CHICAGO — Maybe you’ve heard this story before. Or dreamt it.

Man cleans out old lottery tickets from cookie jar, and instead of throwing them away takes them to the 7-Eleven to check them out. And finds one of them is worth millions.

It gets better for Ricardo Cerezo of Geneva, Ill. He says his family was facing eviction and he’ll use the winnings — $4.85 million — to pay...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In a high-flying, perfectly pitched first, an astronaut on the International Space Station is bowing out of orbit with a musical video: his own custom version of David Bowie’s "Space Oddity."


It’s believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA.


Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield’s personalized rendition of "Space...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah tagger who was so proud of his graffiti that he posted photos of his artwork on Facebook has been arrested after police sent him a friend request through a fake online profile.

Police say 20-year-old Matthew Todakonzie of North Salt Lake posted more than 150 photos on a private Facebook page titled "graffiti." He agreed to share them online with undercover detective who tracked down dozens that carried the unique...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

MEDFORD, Ore. — A team of smokejumpers parachuting into a fire in the mountains of Southern Oregon landed in an illegal marijuana garden being prepared for growing season.

The six smokejumpers from a base in Redmond found the site Monday evening, when there was a rash of lightning strikes.

Jackson County sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Carlson says the smokejumpers notified authorities, who hiked into...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Intel workers secretly taped a "Kick Me" sign to the back of a co-worker as a prank, then kicked the confused man a number of times as employees at the Rio Rancho Intel plant laughed hysterically at the episode, according to a federal lawsuit.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

WASHINGTON -- Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. They will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

SEATTLE -- In sun-deprived Washington state, the promise of nice spring weather prompted a small private school to give students a day off to enjoy the sunshine. Friday is a "sun day" of sorts for the 205 students at Bellingham Christian School, a small private Christian school in Bellingham.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

NEW YORK -- A man who dresses up as Cookie Monster in Times Square turned down a plea deal in a New York City case accusing him of shoving a 2-year-old after his mother refused to tip him.Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.The Daily News reported the plea deal would have let him off with two years of anger management counseling and two days of community service.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

Lawyer Robert Miller has visited five prisons and 17 jails in his lifetime, but he has reviewed only three of them on Yelp. One he found "average," with inexperienced and power-hungry officers. Another he faulted for its "kind of very firmly rude staff." His most recent review, a January critique of Theo Lacy jail in Orange County, Calif., lauds the cleanliness, urban setting and "very nice" deputies.

Miller gave it five out of five stars.

"I started reviewing...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The idea behind the Tampa Women's Club charity event was simple. For $20, you could buy a flute of champagne and a chance to win a one-carat, $5,000 diamond.Organizers of the Saturday event placed $10 cubic zirconia stones in the bottom of 399 of the 400 champagne glasses. The prized diamond, donated by Continental Wholesale Diamonds, was placed in the last.The problem? Eighty-year-old Miriam Tucker accidentally swallowed it.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

SEATTLE -- A Renton man has been arrested on charges he sold fraudulent Dale Chihuly glass sculptures to a collector who planned to donate them to Gonzaga University.Michael Little was arrested Thursday and was appointed a public defender during an appearance in federal court. The 35-year-old was released on bond.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop helped a neighbor woman escape a Tuesday morning attack by a man who had been stalking her.

Kent Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged in front of their house. The 47-year-old father of six rushed out the door and grabbed the weapon closest to him — a 29-inch high carbon steel Samurai sword.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

SALEM, Ore. -- You can walk but you can't run at three national wildlife refuges in the Willamette Valley and new signs are warning visitors of the rule.A "no jogging" sign has been put up at a popular trailhead at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge and the regulations also apply at Ankeny and William L. Finley refuges.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Sixteen Lane County inmates walked free in the middle of a news conference on Friday, part of an event designed by an Oregon sheriff to emphasize the need for more money at his jail."We are releasing nearly 100 (inmates) a week, and we specifically timed this event so you can see this event firsthand," said Sheriff Tom Turner. "We do this every day."

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

You meet someone, there's chemistry, and then come the introductory questions: What's your name? Come here often? Are you my cousin?

In Iceland, a country with a population of 320,000 where most everyone is distantly related, inadvertently kissing cousins is a real risk.

A new smartphone app is on hand to help Icelanders avoid accidental incest. The app lets users "bump" phones, and emits a warning alarm if they are closely related. "Bump the app before you...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

BOSTON — The caffeinated concoctions sound like something out of a mad scientist's lab: coffee infused with bacon or caramelized tangerine; spiced orange reduction or liquefied cheesecake.

After months of preparation and percolation, the country's top baristas are giving it their best shots in Boston.

The U.S. Barista Championship got...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

PARIS — The Louvre was closed Wednesday after its workers walked off their jobs to protest what is said to be a rising problem of pickpockets haunting the famed Paris museum's vast galleries.

Louvre spokeswoman Sophie Grange was unable to say when the museum, which normally attracts up to 30,000 visitors a day at this time of year, would reopen. Museum staff organized the...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

BUTTE, Mont. — So the goat that walked into a Montana bar last weekend ... was stolen from a petting zoo.

Fairmont Hot Springs Resort general manager Steve Luebeck says staffers knew the goat was missing but didn't realize it had been stolen until they saw a story in The Montana Standard on Wednesday reporting that a goat had been taken into a Butte bar early Sunday.

The pygmy goat, named Shirley, was...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

LONDON — Could a Roman gold ring linked to a curse have inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to create The One Ring?

Britain's National Trust and the Tolkien Society are putting the artifact on display Tuesday for fans of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" to decide for themselves whether this was Tolkien's precious ring of power.

Found in a field near a historic Roman town in southern England in 1785, the gold ring is inscribed in Latin, "Senicianus live well...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

BERLIN — Justin Bieber had to leave a monkey in quarantine after landing in Germany last week without the necessary papers for the animal, an official said Saturday.

The 19-year-old singer arrived at Munich airport last Thursday. When he went through customs, he didn't have the documentation necessary to bring the capuchin monkey into the country, so the animal had to stay with authorities, customs spokesman Thomas Meister said.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

CASHTON, Wis. — An Illinois man accused of stealing 21 tons of Wisconsin cheese has been arrested in New Jersey.

New Jersey authorities say the 34-year-old man from Plainfield, Ill., was arrested Tuesday afternoon.

New Jersey State Police Lt. Stephen Jones said Wednesday the man was driving a refrigerated truck carrying 42,000 pounds of Muenster cheese. Jones says the...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Sometimes a mop sink is just a mop sink.In Tennessee, legislative staffers and building managers have sought to reassure a few concerned lawmakers that recent state Capitol renovations didn't install special facilities for Muslims to wash their feet before praying. State officials say a new sink is instead meant to make it easier for custodial staff to fill buckets and clean mops.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Fifty-two bottles of well-aged whiskey disappeared between his lips, police said, and now it's time for a western Pennsylvania man to settle up.

John Saunders, the former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion, faces criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner's whiskey.

Owner Patricia Hill found nine cases of whiskey hidden in the walls and...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

VATICAN CITY -- One of the Vatican's main Twitter accounts and the website of its communications office have apparently been hacked.

The website of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications on Thursday was running a fabricated lead story with the headline "Holy Switcheroo: Batman has grown bitter, more vengeful with the years."

The office's Twitter handle (at)pccs--va sent a tweet with that headline and a link to the story.

Vatican officials...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

PORTLAND, Maine — Thieves are illegally tapping maple trees on private property in Maine and stealing sap that is used to make maple syrup.

Forest Ranger Jeff Currier says the Maine Forest Service has gotten a dozen complaints from landowners finding taps in their trees with buckets or jugs underneath to collect the sap.

Currier says he first started getting sap theft reports about five years ago, but...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

METAIRIE, La. — Authorities in Louisiana say they tracked a man accused of stealing drugs from a pharmacy because he left behind a pickax he used to break in — and forgot to remove the price tag.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Col. John Fortunato says the sticker included a bar code indicating when and where the pickax was bought. The store had video of the purchase.

Fortunato tells The...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — An Iowa City police officer pulled over a speeding SUV — then helped the driver and his passenger deliver a baby.

When Officer Kevin Wolfe stopped the vehicle Sunday night, the driver jumped out and yelled, "Sir, we're delivering a baby right here, right now!"

Wolfe tells Cedar Rapids TV station KCRG (http://bit.ly/16urS2z ) that by the time...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Biscuit, the 37-pound tabby, has a new home.

Ed and Lisa Pyatt of Eureka, who already share their home with another fat cat named Max, are planning to bring Biscuit home next week.

"We adopted Max from the Humane Society about five years ago, and he needs a buddy," said Ed Pyatt. "Biscuit will be a perfect friend for him."

Workers at the city...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

INDEPENDENCE, Ore. -- Polk County authorities say it appears a burglar died when a rifle he'd just stolen was jostled and fired during a ride down a bumpy farm road.Detective John Williams says investigators found a shotgun and the rifle Sunday morning, side by side on the passenger-side floorboard of a stolen farm truck, barrels pointed at the driver.Williams says it appears that a lever on the shotgun got into the trigger guard of the rifle and fired it.

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.

PERTH, Australia -- Up to 15 miners were fired from their high-paying jobs in an Australian gold mine after a "Harlem Shake" performance underground was deemed a safety hazard, a newspaper reported on Monday.

A YouTube video shows eight miners wearing safety gear while performing the convulsive dance in the Agnew Gold Mine last week. The West Australian newspaper quoted a sacked worker who wouldn't give his name as saying up to 15 people were fired, including some who...

»» Click to continue reading this blog post.