Odd News

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A homeless Tennessee student has graduated as his high school’s valedictorian and was offered dozens of scholarships totaling $3 million. Tupac Mosley told news outlets that his family fell behind on bills after his father died, and they ended up being evicted in February. Mosley says his family has since lived […]

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut police department has reached a deal with a fugitive that would have him surrender if enough people respond to a wanted poster on social media, an agreement that at least one expert calls unethical. Jose Simms, 29, who is believed to be somewhere in New York, has seven arrest […]

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — Officials at a zoo in Illinois had to euthanize a flamingo after it was struck by a rock thrown by a child. Director Jay Tetzloff told The Pantagraph in an email that a juvenile guest accidentally injured the bird on Monday by “skipping a rock into the habitat” at Miller Park […]

BERLIN (AP) — New parents got the fright of their lives in Germany after accidentally forgetting their newborn in the taxi taking them home from hospital. Hamburg police said Monday that the couple took the baby’s one-year-old sibling out of the car, paid the driver and said goodbye — then realized someone was missing as […]

HAMILTON, N.J. (AP) — A man caught on video while urinating on a park memorial marker that honors a 9-year-old boy who died of brain cancer says he made “a huge mistake” and wants to apologize to the boy’s family. Police say Bryan Bellace, of Egg Harbor, urinated on the memorial while his friend, Daniel […]

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A former Walt Disney World employee with backstage access stole about $14,000 worth of costumes and items from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot theme parks, authorities said Friday. Patrick Allen Spikes, 24, faces burglary, grand theft, and trafficking in stolen property charges, news outlets reported. The Orange County Sheriff’s office said […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say somebody stole a tripod from a California Department of Transportation crew and then dropped it from an overpass onto a Sacramento freeway, impaling the lung of a passenger in a van. The driver of the van, Tim Page, tells KCRA-TV that he was on Interstate 5 Thursday morning when […]

EAGLE, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado man has been ordered to pay more than $28,000 to cover damages after he pleaded guilty to stealing a Sno-Cat painted to look like the “General Lee” car featured in the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard.” The Vail Daily reports the owners of the Sno-Cat said Jason Cuervo […]

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine election officials settled a rare tie in a mayoral race on Friday by tossing a coin. They proclaimed Sue Cudilla the new mayor of the town of Araceli in western Palawan province after she won a best-of-three coin flip by picking tails. Both Cudilla, a former mayor, and her rival, […]

WEST NEWTON, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania woman allegedly attacked her boyfriend with a box cutter because no one got her a card, cake or gift on her 55th birthday. Georgia Zowacki is charged with aggravated assault, making terroristic threats and other counts. It wasn’t known Friday if she’s retained an attorney. Authorities say […]