Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

Women fined $100 a day for having a "Junk Yard"

An elderly Lake Mary woman is getting fined $100 a day because of junk and cars that have been sitting in her front yard.

The woman, Harriett Mixon who is nearly 90 years old, lives on Lakeview Avenue and has racked up more than $300,000 in fines in three years

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Business stuck with huge phone bill after being hacked

A Bellevue, Wash., business was victim of phone hackers, leaving it with a $90,000 bill, officials say.

Reliance Mortgage owner Hank Lo's average phone bill comes to about $1,000 a month. His most recent bill from his long-distance provider, Integra, however, was for almost $90,000, chalk full of international calls to North Korea and South Africa.

"I don't know anybody in North Korea or South Africa," Lo said.

The phone bill indicates that hundreds of calls were made to the two countries, which Integra admits is implausible.

The hackers targeted the mortgage company's PBX or switchboard, so when the international calls were placed, Lo would be billed for them.

Integra offered to take about $47,000 off of the bill, leaving Reliance responsible for the remaining $41,000, which the phone company offered a payment plan of $500 a month for the next seven years.

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Man sets house ablaze while cremating dog

A Dale City, Va., man accidentally set his house on fire while trying to dispose of the remains of his dead pet dog, officials say.

The owner of the large Rottweiler started the fire by putting pieces of wood next to its body and boosting the flames with gasoline.

Firefighters were called to the two-story, single-family home where they found smoke coming out the front of the house and flames from the outside to the attic in the back.

Prince William fire and rescue Battalion Chief Joe Robertson explained that the gasoline had pooled near the house, extending the flames to the home.

The blaze caused $70,000 worth of damage to the home.

Robertson said it was unclear why the owner, whose name wasn't reported, was disposing of the dog by cremating it or how the dog died.

The matter was being investigated and no charges had been filed.

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