Scorpion stings woman on airplane

LOS ANGELES — A scorpion stung a woman on the hand just before her flight from Los Angeles to Portland took off.

Flight 567 was taxiing on the runway Saturday night when the passenger was stung, Alaska Airlines spokesman Cole Cosgrove said. The plane returned to the gate, and the woman was checked by medics. She refused additional medical treatment, but she didn’t get back on the plane.

The woman stomped the scorpion to death, and flight attendants checked overhead compartments for any additional unwanted arachnids, Cosgrove said. It’s unclear how the scorpion got on the plane, but the flight originated in Los Cabos, Mexico, where scorpions are common, he said.

Punxsutawney Phil offered asylum

GILFORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire ski resort is offering asylum to Punxsutawney Phil after police in Merrimack posted a gag on Facebook looking for the Pennsylvania groundhog who predicted six more weeks of winter.

A spokesman for the Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford said Saturday that the resort is enjoying a great winter and is concerned with “the sensationalist attack on one of America’s true winter heroes.”

Merrimack Police Chief Mark Doyle says the joke campaign to get Phil was an attempt to lighten the mood after snowstorms have buried New England.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf responded by saying the state would do what is necessary “to protect our beloved weather-predicting groundhog.”