Lou the mule credited with saving woman from fire

By Alan Diaz (AP)

State troopers are looking for a charity to take thousands of shoes that were dumped on a Miami expressway, tying up rush hour traffic.

Lt. Pat Santangelo says the Florida Highway Patrol received a call about the shoes Friday morning.

Santangelo says he's not sure where the shoes came from. There were no signs of a crash and no one stopped to claim them. He says he hopes someone will take them because he doesn't want to send them to the dump.

Workers using a front-end loader and a dump truck were able to quickly clear at least one lane by sweeping all the shoes to...

By (AP)

Severe weather, including heavy rain and thunderstorms, was expected in the upper Mississippi Valley and upper Great Lakes regions on Thursday. Strong winds, large hail and tornadoes were forecast for a widespread area.

Precipitation was not expected in the Northeast, but temperatures were forecast to approach 100 degrees.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms were expected in the Southeast. Gusty winds, frequent lightning and heavy rain were likely.

The Pacific Northwest was to see drier weather and seasonal temperatures.

In the Southwest, hot and dry conditions...

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The Connecticut Department of Development Services has placed an employee on administrative leave after prescription pills were found in a cake served at a home for disabled people in Cheshire.

Department spokeswoman Joan Barnish says the worker will be on leave while the agency investigates Sunday's incident. The employee's name has not been released.

Five residents of the home who ate the cake on Sunday were taken to area hospitals, but Barnish said none of them suffered any ill effects.

Barnish says the pills were an antihistamine.

State police say the employee...

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A guy who dangled upside down from a ski lift with his bare bottom exposed probably doesn't want to hear any "ski bum" jokes.

Officials at Vail Resorts in Colorado say the 48-year-old man was trying to get on the Blue Ski basin lift on New Year's Day. They haven't said what went wrong.

Workers stopped the lift, backed it up 10 or 12 feet and rescued the man after about seven minutes. His name hasn't been released.

Bystanders snapped photos and posted them on the Internet, showing a man who looks to be hanging by one ski boot, his ski pants and underwear apparently sn...

By (AP)

The guy who ended up dangling upside down from a ski lift with his bare bottom whistling in the wind probably doesn't want to hear any "ski bum" jokes. Vail Resorts said the 48-year-old man wasn't injured and was rescued after about seven minutes. His name hasn't been released.

Resort officials have said only that the man was trying getting on the Blue Ski Basin lift on New Year's Day. They haven't said what went wrong.

Resort workers stopped the lift, backed it up about 10 or 12 feet and rescued the man.

Bystanders snapped photos and posted them the Internet, showi...

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A scorned 21-year-old told her ex-boyfriend that he couldn't prove she was the one who vandalized his apartment on three occasions _ but then, police said, she posted a picture of the damage on MySpace. The woman was charged with two felonies for the vandalism.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County last week, she doused the inside of his house with paint _ splashing it on the walls, toilet, washing machine, computer and other furniture. She also allegedly filled the house with trash, impaled a teddy bear on a pole with a knife through its head, and caused other...

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Talk about deep cleaning. An woman was recovering after spending more than a day lodged inside a vent at her home after falling in while vacuuming it. Ogden police Lt. Scott Sangberg said they came to the 55-year-old woman's house after family members called police to say they hadn't heard from her in more than a day.

Police entered the home and found the woman stuck headfirst down a large cold air return vent, The Salt Lake Tribune reported in its online edition Tuesday.

Ogden fire Deputy Chief Chad Tucker said the woman was vacuuming vents when saw something inside one,...

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The Burlington Liars Club in Burlington, Wis., revealed its 2008 Champion Lie on Monday as part of an annual contest.

Winner:

_ "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it." _ Garth Seehawer of Oconto Falls, Wis.

Runners-up, in random order:

_ "On a recent flight from New York to LA, we were watching the in-flight movie called Cocoon. It was during a pool scene that we encountered some very violent turbulence. It was so rough that the water i...

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A whopper about a devious baby and his diapers is the top lie of 2008, an organization of champion fibbers declared Monday. The Burlington Liars Club bestowed its top award for this line: "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."

Garth Seehawer, 71, of Oconto Falls, said he took immense pride in having crafted the 2008 Champion Lie.

"When you're the best in the world at something, sure, that's an honor," he said, insisting with a chuckle that his ...

By (AP)

A line about a sneaky baby and dirty diapers has been named the top lie of 2008. The Burlington Liars Club bestowed its top award Monday for this line: "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."

Garth Seehawer, 71, of Oconto Falls, said he took immense pride in having crafted the 2008 Champion Lie.

"When you're the best in the world at something, sure, that's an honor," said Seehawer, who jokingly denied that his background as a retired business la...

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A man who police said was shot by his stepfather ended up in the same jail with him after officers discovered outstanding arrest warrants against the victim. Police told The Daily News of Jacksonville that 37-year-old Richard Hayes shot his stepson Thursday night.

Authorities say 21-year-old Michael Bass was holding a bloody towel to his abdomen when paramedics arrived, saying his stepfather shot him.

Deputies then discovered Bass had outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court and took him to jail after he was treated and released from the hospital.

Police said...

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Police are puzzling over what would motivate a father and son to haul off six tombstones from a monument company in suburban Albany. Town of Colonie Detective Lt. John Van Alstyne said he's not sure what kind of aftermarket there might be for the hefty granite grave-markers.

Police charged a 35-year-old man and his 19-year-old son with felony criminal possession of stolen property. They were sent to Albany County Jail without bail.

The men were arrested after police got a call around 1 a.m. Sunday about a suspicious truck at Stefanazzi & Spargo Granite Co. A traffic stop of...

By (AP)

Police say a 4-year-old boy in southern Ohio shot his babysitter because the sitter accidentally stepped on his foot. Police said 18-year-old Nathan Beavers and several other teenagers were babysitting several young children in a mobile home in Jackson on Sunday when the shooting occurred.

Witnesses told police the 4-year-old retrieved the shotgun from a bedroom closet and shot Beavers. Police said the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot.

Beavers was hospitalized with minor pellet wounds to his arm and side.

Police say another teen was also...

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Paw Paw's police chief said a heart found at a car wash in the southwestern Michigan village belonged to a deer. Investigators had been trying to determine the organ's origin since Dec. 15, when the owner of Soapy's Car Wash found it in the corner of a manual wash bay.

The immediate concern was whether the human-sized heart came from a person.

It was sent to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing for examination and DNA testing.

Chief Patrick Alspaugh told the Kalamazoo Gazette on Monday that the hospital has concluded that the heart was from a deer.

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Information fr...

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A man who allegedly squatted in the attic of a Pennsylvania family's home over Christmas and helped himself to their belongings is "sorry and upset" it happened, his lawyer said Monday.

Police say 21-year-old Stanley Carter stole food, clothing, cash and Christmas presents while living in the attic of Stacy Ferrance's home outside Wilkes-Barre.

Carter waived his right to a preliminary hearing Monday. His attorney, public defender Basil Russin, said Carter, of Trumann, Ark., is "very sorry and upset it happened. He was very peaceful up there and kept to himself."

Cart...

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Art was laced up with political statement as a gallery opened an exhibit with a paint-splattered fundraiser that featured a "shoe throw" at an image of President George W. Bush.

City Councilor Eric Navickas _ who opened the MAda Shell Gallery with partner Amy Godard _ slathered a layer of red paint on the soles of sneakers, boots and sandals before people fired the footwear at an 8-foot image of Bush.

Each shot cost $1 at Friday's opening, with the funds to go toward future gallery exhibits.

Godard said the exhibit is a "statement of solidarity" with Muntadhar al-Zeid...

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Deputies investigating a sewer problem at a Minnesota home smelled something amiss _ a strong odor of marijuana. Grant County Sheriff Dwight Walvatne said deputies went to the home in Herman this week intending to cite the owner for failing to connect to the city's main sewer line, in violation of a public health ordinance.

After noticing the smell of pot, they obtained a search warrant and found what they described as a large indoor pot growing operation.

They seized an estimated $10,000 worth of marijuana along with equipment to grow it, and charged a 21-year-old man with...

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A one-time motel in a small central Maine town could soon be offering an eye-opening way to start the day _ topless coffee shop waitresses. The Vassalboro Planning Board on Tuesday will consider a business permit request for a topless coffee shop on busy Route 3.

The one-story building has also been the home to several other business ventures, most recently Mac Daddy's Pub at the Fat Cat Grille, which closed three or four years ago.

Neighbors have mixed opinions. Some say Vassalboro is a rural town and that a topless coffee shop would bring the wrong crowd. But others say...

By (AP)

A man who police said was shot by his stepfather ended up in the same jail with him after officers discovered outstanding arrest warrants against the victim. Police told The Daily News of Jacksonville that 37-year-old Richard Hayes shot his stepson Thursday night.

Authorities say 21-year-old Michael Bass was holding a bloody towel to his abdomen when paramedics arrived, saying his stepfather shot him.

Deputies then discovered Bass had outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court and took him to jail after he was treated and released from the hospital.

Police said...

By (AP)

He meant to shoot the ducks. A Long Island man is facing charges including reckless endangerment and assault after he shot another hunter while out duck hunting on Saturday.

Nassau County authorities said the Brentwood man had his loaded shotgun pointed in the direction of the other man, then tried to raise the weapon to shoot some passing ducks.

The gun discharged, and the other hunter was hit in the arm.

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A bomb squad took a live mortar shell that a man found among his grandfather's possessions and detonated it at an undisclosed site. The sheriff's department said the grandson, whose name wasn't released, discovered the shell from the Korean War era at a home on Friday.

Authorities didn't say whether the grandfather was still alive or how he came to have the shell.

The grandson's brother, an active-duty serviceman, thought the shell might be live and should be destroyed, so the grandson drove to the Greeley Police Department to report what he had found.

By (AP)

A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected a Liberian woman's religious reasons for smuggling endangered monkey meat into the country.

U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie ruled Wednesday that Mamie Manneh's faith didn't preclude her from applying for permits to import exotic food or explain why she misled officials.

Manneh was charged with smuggling the meat three years ago after customs agents seized a shipment of primate parts as it passed through Kennedy Airport on the way to her home in Staten Island.

Manneh's lawyers claimed a First Amendment right, arguing that s...

By (AP)

A tricky question of morality is this year's brainteaser in the annual philosophy competition called the Great American Think-Off.

"Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?" is the theme of the 2009 Think-Off.

The event is organized by Minnesota's New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the cultural and creative opportunities of rural Americans.

Anyone can enter by submitting an essay of 750 words or less. Four finalists will be chosen to debate the question on June 13 before a live audience.

Last year's question w...