Times are hard: city lays off police dog

Pennsylvania - The financial situation is so bad in one western Pennsylvania city that even its police dog has been laid off. Jeannette City Council voted to lay off nine workers of the city’s 47 workers. They include three of the city’s 12 police, including Officer Justin Scalzo who handles the city’s drug-sniffing dog, Wando.More

Predicted Earthquake is a Hoax

Twitter - There will not be a major earthquake on Thursday despite the panicked warnings circulating on Twitter. Or, if there is a major earthquake on Thursday, we can safely say it was just a coincidence. The quake hoax got steam Monday night as users passed along this warning, LAist reported: “MAJOR EARTHQUAKE WARNING; 6.0 to 7.0 earthquake likely in S California; Sep 30. Foreshocks Sep 27-28: Please Retweet.”More

Kid’s birthday party turns into brawl

Ohio - A large, beer-soaked melee broke out at a toddler’s birthday party in this small Hamilton County suburb, hospitalizing two men and prompting police from several agencies to respond. About 30 children witnessed the 1 a.m. brawl among 75 people at Elmwood Eagles Hall. The father of the 3-year-old birthday girl - Ramon Marcelo-Hernandez, 26, of Norwood - was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct while intoxicated.More

Pa. man listed dog as dependent in food scam

PITTSBURGH — The former manager of a school district's cafeteria service listed his dog as a dependent so he could get discounted school lunches for his children, state police said.
The state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation's organized crime division announced theft charges Thursday against Gabriel Paulick.More

Dead On The Couch While Home Walk Through

London - An estate agent showed prospective buyers around a house while the owner lay dead on her sofa. The agent, Samuel Allfort, said he had assumed the 55-year-old woman was sleeping and continued with the pre-arranged viewing. After the viewing he returned to the property as something wasn’t right. He found the homeowner, Katherine Frame, motionless on the sofa, where she had turned a yellowish color. More

160 escaped cobras causes fear in town

Odd News China - Residents of a township in southwest China have been running scared after more than 160 cobras escaped from an illegal breeding laboratory. People in Shijiao township in the huge Chongqing municipality have found the deadly snakes in outdoor toilets, kitchens and on the streets since they escaped. Zhang Erfen had just gone into the toilet when we heard a loud scream and she came running out while trying to hike up her pants after coming face-to-face with a cobra.More

Greeks find human skulls in luggage of U.S. tourists (Reuters)

Reuters - Greek police charged two U.S. tourists with desecrating the dead on Thursday after they found six human skulls in their hand luggage at...More

Call of Duty Shooter video games can improve decision making? (Reuters)

Reuters - Violent video games like "Call of Duty" can help trigger-happy players make decisions faster in real life, according to a study released...more

Odd News:Florida Clerk Beats Customer over 50 Dollar Bill

Odd News:Florida - Authorities in Florida said they arrested a gas station clerk who allegedly used a stick to beat a customer who wanted to use a $50 bill to pay for his beer. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said Renu Zaman, 22, a clerk at the Sunoco Gas Station in Immokalee, became angry when a customer attempted to buy a six-pack of beer with a $50 bill....More

Japan News:Ice Shaving Shampoo

Japan - With Japan sweltering through the hottest summer on record, Hitoshi Saito’s ice scraping machine has been going almost non-stop. But instead of topping off the bowls of ice shavings with strawberry or lemon-lime syrup for a tasty treat, Saito squirts in some shampoo and then dumps the concoction onto the heads of his customers. For the past six years the Hair Station Saito barber shop in Yokohama has been helping customers beat the heat with snow cones for the noggin....More

UK News:British woman broke her neck Pole Dancing

UK - A British woman broke her neck and was left paralysed in a freak accident during a pole dancing fitness session. Debbie Plowman, 32, from York, northern England, was performing a routine maneuver known as cross ankle release when she fell, breaking her neck and severely damaging her spinal cord. She remains in pain and unable to move since the accident....More

Australian Man tries to have sex with his landlords’ dog

Australia - A man has appeared in court charged with attempted bestiality after twice trying to have sex with his landlords’ Great Dane dog. Bradley Steven Whitehead, 37, pleaded guilty in Cairns District Court to two charges of attempted bestiality and two of stealing. The court heard Whitehead was a chronic alcoholic and was staying with a couple in Cooktown who had agreed to help him in exchange for work on their property....More

Car hits plane on highway

Arizona - A car ran into a small plane that had lost oil pressure and made an emergency landing on a state highway about 3 miles south of Sierra Vista in southwestern Arizona. The single-engine, high-performance Extra Flugzeugbau EA-300 made the landing around 9:30 a.m. An oncoming car then hit the aircraft’s left wing tip. The car owner had minor cuts, and the pilot was not hurt....more

Pub offers free advice to long-term jobless (Reuters)

Reuters - A Berlin pub has set up an advice desk to help the long-term unemployed get back on their feet.More

"Father" of 55 children arrested in suspected benefits scam (Reuters)

Reuters - A Paris man who registered 55 children by 55 different mothers faces up to 10 years in jail and fines for suspected paternity fraud and...More

Prize-Winning Parakeet Assassinated By Rival Breeder

UK - A top U.K. parakeet breeder believes a rival was responsible for assassinating his champion bird and stealing 21 other prize-winning parakeets, The (London) Telegraph reported. Andrew Pooley, 58, of Cornwall, southwestern England, had been away from his home for a few hours when he returned to find his champion, Penmead Pride, stamped to death and $3,090 worth of parakeets missing.
---...More

Man Arrested For Defending Home From Gang Members

New York - He was arrested for protecting his property and family. But it’s how the Long Island man did it that police say crossed the line. He got an AK-47 assault rifle, pulled the trigger and he ended up in jail. George Grier said he had to use his rifle to stop what he thought was going to be an invasion of his Uniondale home by a gang he thought might have been the vicious “MS-13.”
---...More

Man bites police over a pet peeve (Reuters)

Reuters - Police arrested an 82-year-old man after he bit and kicked officers who had arrived to mediate in a dispute with a neighbor over a domestic pet.---...More

Woman breastfeeds orphaned calf

India - When a cow died, leaving a three-day-old calf an orphan, an Indian woman decided to raise the animal by breastfeeding it herself. Chouthi Bai, who lives in Kilchu village, Rajasthan, breastfeeds the calf, who is now more than a month and a half old, three or four times a day. “After her mother died, I held her in my arms and breastfed her. I nurtured her by feeding her my milk,” she said. For me there is no difference between a calf and an infant,” she said....More

Letter-writer who used blood as ink jailed

UK - A man has been jailed for harassment after sending a letter written in blood in a bizarre dispute over land. Plymouth magistrates heard that 39-year-old Mark Chambers sent the letter to a family in the St Dominick area of South East Cornwall, and appeared at their isolated home the same day, making threats. Sandra Washingham, prosecuting, said: “It included a map, over-written in what appeared to be blood. It stated ‘tittle note’ and ‘this is my property’....More

NYC man falls 40 stories from building and survives; Dodge Charger Saves his life

NEW YORK - A New York City man who plunged 40 stories from the rooftop of an apartment building has survived after crashing onto a parked car.

Witnesses and police say 22-year-old Thomas Magill jumped from the high-rise at West 63rd Street on Tuesday. He landed in the backseat area of a Dodge Charger after crashing through the windshield.....More