SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons involving the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver. But this week, the self-driving taxis are the bearer of happier news […]
BISHOPVILLE, S.C. (AP) — ’Twas three weeks before Christmas, and in the prison yard, a drone-dropped package was found by a guard. With steak, weed and crab legs, and cigarettes for days. And to season it all, a tin of Old Bay. The illicit meal was dropped into the Lee Correctional Institution prison yard by […]
BRIGHTON, Mich. (AP) — Ed Bambas will soon ring up his last can of corn. The 88-year-old Michigan grocery worker was handed an oversized check for $1.7 million Friday, the result of a remarkable fundraising campaign by a young Australian man with an extraordinary following on social media. “No, no,” Bambas said, wiping tears and […]
CHRISTIANA, Tenn. (AP) — At the start of a busy holiday week filled with hours of travel, Jordan Gullotta went to a place that has given her comfort and a sense of peace. At The Gentle Barn, an animal rescue organization in Tennessee that offers animal-based therapy, she can brush a friendly cow or give […]
A copy of the first Superman issue, unearthed by three brothers cleaning out their late mother’s attic, netted $9.12 million this month at a Texas auction house which says it is the most expensive comic book ever sold. The brothers discovered the comic book in a cardboard box beneath layers of brittle newspapers, dust and […]
A Michigan veterinarian was sentenced to 10 days in jail Monday for refusing to return a dog to a homeless man after finding the ailing pit bull mix tied to a truck. Amanda Hergenreder’s lawyer asked for 120 hours of community service for the misdemeanor larceny conviction. But Grand Rapids Judge Angela Ross said jail […]
CHICAGO (AP) — A pair of snowy owls spotted along a Lake Michigan beach has drawn curious crowds and sparked happy speculation about how long the Arctic birds of prey will call Chicago home. Word of the two owls has circulated on birder forums in the nation’s third-largest city for about a week, according to […]
A Missouri judge who wore an Elvis Presley wig in his courtroom and played the singer’s music from his phone during court proceedings has agreed to a deal that would cut his career on the bench short. Judge Matthew Thornhill in suburban St. Louis faces a six-month unpaid suspension under the deal he reached with […]
BRYSON CITY, N.C. (AP) — A motorist in western North Carolina escaped injury when the carcass of a cat crashed into the passenger side of her front windshield along a highway near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In a call to 911, the unidentified driver on U.S. Route 74 in Swain County, near Bryson […]
HOUSTON (AP) — A group of Buddhist monks in the middle of a 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) walk across the U.S. to promote peace planned to resume their journey after two of them were injured during a traffic accident near Houston, a spokesperson for the group said Thursday. The collection of about two dozen monks began their […]
ISLANDIA, N.Y. (AP) — Have a complaint about potholes or trash? Take it up at village hall. Just don’t email. Or call. A village in the New York City suburbs is no longer allowing people to make complaints electronically after town officials say they’ve been besieged by online grievances that have turned out to be […]
It was a foggy October afternoon on the central California coast when the Marine Mammal Center got a call on their public hotline: there were distressed cries coming from the frigid waters in Morro Bay. The center’s experts were able to determine that the calls — which sounded almost like a human baby screeching — […]
The first major blast of wintry weather in the U.S. this week brought snow, frigid temperatures and in some places something a little more magical: Frost flowers. Made of thin ribbons of ice that extend out in intricate patterns when frozen water breaks through the slits of certain types of plant stems, the icy blooms […]
BOSTON (AP) — It wasn’t a croc — there really was an alligator on the loose in Boston. And the story of the city’s slithering saurian appears to have a happy ending. The small alligator, spotted along the Charles River in Boston multiple times this week, has been rescued and delivered to safety, wildlife officials […]
DETROIT (AP) — The state of Michigan is giving up ownership of a rare relic from the famous Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck, just weeks after it strangely obtained it through a settlement in a lawsuit that was completely unrelated to the doomed freighter. Larry Orr is getting one of the ship’s life rings back — and […]
BOSTON (AP) — A dog trotting through a busy Boston tunnel narrowly missed being hit by traffic before state police rescued the wrong-way rover. Surveillance video from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation shows the black-and-white pup heading toward oncoming vehicles in the Ted Williams Tunnel on Thursday morning. With cars and trucks whizzing by, it […]
A bird sighting on New York’s Long Island has avian enthusiasts flocking to the region in hopes of spotting a feathered friend that has never been seen before in the state. The common cuckoo is typically found from Europe to Japan, with the majority of the population wintering in Africa. But one was recently spotted […]
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo had more tricks than treats to show when handlers gave it a small pumpkin to play with during an annual fall event where giant elephants smash half-ton pumpkins. Weighing just 775 pounds (351.5 kilograms), eight-month-old Asian elephant Tula-Tu is about the heft of one […]
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Dogs dressed up as everything from Elvis Presley to Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine went trick-or-treating in Michigan’s capital Friday as part of the annual Howloween event organized by a local pet store. The costumed canines made a loop through Lansing’s Old Town arts district, stopping outside restaurants, gift shops and jewelry […]
Ah, rats! Researchers think they have debunked the origin of Chicago’s so-called “rat hole,” one of the Windy City’s weirdest local landmarks. Hold on, now. The rat hole wasn’t what it you think. It wasn’t some back alley bar that served as a speakeasy for the city’s notorious gangster clientele or a tenement stuffed to […]
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Protesters rallying against the Trump administration in Portland put the city’s quirky and irreverent reputation on display Sunday by pedaling through the streets wearing absolutely nothing — or close to it — in an “emergency” edition of the annual World Naked Bike Ride. Crowds that have gathered daily and nightly outside […]
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans family cleaning up their overgrown backyard made an extremely unusual find: Under the weeds was a mysterious marble tablet with Latin characters that included the phrase “spirits of the dead.” “The fact that it was in Latin that really just gave us pause, right?” said Daniella Santoro, a […]
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In the contest for best scrapple sculpture in Philadelphia on Friday it was the “Mush Push” fashioned from the regionally popular pork breakfast meat that got Patrick Moser’s entry over the goal line. The Norristown tattoo artist’s tribute to the Philadelphia Eagles’ trademark short yardage play, known as the “tush push,” took […]
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Century-old wreaths made from human hair fill the walls of Leila’s Hair Museum, and glass cases overflow with necklaces and watch bands woven from the locks of the dead. There also are tresses purported to come from past presidents, Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe and even Jesus. For about 30 years, this […]
