Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Pretty in PINK
An environmental artist in Fargo, N.D., says she paints the snow on her home's yard a different color each time flakes fall.
While Fargo resident Stevie Famulari's front yard currently is pink, the landscape architecture professor at North Dakota State University is eyeing purplish blue snow for the next snowfall.
Famulari's color scheme, which includes darker colors as winter progresses, is intended to unveil a colorful rainbow when the snow finally melts.
"It'll be a beautiful rainbow when it comes back," she said. "Happily, I don't expect it to melt at the same rate so the front of the yard may reveal the pinks or the purples sooner, the back of the yard will still be the blacks and the blues."
Famulari said while some enjoy her colorful lawn and others are less supportive, it does serve as an intriguing conversation starter.
"Either way, it causes controversy and it causes people to talk and talking causes change," she said. "Like it or hate it, at least it's discussed."
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Man goes to jail over New Years with relatives
A Sicilian man stole sweets and a packet of chewing gum so he could get arrested and spend New Year's Eve in a jail cell rather than be with his wife and relatives.
The 35-year old Sicilian first showed up at a police station on Thursday asking to be arrested because he preferred spending the night in prison rather than with his family, but was rebuffed because he had not committed a crime.The man immediately went to a tobacco shop next door, where he threatened the owner with a box cutter as he grabbed a few sweets and a packet of gum. He then waited until police arrived to arrest him for robbery.
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Blowing a .708 BAC
An absolutely bombed South Dakota woman - found passed out in stolen cars twice this month - had a blood alcohol level nearly nine times the legal limit,
A Sturgis woman had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found earlier this month behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle parked on Interstate 90, according to Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal.
A South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper discovered Marguerite Engle, 45, on Dec. 1 passed out behind the wheel of a delivery truck reported stolen in Rapid City.
Her blood-alcohol level was almost nine times South Dakota’s legal limit of .08 percent.
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Man robs gas station wearing panties
On Monday night, a man robbed the Clark Oil gas station. Police say the male entered the business with a pair of women's panties on his head.
Inside the store, he grabbed a female customer around the waist and walked her closer the checkout counter. He pointed the long knife towards the two employees standing behind the counter and demanded all of the money, cigarettes and a lighter.
Even though the suspect attempted to hide his identity, the employees and witness was able to provide a good description of the suspect.
Based on that description officers began watching for Larry Bernard near his residence on Ohio Street. They found Bernard staggering in an alley near his home.
Officers found a large amount of money, two packs of cigarettes and a lighter. The items matched those described as being taken during the robbery. The panties and gloves were also found in the suspects pockets.
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