Watercooler news from The Associated Press

Odd News

Enormous Lebanon bologna sandwich unveiled at Pennsylvania community fair

LEBANON, Pa. (AP) — An enormous Lebanon bologna sandwich billed as one of the world’s largest has been unveiled at a central Pennsylvania fair. The 150-foot-long (45.7-meters-long) sandwich was created Tuesday night at the Lebanon Area Fair by a large crew of volunteers known as the “Bologna Security.” Lebanon bologna is known for its distinct […]
8 months ago
In this undated photo provided by Paul Marek is a Los Angeles Thread Millipede awaiting study at th...

A new millipede species is crawling under LA. It’s blind, glassy and has 486 legs

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The City of Angels, a metropolis of freeways and traffic, has a newly discovered species named in its honor: The Los Angeles Thread Millipede. The tiny arthropod was found just underground by naturalists at a Southern California hiking area — near a freeway, a Starbucks and an Oakley sunglasses store. About […]
8 months ago
This photo provided by the Georgia Peanut Commission shows Cole Sercer of Sercer Machine & Fabricat...

The Big Peanut once again reigns at the roadside in Georgia, after hurricane felled earlier goober

Georgia’s Big Peanut is back. The roadside landmark along Interstate 75 in south Georgia was rededicated Thursday, nearly five years after an earlier version was felled by the winds of Hurricane Michael. This time, the giant goober is made of sheet metal, not fiberglass. It’s a symbol of pride in the heart of south Georgia’s […]
8 months ago

Avid search for missing Texas rodeo goat bringing residents of a small rural county together

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas (AP) — First there was Gone Girl. Now there is Gone Goat. The search for a rodeo goat that has been missing for more than a week has the residents of a rural South Texas county enthralled as they are using horses, ATVs and even contemplating utilizing a helicopter to find the missing […]
8 months ago

Say goodbye to Bodypainting Day, New York City’s annual celebration of nudity and artistry

NEW YORK (AP) — If you’ve ever dreamed of standing naked in New York City with dozens of strangers while artists turn your skin into a work of art, you may have missed your chance. Sunday’s Bodypainting Day will be the final edition after more than a decade of artists turning nude bodies into works […]
8 months ago

Beetlejuice II filming set in Vermont is haunted by souvenir seekers

EAST CORINTH, Vt. (AP) — Souvenir hunters are haunting the Beetlejuice II movie set in Vermont. State police are investigating two thefts, one of a large lamppost topped with a distinctive pumpkin decoration and the other a 150-pound abstract art piece taken from the vicinity of a cemetery. Someone bundled up the lamppost, covered it […]
8 months ago
In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Zach Taylor, the 2021 "Papa" Hemingway Look...

Annual Hemingway Look-Alike Contest begins in Florida Keys

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — Almost 140 bearded men who resemble Ernest Hemingway converged on Key West, the late author’s home during the 1930s, to compete in the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest that began Thursday evening. The challenge is a highlight of the island’s Hemingway Days festival that salutes the literary talent and adventurous life of […]
8 months ago
In this photo provided by Brian Williams, a whale approaches his father, Kevin Williams, while he w...

See how an Alaska paddleboarder escaped a close encounter with a humpback whale

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man on a paddleboard escaped a close encounter with a humpback whale, not even getting wet during a tense few seconds caught on camera by friends and family as the giant creature surfaced right in front of him then glided under his board. “It’s just so massive. You’re puny […]
8 months ago
This image from video provided by TMX shows an encounter between a female otter and a surfer off th...

The sea otter harassing surfers off the California coast eludes capture as her fan club grows

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A sea otter launched into the national spotlight after images of her aggressively wresting surfboards away from surfers off the coast of Santa Cruz, California circulated on social media is building a fan club as she continues to evade capture. A team of wildlife experts with the California Department of […]
8 months ago
Rabbits gather to eat food left by a resident, Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Wilton Manors, Fla. The F...

Fuzzy invasion of domestic rabbits has a Florida suburb hopping into a hunt for new owners

WILTON MANORS, Fla. (AP) — When Alicia Griggs steps outside her suburban Fort Lauderdale home, Florida’s latest invasive species comes a-hoppin’ down the street: lionhead rabbits. The bunnies, which sport an impressive flowing mane around their heads, want the food Griggs carries. But she also represents their best chance of survival and moving where this […]
9 months ago
In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Tamara Bredova, left, costumed as a mermaid...

Underwater music show in the Florida Keys promotes awareness of coral reef protection

BIG PINE KEY, Fla. (AP) — Hundreds of divers and snorkelers listened to an underwater concert that advocated coral reef protection Saturday in the Florida Keys. The Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival, which also spotlighted eco-conscious diving, took place at Looe Key Reef, an area of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary located about 6 […]
9 months ago
New Bedford Public Library Director Olivia Melo, pulls the 100 year overdue book from the box shipp...

Extremely overdue book returned to Massachusetts library 119 years later

BOSTON (AP) — On Feb. 14, 1904, someone curious about the emerging possibilities of a key force of nature checked out James Clerk Maxwell’s “An Elementary Treatise on Electricity” from the New Bedford Free Public Library. It would take 119 years and the sharp eyes of a librarian in West Virginia before the scientific text […]
9 months ago

Search underway for missing pet wallaby in rural Oklahoma town

BLANCHARD, Okla. (AP) — A search is underway in the rural Oklahoma community of Blanchard for a missing pet wallaby. The animal, which is similar to a kangaroo, but smaller, escaped its backyard enclosure on Wednesday and is believed to be in some thick woods near the edge of town, said Diana Daniels, city clerk […]
9 months ago

Iowa man wins Fourth of July Key Lime Pie Eating Championship in Florida Keys

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — New York had its hot dog eating contest to celebrate Independence Day. But the Florida Keys had a sweeter alternative on Tuesday. The Key Lime Pie Eating Championship in Key West, where Key lime pie originated, was won by Joshua Mogle, a 38-year-old Altoona, Iowa, tire manufacturing manager. Mogle plunged […]
9 months ago

First smoky air, now clouds of bugs. Winged aphids invade New York City

NEW YORK (AP) — By the time Martin DuPain got back home from a short walk Thursday afternoon, he was covered with a smattering of tiny flying critters. They were in his hair, on his shirt and in his nose. When he sneezed, the bugs came flying out. As if the wildfires in Canada weren’t […]
9 months ago
Jana Brough walks across pink-hued snow at Tony Grove Lake on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, near Logan,...

‘Watermelon snow’ piques curiosities in Utah after abnormally wet winter

LOGAN, Utah (AP) — High up in the mountains, amid pinyon pine and quaking aspen trees, the remaining remnants of the winter’s snow is dotted with hues of pinks, purples and oranges. Hikers, campers and church youth groups journeying by grasp it in their palms and liken it to flavored snow cones, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, […]
9 months ago

Federal judge throws out lawsuit filed by chess star over cheating allegations

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a 19-year-old chess grandmaster who alleged his career was ruined by allegations that he had cheated. Last year, Hans Niemann sued former world champion Magnus Carlsen and the online chess organization Chess.com. He was seeking $100 million in damages for slander and libel. […]
9 months ago

California man gets prison for nearly $9M phony cow manure-to-green energy investment scheme

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A California man is going to prison for running a cow dung-to-green energy scheme that authorities say was a load of manure. Ray Brewer, 66, of Porterville was sentenced Monday to six years and nine months in federal prison in a years-long scam that bilked investors out of $8.75 million, according […]
9 months ago

California man convicted of illegally importing an ancient mosaic from Syria

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man has been found guilty of illegally importing an ancient mosaic from Syria, federal prosecutors said. Mohamad Yassin Alcharihi, 56, of Palmdale, was convicted by a jury Wednesday on one count of “entry of falsely classified goods,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release. The mosaic, which […]
9 months ago

Florida deputy and motorist survive being swept through storm drain amid huge rainstorm

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s deputy and a motorist are lucky to be alive after they were sucked into a flooded storm drain during a torrential downpour, then dragged under water for around 30 seconds before emerging — soaked but unharmed — on the other side of a highway. Deputy William Hollingsworth was […]
9 months ago

No ifs, ands, or butts: Protesters drop pants to protest climate change at Massachusetts Statehouse

BOSTON (AP) — Climate change protesters dropped their pants at the Massachusetts Statehouse during a debate on a proposed tax relief package Thursday to bring attention to what they say is the need for swifter action against the use of fossil fuels. About 1 p.m., protesters stood, turned their backs to the Senate chamber and […]
10 months ago

Illinois man charged after telling police he shot himself in leg during dream about home intruder

LAKE BARRINGTON, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man is facing firearm charges after he told officers he accidentally shot himself in the leg while dreaming that an intruder was breaking into his home, police said. The Lake Barrington man was charged about two months after Lake County Sheriff’s deputies were called to his home […]
10 months ago

Officers round up hundreds of pigs from overwhelmed Florida animal sanctuary

CANTONMENT, Fla. (AP) — Animal control officers rounded up more than 600 pigs from an animal sanctuary in Florida after their overwhelmed owner called for help. It took nearly four days for officers in Escambia County to capture so many pigs on the 8-acre (3.2-hectare) property used by In Loving Swineness Sanctuary, said John Robinson, […]
10 months ago

Alabama governor signs legislation naming Yellowhammer Cookie as official state cookie

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama now has an official state cookie: The Yellowhammer Cookie. Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday signed legislation naming the confection created by a Montgomery fourth-grader as the official state cookie. Students at Montgomery’s Trinity Presbyterian School came up with the idea of a state cookie. Fourth-grader Mary Claire Cook submitted the […]
10 months ago