Offbeat News

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (AP) — Apparently hungry and thirsty vandals have trashed a fairgrounds booth in Maine, stealing 120 whoopie pies and drinking half a gallon of iced tea. John Youney, a director of the Skowhegan Lions Club, tells the Morning Sentinel that a refrigerator full of cookies was also

MOORINGSPORT, La. (AP) — Sheriff’s deputies in Louisiana say an alligator took a bite out of one of their patrol cars. WBRZ-TV reports deputies were called Monday to Louisiana Highway 1 in Caddo Parish after someone spotted the gator in the middle of the road. The sheriff’s office

PHOENIX (AP) — An 81-year-old man who has spent most of his adult life behind bars for stealing from banks said he robbed a credit union in Tucson months after his release from prison because his monthly $800 Social Security payment wasn’t enough to live on, according to court

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) — A big-rig truck driver has been arrested after authorities spotted a phony license plate on his rig. How could they tell? Well, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department says the 1960s-style yellow-on-black plate had wobbly letters and numbers. Also, instead of

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say an 11-foot alligator busted through a kitchen window and broke several bottles of red wine in a Florida home before it was captured. Police tweeted that the gator was removed from Mary Wischhusen’s Clearwater condominium early Friday. No one was

PROVO, Utah (AP) — A puppy and its 43-year-old owner are recovering after getting trapped in a garbage truck. Provo Police Sgt. Nisha King said Tuesday officers rescued the man and his puppy after they got caught by the truck’s compactor mechanism. The unidentified man and puppy were

DENVER (AP) — A boulder the size of a house that tumbled across and gouged a southwestern Colorado state highway last month will stay put. State officials plan to rebuild the highway next to it, saving taxpayers money and possibly creating a tourist attraction. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said

CLEVELAND (AP) — An Indiana company is raising the ire of its neighbors in the Buckeye State with its marketing of an unscented Ohio candle with the description, “Not much to see. Not much to do.” The candle is being sold online by Fort Wayne company Simple Nature. Cleveland.com

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — It isn’t Australia but residents of a Mississippi town might be feeling like they’re down under. News outlets report that Jojo the kangaroo went missing from an elementary school in Gulfport Wednesday morning. Cody Breland of Wild Acres Wildlife Photography

OAK ISLAND, N.C. (AP) — A volunteer water rescue team saved an 8-year-old boy who floated away from the North Carolina coast on a raft shaped like a unicorn. News outlets report that the Ohio boy was at the beach on Oak Island on Monday when a gust of wind blew the raft nearly half a mile out