TWW'S CRAZY NEWS STORIES

[TexasStooge]

Streaker interrupts news broadcast

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/WFAA.com) - TiVo users were busy pressing rewind Sunday night, following Channel 8's 10 p.m. news report on The Colony's wild fires.

As reporter Bert Lozano was describing the dry grass conditions on live television - a naked man ran in front of the camera.

"He came out of nowhere," said Lozano. "We figured the man was hiding in the bushes and decided to show his stuff. We think he had been given a cue from nearby residents that we were filming there."

"I thought about putting my hand over the lens but it was all over in a split second, so I decided to continue with my introduction," Lozano added. "The show has to go on. It was certainly the most interesting live shot in my 11-year television career."

WFAA-TV's executive news director, Michael Valentine, issued an apology for what happened and said the station will cooperate with any police investigation.

"The station's reporters take every precaution to control the environment of their live shots, but some situations can't be anticipated," he said.

"We can't control the actions of those who want to purposely disrupt a newscast."

Channel 8 was inundated with calls and e-mails Monday from viewers asking if they really saw what they saw.

"Was that a naked guy blowing an air horn and running past during the piece about the wild fires in The Colony?" wrote Lisa Smith. "I am a teacher and a mom, I can do a lot of things at once but I had to make sure I am not going crazy."

"Did I just see a naked person run across my TV set? It brings back memories of the sport of the 70s," wrote another viewer.

"People have been taking this with a sense of humor. Nobody is complaining," said Channel 8's assignments editor Carlos Rosales, who has been fielding some of the calls.

Police said the man could face public indecency and public lewdness charges.

WFAA.com will be posting an edited version of the report shortly.


WFAA ABC 8
The man ran in front of Lozano's live shot.

[TexasStooge]

Streaker interrupts news broadcast (Updated)

DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/WFAA.com) - TiVo users were busy pressing rewind Sunday night, following Channel 8's 10 o'clock news report on The Colony's wildfires.

As WFAA-TV reporter Bert Lozano was describing the dry grass conditions on live television, a naked man ran between the camera and Lozano. The streaker appeared on screen for just slightly more than one second.

"He came out of nowhere," Lozano said. "We figured the man was hiding in the bushes and decided to show his stuff. We think he had been given a cue from nearby residents that we were filming there."

"I thought about putting my hand over the lens, but it was all over in a split second, so I decided to continue with my introduction," Lozano added. "The show has to go on."

WFAA-TV's executive news director, Michael Valentine, issued an apology for what happened and said the station will cooperate with any police investigation.

"The station's reporters take every precaution to control the environment of their live shots, but some situations can't be anticipated," he said.

"We can't control the actions of those who want to purposely disrupt a newscast."

Channel 8 was inundated with calls and e-mails Monday from viewers asking if they really saw what they thought they saw.

"Was that a naked guy blowing an air horn and running past during the piece about the wildfires in The Colony?" wrote Lisa Smith. "I am a teacher and a mom, I can do a lot of things at once, but I had to make sure I am not going crazy."

"Did I just see a naked person run across my TV set? It brings back memories of the sport of the 70s," wrote another viewer.

Streaking became an international phenomenon in the mid-1970s. In 1974, a naked man flashed a peace sign as he ran behind actor David Niven during a live broadcast of the Academy Awards. "The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping... and showing his shortcomings," Niven quipped.

More recently, a naked man ran on the field during the halftime ceremonies at Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston.

"People have been taking this with a sense of humor. Nobody is complaining," said Channel 8's assignments editor Carlos Rosales, who has been fielding some of the calls about Sunday night's incident.

Police said the man could face public indecency and public lewdness charges.

"It was certainly the most interesting live shot in my 11-year television career," Lozano said.


WFAA ABC 8
The man ran in front of Lozano's live shot.

Watch an edited version of the report

[TexasStooge]

Girl wins spelling bee after 41 rounds

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - After 41 rounds and 4 1/2 hours, Anna Rose Wright won the Treasure State Spelling Bee Saturday. "I have never seen a bee go this long," said round judge Lynn Schwanke of Missoula, a previous state bee director for more than 20 years. "It was really remarkable."

Anna Rose, 13, and Tim Best, 12, of Joliet battled head-to-head for 25 rounds after the remaining 63 contestants fell out of the competition.

Anna Rose, a home-schooler competing in her fourth bee, won an all-expenses paid trip for two to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in late May, a $100 savings bond and a dictionary.

She correctly spelled "mumpsimus," — a person who persists in a mistaken expression or belief — and then clinched the victory by spelling "galenical," — a medicinal preparation made mostly of herbs or vegetable matter.

The contest, which seesawed between Anna Rose and Tim, requires the winner to correctly spell two words after their challenger misses a word. Twice, Anna Rose corrected the pronunciation of words.

Beginning with the 29th round, the contest moved into words not included on the word list given to all contestants to study.

Anna Rose said she had been studying spelling words since last summer, a couple hours most days, using word lists used at the national spelling bee, an online dictionary and tapes that include word pronunciations.

[TexasStooge]

"Loyal" donkeys better than wives, says textbook

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A textbook used at schools in the Indian state of Rajasthan compares housewives to donkeys, and suggests the animals make better companions as they complain less and are more loyal to their "masters," The Times of India reported Tuesday.

"A donkey is like a housewife ... In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master," the newspaper reported, quoting a Hindi-language primer meant for 14-year-olds.

The book was approved by the state's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government but has sparked protests from the party's women's wing.

State education officials in Rajasthan, a western state known for its conservative attitude toward women, said people should not be upset by the comparison, the paper said.

"The comparison was made in good humor," state education official A.R. Khan was quoted as saying. "However, protests have been taken note of and the board is in the process of removing it (the reference)."

[TexasStooge]

Nuke plant gets new locks after keys lost

BERLIN (Reuters) - German authorities are changing 150 locks at a nuclear power plant after its owner said they had lost keys to a security area, a ministry spokesman in the south western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said Monday.

Plant operator EnBW said that in spite of intensive searches and questioning it had not been able to recover 12 keys for its Philippsburg plant after discovering they were lost in March.

The environment ministry said EnBW informed it the keys were missing and the operator had put extra safety measures in place to control access to the secure area.

"This has never happened anywhere in Germany before," the ministry spokesman said. "The keys have simply disappeared."

Prosecutors have launched an investigation for theft.

[TexasStooge]

Nuke plant gets new locks after keys lost

BERLIN (Reuters) - German authorities are changing 150 locks at a nuclear power plant after its owner said they had lost keys to a security area, a ministry spokesman in the south western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said Monday.

Plant operator EnBW said that in spite of intensive searches and questioning it had not been able to recover 12 keys for its Philippsburg plant after discovering they were lost in March.

The environment ministry said EnBW informed it the keys were missing and the operator had put extra safety measures in place to control access to the secure area.

"This has never happened anywhere in Germany before," the ministry spokesman said. "The keys have simply disappeared."

Prosecutors have launched an investigation for theft.

[TexasStooge]

Police get stranglehold on fake wrestlers

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police have caught seven young men who were trying to emigrate to Hungary by masquerading as members of the national wrestling team, the official Iran newspaper reported Monday.

Airport police arrested the seven men after a tip-off from the Iranian Wrestling Federation that warned 15 imposters would attempt to slip out of Iran under the pretext of attending a Greco-Roman wrestling contest in Hungary.

Getting visas to leave the Islamic Republic for European Union countries is a very difficult process for most Iranians.

"Seven out of the 15 phoney wrestlers were arrested and warrants have been issued for the arrest of the remaining eight," the newspaper quoted prosecutor Ataollah Roudgar as saying.

He said the men carried sports bags and wrestling suits but had not got their stories straight.

"Amongst those arrested was a young man who weighed about 60 kg (132 lb) and claimed to be the 120 kg contender," Roudgar said.

Iran's Wrestling Federation said it became suspicious when its members saw an Iranian team entered in the Hungarian bouts, a competition which had not been on Iran's fixture schedule.

Wrestling is a highly prestigious sport with a long pedigree in Iran. Iran always expects to return from major competitions, including the Olympics, with a clutch of wrestling medals.

[TexasStooge]

Vain Wild Turkey Seeks Leftovers at Cafe

CULDESAC, Idaho (AP) - Rufus the wild turkey has discovered the parking lot of a restaurant is a good place to get a meal — as long as he's careful not to become one. "He doesn't come inside," cook Kristie McDaide told the Lewiston Tribune. "I'd throw him right in my pot."

Rufus is the last member of a five-bird flock that appeared in the area in October, eating grain that blew off semi trucks. He eventually discovered that food was easier to come by in the parking lot of the Jacques Spur Junction Cafe.

Rufus' pluck and boldness apparently carried him through Thanksgiving as diners feasted on turkey while watching Rufus in the parking lot. Now, area residents consider him something of a pet.

"He's a vain bird," said Brian Heinzerling, co-owner of the restaurant. "He's not shy either. The other day, I practically had to shut his beak in the door or he would have followed me in."

Rufus' reputation has spread far enough to make him a tourist attraction.

"People have heard of him in other towns, Heinzerling said. "They stop in all the time to check him out."

"I've never seen a wild turkey you can pet before," said Mary Ann Mathison of Craigmont, who stopped in for a cup of coffee with her husband, Ralph.

Rufus checks them out as well, walking up to car doors to look inside, beguiling restaurant patrons into sharing their leftovers with him when they leave.

Rufus, however, is a discriminating eater, turning down broccoli and cracked corn, but accepting grapes, sunflower seeds and leaves.

"He's a naturalist," said Nancy Coleman, who lives next to the cafe.

French fries are OK, though.

"Not too long ago, a kid ordered French fries to go," Heinzerling said. "I asked if he wanted ketchup or napkins. He said, 'No, thanks. They're for the turkey.'"

Rufus looks both ways before crossing the highway, waitress Karah Armstrong said. But locals are a little more concerned for Rufus when turkey hunting season opens April 15.

"Well, we've certainly got no plans for turkey dinner," said Paula Heinzerling.
___

Information from: [url=http://www.lmtribune.comLewiston Tribune[/url]

[TexasStooge]

'Chronic Candy' Faces Calif. Ban

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Marijuana-flavored lollipops, gum balls and chocolates with names such as Hydro and Sticky Icky Buds could be banned in Alameda County under an ordinance being considered by the Board of Supervisors.

The ordinance would ban goodies made by Corona, Calif.-based Chronic Candy, whose Web site promotes the tag line "every lick is like taking a hit" and features endorsements from pot-loving rapper Snoop Dogg and hotel heiress Paris Hilton.

The ordinance says the candy improperly influences teens and young adults and promotes illegal behavior.

Chronic Candy's owner, Tony Van Pelt, said the products are flavored with legal hemp oil and do not contain THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana. The products are intended for adults.

The candy has been banned in Chicago and Suffolk County, N.Y., and is facing a possible ban in Georgia, Van Pelt said.

He said parents should use the candy as a tool to teach their children about the dangers of drug use.

"Use Chronic Candy to have that conversation at home about drugs," Van Pelt said. "Say why this product isn't for us as a family."

[TexasStooge]

Textbook: Donkeys Better Than Housewives

NEW DELHI, India (AP) - A textbook used in western India compares housewives to donkeys — and concludes that the pack animals make more loyal companions, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

"A donkey is like a housewife," declares the Hindi language primer approved by the state of Rajasthan, according to The Times of India newspaper. "It has to toil all day and, like her, may even have to give up food and water."

"In fact, the donkey is a shade better," continues the text meant for 14-year-olds, "for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master."

The book, reportedly used in Rajasthani schools, has sparked protests from the women's wing of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which controls the state government and approved the text, the Times reported.

Rajasthan is known to be one of India's most traditional states, where conservative attitudes toward women predominate, and state education officials said the comparison was meant to be funny, nothing more.

"The comparison was made in good humor," state education official A.R. Khan was quoted as saying.

He added, however, that "protests have been taken note of and the board is in the process of removing" the reference.

[TexasStooge]

Eight Gas-Pump Nozzles Stolen in Detroit

DETROIT, Mich. (AP) - A gas station on the city's west side had to turn away angry motorists in need of fuel Tuesday morning. After all, it's hard to pump gas without a nozzle.

Someone stole all eight nozzles overnight from the pumps at the Citgo station.

"We don't know what they would do with them," employee Sani Alsad told the Detroit Free Press. Alsad said he hoped to have the nozzles replaced later Tuesday.

Detroit police were investigating.
___

Information from: Detroit Free Press

[TexasStooge]

Judge Won't Overturn Dancing Restriction

NEW YORK (AP) - Shall we dance? In New York it depends on where we hear the music. A state judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to force the city to allow private, social dancing in restaurants, clubs and bars.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman found that the city's license requirements for cabarets — places that have food and drink and allow personal recreational dancing — are constitutional.

A group calling itself the Gotham West Coast Swing Club and several people said that because the city's cabaret law barred them from dancing with other people it unconstitutionally infringed on their right of free expression.

The plaintiffs also contended that the city's application of zoning laws was arbitrary and capricious and deprived them of due process. They said they should be allowed to dance in any bar or restaurant they wanted to.

The judge disagreed. He said dancing is not constitutionally protected expression and the city has the right to regulate circumstances under which eating and drinking places can let patrons dance.

But he suggested the city should consider amending the 80-year-old Prohibition-era cabaret law in light of current social norms.

"Surely the Big Apple is big enough to find a way to let people dance," he said.

City law department spokeswoman Kate Ahlers said the judge's ruling was "a confirmation of the city's efforts to protect residential communities from disruptions attributed to some cabarets."

Norman Siegel, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he was disappointed by the decision and was considering an appeal.

"We continue to believe that social dancing is expressive activity and should have state constitutional protection," he said. "We continue to believe the cabaret law is unconstitutional."

Places that legally allowed couples to dance numbered around 1,000 in the 1960s, but fewer than 300 exist now, the plaintiffs said.

[TexasStooge]

Policeman Charged With Cyberstalking

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) - A police officer named Valentine has been charged with hacking into the e-mail account of a woman he met through an online dating service and posing as her in messages sent to himself and to other men.

Officer Michael Valentine, 28, met the woman on Match.com last November and dated her for about six weeks before she broke up with him, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said in a news release.

Valentine is accused of reading her e-mail, changing her Match.com profile and sending e-mails using her name.

He went into her account and, posing as her, sent himself an e-mail threatening that her friends would "come out of the bushes with a baseball bat and beat your brains in," prosecutors said.

He also sent Match.com messages to 70 men on the dating service to falsely indicate she was romantically interested in them, Spota said.

At least twice men showed up at the woman's house to take her out on a date because they were under the mistaken impression she wanted to go out with them, Spota said.

Valentine pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Paul Gianelli, said he planned to "vigorously defend" his client.

"It certainly comes as a shock to my client to be charged with a crime," Gianelli said.

Spota said computer crimes detectives determined that Valentine used a number of computers, including one that belonged to the Suffolk County Police Department.

Valentine, who joined the police force in 2002, was arraigned Monday on a 197-count indictment that included charges of stalking, computer trespassing, official misconduct and tampering with evidence. He was released on his own recognizance and was scheduled to return to court on April 20.

He has been suspended from his job without pay.

[TexasStooge]

Man held as terrorism suspect over punk song

LONDON, England (Reuters) - Anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said on Wednesday.

Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport and Harraj Mann, 24, was taken off.

The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash's 1979 anthem "London Calling," which features the lyrics "Now war is declared -- and battle come down" while other lines warn of a "meltdown expected".

Mann told newspapers the taxi had been fitted with a music system which allowed him to plug in his MP3 player and he had been playing The Clash, Procol Harum, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles to the driver.

"He didn't like Led Zeppelin or The Clash but I don't think there was any need to tell the police," Mann told the Daily Mirror.

A Durham police spokeswoman said Mann had been released after questioning -- but had missed his flight.

"The report was made with the best of intentions and we wouldn't want to discourage people from contacting us with genuine concerns," she said.

[TexasStooge]

Adventurer waits for all-clear from Russia

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) - A Briton attempting to walk around the world is stuck in Russia's far northeast waiting for permission to continue after being detained for crossing the border illegally, an embassy spokesman said on Wednesday.

Former paratrooper Karl Bushby and fellow U.S. traveller Dimitri Kieffer were stopped on April 1 on the remote Chukotka peninsula. They had made a perilous two-week journey across the Bering Strait -- a sea ice bridge between Russia and Alaska.

"Karl is being accommodated in Lavrentia and is free to wander around the town. According to him, people are being very friendly, some of the local police are in fact quite overawed at his feat," a British embassy spokesman in Moscow said.

"He is now waiting for some more senior Russian officials to come and interview him."

Bushby, 37, set off from the tip of South America in 1998 and hopes to return to Britain in 2009, after a journey of some 36,000 miles (60,000 km). He teamed up with Kieffer, an endurance racer, for the crossing in Alaska.

If Russia allows Bushby to continue his journey, his planned route takes him south into Mongolia, through Kazakhstan and Ukraine, on into Europe and back to Britain.

[TexasStooge]

Chinese man bids to sell his soul on auction site

SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) - Some might call it an auction to die for, as the Chinese observe their traditional Qing Ming festival honouring the dead.

A man in his late 20s in Jiaxing, a city near Shanghai, has attempted to sell his soul on Taobao, China's top online auction site, attracting bids from some 58 soul-searching buyers before the posting was pulled.

"We reviewed Taobao's policies and realised we had no specific policy on the selling of souls," said Porter Erisman, spokesman for Taobao's parent, Yahoo-backed Alibaba.com. "After reviewing our policies, the posting was taken down last Friday."

Erisman said Taobao wasn't opposed to the idea of soul selling online, but wanted more proof that the seller could provide the goods.

"After some discussion, we decided that we will allow the member to sell his soul on Taobao, but only if he can provide written permission from a 'higher authority'," he said.

Taobao made its decision as Chinese around the world on Wednesday observed Qing Ming, a traditional holiday where many travel to their ancestors' graves to clean them and offer gifts to the spirits.

Taobao is no stranger to odd items being put up for auction, with past sale items including advertising space on one member's forehead.

The firm's chief rival, eBay, has also hosted its share of strange items for auction, including a second-hand Volkswagen once owned by Pope Benedict and a mangrove island in Florida.
_____________________________________________________________

Some people are so desperate.

[TexasStooge]

Police: DNA from rape matched 21 years later

By BERT LOZANO / WFAA ABC 8

Twenty-one years after Lavina Masters was raped, she said she is ready to start anew after a stored DNA sample from the crime finally found a match.

Masters was raped in 1985 when she was 13-years-old, asleep in her home and a man broke into her window.

"It's like I've been holding my breath for almost 21 years and now I am able to exhale," she said. "I am actually able to breathe again."

Knowing the man knew where she lives, Masters said she was haunted by the fact he wasn't caught.

"To me there is no greater fear," she said. "Something so horrific [and] you don't know who he is but he knows who you are."

Masters was one of 13 rape victims participating in a Dallas police program to solve old sexual assault cases through recent advances in DNA technology.

The state's crime lab, known as CODIS, matched the DNA profile to Kevin Glen Turner from the DNA sample.

"We are very confident that this...match proves that this suspect did this crime,"

The 36-year-old had spent the last ten years in prison for the rape of two other women.

However, police cannot prosecute Turner since the statute of limitation expired, and police said he will soon be up for parole.

The new evidence prompted a letter from Chief David Kunkle to the state parole board to protest Turner's early release.

Masters said she plans to write a letter as well, but to Turner in an attempt help her let go of her long-time ghost.

"[I want] to let him know that I am no longer his victim and that I am a survivor now," she said.

Emotional turmoil from the attack left Masters depressed an paranoid. She said at some point she even wanted to kill herself.

But now she said she is closing the door on an unthinkable past.

"I'm going to write him a letter and let him know that I know who he is, what he has done to me and to let him no that I am no longer his victim and that I am a survivor now," she said.

[TexasStooge]

3 arrested in 'baby shower gone bad'

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – A baby shower erupted into a fight among guests in which one man was shot and several other people, including the seven-months-pregnant guest of honor, were beaten with a stick, police say.

Three people were arrested after the brawl, described by police as a "baby shower gone bad."

Police said the shooting victim, Aristotle Garcia, got into a fight with a man who is dating his ex-girlfriend. The argument, over whether the woman let their 5-year-old daughter drink beer, escalated and drew in two other people – Jazz Rivas and Juan Velazquez, said Police Lt. Cheryl C. Claprood.

When the baby shower's hostess tried to intervene, Rivas began hitting some of the guests, including the 22-year-old mother-to-be, with a large stick, she said.

Velazquez fired a gun in the air, then fired it into the crowd, hitting Garcia in the stomach, according to police. Garcia, 26, was in stable condition at Baystate Medical Center. The mother-to-be was treated after the incident Saturday and released.

Velazquez, 19, was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed assault with intent to murder. He had not yet been arraigned as of Wednesday morning.

The man Garcia was initially fighting with, Antonio Santiago, 25, pleaded innocent to similar charges on Tuesday and was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Rivas, 22, pleaded innocent to three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault and battery on a pregnant female. His bail was set at $10,000.

[TexasStooge]

How would you like to meet these guys?

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Danish security firm said Tuesday it had fired three of its guards for stealing toys and DVDs from critically ill children at Copenhagen's main hospital.

The guards were caught on video tape after managers became suspicious when toys intended for the children -- many of whom have cancer or need heart transplants -- started to disappear.

"I feel terrible, and we are deeply sorry about this," said Falck Securitas's managing director, Peter Boye Larsen.

[TexasStooge]

Police probe discovery of 121 skulls

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police said on Wednesday that 121 skulls found in the isolated western province of Gansu were human and had been hacked from their bodies after death, Xinhua news agency reported.

The skulls, wrapped in a plastic bag, were found on March 26 by a herdsman in a ravine in an outlying mountain area of Tianzhu Tibetan autonomous county, a source with the Ministry of Public Security was quoted as saying.

Local police initially suspected that the skulls belonged to monkeys, after a preliminary analysis of fur, hair attached to the skulls and their shape.

"But forensic experts from prestigious Lanzhou University (in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu) said the skulls were human after they examined 13 samples," Xinhua said.

The skulls were both male and female and belonged to old and young, Professor Chen Shixian, a forensic expert hired by the police, was quoted as saying.

He dismissed rumors that the skulls had been dumped by hospitals after doctors had removed the brains for medical purposes.

Investigations showed no signs of "medical expertise" in the decapitations, Chen said, adding that they had also found no signs of fatal injuries.

Police said they were investigating the origins of the skulls, and where and how the decapitations had taken place.