10-year-old girl arrested for fighting with her sister

Police in Flower Mound arrested a 10-year-old girl for fighting with her older sister. They handcuffed her, took her fingerprints and picture, and charged with assault. They were playing in a Flower Mound park when 10-year-old Reagan refused to follow 13-year-old Desiree’s instructions. “She pushed me, so I just walked away from it,” Desiree recalled. “The third time she pushed me, we just started fighting.” Someone saw them fighting and called police. “They fingerprinted my baby,” said Rhonda Green. “My baby is in the system, for having a fight with her sister. She’s ten.”  More…

Basketball Team Stuck In Traffic, Misses Game

The Towson's men's basketball team faced long enough odds as 19-point underdogs at George Mason. It got no easier when a hellacious 10-hour drive over 70 miles in a snowstorm forced a ...more

Woman who dumped condiments in book drop pleads guilty

 Idaho - An Idaho library has closed the book on a string of condiment attacks against its book-drop now that the ketchup-wielding criminal has been jailed. “We’re relieved it’s resolved; it’s been going on for a while,” Ann Costello, reference librarian at Ada County Community Library, said of incidences that began in 2009 when library books in a drive-up drop-box were smothered with substances like corn syrup. Joy Cassidy, 75, Boise, pleaded guilty to malicious injury to property stemming from more than 10 assaults on the book-drop totaling more than $1,000 in damages. An Idaho judge sentenced Cassidy to a month in jail and ordered her to have no contact with Boise area libraries for two years.  More…

Crime Stoppers chief indicted for fraud

Dallas - A 26-year police veteran who headed the Dallas Crime Stoppers has been indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the tipster-based crime fighting program. Dallas Police Department Senior Cpl. Theadora Ross, 50, of Rowlett, Texas, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan. A co-defendant, Malva R. Delley, 36, of Dallas also was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Crime Stoppers is a nationwide program that offers cash rewards for information from anonymous callers as long as the tip leads to the arrest and indictment of criminals. More…

Smugglers with "medieval catapult" nabbed at border

Reuters - In a brazen attempt reminiscent of a medieval siege, Mexican smugglers tried to use a hefty catapult to hurl drugs north over the U.S. Border, authorities said..more

Hitler's last bodyguard gives up on fan mail (Reuters)

Reuters - More than 65 years after World War Two, Adolf Hitler's last surviving bodyguard says that he can no longer respond to the continuous deluge of fan mail he receives from around the world, because of his advanced age.more

Police: Drunk woman accused man of theft

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said a woman arrested on a disorderly intoxication charge ate food from a man's plate at a restaurant and accused him of taking her purse.more

Old man drives wrong vehicle home

 Maine - It was the same model and the same color - and the key fit. When a Dexter man, 78, finished shopping he placed his grocery bags inside what he thought was his vehicle and drove it home. It wasn’t until the man arrived home that he realized it wasn’t his vehicle, because his car didn’t have a broken door handle. Otherwise, the vehicle was nearly identical to his road-salt-covered green 1996 Ford Explorer. The man called the Police Department to report the mistake and inquired what he should do. They told the man to return the vehicle to the store where his vehicle still was parked.  More…

Professor accused of urinating on colleague's door

California State University-Northridge math professor, who allegedly urinated,Tihomir Petrov, 43, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of urinating in a public place.  more

Sexually Explicit Book in Elementary School Library

Florida - A third-grader in south Florida found a very adult book in his school library. The book is called “Tank Girl One,” a series about a pilot turned outlaw with a drinking problem who is often prone to violence and routinely finds herself in raunchy sexual situations. The school board said the book arrived by mistake as part of a large shipment for the new library that contained over 7,000 books. The wrong book was even labeled with that title. The book originally ordered by the school is called “Tank Talbot, A Guide To Girls.”  More…

Man bites, hits woman who wouldn’t buy him beer

Boulder - Police arrested a 19-year-old man after he allegedly bit his girlfriend’s hand because she wouldn’t buy him beer. The suspect, Stephen Edward Siebold, is also accused of hitting the woman on the head with a skateboard and attempting to strangle her. The man was at home with his 21-year-old girlfriend and attacked her after she refused to buy him beer. Police said they think he was under the influence of narcotics.  More…

Facebook blames bug for Zuckerberg's account 'hacking'

Social networking site Facebook has blamed 'a bug' for an odd posting purporting to come from founder Mark Zuckerberg...more

Police find marijuana, alligator in home

LOS LUNAS, N.M., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Police responding to a report of a possible domestic disturbance in New Mexico said they discovered marijuana and a 2-foot-long alligator in the home...more

Roof collapse blamed on bird poop

California - Vacaville Fire Department officials are blaming pigeons for the collapse of a gas station awning that nearly struck a woman who had just finished filling her tank. Vacaville resident Chris Doss had stopped at Quick Way Gas when a quarter of the station’s metal roofing came thundering down next to her under the weight of several inches of bird droppings. “It just went ‘boom’ and then it all came down,” said Doss, who had just finished putting gas in her car. She had just gotten back into her car on one side of the island and hadn’t even had a chance to put the key in the ignition when the entire roofing section on the other side of the island collapsed, giving way to an avalanche of bird droppings.  More…

IHOP pancake house trashed in wild brawl

South Carolina - Cops are attempting to identify the participants in a wild brawl at an International House of Pancakes. The clip–which includes some cursing–the female combatants are seen punching and wrestling with each other as tables are toppled. At one point, a woman picks up a coffee pot and strikes another woman in the head while she is being pinned to a table. Later, a man is seen swinging a cane at the woman who was struck with the coffee pot. The woman, adopting a lion tamer’s pose, picks up a chair and tosses it at the cane wielder.  More…  

Popularity of vampires spawns subculture, scholar says

Reuters - They work as doctors and lawyers by day but lurk as vampires by night. While they may not wish to suck your blood, there are plenty of willing victims on tap, according to a top U.S. scholar on a subculture that emulates the undead....more

Restaurant nixes African lion tacos

TUCSON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The owner of an Arizona restaurant said he canceled plans to serve tacos with African lion meat after receiving "many threats."more

Insurance Company Drops Vet Over 2 Cent Shortage

Colorado - It was an innocent enough mistake, according to Ron’s wife Frances Flanagan. “If I only had just hit the nine instead of the seven,” Frances said. When she was paying their monthly health insurance premium online in November, Frances swapped a 7 for a 9, leaving their $328.69 payment two cents short. The couple only found out about losing their coverage at a doctor’s appointment. Ron has been fighting cancer since Sept. 2008. Multiple Melanoma in the bone marrow.  He needs another transplant before the end of February, and they have a donor. But, because of the two cent mistake, Ceridian Cobra Services will not pay for the procedure.  More…

New York City takes aim at rich, famous

New York - Actor Alec Baldwin has joined a list of elite New Yorkers targeted by tax collectors who think they’re fibbing about where they really live to dodge New York City income taxes. In recent years, auditors have confronted hundreds of super-wealthy New Yorkers over the residency rules - including star Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. Facing shrinking revenues, the state has ramped up its pursuit of suspected tax dodgers, hiring 189 new auditors and - for the first time - making filers swear under oath on tax forms as to how many days they “spend in New York City.” If it’s more than 183 days and the filer has a residence in the city, the tax bill goes up.  More…

You have won $1 million, send me $100 in order to collect

California - Out of nowhere, 79-year-old Connie Newell got a call on her cell phone from a man telling her she had won $1 million and needed to send him $100 in order to collect. Newell didn’t fall for the scam. She told the man she wasn’t interested, but before she could hang up he made this threat: “Do you want someone to put a bullet in you? We know exactly where you live.” Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Varnau, who specializes in cases involving financial crimes and elder abuse, said Newell did the right thing. The call came from an 876 area code out of Jamaica and is a common scam aimed at the elderly.  More…

Weight-loss products not dangerous, just useless

Washington DC - A popular type of weight-loss product, heavily promoted on the Internet, is fraudulent and illegal, Food and Drug Administration officials say. HCG weight-loss products that promise dramatic results and claim to be homeopathic are sold as drops, pellets and sprays on the Web, in drugstores and at General Nutrition Centers. They are supposed to be used in combination with a very low-calorie diet of 500 calories a day.  More…

Teacher to 6th-grader: Go shoot yourself

 Michigan - A teacher at Lawton Middle School in Van Buren County has been disciplined for telling a sixth-grade boy to “go shoot himself,” according to the district’s superintendent. “We did have an incident where a 32-year veteran teacher, who has an impeccable record, got frustrated with the class and was trying to quiet it down,” said Joseph Trimboli, the Lawton Community Schools superintendent. What she said “you should go shoot yourself.”  More…

Kids’ donations pay for high salaries at 9/11 museum

New York - School children thought their penny jars and bake-sale proceeds would go toward building a 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero — not the six-figure salaries of nonprofit execs. But 11 staffers at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum each pulled down more than $170,000 in total compensation in 2009, according to the most recent filings. Four execs took home more than $320,000. Foundation President Joseph Daniels, 38, pocketed $371,307 after receiving hefty raises three years in a row.  More…

Arsonist left fingertip at crime scene

Florida - Police arrested a suspect in an arsonist-for-hire in Titusville after they said he made a critical mistake - he left the tip of his finger at the scene of the crime. Police found a piece of a latex glove with the tip of a finger inside. Police said they found their suspect at a local hospital who detectives said quickly confessed. Trying to flee after setting the fire, he slammed his finger in the door, and it cut the tip of his finger off. More…

World Leaders Discuss Junk Food Ad Ban at UN

New York - The U.N. health agency says world leaders will discuss efforts to clamp down on junk food marketing to children when they meet in New York. The World Health Organization says heads of state will use the U.N. General Assembly meeting to talk about limiting the number and type of ads that children are exposed to. More…

Pakistani Mother enrolls in first grade

Pakistan - Rukhsana Batool doesn’t quite look like her fellow first graders at an elementary school in this village in northwest Pakistan. Batool towers over the rest of the children, she is covered in a white burqa - the full length Islamic veil- and she is a 25-year-old married mother of three. Batool’s parents had never allowed her to go to school. It’s something she always dreamed of doing. Hard-line religious groups here say women’s education is un-Islamic and warn families not to send their girls to school.  More…

Teen hit with his own golf ball sues golf course

Oregon - A 15-year-old boy is suing a local golf course for $3 million after he was hit in the eye by his own golf ball. Alex Good was a member of the Liberty High Golf Team and was practicing at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club when the accident happened. Good and his teammates were using the practice range. It was raining and the staff put up an awning. When Good teed off his ball hit a metal post that was holding up the awning and the ball ricocheted off and hit him in the left eye.  More…

Chihuahua nearly carried off by hawk

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A Florida man said his 2-pound chihuahua puppy is recovering from injuries sustained when a hawk tried to grab her from the second-floor deck of his home.more

Man punches flight attendant in the stomach

A passenger went berserk aboard a JFK-bound flight after he found his path to the bathroom blocked by a beverage cart — kicking it over and punching a flight attendant in the stomach. Michael Isabelle, of Framingham, Mass., allegedly started the ruckus aboard American Airlines Flight 256 from Rio de Janeiro. After the plane landed, Isabelle was taken into custody by Port Authority cops and brought to Jamaica Hospital for a psych evaluation. More…

Dubai islands falling into the sea

 Dubai - The islands were intended to be developed with tailor-made hotel complexes and luxury villas, and sold to millionaires. They are off the coast of Dubai and accessible by yacht or motor boat. Now their sands are eroding and the navigational channels between them are silting up, the British lawyer for a company bringing a case against the state-run developer, Nakheel, has told judges. More…

Officials investigating ‘kick a Jew day’

Alabama - An incident in which Jewish students at Vestal High School were kicked by fellow students is being investigated by school officials, according to a parent. Apparently, there was an incident, or series of incidents, in which a number of students were involved in ‘kick a Jew day,’ in the Vestal school.”  They were copying a prank inspired by the animated television show “South Park.”  More…

Man shot in leg, wife stops twice before hospital

New York - A Syracuse woman took her husband to the hospital after he was shot and stopped twice on the way. He got home and told his wife who drove him to Community General Hospital. On the way they stopped at a local school to pick up two children. While there, a bus driver spotted the wound and alerted authorities. The family then went to a local high school to inform a third child.  More…

Finger Gun Gets 1st-Grader Suspended

 Oklahoma City - The mother of a first-grade boy disciplined after making a gun gesture with his fingers while at school says the district overreacted. Lydia Fox says the principal at Parkview Elementary called her earlier this month to say her 7-year-old son had misbehaved during a school assembly by pretending he was shooting a gun and told her the boy would be placed in in-school suspension for the rest of that day and threatened a longer suspension if it happened again. More…

Woman Partially Paralyzed by Hickey

New Zealand - A woman was temporarily partially paralyzed by a hickey on her neck from her amorous partner. The 44-year-old woman went to the emergency department of Middlemore Hospital in Auckland after experiencing loss of movement in her left arm while watching television. Doctors concluded the woman had suffered a mild stroke causedby a bruise on her neck near a major artery, a hickey, she received a few days earlier. More…

Man tries to cash million-dollar bill

Germany - A German pensioner down on his luck has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence for attempting to cash a million-dollar bill at his local bank. Wolfgang U., 65, whose business reportedly ran into difficulties after he became ill, brought the fake note to the bank in Ratingen, western Germany, saying he had received it in return for the sale of a property in Sri Lanka. The US Treasury Department does not print a million-dollar bill.  More…

Police: Jewelry conman picked wrong mark

RANDOLPH, Mass., Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Police in a Massachusetts town said a man selling fake gold picked the wrong mark when he approached the police chief, who also owns a jewelry store.more

Airport luggage carousel rider arrested

NEW YORK, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- An Ivy League researcher was arrested when he hopped on a luggage carousel at a New York airport after being refused a pre-flight screening, authorities said.more

Musicians Killed after Refusing to Play Longer

Mexico - After members of the band La Excelencia in Guadalajara, Mexico refused to play more songs after closing time, irate members of the audience killed two members of the band and detonated a grenade inside the bar, Vida Divina. Four drunk men aggressively demanded the band play more after their set ended - and they did - for a while. After they stopped around 4 a.m. More…

Edgar Allan Poe grave visitor again a no-show

Baltimore - Telltale hearts beat with anticipation during a rainy, midnight dreary and beyond, hoping the mysterious visitor to Edgar Allan Poe’s grave would return after a one-year absence. But once again, the unknown person who for decades has left three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe’s grave on the anniversary of the writer’s birth failed to appear, fueling speculation that he may have died.  More…

Bird-watcher sees his stolen van

Washington - While Devan Miller was bird watching recently on Olympic Peninsula, he saw bald eagles, kingfishers, woodpeckers and his stolen Volkswagen Vanagon. Miller told The Peninsula Daily News the van was so badly damaged he almost didn’t recognize it. The top and side panels had been cut off and the dashboard ripped apart. Clallam County detectives took fingerprints, but Miller has little hope of finding whoever took the van from his Port Angeles driveway. More…  

Student Pays $14,000 Tuition In $1 Bills

Colorado - Nic Ramos wanted to send an eye-grabbing message about the rising cost of tuition at the University of Colorado in Boulder. So, the 20-year-old economics major paid his $14,300 tuition entirely in $1 bills. Ramos packed the 33 pounds of cash into a big duffle and was ready when the CU business office opened.  More…

Postal truck leaves behind 70-mile mail trail

Missouri - Hundreds of pieces of mail scattered onto interstates in eastern Missouri after the rear door of a semi truck carrying mail for the United States Postal Service flew open. The mail fluttered along 70 miles of highway. The truck was headed toward the West Coast. Police and postal workers spent hours picking up mail along the highway.  More…

Online shopping for Russian jailbirds

Russia - Not long after it was announced that some of Russia’s prisons had been fitted with sun-tan studios, more news of life behind bars has emerged. And it appears that cons can indulge in a spot of retail therapy as they repay their debt to society. An online store has been created - but for the moment it’s only available to relatives of people in custody.  More…

Men spent 30 years building a model of the USS New Mexico

New Mexico - Two Albuquerque men said they spent more than 30 years building a scale model of the USS New Mexico. Cecil Whitson and Keith Liotta said the model, which is due to go on display at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, took them far longer to build than the 18 months the New York Navy Yard spent building the battleship during the closing months of World War I.  More… 

Astronaut Injured While Riding Bicycle

Florida - One of the astronauts set to launch on the upcoming Space Shuttle Discovery mission has been injured and may not recover in time for Discovery’s launch. Mission Specialist Tim Kopra hurt himself in a bicycling accident. NASA officials said he will recover, but maybe not in time for the flight.  More…

Man sentenced to life for evading road tolls

China - The brother of a Chinese man sentenced to life for evading road tolls is taking the blame himself. Shi Junfeng said he was the one who put military number plates on the vehicles to evade tolls of 3.7 million yuan ($560,000). The harsh sentence given to his brother, Shi Jianfeng, caused an uproar across China.  More…

Schools chancellor regrets birth control joke

New York - A spokeswoman says New York City Schools Chancellor Cathie Black was making a joke when she suggested overcrowded schools could be solved with birth control. Black made the controversial remark at a task force meeting on school overcrowding. Upon hearing estimates that Lower Manhattan would need an additional 1,000 elementary seats by 2015, Black said birth control would really help us.  More…  

Mom leaves baby in car while shoplifting

Michigan - Police are asking Child Protective Services to investigate a woman who they say left her 4-month-old daughter in a locked car for at least 20 minutes as temperature hovered at 21 degrees. The 28-year-old mother faces retail fraud charges for allegedly shoplifting. When police arrived, the mother was at her car with her grocery cart, which police said contained stolen items.  More…

Stupid Zoo News|Chimps bite off zoo keeper’s fingers

Nebraska - Two chimpanzees at a Nebraska zoo attacked a keeper and bit off two of her fingers. The keeper at the Riverside Discovery Center in Scottsbluff, Neb., was petting a 40-year-old chimpanzee who apparently did not want to be touched. When the chimp grabbed the keeper’s hand, the keeper started screaming, causing the chimp to scream. This attracted another chimp, who also grabbed the keeper’s hand.  More…

Village has cat for a mayor

Sharon, Wisconsin - Residents of a small Wisconsin town said the tabby cat living in Village Hall is more than a mascot, he’s the village’s unofficial mayor. Freddy the cat, who took up residence in Sharon’s Village Hall three or four summers ago, was adopted by residents as the town’s mayor and he makes daily official visits to the post office and several local restaurants.  More…

Woman finds $280,000 worth of drugs in vacuum

Wisconsin - A Green Bay, Wis., woman opened a Christmas present from her children to find a refurbished vacuum - and a load of drugs. Authorities say the woman found 2 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 2.2 pounds of cocaine shrink wrapped inside the box. Sheriff’s officials estimate the drugs’ street value at about $280,000. A smuggler likely put the drugs in the box before it was shipped from the Juarez, Mexico, area, where it had been reconditioned.  More…

Cops follow prints in snow, nab suspects

EVANSTON, Ill., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Police in Evanston, Ill., said they followed footprints in the snow to catch up with and arrest two young men and a teenage boy for burglary.more

Stupid News|Greenwood School Teacher charged with bathroom voyeurism

Florida - A teacher at the Greenwood School has been arrested after boys and men were secretly recorded going to the bathroom at Regal Cinemas in Jacksonville. Joshua Michael Olsen, 28, is charged with voyeurism and video voyeurism. He has been placed on administrative suspension from his job at Greenwood. The school’s website lists Olsen as a high school math and psychology teacher.  More…

Woman hits husband in the head with a hatchet

 Montana - A 52-year-old Bozeman woman is charged with hitting her disabled husband in the head with a hatchet during an argument. Investigators say Parac-Kesler told officers she had argued with her husband after returning home from a bar and hit him with a hatchet. Merle Kesler fled to a neighbor’s house. He suffered a large gash on his head.  More…