Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

Theft suspect flees into police station
Police say a man suspected of stealing a bottle of Schnapps from a Wyoming grocery store didn't have the best escape route planned.
Riverton police say the 26-year-old ran out of the store after grabbing the bottle of booze and a package of cough drops Wednesday and hid in a nearby building, which happened to be the police station.
Police say the man then ran out of the police station, but not before a dispatcher had spied him on the station's surveillance camera and alerted officers.
The man, who police say was drunk, was caught soon after. He was taken into custody on preliminary charges of resisting arrest and shoplifting.
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£1m home trashed, after boy advertises party on Facebook
When they left their teenage son at home for the weekend, the Shuklas thought he would spend a quiet evening with friends.
But they returned to find their £1million home had been destroyed by gatecrashers after their 16-year-old son advertised a party on Facebook.
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Jail confiscates drug-filled melon
Melons: do not naturally come filled with drugs
Officials at an American jail have intercepted an illicit cantaloupe sent to inmates - and discovered that it was full of drugs.
Prison officers at the Chelan County Regional Justice Center in Washington state first spotted that there might be something dodgy about the drugs-melon when they spotted that there was a noticeable cut around the top.
Upon examining the fruit more closely, they discovered a bag full of oxycodone pills, as well as some tobacco, had been hidden inside.
The melon was part of a delivery of surplus food from a local grocery store, which is regularly sent to the jail.
Surveillance camera footage from the store showed two women dropping off a shopping bag containing the drugs-melon, which was placed with the rest of the surplus food. Store workers alerted the jail that there might be a naughty fruit in the delivery after seeing the suspicious behavior on the camera footage.
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Trouser-stuffing lotion thief was not a smooth criminal
A man who stuffed 75 bottles of body lotion down his trousers failed to make a clean getaway, as he was somewhat hampered by slacks that were nearly bursting at the seams.
Police in Springfield, Massachusetts, say 30-year-old Chamil Guadarrama was charged with larceny after the incident at Bath and Body Works store.
Guadarrama had reportedly tied string around his ankles to stop the bottles slipping out.
Police say mall security officers chased Guadarrama when he tried to flee - but he had stuffed so many of the eight-ounce glass bottles of lotion in his trousers that he could barely run.
Police added he could not bend over to get in the police car until some of the bottles were removed. His legs were also 'extremely chafed', according to police spokesman Sgt. John M. Delaney. 'He needed the use of some of the stolen items.'
The total amount of lotion he attempted to steal came to about 5 gallons, and was worth $787.50 (around £500).
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Man 'operated on his own dog because vet too expensive'
A man who claimed he could not afford medical care for his dog has been charged with illegally operating on the pet.
Alan MacQuattie, from Barrington, in the north-eastern state of Rhode Island, removed a cyst from the leg of his 14-year-old yellow Labrador-mix.
But professional veterinarians had to operate again after an infection developed following the first surgery.
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Man Slams SUV Into Gas Station
Police in Alabama charged a man with attempted murder after he drove his truck through the window of a service station. He had to be subdued with a stun gun. Police say he was angry he had to pre-pay.
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Get Paid to Get High
New York College Receives $390,000 in Stimulus Funds to Study the Effects of Malt Liquor and Marijuana on Adults.
100 people will be paid $45 a day for three weeks by taxpayers to drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana.
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Italian judge fines parents of rapists for failures in upbringing
The parents of Italian children who commit violent crimes face the threat of crushing financial penalties following a landmark ruling by a judge in Milan. The mothers and fathers of five teenage boys who repeatedly raped a young girl have been ordered to pay her compensation totaling €450,000 because of their failure to give their sons an "education in feelings and emotions". Judge Bianca La Monica awarded the damages against all the boys' natural parents, including those who had separated from their partners and no longer had custody of their sons.
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