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 […]
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — A dog named Eeyore turned into a rescuer, leading a Florida sheriff’s deputy to where a missing 86-year-old woman had fallen while walking him, bodycam footage shows. The woman’s husband reported her missing on the night of Sept. 25 after she didn’t return from her walk. “She just takes that dog, […]
Francine the calico cat is back home at a Lowe’s store in Virginia after going missing for a few weeks, hitching a ride on a truck that turned up at a sister facility in another state. Two employees from a Lowe’s in Richmond made the 90-minute drive early Monday to pick up Francine, who disappeared […]
ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — A bear surprised shoppers at a southern Arizona grocery store when it walked through the front door and ran around inside for a few minutes before exiting the building. Over the weekend, the bear was seen in the neighborhood near the Fry’s location and was spotted again Monday behind the […]
JAY, Vt. (AP) — Months before the first snow beckons skiers, sheep and goats are hitting the slopes in Vermont. Dozens of animals have been mowing down overgrown vegetation at Jay Peak near the Canadian border. They’re expected to clear 25 acres (10 hectares) over a five-week stint, an experiment officials say is worth a […]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police in Northern California were understandably perplexed when they pulled over a Waymo taxi after it made an illegal U-turn, only to find no driver behind the wheel and therefore, no one to ticket. The San Bruno Police Department wrote in now viral weekend social media posts that officers were conducting […]
A veterinarian who refused to return a dog to a homeless man after finding the ailing pit bull mix tied to a truck was convicted of theft Friday in western Michigan. Amanda Hergenreder took the dog on a two-hour drive to her clinic, where she cleared up a severe urinary tract infection and removed a […]
