Weird News

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- Swedish aviation officials are trying to decide whether power grid inspectors broke any rules Tuesday by landing their helicopter at a McDonald's.

The four inspectors apparently got hungry, The Local reported. They landed at a highway rest stop in South Stockholm.

Witnesses who saw the chopper come down assumed it had made an emergency landing and called police. The responding officers found the inspectors eating lunch.

The big question is whether the helicopter had permission to land where it did.

Fla. teen sends photo of gun to classmates

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (UPI) -- A Florida high school student was taken into police custody after he text-messaged a photo of a gun to classmates at Hollywood Hills High School.

Police say the teen said he planned to kill himself, the Miami Herald reported.

The high school and a nearby elementary school were locked down for about an hour Tuesday while Hollywood, Fla., police went from classroom to classroom searching for the student.

Police in Davie, Fla., found the teen at his home and took him into custody for his own protection.

The high school students were then given permission to go home for the rest of the day, the newspaper said.

Inmate bailed out decades early

INDIANAPOLIS (UPI) -- An Indiana man convicted of attempted murder was back behind bars Tuesday, four days after a clerical error allowed him to be released decades early.

Ronnie Williams was arrested Monday afternoon at an Indianapolis house belonging to his girlfriend's father, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Williams was convicted in Marion County of shooting a deputy sheriff during a bank robbery in 2005 and sentenced to 97 years. But when he was transferred to Hamilton County from a state prison to face another pending charge, his record did not include the conviction.

His girlfriend, Kim Williams, who is not a relation, posted $7,500 bail last week. She was arrested on a charge of assisting a criminal.

Nude smoker wins battle with landlord

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- A landlord in Sweden has lost a bid to evict a woman who reportedly annoyed her neighbors by sunbathing nude and smoking outside unclothed.

Tenants in the building in Dalarna in central Sweden also complained that the woman did not dispose of her trash properly and said she sexually assaulted two building workers, The Local reported.

The Regional Rent and Tenancy Tribunal ruled for the landlord in December. But the woman appealed.

The Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm found recently that the woman was not a good neighbor, but that her behavior was not bad enough to justify eviction.

LONDON (UPI) -- A British protective clothing company has taken its market to young people on the streets with a new Kevlar-lined hoodie.

The hoodie, which is marketed by Bladerunner as stab-proof, is lined with the ultra-strong Kevlar, which is the material used in the body armor for Britain's troops, The Sky News reported Monday.

Bladerunner is selling the protective hoodies for $130 each.

The head of the company, Adrian Davis, also has claimed to be in discussion with schools about putting Kevlar linings into school uniforms

"It's all in development but we're at an advanced stage," he said. "We've sent examples of school jumpers to the manufacturers and we're waiting for the costings. I really believe it's needed."

Kevlar is a synthetic fiber that is very light but can be spun into sheets that are stronger than steel.

Manhole cover thieves strike in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (UPI) -- A 9-year-old girl fell into a manhole in St. Louis after thieves reportedly stole 15 to 20 manhole covers to sell as scrap metal.

Lance LeComb, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Sewer District, said the covers have been replaced with concrete manhole covers, the St. Louis Dispatch reported Monday.

"Obviously, the cement covers don't have the scrap-metal value of the cast iron covers," said LeComb, adding that the concrete covers do have more technical problems.

He also reported there were arrests made Friday night because of people tampering with manhole covers, but on Saturday night, the thieves struck again.

"We found out when the girl fell in," said LeComb.

KTVI-TV in St. Louis reported the girl was not seriously injured.

Each of the 20 or so manhole covers weighed 85 pounds, said LeComb.

"They're not easy to lift and manhandle," he said. "And when they're over the hole, they're difficult to get out without a specialized tool."

New York switches from real to fake grass

NEW YORK (UPI) -- New York plans to spend about $150 million installing 100 synthetic playing fields in parks across the city over the next five years.

The artificial turf, which is supposed to be spongy enough to prevent most injuries, is cheaper and easier for Parks Department workers to maintain, the New York Post reported Monday.

The Parks Department started installing synthetic fields in 2002 and there are already 74 of them in parks across the city.

The turf, consisting of plastic grass on a bed of crushed old rubber tires, saves the city about $15,000 a year per field in maintenance costs, said the Post.

It also provides "a softness and sponginess that's more like real grass," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Belgium zoo bans staring at apes

BRUSSELS (UPI) -- The visitors to the Antwerp Zoo in Belgium are being faced with a new challenge, which is not making eye contact with the apes.

The zoo's patron's are faced with signs telling them that if one of the apes makes eye contact then they should look away, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

The staff said they think eye contact can result in the creatures losing their sociability.

"We are saying to visitors that, if our apes hold eye contact with them, then they should look away for a bit or take a step back. Our evidence shows that chimpanzees and other apes who have a lot of contact with visitors apparently tend to isolate themselves from their companions over the course of time," a spokesman for the Antwerp Zoo told The Daily Telegraph.

But, some of the zoo's customers wonder if the signs aren't taking animal welfare a step too far.

"When we saw the signs, we thought it was a joke," said teacher Dirk Woldt, who was visiting the zoo with his family. "The next thing you know, they'll be having to counsel the apes."

ASPEN, Colo. (UPI) -- A chairlift at Colorado's Aspen Mountain ski resort broke on its way up the mountain, dumping one passenger and leaving two others hanging.

A break in one of the metal supports on one of the chairs on the Ruthie's Express lift caused one man to fall 10 feet to the ground Saturday, but his two friends managed to hang on until the ski patrol showed up, the Aspen Daily News reported.

The break was reportedly caused over time by stress from loading and takeoff vibration, said Aspen Skiing Co. spokesman Jeff Hanle.

He said an inspection showed the fracture did not occur at a piece of the metal that was welded.

"It's something no one has ever seen or heard of before," Hanle said, calling the failure "metal fatigue."

The man who fell was not injured and skied away on his own, Hanle said.

Fairy lights creator a terror suspect

BIRMINGHAM, England (UPI) -- British police raided the home of a 49-year-old man after parts he ordered online to make fairy lights were taken for a terrorist's likely shopping list.

Neil Harris ordered an electronic relay board, a knapsack and some potassium nitrate on eBay to make fairy lights and fireworks, The Mail on Sunday said.

When he went to the local police station in Birmingham to ask why his home had been raided, Harris was interrogated for three hours.

Once it was determined he was just making fairy lights and fireworks for a family celebration, Harris was released.

Harris said he was shocked to be suspected of terrorism.

"The only thing I've got in common with a terrorist is not having a criminal record," he said, "and maybe having scientific hobbies."

Cleared in court, man tries to rip off judge

PYATIGORSK, Russia (UPI) -- A Russian man faces up to four years in prison for allegedly stealing a cell phone at a courthouse where he had just beaten a charge of stealing a cell phone.

Alexander Kishko was at the Pyatigorsk City Court last Tuesday, where he faced a charge of trying to steal a cell phone from a woman at a health clinic. But after leaving the court room in the clear, Kishko snuck into a judge's office and tried to steal another cell phone, the Moscow Times reported.

Russian authorities say thousands of crimes in recent years have involved the theft of cell phones.

Retailers using 'vanity sizing' in Britain

LONDON (UPI) -- Clothing retailers in Britain are being accused of "vanity sizing" -- marking items as smaller sizes than they actually are.

The Sunday Times reported on the trend, which retailers in the United States have used to flatter their customers, making them feel as though they are thinner then they actually are.

French Connection was found to have the biggest size discrepancy, selling a pair of jeans in which the actual size exceeded the stated measurement by six inches. Gap, H&M and Zara also practice vanity sizing, the newspaper said.

Fashion experts told the Times they were surprised by the findings, saying that a discrepancy of one or two inches can be excused, but anything beyond that and it starts to seem as if the retailer is duping the customer.

"It's deluding customers," said fashion designer Jeff Banks. "Changing things by one size may be sufficient, but to do it by this much is something the consumer does not like."

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (UPI) -- An Ohio man convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill his wife claimed the deal was a joke to impress a motorcycle gang he was trying to join.

Brian Ciraco, who previously spent more than seven years in jail when he cut a girlfriend's hand with a sword, was convicted Monday of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and complicity to attempted aggravated murder, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Tuesday. The jury also found Ciraco guilty of carrying a concealed weapon after police found a switchblade in his possession during the arrest.

A spokeswoman for prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said Ciraco had been shopping around for hit men and comparing prices when he approached an undercover Cuyahoga Falls detective and made a $60 down payment on his wife's death.

He testified in court that he never intended to go through with the act; instead he just wanted to hire the hit man so he would be allowed to join a motorcycle gang.

Ciraco is scheduled for sentencing April 30. He could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

4-legged duckling loves the attention

LONDON (UPI) -- A four-legged duckling born in England has defied expectations and reached full size.

Stumpy, as the duck is named, was born with an extra set of legs behind the set he walks on because of a rare mutation, The Daily Mail reported.

After his Feb. 7 birth, he became something of a media celebrity, with television crews and photographers recording his ugly duckling appearance.

Stumpy didn't mind, said Nicky Janaway, owner of Warrawee Duck Farm in New Forest, Hampshire.

"He's doing really well. He loves all the attention he's been getting," Janaway told The Daily Mail.

Teacher puts plastic bag over girl's head

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. (UPI) -- An art teacher at an elementary school in a Chicago suburb apparently put a plastic bag over a student's head as a bad joke.

The teacher used poor judgment, Craig Fiegel, superintendent in Evergreen Park, said in a letter to parents. The superintendent said that the bag had a hole cut in it and the student, a sixth-grader at Southwest Elementary, was never in any real danger, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.

"I believe he knows that that isn't something you do. It was an unfortunate thing to do," Fiegel said. "You have to weigh in some of the intent and look at the situation. We all have lapses in judgment, make mistakes."

The art teacher has taught in the school district for 22 years.

Lt. Greg LeCompte of the Evergreen Park police said that the girl's parents have no interest in filing charges and the investigation has been completed.

Woman sues over 'negligent dancing'

CHICAGO (UPI) -- A Chicago woman has filed a lawsuit claiming "negligent dancing" by her boss's husband and seeking damages for a fractured skull.

In her complaint, Lacey Hindman says that David Prange picked her up and threw her during a jitterbug, WMAQ-TV reported. She was at a party following a book signing at Shop Girl, a store owned by Prange's wife, Kate.

Hindman said that Prange grabbed her arms without any warning and tossed her in the air.

"I was in the air, over him," she told WMAQ-TV. "I fell hard enough, you could hear the impact of me hitting the floor over the sound from the jukebox."

In her lawsuit, Hindman seeks compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and future losses because of her injuries. She told the television station that the Pranges are old friends of her family.

CRANBERRY, Pa. (UPI) -- A man claimed ownership of a fingertip found by schoolchildren in Cranberry, Pa., that sparked rumors and stumped investigators.

Cranberry Police Lt. Jeff Schueler said the man, who asked not to be identified, told police he lost the 1-inch section of finger while cleaning a snow blower, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Tuesday.

The man searched for the missing section of his finger but was unable to locate it, Schueler said. It was discovered Friday by a group of children waiting for a school bus.

"We were stumped. There was a lot of concern about this," Schueler said.

He said canine units were used to search for other body parts but none were found.

"We made lots of calls to hospitals," Schueler said. "They all said they had not heard of anything like this."

Schueler said the man contacted police Monday after his wife read about the children's discovery in the newspaper.

He said he hopes the information will stop rumors about the finger tip.

"You get something like this, and e-mail chains with all sorts of sensational rumors start to go around," Schueler said. "That's something we do not want."

Race said not issue in wrong sperm case

NEW YORK (UPI) -- A white New York man has said that race is not an issue in the court case filed against an in-vitro clinic that impregnated his wife with a black man's sperm.

The suit was filed after Thomas Andrews' wife, Nancy, was allegedly given a black man's sperm rather than her husband's in an in-vitro mix up, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

"We didn't bring race into it. That's not why we're suing," said Andrews. "We love them to death," the firefighter said of his two daughters, 2 1/2-year-old Jessica, who was conceived in the alleged mix-up, and her older sister, Jennifer.

"I'm just trying to keep everything together," he added. "My wife wants to keep our life private and our children's life private. We didn't want to put ourselves in the spotlight."

Andrews said that they realized that there might have been a problem after Jessica was born in October 2004 and had darker skin than Nancy, who is Hispanic.

DNA testing revealed that the child was conceived with sperm from a black donor, states the couple's suit against the fertility clinic, New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine.

Pit bull listed for adoption after attack

ORLANDO, Fla. (UPI) -- Animal Services in Orange County, Fla., said a clerical error led to a pit bull being made available for adoption hours after it attacked a woman.

Tootie Francis said she spent 13 hours in the emergency room after the dog attacked her, WKMG-TV, Orlando, reported Tuesday.

"He was ripping into my flesh and pulling my pants leg and he let go of that leg and came around and did the same thing to my other leg," Francis told the television station.

The dog was taken by animal control authorities but Francis said she saw the dog was listed on the county Web site as available for adoption.

"It was a clerical error," Orange County Animal Services representative Vanessa Bouffard said. "The dog should not have been labeled as a stray animal. It should have been labeled as an unavailable animal, thus keeping it from the Web site automatically."

Animal control officials said they would not have allowed the dog to be adopted because the attack was clearly stated in its file, WKMG-TV reported.

The pit bull was euthanized after its owner declined to claim the dog and pay the required fines.

Monster cane toad caught in Australia

DARWIN, Australia (UPI) -- A cane toad the size of a small dog has been nabbed in Australia in the middle of a "breeding frenzy."

The environmental group Frogwatch caught the monster toad during a seasonal hunt for the warty pests in the northwest city of Darwin.

The toad measured more than 8 inches in length and weighed nearly 2 pounds.

Cane toads originally were released in the sugarcane fields of Queensland to combat pests but have spread across Australia, poisoning millions of native animals.

Frogwatch spokesman Graeme Sawyer told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., "the biggest toads are usually females but this one was a rampant male. He is huge. I'd hate to meet his big sister."

CHENGDU, China (UPI) -- The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center in China is working to develop souvenirs made from panda excrement.

The center said it plans to use bamboo scraps and the 200 tons of panda poo created at the center every year to make souvenirs that are more environmentally friendly and conserve resources, Shanghai Daily reported Monday.

"We will begin with paper making, but we are still looking for a qualified paper mill to handle it as the process is quite complicated," said Liao Jun, an employee of the center.

The project follows a similar move by the Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand, which has made thousands of dollars from paper products created from panda excretion.

"The souvenirs do not smell," said Huang Xiangming, a department chief in the Chengdu center who purchased several of the products from the Thailand zoo.

"I just couldn't help buying these baubles when I saw them because they are so cute, although I've been doing research on pandas for years," Huang said.

"Pandas' excretion is a perfect raw material to make paper due to pandas' high fiber diet," he said.

Firefighter saves woman -- but breaks rules

PERTH, Scotland (UPI) -- A Scottish firefighter is being investigated by Tayside Fire and Rescue in Perth after he violated safety rules by jumping into the River Tay to save a woman.

Tayside Fire and Rescue said Tam Brown broke "standing instructions" on safety procedures when he spent eight minutes in the cold water to pull the young woman to dry land, The Times of London reported Monday.

"Personnel should not enter the water," the fire brigade's rules state. The rules say rescuers should use poles and ropes to attempt to rescue drowning people.

"I was expected to watch that young girl die in front of me," Brown said. "As a father and a caring human being, I couldn't live with myself if I'd had to do that."

"Firefighter safety is of paramount importance to us. Although our duties include rescues from flooding, there is no statutory obligation to carry out rescues from moving water.

"We know they broke procedure because we know he went into the water," said Stephen Hunter, chief fire officer of Tayside Fire and Rescue. "We are investigating exactly what happened, and once that is concluded we will consider what action is necessary. That could include disciplinary action."

Retirement tougher than he thought

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (UPI) -- A Boston Fire Department retiree who has run afoul of the rules at his Florida retirement community says life is different now following a bocce dispute.

"I'm used to being free, and I'm not free in here," Russell Sullivan told the St. Petersburg Times. "I'm a criminal! At 76!"

Sullivan was cited for using loud and foul language on the bocce court when another resident of Timber Pines took his bocce ball. He was cited again for "abusive, offensive or threatening language or actions on Community Property" when another Timber Pines resident objected when he passed his golf cart on a double yellow line and Sullivan started yelling.

Then, when Sullivan went to check on the appeal date, Timber Pines employees asked him to leave and he refused. The Sheriff's Department was called and Sullivan was arrested on a trespassing charge, the Times reported.

"They put me in the wagon," he told the newspaper. "They put me in handcuffs."

"He's very upset that his good name after all these years is going down in flames," his lawyer, Perry Hyslop, told the Times.

Michigan janitor holds master's degree

TROY, Mich. (UPI) -- An elementary school custodian in Troy, Mich., says he remains in his position despite his master's degree because he likes being around children.

Mel Sledzinski, who was named support staff member of the year this month by the Troy School District, earned a master's degree in instructional technology from Wayne State University in 2002 but chooses to continue his 20-year career of cleaning up after children rather than design computer programs, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.

"I like being around the kids," he said. "I'm kind of a guy they can talk to."

Wass Elementary School Principal Don Van Den Berghe said Sledzinski was chosen as support staff member of the year because of his dedication and close relationship with staff and students at the school.

GLASGOW, Scotland (UPI) -- A study conducted in Scotland has found that a business may be able to increase sales by simply altering the sounds inside a store.

The study by the British Airports Authority inside the Glasgow airport found that when the facility played ambient music and the sounds of birds, its sales in departure shops increased by up to 10 percent, The Scotsman reported.

Created by The Sound Agency chairman Julian Treasure, the audio effort is said to change consumers' moods and make them more likely to engage in spending behavior.

Treasure said his company wants to change the way businesses present themselves to customers, focusing not only on appearance but on how they sound as well.

"Many businesses spend millions on their design and how they look, but they do nothing about how they sound," Treasure said.

"The sounds you hear in shops, offices, in cafes are often just the result of how things are. No thought has been put into them," he added. "We are trying to encourage business to change that."

He also told the newspaper that the current worst offenders in relation to sound are supermarkets, while offices and airports were not far behind.

Man's illuminated nudity punished by court

SENDAI, Japan (UPI) -- A Japanese court has sentenced a 41-year-old man to a suspended sentence for using a lamp to enhance his indecent exposure at his apartment.

The court found the unemployed man guilty of indecent exposure in the incident, in which he used the bright light to allow onlookers to see his nude body from afar, and sentenced him to a suspended four-month prison term, the Kyodo news agency said.

The man apparently illuminated himself in the dark of his second-floor apartment in the city of Sendai on Sept. 5, 2006 in order to allow female workers at a nearby restaurant to see of his naked body.

British lap dancers must pay tax

LONDON (UPI) -- A British court has ruled that freelance lap dancers, not the clubs where they work, must pay tax on the money they are paid.

At issue is the VAT, or value added tax. The high court ruled in favor of a U.S.-owned club in London named Spearmint Rhino, whose owners said the club should not be responsible for the VAT, The Independent reported.

Customers at the club pay 8 pounds (almost $16) for admission with additional fees for semi-nude and nude pole dancing, negotiable between the dancers and their customers. At the upper end, customers can pay 250 pounds (almost $500) for an hour of what the court calls socializing, with the fee again negotiable.

The court agreed with lawyers for Spearmint Rhino that the dancers are independent businesswomen -- and thus responsible for paying their own VAT.

Mouse steals captor's dentures

WATERVILLE, Maine (UPI) -- A Maine man has his teeth back after ripping open a wall in his home to pull them out from where a mouse with Houdini-like escape skills had hidden them.

Bill Exner, 68, of Waterville, Maine, said he caught the little rodent on three separate occasions with a live trap and had placed it in a gallon pickle jar but it kept getting away even after he put a lid on it, the Waterville Morning Sentinel reported.

After his last escape, the mouse apparently decided to grab Exner's lower dentures from his bedroom. Exner found an opening in the wall and guessed the "little stinker" was using it. So he called his daughter's fiance, who came over with a crowbar, saw and hammer and went to work.

"The dentures were inside the wall, lying right there," Exner told the newspaper. "The mouse didn't bite them or anything. It's like he was saying 'I'm going to get even with you for putting me in that jar.'"

Exner cleaned them up and, "I've got 'em right in my mouth and that's where they're staying."

The mouse remained at large.

GARY, Ind. (UPI) -- Animal enforcement officers in Gary, Ind., have captured an alligator found wandering in the city.

The 3-foot alligator captured Tuesday was found in a local mobile home park, the Gary Post-Tribune reported Wednesday. Residents said they spotted the alligator creeping through the park Monday.

"It had been running around for at least that one day," police Lt. Sam Roberts said.

Roberts said none of the park's residents knew how the alligator, which is not native to the area, ended up in the park.

Ashley Kirkpatrick, a veterinarian's assistant at the Westchester Animal Clinic in Porter, Ind., said the alligator was healthy but cold when police brought it in.

The incident follows a discovery two months ago of a dead alligator in a Gary dumpster.

Chicago scrambles for Canada geese eggs

CHICAGO (UPI) -- The Chicago Park district is recruiting volunteers to make life for Canada geese downright lonely by hunting down their nests and destroying eggs.

The city has been grappling with a growing number of the large birds that thrive because of a warming climate, people who feed them, and the favorite grasses they like to eat, the Chicago Tribune reports.

There are signs warning people against feeding the birds -- which can become aggressive -- and grasses around ponds have been replaced with a variety they don't like, and other grasses have even been sprayed with a digestive irritant.

But now, the egg hunt is on.

The city put out a contract on the eggs with Wild Goose Chase, a licensed company that helps reduce goose numbers by finding nests and rendering the eggs unhatchable, either by coating them with corn oil or by shaking them.

Volunteers will be trained on how to find nests and will accompany licensed workers who will handle the eggs, the report said.

Fines from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for unlicensed people removing nests or eggs can run up to thousands of dollars, the newspaper said.

Hamsters can't outrun the law

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (UPI) -- Petco Stores canceled a planned hamster race to celebrate the opening of a new store in Albuquerque to avoid violating a new ordinance.

The store chain traditionally celebrates the opening of a new location with hamster ball races but canceled its Albuquerque plans after the city enacted an ordinance banning "live animal racing for public exhibition," the Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday.

"I know of no other local ordinance anywhere in the country where hamster racing is prohibited," said Don Cowan, a spokesman for Petco, which operates 850 stores in 49 states.

City officials said the measure is aimed at preventing commercial dog tracks and other forms of racing that involve pari-mutuel betting.

"We certainly are not the animal Nazis," said Councilwoman Sally Mayer, who sponsored the animal ordinance. She said Petco may be eligible for an exemption from the rule.

"That was not my intent to prevent something like that," Mayer said. "My gosh, for the opening of a store, that does not seem objectionable."

Utah girl has stinkiest shoes

MONTPELIER, Vt. (UPI) -- A 13-year-old Utah girl took home the top prize at a nationwide stinky sneakers competition in Montpelier, Vt.

Katharine Tuck took home a golden tennis shoe, $2,500 and a year's worth of Odor Eaters from the National Odor Eaters Stinky Rotten Sneaker Competition, Odor Eaters said in a release on its Web site.

Tuck also won a trip to New York and tickets to see "The Lion King" on Broadway.

"I'm supportive and I'm so proud, even though she stinks," Tuck's mother, Paula told The Salt Lake Tribune. She said her daughter is "normally really clean" but was able to overcome her neat impulses to keep her feet wallowing in filth.

Tuck qualified for the competition by taking home the first prize for foul shoe odors at the 2006 Utah State Fair. Her brother took second place in the competition, the newspaper said.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (UPI) -- Poaching lobster is fine for cooks, but two California men are charged with the illegal variety of harvesting spiny lobsters in a protected marine refuge.

In a complex operation that began in January, 15 game wardens from San Diego and Ventura, the Long Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department used divers, radar, electronic surveillance equipment, night scopes and binoculars to bait traps with specially marked lobsters in a sting operation in waters off Los Angeles Harbor.

Early Monday, just two days before California's six-month lobster season closed, officers arrested Michael Hulse, 59, and Ramon Sambrano, 37, on charges of grand theft of property with a catch of baby lobsters, several of which had been specially marked, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Fish and Game Capt. Martin Maytorena told the newspaper it was a significant haul.

"Most commercial fishermen can work all day long to catch 20 to 30 pounds," Maytorena said. "These suspects fished one day and trapped 500 pounds."

Testicles delicacy draws a crowd

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (UPI) -- Virginia City, Nev.'s 16th annual Mountain Oyster Fry coincided with St. Patrick's Day this year but the testicles weren't dyed green.

A few hundred people queued up in long lines Saturday and consumed about 130 pounds of sheep testicles in two hours, the Reno (Nev.) Journal-Gazette reported.

Among them was Joe Gallagher of Des Moines, Iowa, who was determined to try some fried oysters on a dare.

"There's no way I'm backing down," he said. "I've got a hankering for gonads."

Amanda Palmer, 21, of Carson City, Nev., apparently had no such trepidations.

"I adore sheep testicles," she said. "People think, 'Oh sheep testicles, gross,' but it was pretty good."

The "mountain oysters," as they are known, can be fried, barbecued, stuffed, ground up and sauteed.

Dozens line up for free Alaska land

ANDERSON, Alaska (UPI) -- Dozens of people waited in line in Anderson, Alaska, to take advantage of a free land offer designed to raise the town's population.

About 44 people waited in line Monday for a chance to claim one of 26 large lots offered by the town, the Juneau (Alaska) Empire reported Tuesday.

In order to qualify for the land, applicants must agree to build a house of at least 1,000 square feet on their plot within two years of obtaining it, KTUU-TV, Anchorage, Alaska, reported.

The plan was designed by local high school students as a way to boost the town's population, which currently holds at about 300 people.

Skull found on 14th green

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (UPI) -- Workers preparing a Mundelein, Ill., golf course for the upcoming season found a human skull and other bones near the 14th tee.

"It was laying there right in the middle of the fairway," John Galford, chief of the Lake County Forest Preserve Police told the Chicago Tribune.

Police did not see any indications of foul play, such as skull fractures, Galford told the Waukegan (Ill.) News-Sun.

County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller said the age, sex and race of the bones were not immediately known, but he said the bones did appear to be modern and not ancient bones that had been dug up, the News-Sun reported.

Investigators said clues at the scene may help solve the mystery. Two false teeth bore a star pattern, a front tooth had a golden "R" on it, Galford told the Tribune.

The macabre find was at the Prairie Course, one of Countryside Golf Club's two courses, the News-Sun reported.

LONDON (UPI) -- A British survey found the average household in the country lives on a dining routine that includes only 4.1 different dishes.

The survey of 2,000 adults found that Scottish households live off even fewer different meals, with an average of four, The Scotsman reported Monday.

Across Britain, the most popular meals for respondents were spaghetti bolognese, stew, sausages and potatoes and fish and chips. The most popular dish, spaghetti Bolognese, is served up at least once a week in 6.1 million households.

Nearly 40 percent of respondents said the lack of variety in their diets was the result of time constraints and 1-in-5 attributed the routine to a lack of confidence in their cooking abilities.

"We all tell ourselves we're too busy to cook and to experiment, but feeding yourself shouldn't be a chore," said Tom Kitchin, a chef in Edinburgh.

"Cooking is supposed to be fun and it can be very relaxing to cook a meal at the end of a busy day. Many people today either don't have the skills to cook a range of dishes or are afraid to experiment," he said.

Man complains of corpse on plane

LONDON (UPI) -- A passenger on a British Airways flight complained after he awoke on the plane to find a corpse had been placed nearby his first-class seat.

Paul Trinder said he awoke from sleeping on the nine-hour flight to find the corpse of an elderly woman who had died on the flight in a nearby seat accompanied by her grieving daughter crying loudly, The Times of London reported Monday.

Trinder told the newspaper he found the experience "deeply disturbing" but the airline told him to "get over it" when he voiced his concerns.

"It was a complete mess -- they seemed to have no proper plans in place to deal with the situation," he said.

"I didn't have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill," Trinder told The Times.

"When I asked what was going on I was shocked to hear she was dead."

He said he was also concerned with the health issues involved.

"When you have a decaying body on a plane at room temperature for more than five hours there are significant health and safety risks," he said.

Poultry farms stinking up California homes

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (UPI) -- Homeowners in California's Riverside County are struggling with a way to control the prevalent smell of manure from a nearby poultry farm.

The Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise reported that area residents have tried to have the Jong's Poultry Farm act upon the odors they create and some are eyeing relocation as a final resort to escape the foul smell.

"We're like prisoners in our home," Elizabeth Budlong, a resident in the nearby Victoria Grove community, told the newspaper. "The first time we smelled it, my husband thought it was a dead body."

Despite such complaints, the farm fails within government guidelines and it was built before the surrounding residential areas.

"The poultry farm was here first," the farm's attorney, Mike Schaefer, said. "We didn't ask that these houses be built."

The Press-Enterprise said that nonetheless, in an attempt to quell the problem, the farm's owner is building a $300,000 odor-control system to offer locals a breath of fresh air in the future.

Woman charged after dog attack

LAKELAND, Fla. (UPI) -- A Florida woman who allegedly had her dogs attack a door-to-door saleswoman has been charged with battery with a deadly weapon.

WKMG-TV reported that Amber Gilbert allegedly ordered her German shepherd and Belgian Malinois to attack Sennie Yeager, who was selling cleaning products, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff's deputies told WKMG that Gilbert said her dogs are trained to respond only to commands in Dutch.

NEW YORK (UPI) -- The driver and passenger of a New York cab were amazed after the vehicle flipped over an overpass rail and landed perfectly upright 30 feet below.

Passenger Daniel Kocis told New York Newsday that higher forces must have helped the cab land on its tires Saturday after plummeting off of the Veterans Memorial Highway.

"God loved us today," he said. "It could have landed the other way."

Despite having done a 360-degree spin after hitting a patch of ice and flipping over the guardrail, both Kocis and driver Victor Frank suffered only minor injuries.

Kocis said that while he recognizes why the accident occurred and the miracle that he enjoyed on Saturday, there was an underlying moral to the incident.

"It was man's doing, the random error, and God fixing it for us," he told Newsday. "When they say the bridge freezes over before the road, you better believe it."

Bad neighbor banned from area for 20 years

LONDON (UPI) -- A 34-year-old woman whose actions in her London neighborhood angered residents has been banned from the area for the next 20 years.

By recently receiving an Anti-Social Behavior Order from a court for prompting more than 90 police visits to her home during the last three years, Olga Conco must now stay out of the neighborhood or face prison time, the Mail on Sunday said.

Neighbors had complained that prior to moving away from their area, Conco had terrorized children and disrupted the area with her noisy behavior early in the morning.

Metropolitan Police Inspector Richard Munns said the court's decision to impose the lengthy ban after convicting Conco on drunk and disorderly charges was the right decision.

"The 20-year term is significant because it shows the court is seeking to resolve a problem in the long term," he told the paper.

"We have demonstrated that long-term, difficult problems can be resolved and that the courts are willing to help us to deal with anti-social behavior," he added.

Parents duke it out at middle school

DAYTON, Ohio (UPI) -- Two parents who visited an Ohio middle school because they thought their children had been in a fight, ended up fighting themselves.

One of the parents bit her opponent in Friday's incident, WEWS-TV Cleveland reported.

The fight took place at Fairview Middle School in Dayton.

Two people suffered minor injuries and police may charge the woman who was accused of biting her adversary, the TV station said.

Man steals boat mooring for online sale

NORTHPORT, N.Y. (UPI) -- A New York state man was arrested over the weekend, after allegedly stealing a boat mooring and attempting to sell it online.

Suffolk County police told New York Newsday that last week, a fisherman reported that his mooring was missing from a beach in Eatons Neck. After finding a listing for a similar mooring on the Web site craigslist, police set up a meeting with the seller.

Jason Walsh, 26 -- upon allegedly offering to sell the mooring to undercover police officers -- was arrested and charged with petty larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, both misdemeanors.

LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- Los Angeles TV news anchor Phillip Palmer and former news director Dale Davis were recovering Thursday, the day after Palmer donated a kidney to his friend.

The two newsmen were feeling strong enough to see each other, joke around and shake hands, KABC-TV reported. Davis called what his friend did for him "amazing" but when he thanked Palmer for his "sacrifice," Palmer, a morning anchor on KABC-TV, responded: "It's not a sacrifice, it's a dream come true."

Davis' new kidney started functioning immediately, doctors at St. Vincent Medical Center said, and both men could be home within days.

Davis, who had worked at KCAL-TV, had a rare illness that sent him to the intensive care unit for nine days last summer and prompted the call to find a donor match. It turned out one of his own friends was a perfect match.

Alleged burglar leaves ID behind

BETTENDORF, Iowa (UPI) -- An ex-con freshly paroled on a burglary rap is back in jail after police said they found his ID card inside a burglarized apartment in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Robert Alan Fry, 43, of Rock Island, Ill., is accused of taking a large water jug containing about $400 in change from the unoccupied apartment Tuesday. Police said they were able to track him down at an area motel after discovering the Illinois Department of Corrections ID card he allegedly used to jimmy the lock, the Quad City Times reported.

Fry was charged with third-degree burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia and interference and was being held in the Scott County Jail. He had been paroled from an Illinois prison Jan. 26, having served 27 months of a 10-year sentence for burglary.

Teen allegedly sped to catch school bus

VALPARAISO, Ind. (UPI) -- An Indiana teenager clocked doing 93 mph allegedly was in a hurry to catch his school bus -- to comply with a judge's order in a previous speeding case.

Ryan M. Henry, 18, of Porter Township near Valparaiso, Ind., is to appear before Porter Superior Court Judge Julia Jent April 16 on a reckless driving charge, for allegedly hitting 93 in a 45 mph zone Tuesday, the Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune said. That's the same judge who had ordered Henry to ride the school bus following a previous speeding violation.

Porter County Sheriff's Patrolman Roger Bowles said Henry told him he had run out to a gas station in his 2001 Ford Mustang to buy an energy drink before his school bus arrived.

Jent, known for her innovative sentencing, said things like this happen when dealing with young people.

"It's going to happen, and you deal with it as it comes along," she said, while noting that Henry is innocent until proven guilty. "I raised four kids. I know what they're going to try."

Unicorn story a misunderstanding

BILLINGS, Mont. (UPI) -- A Montana prosecutor has blamed miscommunication for a report that an alleged drunken driver blamed a road accident on a driving unicorn.

Yellowstone County Attorney Dennis Paxinos said the report was the result of slang developed by prosecutors as a form of "black humor," the Billings (Mont.) Gazette reported Thursday.

Paxinos said the alleged drunken driver, employed the "unicorn defense," which involves a suspect blaming a crime on a mythological person -- someone who does not exist.

A deputy prosecutor, misinterpreting an e-mail about the suspect's statements at the time of his arrest, requested the judge place a high bond on the suspect because he blamed the crime on a unicorn.

"It's kind of code (among prosecutors), and the code was misinterpreted," Paxinos told the Gazette.

Paxinos offered his apologies to the suspect, the public and the court for the incident.

"I wanted to stop the misinformation that was generated from my office immediately," he said.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (UPI) -- An armed robber fleeing the scene of a crime in Montgomery, Ala., took refuge in a backyard guarded by two pit bulls.

The man had robbed a store Wednesday morning, but was forced to leap a fence into the dogs' yard after a merchant chased after him with a loaded .357-caliber pistol, the Montgomery Advertiser said.

Somehow, the armed robber was able to escape both pit bulls and remained at large.

Businessman Rodney Graham said he chased the masked robber after seeing the man hit a female clerk at the store.

Graham fired three shots at the fleeing robber, but authorities were not sure whether blood found in the dogs' yard was the result of a dog bite or a bullet wound. Either way, Montgomery police praised Graham's courage.

"Mr. Graham is definitely a hero to us," Capt. Huey Thornton told the paper. "He took part in an action that endangered his life with his only motivation being for the greater public good."

Teenagers charged with burning girl's hair

CAMDEN, N.J. (UPI) -- Officials in the New Jersey township of Winslow have charged two 14-year-old girls with attempting to set a peer's hair on fire at a middle school.

The girl was able to put the fire out and did not require medical attention after the assault on Monday, the Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post reported.

Two male Winslow Middle School students were arrested in separate incidents in February. One boy was arrested for bringing a firearm into the school, while another was charged with making terrorist threats.

Winslow Board of Education President Gordon Sunkett told the Courier-Post the perpetrators of Monday's attack should be prosecuted.

"There is no excuse for that kind of behavior," said Sunkett.

N.M. man wants to be known as Ynot Bubba

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (UPI) -- Justin Brady of Las Cruces, N.M., is not trying to avoid creditors or gain a new identity -- he says he just wants to change his name to Ynot Bubba.

The veteran truck driver, 43, told the Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun-News his intentions are honorable and he just wants a fresh start with an interesting name.

"I'm still keeping my same Social Security (number) because I got benefits and stuff like that," Brady said. "I'm not trying to dodge credit, that's been cleaned up and it has been for a couple of months. I'm just wanting a fresh start. That's all I want."

His proposed moniker is a mix of geography and a nickname that stuck with him over the last eight years.

The paper said that Brady's petition for the name change will be reviewed on April 2. His lawyer said he sees no reason why the request should be turned down.

DUI suspect alleges unicorn caused crash

BILLINGS, Mont. (UPI) -- A Montana man suspected of causing a car crash while driving drunk allegedly told police that a unicorn was driving his car at the time of the crash.

Deputy County Attorney Ingrid Rosenquist said at Phillip Carston Holliday Jr.'s arraignment in Yellowstone County that the 42-year-old claimed the mythical creature was at the wheel of his truck at the time of the March 7 accident, the Billings (Mont.) Gazette reported.

Holliday allegedly was driving under the influence in Billings when his truck went through a red light, struck another vehicle and then made a U-turn before hitting a utility pole.

Two police officers were on hand at the time to witness the crash.

Holliday has five prior DUI convictions and has amassed 53 traffic violations, the newspaper said. He has been convicted 28 times for driving with a suspended driver's license.

SEATTLE (UPI) -- A Seattle-area man who has admitted to stealing between 200 and 300 cars says owners often made his work easy.

"You would be surprised how many people leave their purses or extra keys in those cars," Taylor J. Norton, 22, told police, The New York Times reported.

Norton told police he sometimes took cars that had keys left in them, including cars that were warming up and running in people's driveways, the Times said.

Among the vehicles Norton claims to have stolen are a K-9 police patrol car and a motor home, the Times said. But he preferred nice cars like BMWs.

"He says he stole 200 to 300 cars," Rebecca Hover, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office in Snohomish County said. "Whether he's correct we don't know yet. This is what he's telling us. His attention to detail has been quite clear and concise so far."

Officers had linked Norton to only 34 cases of stolen vehicles. He told police he was addicted to methamphetamines and was coming clean with the hope of receiving substance-abuse treatment.

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Lesbianism common in captive koalas

QUEENSLAND, Australia (UPI) -- Captive female koalas in Australia have been observed engaging in homosexual acts, with some sessions involving as many as five koalas.

The Independent on Sunday reported that despite the presence of males, the female koalas apparently preferred each other. Researchers said the behavior has only been observed in captive koalas; wild koalas remain heterosexual.

Scientists who were monitoring the koalas with digital cameras said there were three times as many homosexual encounters than heterosexual ones.

Scientists from the University of Queensland studied 130 koalas in captivity. They will publish their results in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.

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Child donates $6.75 to mummy's cause

MEMPHIS (UPI) -- A 5-year-old with a passion for ancient Egypt opened her piggy bank at the University of Memphis' Institute of Egyptian Art and Archeology.

Geni Gallant's contribution -- $6.75 in loose change -- wasn't enough to buy the new mummy cases the museum is looking for, but it was much appreciated, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

"Geni's donation was so touching," museum Director Mariam Ayad told the Commercial Appeal. "The fact that she's so little and saved money for the entire year shows a lot of dedication and commitment to our cause."

The Broken Arrow, Okla., girl and her family got a personal tour of the museum.

"I know almost everything about ancient Egypt," she told the newspaper.

Her mother, Angie Gallant, told the Commercial Appeal that Geni became interested in Egypt while watching the movie "Moses, Prince of Egypt."

Geni and her family drove six hours last year so she could see some mummies at the Memphis museum, and the girl saw a brochure about the fundraising campaign for new mummy cases. She saved her change for a year and returned with her contribution.

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Study: Top global fetishes deal with feet

BOLOGNA, Italy (UPI) -- A comprehensive study conducted by Italy's University of Bologna has found that the most popular sexual fetishes involve feet and shoes.

In what was described as the most expansive study of its kind, researchers found that 47 percent of those surveyed expressed an interest in feet and toes over other body parts, The Independent on Sunday reported.

When it came to objects associated with the body, 64 percent said they were excited by footwear such as boots and high heels.

Some of the fetishes bordered on the unusual -- with 150 people saying they are turned on by hearing aids, and two who said they had an unusual attraction to pacemakers.

The lowest-ranking fetishes discovered in the survey of approximately 5,000 people were bracelets, wristwatches, stethoscopes, diapers and catheters.