay the full price but did not issue her a citation. She was banned from the store and her name wasn’t released.

In January, another woman was banned from a different Walmart store in Wichita Falls after she spent several hours driving an electric shopping cart around the parking lot while drinking wine from a Pringles can.

The city is about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of Dallas, near the Oklahoma border.

By KRISTIN M. HALL
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Country singer Cody Johnson knew there was a lot of distrust of Nashville’s commercial country music industry among his peers in Texas and Oklahoma.

Johnson finally signed to Warner Music Nashville after turning down multiple offers and more than a decade as a successful independent artist.

He needed Warner’s help to reach fans on country radio and for global distribution of his records. But he wanted to maintain creative control, from his music to his publishing and even his cowboy hat.

And he hopes to bridge the cultural divide between Texas and Nashville by straddling the traditional and the modern.

Johnson now has his first No. 1 country album and he’s proving that there is still an audience for traditional country music.

A dance remix of her cover of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” by DJ-producer Kygo was released Friday

NEW YORK (AP) – You can dance to a new-ish Whitney Houston song this weekend.

Houston originally released a cover of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” as a Japan-only bonus track on her 1990 album “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” but the song has been given an upbeat, dance remix by Norwegian DJ-producer Kygo.

The new version of “Higher Love” was released digitally on Friday. Winwood’s original version was released in 1986 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Kygo, best known for his Top 10 hit “It Ain’t Me” with Selena Gomez, will perform the new “Higher Love” at the PrideFestival Utopia on Sunday in New York City.

Houston died at the age of 48 in 2012.