LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Officials said an elaborate marijuana growing site was found in an industrial building 25 feet from the back door of the Topanga police station in Los Angeles, and three people are under arrest. Officer Karen Rayner said the pot was discovered Wednesday when a search warrant was served at an address adjacent to the station in Canoga Park----More

Pennsylvania - An intoxicated Carlisle woman went to the Cumberland County Prison and demanded to be arrested “so she could help the prisoners inside,” police in Middlesex Township said. Police said Janet L. Ritter, 67, pulled into the prison parking lot at 4:19 p.m., locked her car and left the headlights on, then went to the jail’s front door and demanded to be admitted. While she didn’t get into the prison, police said Ritter was charged with drunken driving, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and trespassing.....More

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) -- Moldova's army is feeding its soldiers onions and garlic to help them ward off swine flu.

Defense Ministry chief doctor Col. Sergiu Vasislita says about 0.9 ounces (25 grams) of onions and 0.5 ounces (15 grams) of garlic will be added to each soldier's daily diet. That roughly corresponds to a small onion and a couple of garlic cloves...More

SEATTLE, Washington - Police in Seattle said an intoxicated man overestimated his own ninja skills and impaled himself on a fence post. Investigators said an officer heard screams at about 11:15 p.m. and found the man impaled on a spike atop a 4- to 5-foot-tall fence. Fire Department responders freed him....More

Georgia - A teacher reportedly has been placed on paid administrative leave after being charged with making terroristic threats against a 16-year-old student. Randolph Forde was arrested after being accused of asking the student at Mundy’s Mill High School whether or not he was gay, threatening to hit the student and later offering another student money to kill the boy. Citing a police report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Forde asked another student to “put a hit” on the teenager. “The suspect advised the witness that he would pay him to kill the victim....More

NEWARK, New Jersey - A small-time actor and former children’s entertainer who was known for playing Santa Claus was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for his role in an international sex tourism ring that preyed on young children. Wayne Nelson Corliss, whose 2008 arrest was the culmination of an international manhunt, had admitted traveling to Thailand three times between 2000 and 2002 to have sex with at least two boys, ages 6 and 9. He pleaded guilty to five counts that included distribution and possession of child pornography and traveling to foreign countries to engage in illegal sexual activity.....More

BURNET, Texas - On the first day of the trial of a cook accused of spitting on a hamburger served to the Burnet police chief, jurors heard a recording of what Jaime Perez told an officer: “I did it,” Perez said on the recording. “That ain’t no lie.” However, Perez’s attorney, Tim Cowart, said during the trial that there was no physical evidence against his client. All the prosecution has, Cowart said, is that Perez “mouthed off” to a few people. Perez is charged with harassment of a public servant, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison...More

Des Moines - police are looking for a pair of burglars, one of whom reportedly was naked when discovered by a homeowner. Javier Pagannazario, 29, told police his wife, Genoveva, was awakened by footsteps upstairs. Javier went upstairs to investigate and found a man asleep on his couch. The man jumped up and ran out the front door. Genoveva, meanwhile, confronted a woman on the lower level. The intruder was described in a police report as a large woman who was naked. She ran out a back door.....More

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio jeweler says thieves who smashed their way into his store and got away with rings are in for a surprise when they try to sell them. Henry Triplett of Henry's Jewelers in Toledo says what appeared to be thousands of dollars in gold rings in his display cases were actually rings made of brass and worth barely 25 cents apiece----...More

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) -- A young Cincinnati Bengals fan has been penalized for clipping. Dustin Reader got the NFL team's stripes and "B" insignia cut into his hair as a tribute to the team's good season. When he showed up to school in the southwest Ohio city of Hamilton on Monday, officials put the eighth-grader into in-school suspension. The school said its code of conduct prohibits extreme and distracting hairstyles---More

ATHENS, Tennessee - When Ricky Butler went to sleep on a rural, East Tennessee roadside, he didn’t have to worry about comfort but apparently he was feeling insecure. McMinn County deputies found the 31-year-old Decatur man sleeping on his back in a roadside ditch, with a loaded rifle on his chest and an almost empty jar of moonshine in the bib of his overalls. Butler told deputies who woke him up that he didn’t know where he was. He also told them the jar had been full....More

HONG KONG - Thousands of Chinese women are vying to attend a lavish ball in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, lured by the dream of a possible fairytale match with a millionaire. More than 7,000 women from all over the country are applying for one of just 40 tickets to attend China’s version of Cinderella’s ball, where several multi-millionaires will pay around $5,400 for the privilege of meeting them. “There are more and more single women in China nowadays who just want to find a good man. And if this man has money, that’s much better.”---More

PALM SPRINGS, California - A Palm Springs man who was never in the military has been charged with wearing the Navy’s highest honor. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles say 39-year-old Steven Burton was photographed wearing the Navy Cross along with the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and other medals. The U.S. attorney’s office said that a Navy commander attending her high school reunion noticed Burton wearing a Marine uniform with the medals and contacted the FBI.....More

New York - A prominent Columbia architecture professor punched a female university employee in the face at a Harlem bar during a heated argument about race relations. Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges. The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about “white privilege” with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also white when fists started flying, patrons said....More

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- It was just a routine car wash. Except there was no car - and no clothing. Four Australian men who allegedly undressed and soaped up at a car wash have been charged with exposure and public nuisance. Police said the men paid for a wash before stripping nude and cleaning themselves in the soapy water while their female companions took photos....More

The Tyrants


The tyrants are on the loose again;
They hate all but their own.
They give their lives to kill us,
To scatter our blood and bone.


They care not whom they murder,
Whether woman, man or child;
Their minds are full of fury;
Their sickness has gone wild.


To rule the world with violence
Is their one and only goal;
Terror is their method;
They want complete control.


We’ve seen it all before,
And we could not let it be;
We gave our lives for freedom,
For the world, and for you and me.


We fight all forms of oppression,
Helping victims far and near,
To keep the world from chaos,
To protect what we hold dear.


America’s the only country
That gives with its whole heart,
And asks so very little;
We always do our part.


So let’s unite again
To subdue our newest foe,
Whatever we must do,
Wherever we must go.


Let’s show the world once more
That America is blessed
With people who are heroes,
Who meet each and every test.


By Joanna Fuchs

TYLER, Texas (AP) -- Police said an East Texas man has outsmarted himself in trying to get a quicker response from officers to an alleged assault. Tyler police said 38-year-old Mark Anthony Johnson called 911 on Monday night and reported that he'd just committed a homicide and was armed with a weapon...More

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A Richmond man will have to live more than a month in one of his neglected rental houses as punishment for failing to maintain his properties. Oliver Lawrence was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail, followed by 40 days in home incarceration at a small, single-story house owned by his company, Bayou Properties. He also was fined more than $177,000...More

MANATEE, Fla. (AP) -- A man was charged with domestic battery and illegal dumping after authorities said he pushed his girlfriend's car into a river. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office reported that a 36-year-old man and his live-in girlfriend were arguing in her car Sunday night when he kicked her out and drove off. Witnesses reported seeing the man a short time later at a nearby boat ramp, pushing the car toward the water....More

Alaska - The owner of this 1958 Piper Cub - a wood-and-fabric taildragger popular with backcountry pilots - had been on a long fishing trip and after landing one day neglected to clean the aircraft properly. The fishy aroma attracted a passing grizzly bear who, clearly frustrated at not being able to see the lovely fish it could smell, took the plane apart in an effort to find it. Aircraft fabric is no match for bear claws. The bear also chomped both tires for good measure, then departed the scene......More

CHICAGO, Illinois - A woman who lived for years with an alleged serial killer said she never suspected the putrid smell at their Cleveland, Ohio home came from decomposing bodies, after being told the stench came from a sausage factory. Police have unearthed the remains of 11 women in and around the house where Lori Frazier lived with , who was indicted in the case that led to the discoveries of the bodies. “Yeah, I smelled stuff, but he told me at first it was his stepmother downstairs and then I guess after she left he told me it was Ray’s Sausage,” a factory next door, Frazier said. ....More

CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago police said a West Side man who allegedly tried to walk out of a store with three expensive bottles of champagne under his jacket now has 63 arrests under his belt. Officers said the 70-year-old man was initially charged with misdemeanor retail theft, but the charge was upgraded to a felony Monday after authorities look over his extensive police record, which included 62 prior arrests.---...More

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- Prosecutors charged the co-owner of a Hermantown construction company with allegedly assaulting a construction worker with a backhoe. The criminal complaint said a 48-year-old man told investigators he wanted to "nudge" the victim, but didn't want to hurt him. He also said it was a stupid thing to do---...More

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- A Eugene man fighting a home intruder to defend his mother and young children was bitten by a police dog after officers mistook him for the prowler they had been chasing through the neighborhood. Tim Crossan told The Register-Guard he broke his hand on the intruder's face during the fight, just before police burst in and sent the dog after him---...More

Sahara Desert - Herodotus wrote of a 50,000-man strong army that set out on foot into the Egyptian desert in 525 B.C. and was never heard from again … until today. A pair of Italian archaeologists have uncovered bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are hopeful that they’ve finally found the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Cambyses II and his armied were buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C....More