TAMPA, Fla. - The "Beer Belly Bandit" has struck again after a 10-month break, adding to the dozens of bank robberies he has committed in Florida since 2000. The robber, known for his bulging midsection, hit a bank on Tuesday, pulling a gun on two tellers. It was the first robbery he had committed since November, when he held up a bank in Sarasota, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

The amount stolen was not disclosed.

"Normally with investigations like this, you get an abundance of leads, especially with a $25,000 reward," said agent Steve Davenport. "We're not getting much at all. It's kind of perplexing."

Investigators are not sure where the bandit has been for the past 10 months. Jail is one possibility, but Davenport said police have the bandit's description and he probably would have been recognized.

The Beer Belly Bandit - also known as the "Band-Aid Bandit," because he had a bandage on his face in some holdups - has a skin condition on his hands and arms that makes his skin look bleached.

Texas high school marching band puts itself up for bid on eBay

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas - Looking to hire a band? March on over to eBay. The James Bowie High School Marching Band, all 250 members of it, are up for bid to raise money for a group trip to Arizona.

So far, no one has placed the $4,999 starting bid for the band, which promises in its eBay listing to "make a cosmic impact at your next personal or corporate event" and "literally blow your guests away!"

In the band's repertoire: "Proud Mary," "Black Magic Woman," "Happy Birthday," "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and the national anthem.

Ten days of bidding will end Saturday. The band will hit up parents to fill in the gaps if it falls short of the money needed to compete in the National Band Championship and Fiesta Bowl Parade in Arizona.

Les Nichols, the band's booster club president and dad of two kids in the band, suggested that Republican Gov. Rick Perry make a bid.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have the Capitol rotunda filled with the Bowie High band?" Nichols said. "Republicans. Democrats. We don't care. We are a totally bipartisan band."

On the Net:

http://www.jbhs.org/

In Sweden, a desired Rembrandt goes on sale, and public view

Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Flanked by gun-toting guards and security cameras, one of the few Rembrandt paintings not in a museum or private collection goes on public display Saturday and on sale with an asking price of $46 million.

The 1635 painting, "Minerva In Her Study," is one of the most significant to be offered in Sweden. Art dealer Verner Aamell told The Associated Press he'll keep the painting by the Dutch master on display in a private gallery in the capital and let the public view it for four weeks.

The opening comes a month after armed thieves broke into a museum in Oslo, Norway, and made off with Edvard Munch's masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna."

The brazen daylight theft stirred a debate across Europe on how to protect art if thieves are prepared to use deadly force to take it.

Unlike the guards at the Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo, those watching over the Rembrandt will be armed. Alarms are in place, and video cameras will run in the gallery 24-hours-a-day.

"We have a better possibility of protecting ourselves than (the Munch Museum) does," as the painting will only be on view for a month, Aamell said Friday. "This is an old bank office, with a vault and everything. The risk of theft is very small."

Ulf Goeranzon, a Stockholm Police Department spokesman, said the gallery has not requested help from police.

Aamell is no stranger to art theft. In 2002, five paintings he was displaying at an antique fair outside Stockholm were stolen. One was Jan Brueghel's "View Over Alost," which was valued at $3.2 million. The painting has not been found.

"The art show was in charge of security that time," Aamell said. "It was sloppily handled."

Despite concerns about theft, the Rembrandt, which is insured, may not find a buyer, he said.

"We don't know if we'll be successful, but we hope so," Aamell said.

The record price for a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn was $28.7 million for his 1632 "Portrait of a Lady" in December 2000 at Christie's in London.

Aamell said several foreign art collectors have expressed interest in the painting, but he hopes it will end up in Swedish hands.

"In that case, it will probably end up at the National Museum" in Stockholm, he said. "It's not exactly a painting you hang above your couch."

Aamell tracked the painting down this year and persuaded its Canadian owner, who wants to remain anonymous, to sell it. If no buyer has been found by Oct. 22, the painting may move on to another country, he said, and offered for sale there.

Bob von den Boogert, curator of the Rembrandt House Museum in the Netherlands, said it's rare for a Rembrandt painting to go on sale.

"Anyone who wants to buy one should do it now," he said. "If a Rembrandt painting gets into a museum collection, it will never get out again."

"Minerva In Her Study" depicts the ancient Roman goddess of wisdom and war sitting at a table, illuminated by light. Before her is an open book and one hand marks the spot she is reading. Behind her is a golden helmet, globe, spear and a shield bearing the head of the gorgon Medusa.

On the Net:

Rembrandt, http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/

14-year-old youngest black to fly solo

North County Times wire services

COMPTON - A 14-year-old Long Beach boy Friday became the youngest black ever to fly solo, according to a representative of the Compton organization that taught the youth his aviation skills.

Kenny Roy passed a 50-question written test and a physical, then took to the air with a certified instructor to prove his competence, said Cynthia Macon of Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum at the Compton/Woodley Airport.

The tests were done at Boundary Bay Airport, near Vancouver, British Columbia, because Canadian law allows 14-year-olds to be licensed. The minimum age is 16 in the United States, said Robin Petgrave, the museum's founder and director.

Kenny went to Canada from Compton aboard a single-engine Cessna-172 piloted by Jimmy Haywood, an 11-year-old Compton resident.

Jimmy is trying to become the youngest black male to pilot a plane on a round-trip international flight, Macon said.

The duo, accompanied by a flight instructor, arrived in Canada on Tuesday. Kenny's tests were delayed for two days because of bad weather, Macon said.

The boys are scheduled to leave Vancouver tonight, bound for Bakersfield, where they will remain overnight.

The two youngsters are scheduled to return to Compton/Woodley Airport at 10 a.m. tomorrow, where a public celebration is planned in conjunction with the Compton Air Fair.

Neither the National Aeronautic Association, which keeps flying records set by Americans, nor Guinness World Records lists youngest pilot records. Guinness dropped its youngest pilot records because of the risk involved.

The current flight has evoked memories of the 1996 attempt by 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, who was attempting to become the youngest person to fly a plane cross-country.

Jessica, her father and flight instructor were killed shortly after she took off in stormy weather from Cheyenne, Wyo.

That flight drew criticism from aviation professionals, who said children do not have the necessary skills to be pilots and questioned the veracity of the claim of a record attempt.