News & Blues

Curses, Foiled Again

Otis Belicario Keene, 34, admitted stealing $300 worth of items from the base exchange store where he worked at Hurlburt Field in Mary Esther, Fla., when loss prevention officers confronted him after he wore one of the items, a $7.99 watch, to work. A colleague recognized it as among the stolen items. (Fort Walton Beach’s Northwest Florida Daily News)

Kenneth Kenard Fortson, 21, and three other suspects in a home invasion in Riverdale, Ga., were fleeing, when their pickup truck overturned. Fortson died, but not from the accident. “He was found with a weapon in his hand,” Clayton County police Officer Eddie Soto said. “It appears he accidentally shot himself in the head.” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

After an unknown male broke a store window to gain entry and then stole a large quantity of cigarettes, police in Nashua, N.H., said bystanders Meretta Sperow, 36, and Amanda Primeau, 25, decided to take advantage of the situation, even though one of the women had already called 911 to report the initial crime. Responding officers charged the women with stealing cigarettes and lottery tickets. (Manchester’s New Hampshire Union Leader)

Where Doo-Wop Lives Forever

Pittsburgh public television station WQED announced it’s devoting a new channel to airing pledge drives from its archives of “several hundred hours,” dating back to 1993. Besides its own pledge shows, WQED Showcase intends broadcasting ones from other public stations. “A lot of people really like pledge programming,” station president Deborah Acklin insisted. (Current)

Do Bears Drive in the Woods?

Authorities said a bear broke into a 2002 Toyota Prius parked at a cabin in Lake Tahoe, Calif., then went on a rampage when it couldn’t figure out how to exit the vehicle. “You could look down and see the bear in the car, and its arms were just flailing all over the place, through the windows and everything,” said Brian McCarthy, 61, who watched with his family as the bear kicked, scratched, bit and tore at the car’s interior, ripped open the seats and bit a chunk out of the steering wheel. Then the bear shifted the Prius into neutral. It rolled backward out of the driveway, picked up speed, hopped a small rock wall and stopped on a neighbor’s porch steps. After the bear finally escaped, McCarthy reported the incident. “It’s definitely not a normal thing to hear about,” South Lake Tahoe police Lt. David Stevenson said. (Contra Costa Times)

Revenge of the Dead

When bow hunter Edward Garcia came across a bear lying still on the ground north of Gardiner, Mont., he poked it with a knife to see if it was dead. It was, but the carcass was resting on some live electrical wires, which, when Garcia’s knife touched them, caused a shock that badly burned Garcia’s torso, head and hands. The Park County Sheriff’s Office reported that Garcia walked two miles to find help and was flown to a burn center in Salt Lake City. (Associated Press)

Storm Clouds

Brett Cummins, 33, a TV weatherman in Little Rock, Ark., was found in an unfilled hot tub with a naked dead man. The victim, Dexter Paul Williams, 24, was wearing a chain around his neck that Maumelle police Officer Gregory Roussie described as “silver in color and consistent with what I believed to be a dog collar.” Although a witness said the two had been drinking and snorting drugs when they climbed into the hot tub, police filed no charges, saying foul play isn’t suspected. Cummins resigned his job with KARK-TV anyway. (New York’s Daily News)

Italian authorities charged seven scientists with manslaughter for failing to warn residents of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that killed 308 people in and around L’Aquila in 2009. The seven defendants are accused of giving “inexact, incomplete and contradictory information” after smaller tremors occurred in the six months leading up to the quake. (Associated Press)

Almost As Annoying As Robo-Calls

Authorities trying to collect delinquent property taxes in the Indian city of Bangalore dispatched workers to beat drums outside the homes and offices of people who owe money. “The more the noise, the more the embarrassment,” city corporation Commissioner Siddaiah said, explaining the city is owed nearly $40 million in unpaid taxes. “In a way, this is shock treatment.” (BBC News)

Depressing News

Although antidepressants are the second-most-prescribed drug in the United States, nearly half the people who responded to a California survey said they wouldn’t tell their doctor about symptoms of depression. Twenty-three percent said they feared that if they did, they would be prescribed antidepressants, which they avoid, according to University of California-Davis professor Robert Bell, the study’s lead author, because they worry about the drugs’ side effects. (National Public Radio)

Too Tempting to Ignore

While Arizona state prison inmate Dyan Castorena, 40 was assigned to an off-site job detailing cars at an auto auction in Tolleson, she stole a Toyota Camry from the auction and drove away. Authorities searched for six days before Salt River Pima Tribal Police nabbed her at a Scottsdale casino. (Phoenix’s KTVK-TV)

Drinking-Class Hero

A 21-year-old man walked into what he believed to be a casino and asked for some blackjack chips. It was actually the University of Nebraska-Lincoln police station. Sgt. John Backer said the desk clerk turned the man away, but he returned a few minutes later. This time, officers administered a Breathalyzer test. The unidentified man blew .273—more than four times the legal limit—and was placed in protective custody. (Hasting’s KHAS-TV)

Homeland Insecurity

Future computer-based combat likely will involve electronic strikes that cause widespread power outages and even physical destruction of thousand-ton machines, according to the head of U.S. cyber-warfare forces. Army Gen. Keither Alexander also warned that recent massive losses of private and public data to computer criminals and spies represent the largest theft in history, estimating the value of lost information as high as $1 trillion. (The Washington Times)

Florida authorities warned that Miami is being invaded by Giant African Land Snails. They grow as large as 10 inches long, leave a slimy trail of excrement wherever they go, harbor the microscopic rat-lung worm, which can transmit meningitis to humans, and “eat the stucco off the side of the house,” according to Richard Gaskalla of the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, who declared, “It’s us against the snails.” (NPR)

Honesty Is the Best Policy

Facing federal bribery charges for arranging a quarter-million dollar consulting contract for himself, Maryland Sen. Ulysses Currie, 74, was portrayed at his trial as too stupid to have planned such a scheme. Defense attorneys called as the first of several character witnesses former state lawmaker Timothy F. Maloney, who described Currie as “a wonderful person” and “nice” but insisted, “No one would call him smart.” 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo J. Wise questioned Maloney’s characterization, pointing to Currie’s background as a teacher and principal. “Did he get dumb when he went to the legislature?” Wise asked. The judge sustained the defense’s objection to the question. (The Washington Post)

Blowing in the Wind

Britain’s National Grid utility paid 11 wind farms $4.1 million to stop producing electricity for 8 1/2 hours in the wake of Hurricane Katia. The amount is 10 times greater than the wind farms’ owners would have received had they actually generated electricity. Explaining it feared high winds would cause the electrical network to become overloaded, National Grid said it would recover the money it paid the wind farms by raising consumers’ household bills. (Britain’s The Telegraph)

When Guests Can’t Take a Hint

Authorities charged Carl Preston Johnson, 50, with setting fire to his house in Horry County, S.C. Police Sgt. Robert Kegler said Johnson started the fire because some family members refused to leave the premises. (Myrtle Beach’s The Sun News)