NEWS & BLUES

 Curses, Foiled Again

After breaking into a St. Louis home and stealing several items, Damon L. Petty, 37, lingered to eat. The homeowner and a friend returned to find him frying bacon in the kitchen. They subdued him until police arrived. Petty pleaded guilty to burglary and received a seven-year prison sentence. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Police investigating a bank robbery in Southfield, Mich., arrested Todd Jason Kettler, 37, after the manager of a strip club in Kalamazoo Township reported a man was paying for lap dances with money covered in red dye, which banks use to mark stolen money. (Detroit Free Press)

Holiday Follies

After the jumbo video screen at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders football club, began displaying a burning yule log, the fire department received frantic calls reporting “a very bright flame, in some cases the smell of smoke,” deputy fire chief Gerard Kay said. The log video was changed to a thank-you message to fans, Roughriders CEO Jim Hopson said, adding that before turning on the fireplace scene, “Someone jokingly said, ‘Y’know, I don’t know about that yule log. Someone is going to think the stadium is on fire.’ Sure as heck, someone thought the stadium was on fire.” (CBC News)

Confetti used in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City contained shredded confidential police records from Long Island’s Nassau County Police Department. The paper strips included personal information, the identities of undercover detectives and details of Mitt Romney’s motorcade route to a debate last fall. “There are phone numbers, addresses, more Social Security numbers, license plate numbers, and then we find all these incident reports from police,” parade-goer Ethan Finkelstein, 18, said. The records were reportedly brought to the parade by a department employee, who tossed the easily identifiable documents with his family during the parade. (New York’s WPIX-TV)

Winner of the Next Nobel Prize

Eva Restaurant in Los Angeles began offering a 5 percent discount to customers who check their cell phones with staffers when they’re seated. Noting that nearly half the customers take advantage of the offer, owner Mark Gold explained the policy is an attempt to create an environment where diners connect to each other instead of to technology. (Associated Press)

Mensa Reject of the Week

Bank of America executive Jason Selch protested the firing of a colleague by bursting into a conference room and mooning his bosses. His subsequent firing cost him a contingent bonus package worth millions that would have vested only a few months later. Besides losing his job and the multimillion dollar bonus, Selch lost his lawsuit arguing he couldn’t be fired “for cause” because the mooning didn’t interfere with his official duties. (CNBC)

Identity Crisis

When the driver of a tour bus at Iceland’s Eldgja volcano reported a passenger missing, police began searching for a 5-foot-2 Asian woman who spoke English well. The search lasted from Saturday until around 3 a.m. Sunday, when one of the passengers who had joined the search party realized she was the person she was looking for. The unidentified 5-foot-2 Asian woman who spoke English well had changed clothes after getting off the bus, and neither the driver nor fellow passengers recognized her. (Britain’s Daily Mail)

News and Blues is compiled from the nation’s press. To contribute, submit original clippings, citing date and source, to Roland Sweet in care of The New Times.