Yahoo! News - Outraged Czech Cop Shoots at Jaywalker: "PRAGUE, Czech Republic - An angry police officer allegedly shot at a man who ignored a red traffic light and crossed a busy street in a southwestern Czech town, authorities said Tuesday. The bullets missed the pedestrian.
The officer in Plzen, 55 miles southwest of Prague, was being investigated by the Interior Ministry for allegedly pulling his gun and firing at the jaywalking pedestrian on Monday, ministry spokesman Petr Vorlicek said.
The unidentified officer fired several rounds after the pedestrian did not react to his shouts of protest, officials said.
The Pravo newspaper reported that the policeman first shot in the air, and when the pedestrian did not react, he allegedly aimed at him and fired two more times.
One bullet hit a passing car, but nobody was injured in the incident, Pravo said. "
07:58 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Burger Fan Wolfs Down 20,000th Big Mac: "Tue Jul 20, 7:53 AM ET
By The Associated Press
FOND DU LAC, Wis. - Chalk up another meaty milestone for Don Gorske. The Fond du Lac man downed his 20,000th Big Mac sandwich Monday, while surrounded by spectators at a local McDonald's restaurant.
He already had made the 'Guinness World Records' book for eating a record number of Big Macs before he hit number 19,000 in March 2003.
He has been eating the fast food sandwiches since 1972 at a rate of at least one a day, and said he has eaten a Big Mac from every state in the union.
Still, the 6-foot Gorske has maintained his weight at about 170 pounds. "
16:25 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Cops: Woman Robs Store After Jail Release: "BEAVER FALLS, Pa. - A woman robbed a store within minutes of being released from police custody for an earlier robbery the same day, police said.
The suspect, Sharon Armstrong, 40, of Beaver Falls, was released Saturday after allegedly robbing a doughnut shop when a district justice advised police to release her and mail the charges, according to police in Beaver Falls.
Nine minutes later, Armstrong went to a hot dog shop and demanded money, claiming she had a gun, according to Capt. Jay Alstadt.
Police caught Armstrong at the shop and the district justice, Martin V. Schulte, told police to arraign her. Armstrong was held at the Beaver County Jail on charges of robbery and attempted robbery after she failed to post $50,000 bond.
Schulte did not return calls for comment. "
16:23 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Mich. Suspect Caught After Syrup Spill: "JACKSON, Mich. - A robbery attempt at an ice cream store resulted in a not-so-sweet ending for a would-be thief who authorities say knocked over a large container of strawberry syrup.
According to police, the 24-year-old Jackson man dropped his wallet and apparently slipped in the goo during the break-in early Monday.
'It was kind of a giveaway,' Jackson County sheriff's Capt. David Luce said.
A deputy responding to a 12:24 a.m. alarm at TJ's Dairy Freeze located a wallet inside and found a jug of syrup spilled on the floor. It was unclear if anything was taken.
The deputy used an ID in the wallet to track down and arrest the suspect.
'He still had strawberry syrup all over him,' Luce told The Jackson Citizen Patriot.
The suspect was to be arraigned later Monday on a charge of breaking and entering. "
16:22 Posted by David
: "MARYVILLE, Tenn. - A man was arrested on his 23rd birthday after a police officer saw him nude and covered with nacho cheese from a pool snack bar.
Michael P. Monn was arrested early Sunday in the parking lot outside the pool.
An officer saw a nude man carrying a box of Frito Lay snacks and a container of nacho cheese run toward a Jeep in the lot and stopped him.
'The male had nacho cheese in his hair, on his face and on his shoulders,' Maryville Police Department officer Scott Spicer reported. 'The nude male had a strong odor of alcohol and was semi-incoherent.'
Investigators said someone climbed an 8-foot fence, broke into the pool snack bar through a window, threw nacho cheese on a wall and scattered chips on the ground. About $40 in chips and $7 in nacho cheese were stolen.
Monn was charged with burglary, theft of less than $500, vandalism less than $500 and public intoxication and was cited for indecent exposure. He was being held at the Blount County Jail in lieu of a $9,300 bond. "
18:06 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - "Dumb blondes" live up to stereotype: "Wed Jul 14,10:29 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - Blondes perform intelligence tests more slowly after reading jokes playing on their supposed stupidity, say psychologists in a newly published German study.
Some 80 women of various hair colours were tested on their mental capacity to work quickly and precisely in a series of psychometric tests. Before sitting the tests, half the participants had to read 'dumb blonde' jokes, such as:
'Why do blondes open yoghurt pots while still at the supermarket? -- Because it says 'Open Here' on the lid.'
'No blonde woman believes she is stupid,' said Jens Foerster a social psychologist from the International University Bremen in northern Germany on Wednesday.
'But after exposure to negative social-stereotypes about them, the fair-haired participants performed significantly more slowly in the tests.'
Foerster explained the result by saying that when people are told they can't perform a task well, they work more slowly but more cautiously, to try to make fewer mistakes.
'The study shows that even unfounded prejudices generally dismissed as untrue can affect an individual's confidence in their own ability,' said Foerster. "
17:55 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Wrong Body Dug Up in Kentucky Cemetery: "Wed Jul 14, 6:57 PM ET
FRANKFORT, Ky. - Authorities trying to exhume a body for DNA samples dug up the wrong grave in a Frankfort cemetery.
Steve Clark of the Frankfort Police Department said workers relied on photographs of Katherine Tatman's funeral in 2001 to find her unmarked grave in Greenhill Cemetery. They came within three feet but removed another casket with an unknown occupant on Monday.
'We don't have any way of knowing who it is,' Clark said. 'There were absolutely no markings at all.'
Tatman, 68, was found stabbed to death in a Frankfort apartment in June 2001. No one has been arrested in the killing. Prosecutors want DNA evidence to prove Tatman was sexually assaulted.
The mistake was discovered after the wrong body was taken to the state medical examiner's office. Officials planned to rebury the body Tuesday.
They found Tatman's grave later Monday. "
17:53 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Smoker Ignites Portable Toilet Explosion: "Wed Jul 14, 7:05 PM ET
BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. - Warning: smoking in the toilet can be dangerous. A portable toilet exploded Tuesday after a man who was inside it lit a cigarette.
Emergency workers said the man was not severely injured and drove himself to Clay-Battelle Community Health Center. He was later transferred to Ruby Memorial Hospital. His name and condition were not available Wednesday.
The explosion, which occurred in Blacksville, resulted from a buildup of methane gas inside the portable toilet. The methane did not 'take too kindly' to the lit cigarette, said a spokeswoman for Monongalia Emergency Medical Services. "
16:34 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Men Throwing Fireworks Leave Window Up: "Thu Jul 15,11:01 PM ET
SALT LAKE CITY - Two men planning to throw lighted fireworks from a car were burned when they forgot to roll down the window.
'They lit a large mortar rocket firework' and were going to throw it out the window, Salt Lake County sheriff's Sgt. John Barker said. 'The passenger threw it out the window, but he forgot to roll the window down. It bounced back in his lap.'
Adam Weber, 24, was in fair condition Thursday at the Intermountain Burn Unit at University Hospital with second and third degree burns on his arms, legs and torso.
'He's going to be in a lot of pain. I don't think it's life-threatening, but he's going to have a hard time. It's going to be a long process to get him healed up,' Barker said.
The driver, Jared Williams, only had minor burns to his back.
The accident happened about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The investigation has been turned over to the Unified Fire Authority. An officer told KSL-TV any charges filed likely would be just misdemeanors. "
16:32 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Sentenced for Robbing Own Bank Branch: "Fri Jul 16, 8:23 PM ETAdd Strange News - AP to My Yahoo!
BRISTOL, Conn. - A man who had told police he should appear on 'World's Dumbest Criminals' has been sentenced to prison for robbing a bank where he was a regular customer.
Thomas Dorsey, 36, pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree robbery. Dorsey admitted robbing a Southington bank Jan. 20 by handing a teller a note that read, 'Count out $1,200. Hand it to me. You are being robbed. Stay calm.'
Dorsey's lawyer noted that the bank was a branch that his client did business at on a regular basis.
'He didn't try to hide his identity,' Assistant Public Defender James Sward said. 'In fact, it's the bank he goes to every day; that's his bank. That shows how desperate he was.'
Dorsey had told investigators he should probably should appear on a show titled, 'World's Dumbest Criminals' for the crime.
Supervisory Assistant Stephen Preleski said the fact there was no weapon or threats involved made it a less-serious incident.
Judge Mark H. Taylor sentenced Dorsey to 2 1/2 years. "
16:18 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Jailed for Allegedly Sucking Toes: "Fri Jul 16, 5:26 PM ET
GREENSBURG, Pa. - A man sucked the toes or kissed the feet of two women and a girl in surprise assaults, police said.
A 12-year-old told police that she was reading at the library when James M. Kilpatrick, 21, of Greensburg, started kissing her feet, then offered her 22-year-old sister a dollar to let him do the same to her.
At a nearby park, one woman told police she dozed off while sunbathing and woke up to find Kilpatrick sucking her toes. Another woman had her toes sucked when she stopped to read a memorial plaque in the park, police said.
Kilpatrick remained jailed unable to post $10,000 bond Friday, a day after he waived his right to a preliminary hearing on indecent assault and other charges including stalking, corruption of minors and harassment.
All the incidents occurred between July 3 and July 9. All the victims picked out Kilpatrick from a photo lineup, police said.
It wasn't immediately clear if Kilpatrick has an attorney. "
16:17 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Accused of Hitting Woman With Gator: "Sun Jul 18, 5:55 AM ET
PORT ORANGE, Fla. - A man hit his girlfriend with a 3-foot alligator and threw beer bottles at her during an argument in the couple's mobile home, authorities said.
David Havenner, 41, was ordered held without bond Saturday on misdemeanor charges of battery and possession of an alligator.
The alligator, which Havenner had been keeping in his bathtub, was turned over to Florida wildlife officials.
Nancy Monico, 39, told investigators that Havenner beat her with his fists, then grabbed the alligator and swung it at her as she tried to escape, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. She said the animal hit her at least once. She also told authorities that Havenner threw empty beer bottles at her, Davidson said.
Havenner's version of the story differed. He told investigators that Monico bit his hand because she was upset that they had run out of alcohol. "
16:16 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Learns He's Dead, Thanks to Blind Ex-Wife: "Thu Jul 15,11:02 AM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian taxi driver got a rude shock when he discovered his blind ex-wife, who thought he had died in an explosion, had him buried in a Moscow cemetery, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Oleg Lunkov learned of his apparent death when he applied for a passport and was told he died in a bomb blast on Moscow's metro on February 6. His ex-wife thought he was on the train, but being blind, she got her mother to identify the remains.
'I thought, 'I hope they didn't bury me on my birthday',' Lunkov told the Moscow Times after visiting his grave in southeastern Moscow. 'But it turns out they did.'
The grave has been exhumed by police investigating his wife for possible fraud.
Lunkov's name still appears on prosecutors' official list of the 38 people who died in the explosion. "
16:15 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Schwarzenegger to Take a Licking: "Fri Jul 16,10:22 AM ET
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian fans of their famous compatriot Arnold Schwarzenegger will be able to lick the back of the California Governor when his image appears on a special edition of postage stamps at the end of this month.
The former bodybuilder and film star chose the portrait of himself that will be used on one-euro stamps to be issued in Austria on his 57th birthday, July 30, a postal service spokesman said on Friday.
'He is one of the most famous Austrians...We can be very proud of him,' spokesman Siegfried Grobmann said.
The stamp is a head-and-shoulders shot of Schwarzenegger with the U.S. Stars and Stripes on his right and a smaller Austrian flag to his left. A run of 600,000 stamps will be printed, Grobmann said. "
16:13 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Check-Out Woman Hits Self on Head, Claims Robbery: "Fri Jul 16,10:35 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German supermarket check-out worker stashed the day's takings into her shoes and hit herself over the head, pretending she had been held up and attacked by a robber, Bavarian police said on Thursday.
The 26 year-old woman told police she was alone in the south German store when a masked man forced her at gun-point to fill his pockets and several bags with money from the shop's cash box before knocking her unconscious with a blow to her head.
Police became suspicious after medical examinations revealed the woman's head injury didn't match up to her description of the attack. The woman then confessed she had hit herself on the head with a blunt object and stolen the money to pay off debts. "
