This and That - Latest News

These are the latest This and That stories added to our newspaper. They're sorted in descending order with the newest story at the top.

This section is for odd news and curious articles. You know the saying, "truth is stranger than fiction." Weird news is constantly happening and we're reporting on it. Subscribe to This and That RSS Feed:

Python hoaxer faces charges Saturday 07th of November 2009 06:11:08 AM BRADENTON, Fla., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A Florida man has been charged with faking the trapping of a 14-foot Burmese python he had actually purchased from a dealer. Justin Matthews, 47, of Bradenton was arrested this week by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the St. Petersburg Times reported. The charges include keeping a dangerous animal in an ... Read more	Burglar sends paper homemade 'mug shot' Friday 06th of November 2009 07:32:13 PM SWANSEA, Wales, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- An alleged burglar wanted by Welsh authorities sent a newspaper a picture of himself because he didn't like the mug shot it published. A spokesman for the South Wales Evening Post said Matthew Maynard, 23, whose mug shot appeared in the paper during the weekend as part of a police effort to track down wanted suspects, called the... Read more
Officials spied on family over school Friday 06th of November 2009 07:16:31 PM POOLE, England, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A British woman whose family was spied on by a local council using defense laws is taking officials to court. Jenny Paton, 40, said Poole Borough Council spied on her family 21 times in three weeks after she applied to have her children sent to a highly rated school in Poole, the Daily Mail reported Friday. Ben Hooper, co... Read more	Brit teen vandals fess up to mess Friday 06th of November 2009 07:05:57 PM NORTH TAWTON, England, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The facade of a British church featured in a popular TV series and many of the churchyard's gravestones were vandalized by a trio of teenagers, police say. The 750-year-old St. Peter's church in Devon, seen every week in the show Jam and Jerusalem, was desecrated by two girls and a boy who spray-painted dozens of s... Read more
Police: 911 call about marriage lie Friday 06th of November 2009 07:04:32 PM CLARKSVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Police in Tennessee said a woman arrested and charged for a second time with abusing the 911 system was calling because a man refused to marry her. Clarksville Police said Hee Orama, 34, called 911 and the police non-emergency number more than 10 times Monday and Tuesday for personal issues involving a man lying about his in... Read more	Black students told to act like slaves Friday 06th of November 2009 07:02:23 PM WAXHAW, N.C., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Parents and teachers at a North Carolina school are protesting a history lesson that involved African-American students pretending to be slaves. Teachers at Rea View Elementary in Waxhaw said they are planning to write leaders at the Latta Plantation about a lesson during a Wednesday field trip that involved an African-American to... Read more
Sex toy study draws criticism Friday 06th of November 2009 06:41:46 PM DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A sex toy study being conducted by Duke University in North Carolina is being criticized by a religious leader. The Rev. Joe Vetter, director of the Duke Catholic Center, said he was concerned about ads seeking female students at the school to take part in a sexually explicit study on Tupperware party-style gatherings that ... Read more	Man injured by falling pumpkin Friday 06th of November 2009 06:39:26 PM YPSILANTI, Mich., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Police in Michigan said a pumpkin thrown from an overpass broke through a man's windshield and struck him on the head. The South Post of the Michigan State Police said the 50-year-old Pinckney man and his 2007 Ford Ranger were struck by the pumpkin at about 3:35 a.m. Friday on M-14 in Plymouth Township, the Detroit Free Press ... Read more
Authorities find van stolen in 1974 Friday 06th of November 2009 04:46:43 PM LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said a search of a shipping container bound for the Netherlands revealed a vehicle reported stolen in 1974. Customs agents in Los Angeles said they opened the shipping container in October and discovered a restored 1965 Volkswagen that was reported stolen from an auto upholstery shop in Spok... Read more	Web site: Top five sights for Poe fans Friday 06th of November 2009 04:15:35 PM MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A tourism Web site has issued its Five Must-See Sights for Edgar Allan Poe Fans in the United States. VirtualTourist.com said the Poe Museum in Richmond, Va., is a can't-miss attraction for fans of the 19th century writer as it houses his walking stick, a lock of his hair, his boyhood bed and other memorabilia. T... Read more
U.N. leader gives up office for renovation Friday 06th of November 2009 03:53:19 PM NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The United Nations secretary general's staff says he doesn't mind moving his New York office into a warehouse in the name of energy-efficient renovations. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's staff said Ban will be moving his office before the end of the month from the 37th floor of the U.N. headquarters on New York;'s east side to vacate t... Read more	Canada apologizes for declaring woman dead Friday 06th of November 2009 02:56:18 PM KAMLOOPS, British Columbia, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A Canadian federal department has apologized to a British Columbia woman who was mistakenly flagged as dead in government records. Nancy Towle's problems began when her Canada Pension Plan widow's benefit check didn't arrive in September, The (Kamloops) Daily News reported. She told the newspaper she spent two... Read more
Officials: Nolan brother planned jailbreak Friday 06th of November 2009 02:40:55 PM CHICAGO, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Authorities in Chicago said the brother of The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan was allegedly planning a jail escape worthy of Batman. Officials at the high-rise Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago said they discovered 31 feet of rope made from bedsheets, a harness, a razor and a metal clip that could unloc... Read more	Dad angry about retouched photo of girl, 3 Friday 06th of November 2009 02:32:43 PM LULEA, Sweden, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A Swedish father said the photographer hired to take pictures for his 3-year-old daughter's preschool digitally removed her scar without permission. Per Engman of Lulea said Thords foto altered the preschool class photo to remove a scar from the nose of his daughter, Meja Flymalm, The Local reported Friday. It's just no... Read more
Errant baguette chunk shuts down collider Thursday 05th of November 2009 11:55:54 PM GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Experts were trying to determine Thursday how a piece of bread made its way into the Hadron collider in Switzerland, shutting it down for a couple of days. The collider, a circular installation with a circumference of 17 miles, had already been delayed by a helium leak and is gradually being restarted. Scientists shut the c... Read more	FAA probes ice chunk from the sky Thursday 05th of November 2009 05:06:36 PM CHICAGO, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the origin of a falling ice chunk that damaged the roof and gutters of a Chicago home. The FAA said it is looking into whether any of the planes approaching O'Hare International Airport, which is located about 10 miles from the home, Wednesday night had water leakage problems,... Read more
2-karat ring lost in Halloween bag Thursday 05th of November 2009 05:03:22 PM CAMUS, Wash., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A Washington state woman said she is offering a reward for the return of a diamond ring she accidentally dropped into a trick-or-treater's bag. Joan Collins of Camus said she remembered the 2-karat diamond ring getting caught on a plastic pumpkin being carried by a young girl, one of the about 300 trick-or-treaters who visited her... Read more	South Korea standardizes food names Thursday 05th of November 2009 04:41:46 PM SEOUL, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- South Korean officials say they are standardizing the names of the country's traditional dishes for restaurants around the world. The country's Agriculture Ministry said it has created standardized menus for 124 dishes in English, Japanese and Chinese, and will add French and Spanish menus in the near future, Yonhap news agency reported T... Read more
Trivial Pursuit launches gender challenge Thursday 05th of November 2009 04:38:29 PM TORONTO, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The distributor of the Trivial Pursuit board game has launched a North American online battle of the sexes to determine the more knowledgeable gender. In a news release from Toronto, Hasbro Inc. announced the launch of the www.trivialpursuitexperiment.com site to determine who's smartest when it comes to minutiae. Jane Ritson-Par... Read more	Escaped elephant side-swipes car Thursday 05th of November 2009 04:38:09 PM ENID, Okla., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Police in Oklahoma said an escaped circus elephant suffered a broken tusk and a hurt leg when it sideswiped a vehicle while running along a road. Enid Police Department Sgt. Billy Varney said a couple riding inside of the vehicle Wednesday night were not injured in the collision with the elephant, which fled from the Family Fun Cir... Read more