News of the Weird newspapers illustration
Water Music
Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., tried a new venue for staging an opera on March 30 and 31: underwater. Breathe: A Multidisciplinary Water Opera featured dancers, percussionists, singers, a flute and other orchestral instruments—some above water, some below. Composer and musical director Loren Kiyoshi Dempster told WLUK TV he was skeptical at first. “It’s been kind of one of the great surprises of my life that you could play cello underwater,” he said. A device used by marine biologists to record underwater sounds delivered the music above the surface for audience members.
Oops!
Harris County, Texas, Civil Court Judge Bill McLeod, who was sworn in last November, accidentally resigned on April 1, but it wasn’t an April Fools’ joke. Reuters reported that McLeod shared his plan online to run for the state supreme court without realizing that such an announcement amounts to a resignation, according to the state’s constitution. McLeod himself did not comment on the gaffe, but county commissioners may be able to keep him in office until a special election can be held.
Dad Sets Fine Example
Where others see innocent little girls raising money for educational programs, some see an opportunity to pad their bank account. So it went for Brian Couture, 40, of Forest Grove, Ore., who is accused of going to elaborate lengths to skim more than $700 of Girl Scout cookie money from his daughter. Forest Grove police responded to a 911 call at Couture’s home on March 6, where the man said an intruder had entered his home and struggled with him. When police arrived, according to KPTV, Couture was “unresponsive” and was taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries, while K9 units set out to look for the thief around the neighborhood, alarming residents. Police said Couture later admitted to investigators that he had staged the whole thing, but at his hearing on March 29, he pleaded not guilty to initiating a false report. The money, according to a Girl Scouts spokeswoman, is still unaccounted for.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Twice the Dads, Twice the Money
In Cachoeira Alta, Brazil, Judge Filipe Luis Peruca handed down an unusual judgment in a paternity case that involved identical twin potential fathers. The mother of a young girl filed a paternity suit against “Twin A,” who accused “Twin B” of being the actual father, reported the BBC. DNA tests showed an equal probability for the two men to be the father, so Judge Peruca ordered them both to pay maintenance for the daughter. As a result, she will receive twice as much as she would with only one father. “One of them is acting in bad faith in order to hide the fact that he is the father,” the judge wrote. “Such vile behavior cannot be tolerated by the law.”
Filling ‘Scottholes’ in Michigan
The harsh winter left many city streets around the country riddled with potholes, but in Muskegon Heights, Mich., one 12-year-old boy is not waiting for the slow-moving government to fix them. Monte Scott started filling potholes around his neighborhood with dirt from his own backyard in late March. “I didn’t want people messing up their cars like my mom did,” Scott told WZZM-13. They “would have to pay like $600 to $700 to get their car fixed; they would be mad.” His mom, Trinell Scott, said, “That’s just the type of kid he is. He’s a good kid, and there are a lot like him in the community.”
Lesson Learned
At Secaucus High School in New Jersey, two freshman boys received charges of computer criminal activity and conspiracy to commit computer criminal activity—instead of extra credit points—after they crashed the school’s Wi-Fi network on several occasions to avoid having to take exams, authorities announced April 1. NJ.com reported that investigators believe the boys took requests from other students to jam the signals during specific times. “I was surprised on how a kid our age, or close to our age, was able to do something like this,” commented one 10th-grader, though she said arresting them seemed a little heavy-handed. “They are messing with people’s education, but they aren’t harming anyone,” she said. Superintendent Jennifer Montesano said the “system has been restored and is now fully operational.”
© 2019 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
