ALICE, Texas – A former small-town South Texas mayor accused of secretly keeping her neighbors’ dog after telling them the pet died has reached a plea deal.

Grace Saenz-Lopez pleaded no contest Tuesday to filing a false police report, a misdemeanor. Under terms of the deal, she’ll pay a $300 fine and serve 48 hours of community service and two years of probation.

Saenz-Lopez, the former mayor of Alice, had claimed the Shih Tzu named Puddles died last year while she was pet-sitting for neighbors Rudy Gutierrez and Shelly Cavazos. Three months later, however, a relative of the neighbors saw the dog, renamed Panchito, at a grooming business.

Saenz-Lopez insisted that Gutierrez and Cavazos had neglected the animal, but state District Judge Richard Terrell in McAllen ordered her in April to return the dog.

Saenz-Lopez had faced two felony counts of tampering with evidence and concealing evidence for hiding the dog with her sister and reporting it as missing. Her sister, Gracy Garcia, was indicted on a count of concealing evidence. Those charges were dropped under the plea deal.

Saenz-Lopez resigned as mayor in February once a recall petition began circulating. She had held the office since 2003.

Swede turns to burning wood for fuel – as he did during WWII – to cope with high gas prices

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Record-high gasoline prices have stirred up anger and anxiety around the world. But in a small village in northern Sweden, retiree Tore Blomqvist is happily cruising around in his car.

Blomqvist, a 78-year-old former mechanic, said he recently cut his fuel costs by some 86 percent by using the same type of fuel he employed to cope with the gasoline shortages of World War II: wood gas.

Swedes commonly used wood gas during the war, when fuel was sparse and expensive. Wood gas is produced by burning wood in a container in the back of the car.

“I am an old man and I grew up using wood gas,” Blomqvist said Wednesday. “It seemed suitable to start using it again now when the fuel prices are so high.”

Blomqvist said the technology works well, although it takes a little extra time to get the engine started. “It depends on how dry the wood is,” he said.

But he said the savings were worth it: a recent 300-mile drive from the village of Dala-Jarna in central Sweden to his home in Odland in the north cost him only four bags of wood, or 100 kronor, about $17.

In comparison, the same journey on gasoline would have cost him around 700 kronor – $118.

On Wednesday, crude oil traded at $133.64 a barrel, about 80 percent higher than a year ago.