Yahoo! News - Single white female seeks eligible bachelor for her 105th birthday party Sun Mar 30, 9:23 AM ETAdd Offbeat - AFP to My Yahoo!
NEW YORK (AFP) - Agnes Warner turned 105 last week, and all she wanted for her birthday was a date.
So the recreation director at her retirement home in the northeastern US state of New Jersey convinced the local newspaper, The Home News Tribune, to run a story about Warner, to alert great-grandfathers that she wanted a beau for the evening.
"She said she didn't want to get married, but she wouldn't mind a boyfriend," Edie Barr, the recreation director of the Chelsea at East Brunswick, told The New York Times.
Four bachelors came to court Warner, who was widowed in 1969. She danced with each of them but let the retirement home's staff and her fellow residents help choose her date.
The winning suitor was Carl Mendola, 20 years her junior, who danced with her to "Edelweiss."
"She's a wonderful woman, a very nice woman," Mendola said, adding: "We speak well together, as if we'd known each other a long time."
13:10 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Doctors remove 50 lb tumour Sun Mar 30,11:06 AM ET
CAIRO (Reuters) - Doctors say they have removed a tumour weighing about 50 lb from a patient's stomach in the northern Egyptian town of Damietta.
Mamdouh Eissa, a 51-year-old government employee, had suffered from a large swelling in his stomach for several years, and went to Damietta's tumour institute because of sharp pains.
"He looked something like a full-term pregnant woman carrying twins," Osama al-Malt, the institute's director who led the team of surgeons that performed the operation, told Reuters on Sunday.
He said the tumour, 35-40 centimetres (14-16 inches) long and 25 cm wide, was the largest he had seen in a male patient. He said it was not yet clear whether the tumour had been malignant.
13:10 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Suspected Burglar Found Stuck in Chimney Sun Mar 30, 9:40 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - A suspected burglar, who spent seven hours wedged in the chimney of a pub, was arrested by British police after he was rescued, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday.
The man was stuck down the chimney of the Twin Farms pub in the northern city of Newcastle on Friday, and was only rescued after a deliveryman heard his cries for help. Firemen used a rope to haul him to safety.
"It was a bit like a cheese grater because sharp bits were sticking into him," the Telegraph quoted fireman Dave Curran as saying. "He was shouting and swearing as he was being brought up as his skin was scraping off his knuckles and other parts of his body, but he didn't suffer serious injuries."
When questioned by police, the man said he had been trying to rescue a cat.
23:52 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Elderly woman nabbed in South Africa for stealing baby 27 years ago Fri Mar 28, 1:48 PM ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A 70-year-old woman was arrested in South Africa for stealing a two-week-old baby 27 years ago, police spokeswoman Annaline Prinsloo said.
The victim, now a grown man in his late 20s, discovered at the age of 13 that he had been stolen as a baby, but only recently reported the matter to the police.
The woman was arrested in the township of Kathlehong east of Johannesburg Friday morning, Prinsloo said.
She told the police that an unknown woman shoved the baby in her arms while she was walking down a street in a Johannesburg suburb in 1975, the SAPA news agency reported.
Prinsloo said the police were still trying to establish if the mother of the child had laid a complaint at the time.
23:51 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - U.S. claims back its moon rock Wed Mar 26, 5:29 PM ET
MIAMI (Reuters) - The U.S. government has won back a tiny lump of 3.9-billion-year-old moon rock brought to Earth by the crew of Apollo 17 and stolen years ago from the government of Honduras, U.S. officials say.
A U.S. judge in Miami issued a ruling this week granting the U.S. government forfeiture on the grounds that the moon rock, about the size of a grape and encased in plastic, was stolen and then smuggled into the United States in violation of Customs laws.
The rock, given to the government of Honduras three decades ago, was being offered for sale for $5 million when it was seized in 1998 from Florida businessman Alan Rosen, who said he bought it from a retired Honduran military officer, U.S. officials said.
U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan ruled that the ownership of the moon rock, which was given to Honduras by President Richard Nixon in 1973 as part of a NASA program to inspire future generations, had never legally changed.
23:48 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Teacher Skins Coyote in Class, Suspended Tue Mar 25, 4:18 PM ET
MIDDLETON, Mass. - A teacher who found a coyote on the road and skinned it in front of his students — potentially exposing them to rabies — was suspended without pay while two students underwent rabies vaccinations.
North Shore Technical High School carpentry teacher Miles Dowling, an amateur taxidermist, found the coyote on Route 24 in the Bridgewater on March 15 and decided to toss it in his pickup and show students how an animal is skinned, said superintendent Amy O'Malley.
He later brought students outside and skinned the animal, O'Malley said.
"Of course, this was not a school-sanctioned activity," O'Malley told The Salem News.
The state Department of Public Health was notified after the school nurse heard students talking about the skinning. The coyote's brain was too deteriorated for a rabies test to show if the animal had rabies, but officials didn't want to take a chance. Five of the students were possibly exposed and two are undergoing vaccinations, O'Malley said.
O'Malley said the incident remains under investigation.
Dowling's phone number could not immediately be located and attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
23:47 Posted by David
Tue Mar 25,12:52 PM ET
BELLEVUE, Wash. - Call it a $5,000 panty raid. That's the estimated value of 300 sets of skivvies taken from a Victoria's Secret store.
"It's very unusual. It's shoplifting to the max," said Marcia Harnden, a police spokeswoman in this suburb east of Seattle.
An employee noticed the panties in a variety of colors, styles and sizes were missing shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday, Harnden said. Each cost $15 to $28.
Two display tables at the front of the store were cleared of the frilly, silky merchandise, and two other tables, one next to the cash register, were half-emptied, she said.
A store manager would not discuss the theft. Phone messages were left Tuesday at corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.
Police don't think it was an inside job. "All the employees were busy" with customers, and no one noticed any suspicious shoppers, Harnden said.
"It's probably a crime of opportunity," Harnden said. "There's any range of possibilities — we could have a pervert doing it ... (for) sexual gratification, it could be somebody who'd take (the underwear) to a flea market to sell it there or it could be for someone's personal use."
Police may check flea markets and online auction sites such as eBay, Harnden said, "but if I were the consumer, I'd be very leery about buying undergarments from a disreputable source."
23:45 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - DUI Coordinator Resigns After DUI Arrest Wed Mar 26, 1:27 PM ET
SAVANNAH, Ga. - A DUI coordinator in a Georgia court has resigned after being charged with drunken driving, officials said.
Police said Brian P. Harrell, 24, was arrested Friday in Athens after being stopped about 1:30 a.m. while driving without his headlights on.
Harrell — who has worked for two weeks as coordinator for the Chatham County State Court's newly developed DUI program — said he had been drinking but "not much," police said.
Tests indicated Harrell's blood-alcohol level was 0.13. The limit in Georgia is 0.08.
The State Court DUI program is a pilot project intended to help offenders avoid incarceration by following probation.
23:45 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Woman Posts Her Own Speed Limit Signs Thu Mar 27, 7:52 AM ET
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A woman fed up with drivers speeding through her neighborhood took matters into her own hands: She posted speed limit signs in her yard.
Conni Morrell, a stay-at-home mother of three, bought the large 25 mph signs on the Internet. She also put the white signs up in a neighbor's yard.
"I see people speed so much I can tell how fast they are going," said Morrell, 32. "After you see them go 25 (mph) once, you can guess. I wouldn't doubt if there are some going 50."
Morrell started lobbying City Hall to do something about speeders after her family moved to the upscale neighborhood three years ago. Neighbors lobbied for a stop sign at a nearby intersection, but the city decided against it.
Morrell took down her signs last week when she learned that the city was measuring traffic volume and speed in the neighborhood. She didn't want to skew the results.
23:44 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Dye Pack Explodes in Robber's Pants Thu Mar 27, 9:05 AM ET
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A bank robbery suspect learned a painful lesson: Never shove stolen money containing an explosive dye pack down your pants.
Shortly after the National City Bank downtown was robbed Thursday, police spotted John Gladney, 40, about a block away, walking strangely, in obvious pain.
Officers stopped Gladney and discovered he had been injured when the dye pack exploded near his groin, said Sgt. Brent Mull, police spokesman.
Gladney was charged with aggravated robbery.
23:43 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Who Stabbed Pig for Pork Chops Jailed Thu Mar 27, 3:01 PM ET
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A man accused of savagely stabbing a pet pig, then blurting out in drunkenness that he wanted pork chops, was convicted of felony cruelty to animals and sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Edwin "Louie" Deason, 44, injured the 50-pound Vietnamese potbellied pig so severely in the December incident that it had to be killed because one stab wound left it unable to walk.
Prosecutors said Deason made drunken, belligerent comments to sheriff's deputies. One deputy testified Deason was covered in blood and had pig feces all over him when he said, "I cut it, so what?"
Assistant State Attorney Cynthia Simpson said that even if slaughtering the pig for a meal, it was not being done quickly and painlessly. None of three stab wounds was near a major organ or across the neck, she said.
Deason's attorneys argued in the one-day trial on Tuesday that a neighbor, whom they repeatedly referred to as "Big Bad Bob," was the one who plunged a rusty knife into the pig. Deason later tried to sever the squealing pig's carotid artery to humanely put it out of its misery, but the blade was too dull, his attorneys maintained.
A jury spent 2 1/2 hours deliberating before returning a guilty verdict. Deason said he would appeal.
23:43 Posted by David
Thu Mar 27, 1:27 PM ET
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - A burglar scaled the side of a high-rise building like Spiderman to steal jewelry, watches and cash from several upper floor apartments, police said.
Wilson Thomas, 21, was arrested on a 12th floor balcony of the Ocean Crest Club as he tried to escape, Hollywood police said. The name is likely an alias, police said.
Thomas had a watch and several bracelets worth more than $1,000 each when he was arrested Tuesday, police said. He also had two 8-inch knives used to break into patio doors, police said.
"He was scaling from balcony to balcony — no ropes," said Hollywood Police Lt. Tony Rode. "He did his Spiderman impersonation and was taking things he could keep in his pocket."
Thomas had worked on a painting crew on the seventh floor of the building during the last two weeks, police said. He is suspected of breaking into several apartments.
Another cat burglar known as "Spiderman" was convicted of burglary and grand theft in 1999. Derrick James, 36, jumped from balcony to balcony and climbed buildings using only his upper-body strength, which earned him the nickname. He is suspected of stealing $6 million in cash, jewelry and credit cards in more than 130 high-rise apartment burglaries throughout South Florida.
___
Information from: South Florida Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com
23:42 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Police Dog Shot After Attacking Police hu Mar 27, 3:19 PM ET
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A police officer shot and killed a police dog that bit the officer and two others who were investigating a possible burglary Thursday morning, police said.
The officers had requested help from the K-9 unit while searching a business where an alarm sounded about 4 a.m. During the search, the dog left the building and attacked officers guarding the perimeter.
The officers were not seriously hurt. The department did not release their names, and they have not been suspended or relieved of their regular duties, spokeswoman LaTanya Able said.
The shooting was still being investigated, Able said.
The German shepherd, named Bryan, was in the police K-9 unit for four years.
Earlier this year, police in Cookeville, Tenn., shot a dog owned by tourists mistakenly identified as suspects in a felony. The incident prompted a legislative inquiry and training for troopers on how to handle threatening dogs.
23:40 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Mayor seeks ban on lying Fri Mar 28, 6:44 PM ET
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The mayor elect of a Midwest U.S. town has heard one too many tall tales.
Jo Hamlet, who is set to take over in Mount Sterling, Iowa when the current mayor leaves, said he is pushing for a ban on lying in the town of 40 residents.
"People shooting 16-pound geese and catching 9-pound bass and 28-pound gobbler turkeys and over 200-point bucks -- I thought maybe we ought to ... tame this down a little bit," said Hamlet, a 69-year-old cattle buyer.
Hamlet said he will conduct an informal poll before putting his anti-lying ordinance to a vote before the city council.
"There's some sentiment that hunting and fishing stories don't count," but unsubstantiated claims of high corn yields and run-of-the-mill gossip might qualify as lies, he said.
As for possible penalties, Hamlet was weighing options such as mouth-washing or a tongue-lashing.
"We're going to have an awful time finding judges," he admitted.
23:37 Posted by David
Fri Mar 28,10:51 AM ET
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The Transylvanian Society of Dracula said on Friday it would hold its world Dracula congress in May in Romania's Carpathian Mountains despite the war in Iraq (news - web sites).
Over 20 international and Romanian scholars will discuss the concept of fear at the medieval town of Sighisoara, birthplace of the Romanian prince Vlad Tepes the Impaler, whose extreme cruelty was the inspiration for the fictional vampire Count Dracula.
"The Count fears no war. We are holding the congress and we are expecting many distinguished scholars from around the world to attend," said society president Nicolae Paduraru.
Academics from as far as Japan and the United States will speak on such issues as "Religious Fear," "Early vampire stories in England" and "Fear of the Supernatural" from May 15 to 18, he said.
The medieval prince famous for impaling his Turkish enemies, nicknamed Dracula, has little to do with the bloodthirsty 19th century vampire of Bram Stoker's gothic novel, but the story is located in Romania's northern Transylvania region.
The society, which gives tourists historical tours of the Balkan country, will offer all congress participants "After-life Insurance" -- certificates for guidance through purgatory.
"The survivors of the congress may also attend some Dracula initiation tours," Paduraru said.
00:01 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - German woman freed from toilet Mon Mar 17,10:10 AM ET
NUREMBERG, Germany (AFP) - Firefighters in Nuremburg, southern Germany, were called to free a woman who trapped an arm in the outflow pipe of her toilet as she was trying to get rid of the remains of a meal.
The food blocked the toilet, and when cleaning materials failed to budge the waste, the 24-year-old woman reached down with her arm, which got stuck.
She alerted friends by using her free hand to dial a mobile telephone, and they contacted firefighters who broke the toilet apart.
23:53 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Police blow up Easter egg at embassy Wed Mar 19, 7:53 AM ET
LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese police blew up a suspicious package received by the British embassy that held an Easter egg and a metal wire, an embassy spokeswoman says.
A bomb squad demolished the round package on Monday afternoon in the embassy garden, the spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday.
It contained an Easter egg and included a visible metal wire. Security personnel summoned police after examining it.
23:51 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Wis. Man Eats His 19,000th Big Mac hu Mar 20, 7:56 AM ET
FOND DU LAC, Wis. - Don Gorske is already in the Guinness Book of World Records for eating Big Macs — but it's not about the fame anymore.
Gorske, who downed his 19,000th Big Mac Tuesday, said he wouldn't know what else to eat if it weren't for Big Macs.
"I'd be clueless," he said, adding that he ate a piece of pizza recently, but it "just wasn't the same."
"It wasn't my first choice," he said.
Gorske, 49, of Fond du Lac, eats two Big Macs per day and drinks little else beside Coke. He also keeps track of everything he eats in a notebook.
"I admit I'm obsessive compulsive," he says. "I have so many compulsions."
At 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, Gorske said he proves that foods you love don't have to make you fat.
In fact, attorneys defending McDonald's against a lawsuit claiming its food makes people fat used Gorske as an example of someone who frequently ate fast food but stayed slim.
23:51 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Moons Judge, Gets More Jail Time Thu Mar 20, 8:01 AM ET
ATHENS, Texas - A man who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault had an additional six months tacked onto his eight-year sentence after he mooned the judge.
Judge Jim Parsons held 40-year-old Ray Mason in contempt of court Monday after he dropped his pants and showed Parsons and the rest of the court his backside.
"He said something like, 'Hey, judge, look at this," Assistant District Attorney Barry Spencer recalled. About 70 other people were in the courtroom at the time, Spencer said.
"I've been practicing criminal law for well over 20 years, and I've seen a lot of things," said Mason's defense attorney John Sickel. "This is the first time anything like that has happened."
23:49 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Customer Help Number Is Really Sex Line Fri Mar 21, 7:41 AM ET
ATLANTA - They may expect Southern charm, but some BellSouth Internet customers found the service was a little too friendly when they called a toll-free number listed in the phone book.
The number for a phone sex operation was mistakenly printed in most of the 50 million residential phone books the company sent out in the past year.
In previous years, BellSouth's White Pages listed the number for its Internet services line as 1-800-4DOTNET. In the 2002 books, the company decided to put the corresponding numerals, but botched one number.
The mistake was caught Feb. 13 when a customer complained, BellSouth spokesman David Rogers said this week. Residential phone books sent out since then have been corrected.
The wrong number was listed in the front customer guide section of the White Pages, Rogers said. However, the correct number was still under the appropriate heading in the business listings, he said.
BellSouth had considered buying the phone sex operation's number to avoid confusion with its customers, but abandoned that idea, Rogers said.
23:40 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man hits record Vegas jackpot Fri Mar 21,10:38 PM ET
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A young man visiting America's gambling capital has hit pay dirt -- a world record $39 million (25 million pounds) on a slot machine.
The 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles, who requested anonymity, came up big at the Excalibur Hotel-Casino on the Las Vegas Strip on Friday, according to International Game Technology, which made the Megabucks slot machine.
He was visiting family and keeping track of college basketball's "March Madness" tournament with some friends in Las Vegas, where betting on the games is legal. His uncle had told him about the Megabucks machine, which can pay out $5,000 for a $1 bet. If you play for $3 a pull, the winnings increase dramatically.
"This MegaJackpot is nearly $5 million more than the previous world record slot jackpot amount of $34.9 million," said John Sears, vice president of MegaJackpots for IGT.
Friday's winner said he'd put in about $100 when he turned his head away for an instant. When he looked back, the winning symbols had lined up and he was $39,713,982.25 richer.
23:39 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - N.Y. Man Found Guilty in Train Sex Case Fri Mar 21, 7:57 AM ET
MINEOLA, N.Y. - The train was a rockin' and the cops came a knockin'.
A Wantagh, Long Island, man accused of engaging in sexual intercourse on a Long Island Rail Road train has been found guilty of public lewdness.
Dennis Greene was arrested along with his brother Lyle and his sister-in-law Francine last September. All three were charged with public lewdness.
A conductor alerted by a passenger found the three having sex in a passenger car that was occupied by at least 15 other people.
Lyle and Francine Greene pleaded guilty to public lewdness on March 14th. But Dennis Greene's case went to trial. All three will be sentenced in May and each faces up to 90 days in jail.
23:39 Posted by David
Thu Mar 20, 8:04 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Monica Lewinsky, whose affair with then-President Bill Clinton nearly cost him the Oval Office, will soon be hosting a reality show for the Fox network, Daily Variety reported in its Thursday edition.
The 29-year-old former White House intern has landed a job as host of the hidden-identity dating show, "Mr. Personality," slated to debut on Fox April 21, the entertainment trade paper said.
Lewinsky's deal comes not long after Clinton began his stint as a paid TV commentator on CBS, debating onetime campaign rival and former Republican leader Bob Dole in a revival of the "Point/Counterpoint" segment by news magazine "60 Minutes."
According to Variety, "Mr. Personality" will follow a group of average-looking guys whose faces have been masked as they try to win the affections of an attractive young lady. Their looks will be concealed throughout the dating process, as the woman eliminates a contestant each week until she narrows her choice to one man.
Lewinsky, who designs handbags and accessories that she sells via her Web site, most recently appeared in the HBO documentary "Monica in Black & White," Variety said. That program featured Lewinsky answering questions about her dalliance with Clinton.
Otherwise, Lewinsky has kept a relatively low public profile in the years since her relationship wit
23:31 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Hotel Bans U.S. Tourists in War Protest Fri Mar 21,10:49 AM ETy Yahoo!
BANGKOK (Reuters) - A hotel on the Thai holiday island of Koh Samui has banned American tourists in a protest against the U.S.-led war in Iraq, its owner said on Friday.
Virach Pongchababnapa, owner of the 62-room Pavilion Resort on the island, 550 miles south of Bangkok, said U.S. visitors were not welcome because he was against the U.S. campaign to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
He said he had already turned away two American tourists, provoking protest letters and emails from other U.S. citizens.
"I have politely told them that I am opposed to the policies of their government, and Americans are not welcome here," he told Reuters. "My resort is against war mongers."
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Bangkok was not available for immediate comment.
17:31 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Swede cleared over snake freezing Thu Mar 13,12:03 PM ET
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish man who tried to kill two pet boa constrictors by putting them in a freezer was cleared by a court of animal cruelty charges, Swedish TT news agency has reported.
The 22-year-old man from Ornskoldsvik in northern Sweden, who had bought the snakes from a friend, tried to kill them by putting them in his freezer for 4-5 hours then burying them under some rocks. But a few days later a man walking his dog found them and one was still alive.
A court said on Thursday freezing was a method recommended by some reptile experts, but the man should have found out how long they must be kept in the freezer to die.
17:29 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Postal Worker Fired for Hoarding Letters Tue Mar 11,11:37 AM ET
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Authorities have fired a post worker who squirreled away more than 400 undelivered items of mail over five years — including wedding invitations, personal letters, checks and bills — at the small town post office she ran.
A visiting postal official discovered the undelivered mail stored in the post office at Twizel last month.
None had been opened or tampered with by the contract postwoman, now in her mid-60s.
New Zealand Post spokeswoman Tanya Henderson said the woman had been dismissed from the part-time job that she had held for more than eight years.
She was "quite highly respected" in the town of 1,100 people, but "obviously the mail just got on top of her and accumulated over the years," Henderson said.
The backlog of letters was delivered to residents with notes of apology.
But officials have another problem: at least 25 letters have been returned because residents have moved away.
Twizel, is located in the center of New Zealand's South Island, 410 miles southwest of the capital, Wellington.
17:26 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Would-Be Thief Takes Car to Police Garage Wed Mar 12,11:37 AM ET
OSLO, Norway - A car thief who apparently had second thoughts about his crime returned a stolen vehicle to a police garage.
"The simple explanation is that the man wanted to give back the car he had stolen," police inspector Jan Ruderaas told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The would-be thief, who wasn't identified in line with Norwegian privacy laws, filled up his stolen car with gasoline from a service station in Trondheim, 310 miles north of the capital, Oslo, but drove off without paying Tuesday night.
Police saw him and tailed him through traffic, but were surprised to see him drive into their garage.
"We encourage all other criminals to follow his example," Ruderaas said. "But they don't have to fill up the tank first, especially if they're not paying."
He said police haven't decided if the 37-year-old man will be charged.
17:26 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Phone Company Sends Bill to Dead Man Thu Mar 13, 7:51 AM ET
AUBURN, Mass. - A man's phone bill has followed him to his grave.
A local cemetery received a phone bill last week for David Towles at his correct address — Hillside Cemetery, Evergreen Section, Auburn, Mass. 01501.
Towles was buried there in December 1997. He died at age 60.
Cemetery Superintendent Wayne Bloomquist says he was surprised to see the Sprint bill for 12 cents, including 10 cents for a call placed on Feb. 16, five years after Towles died.
"Our clients here don't usually get mail," he said. "I wondered if maybe we should start putting mailboxes on the monuments."
A call to Sprint's automated service on March 6 showed that charges on the unpaid account had inflated Towles' bill to $3.95.
The bill was turned over to interim Town Clerk Ellen Gaboury, who said she would hold on to it for a while.
"I'll have to," she said. "Mr. Towles' credit could be affected if it remains unpaid."
17:25 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Two Dozen Monkeys Flee Research Center Wed Mar 12, 1:00 PM ET
COVINGTON, La. - Two dozen monkeys escaped from a research center and holed up in a forest, where animal-control workers used bananas and oranges to try to lure them out.
The monkeys are classified as disease-free and posed no health risk to humans, but workers trying to capture the animals wore protective gowns and gloves as a standard precaution, said Fran Simon, a spokeswoman for the Tulane Regional Primate Center.
By Wednesday, eight of the 24 rhesus macaques remained on the loose.
"When they get hungry enough, they'll come back," Simon said.
The Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, established in 1964, is the largest of eight federally funded primate research centers, with 500 acres of land, eight buildings and about 5,000 monkeys. Its main study area is infectious diseases caused by viruses, bacteria and parasites.
It was not clear how the monkeys escaped from a fenced area outside the research facility Tuesday, said James Hartman, a spokesman for the St. Tammany Parish sheriff.
In the past, animal-rights activists have freed or attempted to free monkeys, but there were no signs that vandalism played any role in Tuesday's escape, Hartman said.
17:19 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Police Nab Boy Torching Goldfish with Flame-thrower Wed Mar 12, 8:07 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - German police apprehended an 11-year-old boy as he torched stolen goldfish with a homemade flame-thrower, police said on Wednesday.
They discovered the boy roasting the fish with a device made from a water pistol, a cigarette lighter and a stolen petrol canister.
"It was a lethal contraption. He was jolly lucky it didn't explode in his face," said a police spokesman.
Locals had alerted police on Monday after noticing a fire in a yard in the western town of Kellinghusen.
Police confiscated the flame-thrower, but were too late to save the goldfish, which were stolen from a neighbor's pond.
The boy's age means he will not be prosecuted.
17:17 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man to Thu Mar 13, 8:57 AM ET
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - One cross-country trip on a lawn mower apparently wasn't enough for Brad Hauter.
The soccer coach from Terre Haute's Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology plans to start a second trip next week in San Francisco as a fund-raiser for Keep America Beautiful Inc.
Hauter expects to average about 16 mph — maybe 25 mph with a good tail wind, he chuckles — during a trip scheduled to end June 4 in New York City.
Hauter's 1999 traveled more than 4,000 miles from Atlanta to Santa Monica, Calif. He was recognized as a Guinness World Record holder for being the first person to drive a lawnmower across the nation and for the longest continuous journey on a lawnmower.
This trip is expected to cover about 5,500 miles. Hauter's hopes to raise $200,000 for Keep America Beautiful, which advocates litter prevention, recycling and community improvement projects.
While Hauter's wife and twin 4-year children plan to visit relatives in Denmark during his journey, he won't be traveling alone.
A supply trailer will follow Hauter. In addition, a satellite-linked tracking system will be installed on the lawnmower to show its location, said Ted Middleton of Chicago, who helped organize the trip.
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http://www.yardman.com/MowMain.jsp
17:17 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Mountain Covers Its 'Nipple' Thu Mar 13, 8:58 AM ET
ALTA, Wyo. - Pressure from uncomfortable skiers and other tourists has prompted the Grand Targhee Ski and Summer Resort to cover the second half of the name of one of its mountains.
Mary's Nipple is now just Mary's, and signs with the word "nipple" have been covered with tape. New signs were to arrive in about two weeks.
But the covered signs have rankled some local skiers, who feel a bit of their history has been lost.
"If the name changed, it wouldn't be the same," said Mark Franklin of Driggs, Idaho, who has skied the mountain for 26 years without feeling offended. "It's always been Mary's Nipple to me, and probably 99.9 percent of the people around here will agree with me."
The name dates back three decades to a story about a waitress named Mary, who was working at Targhee's Trap Bar and streaked through it and the resort one night. The U.S. Forest Service has never acknowledged it officially.
17:16 Posted by David
Thu Mar 13, 3:34 PM ET
By MARK BABINECK, Associated Press Writer
ORANGE, Texas - A man accused of mistreating his 11-year-old stepson was ordered Thursday to spend 30 nights in a doghouse.
Prosecutors said Curtis Lee Robin whipped Zachary Weiger with a car antenna, made him sleep in a doghouse and chop wood as punishment.
The boy later recanted the doghouse allegation, and Robin denied making him sleep outdoors. But Robin did not dispute the other claims.
He accepted a plea bargain that gave him a choice of 30 days in jail or 30 nights in a doghouse. He chose the doghouse so that he could continue to work as a foreman at a demolition company.
Robin was to spend his first night in the 2-by-3-foot state-supplied doghouse in his front yard on Thursday. Rain was forecast.
His lawyers argued he needed a bigger doghouse, a sleeping bag and mosquito netting. Judge Buddie Hahn said the state would provide a doghouse about the same size as the one the boy once claimed to have slept in.
Robin is allowed to sleep with either his head or feet outside, since he cannot fit all the way into the doghouse. A police officer will patrol his home periodically each night to ensure he serves his sentence.
The deal also called for Robin to serve eight years' probation and pay a $1,000 fine.
Investigators said when they first interviewed the 11-year-old in 2001, he was filthy and had mo
17:14 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Court Rules Thief Must Dig Victim a New Pool Thu Mar 13, 9:48 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A thief who stole a businessman's laptop is to dig him a new swimming pool, a court in Hanover western Germany has ruled.
The 19 year-old thief escaped the standard minimum six-month suspended jail sentence for the theft of the computer worth 2,500 euros ($2,729) in October 2000, after his victim, a 41-year-old insurance agent, suggested the unusual punishment in court.
Stefan Joseph, a spokesman for the Hanover court, confirmed the ruling made on Monday.
"The work should be completed within three months," he said.
17:12 Posted by David
Thu Mar 13, 9:51 AM ET
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas jury acquitted on Wednesday a man who defended himself against a murder charge by saying an assailant threatened to carve up his face because he resembled a member of the boy band 'N Sync.
Richard Brown, 23, testified that he shot Eric Acosta to death at a party in San Antonio, Texas, last year because he feared Acosta, 34, had a knife when he menaced him about looking like 'N Sync member Lance Bass.
"He said, 'I'm going to cut your face up,'" Brown told jurors when he took the stand on Tuesday. "He said 'You won't be pretty for long, and you're never going to be able to get a girl again.'"
Brown, who resembles the pop star and would-be space tourist Bass, said he tried to get away after the two had a fistfight.
He said he went and got a pistol because he feared Acosta had a knife and fired in self-defense after Acosta chased him when the two met again.
"I saw his arm going up and I knew exactly what he was going to do," Brown said. "That's when I raised up the gun and shot."
Prosecutors had rejected Brown's claim, saying he fought Acosta and returned later with the gun to kill him in cold blood.
Brown had faced a sentence of up to 99 years in prison if convicted.
17:11 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Boy Sparks Inferno with Paper Airplane Thu Mar 13, 9:54 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 12-year-old boy accidentally burned down a poolhouse and a summer pavilion with a flaming paper airplane, causing more than $40,000 in damage, police in southern Germany said on Thursday.
The airplane ignited a hedge next to the swimming pool building and summer house in the Bavarian town of Oberasbach on Tuesday.
By the time the fire services put out the blaze, both buildings were gutted and two garages slightly charred.
"The boy wasn't looking to start a fire," said police spokesman Dieter Eilert. "He just wanted to light his plane."
20:55 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - NAKED GREED NAKED GREED
Sun Mar 9, 4:28 AM ET
By Richard Johnson
"JOE Millionaire" runner-up Sarah Kozer has starred in bondage-fetish flicks, and now she's taking it off for Playboy. A source told New York magazine she's agreed to appear topless. Kozer declined Playboy's offer of $1 million to go completely nude, but took it up on its second offer - $500,000 to pose nude from the waist up. Kozer's publicist wouldn't confirm or deny because "nothing is set in stone yet."
21:33 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Drivers switch seats at 50 mph Thu Mar 6, 3:40 PM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German couple stunned motorway police when they were spotted changing places behind the wheel while driving at 50 miles per hour, police said.
"It's not a trick I would recommend," said a police spokeswoman on Thursday.
Police found the Mercedes contained a sleeping baby and some hashish, the spokeswoman said. The 25-year-old male driver had no driving licence.
The couple, stopped in central Germany, was briefly detained and fined, but allowed to continue their journey.
21:31 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Police Find Drugs on Mistaken 911 Call Thu Mar 6, 8:11 AM ET
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - Police found more than 75 marijuana plants inside a house after a woman who lived there mistakenly called 911 instead of 411.
Police said the woman dialed 911 shortly after 11:20 a.m. Tuesday. When she hung up, a police dispatcher called the number right back, and someone hung up again, police Sgt. Dan Rose said.
Two officers went to the house and found 76 plants valued at $76,000 growing in a room with sophisticated lighting. Officers also found three handguns and other weapons inside the house.
"We know something is going on, but we don't know what," Rose said.
A man, who was not immediately identified, gave police a prescription for medical marijuana. However, the quantity of plants made police suspicious, so they began investigating the authenticity of the prescription, Rose said. The man was arrested for investigation of cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale.
Another man who tried to run from police was arrested for investigation of parole violations and was sent back to state prison Wednesday.
The woman who misdialed was not arrested.
21:30 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Accidentally Drives Off in Wrong Car Thu Mar 6, 8:24 AM ET
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The two cars might have been different colors, but they could apparently be opened with the same key.
According to police, a Sylvan Township man put the key to his gray 1999 Dodge Intrepid into the lock of a cranberry 1999 Dodge Intrepid on Wednesday and drove away without thinking about it.
When he noticed his mistake the next day, he left the car in his driveway and got a ride to work, leaving his wife to call police and report the mistake, The Ann Arbor News reported in a recent story.
Chelsea police said the 44-year-old Sylvan Township man left his dentist's office in Chelsea at about 4:30 p.m. and got into what he thought was his car, despite the color difference.
When the 41-year-old owner of the cranberry Dodge got out of work at 8:30 p.m., he discovered his car was missing and reported it stolen.
After learning about the mix-up, the 41-year-old wasn't too upset, but couldn't understand how someone could confuse the car colors, police said.
He declined to press theft charges.
21:28 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Fla. Mom Births Third Child on 3-3-03 Thu Mar 6,11:33 AM ET
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - Good things came in threes for a Florida Panhandle mother.
Samantha Noble gave birth to her third child on Monday, March 3 — that's 3-3-03 — at exactly 3:33 p.m.
Dean Noble weighed in a 7 pounds, 2 ounces. He was 19 inches long.
"When I had my first ultrasound, I remember thinking, 'This better not be triplets,'" his mother said. "The threes have to stop sometime."
She said her husband, Aaron, joked about having the child at 3:33 p.m. when he brought her to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.
"I told him, 'No, I don't want to wait that long,'" she said.
Although baby Dean's two siblings, ages 8 and 3, had complications at birth, he appears to be healthy.
"This is the first time I might be able to leave with a perfectly healthy baby," Samantha Noble said. "Three might be lucky after all."
21:26 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Sentenced for Cutting Hamsters' Teeth Thu Mar 6, 3:33 PM ET
SOMERVILLE, N.J. - A man caught torturing hamsters he had just bought from a pet store has been sentenced to three years probation.
Richard Mattia was also ordered Wednesday to undergo substance abuse and psychiatric counseling as part of the plea bargain he reached with Somerset County authorities.
He initially was charged with animal cruelty and then faced drug possession after police found 18 packets of heroin on him when he was arrested.
Mattia was charged last October after a Watchung pet store employee saw him squeezing the hamster. Authorities said Mattia also clipped the hamsters' teeth so it wouldn't bite him.
Mattia also faces animal cruelty charges in Mountainside and is scheduled to appear in municipal court there next week. Those charges were filed by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after two dwarf hamsters were found at Mattia's home last year.
Officials said one of the hamsters died after it was bruised and its teeth were damaged by nail clippers. The second hamster survived and, along with the hamster from the pet store case, was adopted by Terrence Clark, a deputy chief of the state's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
21:25 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Robbed Twice in Five Minutes Thu Mar 6, 8:34 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 61-year-old German man was robbed twice in five minutes in the western town of Herne, local police said Wednesday.
The man first had his mobile phone stolen at a gas station by youths who then fled.
When he pursued the thieves on foot, a passing car with three men claiming to be plainclothes police stopped him, searched him and drove off with his wallet.
21:24 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Widow Hopes Tattoo Will Keep Doctors Away Thu Mar 6, 8:35 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - An 85 year-old widow is so determined not to be resuscitated against her will by doctors that she has tattooed the words "Do Not Resuscitate" across her chest.
Frances Polack, a former nurse, said she paid $40 for a tattoo with the instruction and a heart with a 'no-go' sign in red and blue to ensure medical staff knew she did not want to be revived.
"Years ago when I was nursing I could see they resuscitated so many people they shouldn't have," Polack told the Nursing Standard magazine.
"I don't want to die twice. By resuscitating me, they would be bringing me back from the dead only for me to have to go through it again," Polack said.
The white-haired pensioner who lives in the New Forest in the south of England said she visited a local tattooist with a friend. "I don't know if I want to start a fashion, but I hope I will start a debate," she said.
18:46 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Naked Jogger in N.Y. Continues StreakNaked Jogger in N.Y. Continues Streak
Tue Mar 4, 2:15 PM ET
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - The naked jogger of New York has struck. Again.
His latest appearance was in a Binghamton downtown parking garage around lunch time Tuesday, just as temperatures rose to nearly freezing.
And, as in each of his previous runs, he eluded police who rushed to the scene.
An employee said the streaker has been seen running around the six-level parking garage at least 20 times since last August. The last time was in late November.
Police said they can't figure out how he's able to get dressed and emerge from the garage undetected.
18:44 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Teen Arrested After 'Scream' Mask PrankTeen Arrested After 'Scream' Mask Prank
Wed Mar 5, 1:48 PM ET
TUSCUMBIA, Ala. - A Tuscumbia teen sporting a "Scream" mask, a flashlight and a boxing glove on one hand found out that scaring neighbors can turn frightening -- a man arrived with a shotgun, and police showed up to take the boy into custody.
The 15-year-old boy, acting on a dare from some friends, pounded on a woman's door Saturday night wearing the mask and glove. The woman was talking on the phone to her daughter-in-law, and when she saw the masked figure at her door, she told the daughter-in-law, who told her husband, who promptly showed up at the woman's home with a shotgun.
Police also were summoned with a 911 call.
"The kid said he was just trying to meet people and be friends," Sgt. Jon Terry told the Times Daily in a story Tuesday. "I thought he was on something, but he wasn't."
Terry said the boy was acting on a dare from some friends, who "weren't around when he got arrested."
The man with the shotgun certainly got the teen's attention, Terry said.
"The kid was still shaking when we had him back here at the station," he said. "I think the guy had even racked the shotgun when he approached the kid. That's always an intimidating sound."
The boy was charged with disorderly conduct, but the
18:39 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Brothel for Sex-Starved DogsBrothel for Sex-Starved Dogs
Tue Mar 4, 9:08 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German artist has applied for a license to open a brothel in Berlin for sexually frustrated dogs and says it will be the first of its kind anywhere.
Karl-Friedrich Lenze, 54, said he planned to charge dog owners $27 per half hour of happiness.
"If dogs can't get what they want, they get cranky -- just like people," Lenze told Reuters.
The establishment would offer patrons a variety of carefully vetted "employees" of both sexes, rooms for private encounters and even a "bar" where customers could sniff out their preferred partners.
18:38 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Axeman Attacks Chef Over PizzaAxeman Attacks Chef Over Pizza
Tue Mar 4, 9:13 AM ET
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Unhappy with his pizza and not content with a refund, a man in Germany has gone after the chef with an axe.
Frankfurt police said the 57-year-old man was restrained by customers after he drew the axe from his coat and started swinging it at the cook.
"Apparently, the pizza didn't agree with him," said police spokesman Manfred Feist. "He wasn't a regular customer."
The drunken man, who had been offered a refund or a fresh pizza after complaining his first one was revolting, was ejected from the restaurant after shouting abuse.
He later returned to continue his tirade and then produced the axe and attempted to strike the chef but patrons managed to wrestle him to the ground. He was arrested by police.
18:35 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Enraged Computer Owner Shoots Up MachineEnraged Computer Owner Shoots Up Machine
Wed Mar 5, 3:55 PM ET
LAFAYETTE, Colo. - George Doughty hung his latest hunting trophy on the wall of his Sportsman's Bar and Restaurant. Then he went to jail.
The problem was the trophy was Doughty's laptop computer.
He shot it four times, as customers watched, after it crashed once too often.
He was jailed on suspicion of felony menacing, reckless endangerment and the prohibited use of weapons.
"It's sort of funny, because everybody always threatens their computers," said police Lt. Rick Bashor, seconds before his own police computer froze at police headquarters.
Doughty was released Monday evening after spending a night in jail and is due in court Wednesday.
In police reports, Doughty said that he realized afterward that he shouldn't have shot his computer but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.
