In the News

Stop thief! Come back with my 14-foot inflatable snowman
Debbie Crutcher called police on Friday, and the first thing she had to say was: "Please don't laugh."
Because to her, a stolen snowman is not funny.
Crutcher had set a 14-foot inflatable snowman and some other seasonal characters in her aunt's front yard, in hopes of giving holiday cheer to a 74-year-old woman who had recently moved to Florida.
But on Friday morning her aunt backed out of her driveway and noticed the snowman and his giant candy cane had vanished. So had the electric fan that was inside the snowman. An extension cord had been unplugged.
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Texting surpasses 6,000 monthly limit
A 16-year-old New Zealand girl who is allowed a substantial 6,000 text messages per month says she often goes over her limit and has to bum phones from friends.
Wellington High School student Hannah Brooke said her text plan, which costs $17 monthly, is not enough to satisfy her 260 texts-per-day habit, The Dominion Post reported Tuesday.
"I have three phones and I run out of texts all the time. It's just like all day," she said.
Brooke said her texting, which she pays for out of her own pocket, is mostly just to keep up to date on daily goings-on.
"Just everyday things -- `What are you up to? Where are you? What's up?' Just normal stuff," she said. "If you have nothing to do, you usually text more. I guess I just text for the sake of it."
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Lawn Care
All that weeding, watering and mowing, it's so much trouble to keep your lawn looking good.
So here's an easier solution paint it green.
He got the idea for his business -- First Coast Greener Grass -- by watching an NFL pre-game show.
"I saw a man in the background painting the end zone of a football field," said Rigsbee. "I then thought to myself, why not paint lawns that are dead and dormant and make them green again?"
He uses a non-toxic liquid dye, he says.
The job lasts several months in the winter and a few weeks in the summer, when rain is more frequent.
His customers are often folks who are trying to sell their homes. One recent customer: a woman who was having family over for Thanksgiving.
Painting a typical 2,500 square foot lawn costs about $175.
It's one way to make your neighbors see green.
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City bans mayor from working late
Councillors in California have passed a curfew on their own mayor because they don't like her working late at night.
Blanca Figueroa, the mayor of South El Monte, a suburb east of Los Angeles, must now vacate city hall by 11pm.
Councillors said they had concerns about safety and liability regarding the work schedule of the mayor, who frequently worked until the early hours of the morning.
But Ms Figueroa says the curfew is unfair as she needs to work late to catch up on paperwork because her days are filled with meetings.
She also says her workload has increased over recent months due to the economic downturn worrying constituents.
"My job is 24/7," the mayor, who has been in office since 1997, told the Los Angeles Times.
"I have more work to do now than ever. If I let it go by, it piles up. Do I have a private life? No. Even on Thanksgiving I was here. I'm mentally exhausted, but it is my service to serve the city."
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Roller Coaster Pregnancy
A barmaid didn't know she was pregnant til she went into labor - days after being flung around on white knuckle rides at Alton Towers.
Issy McMurdo, 21, from Leamington Spa, thought it was something she'd eaten when she went to hospital with excruciating stomach pains.
"It was a massive shock when they gave me a scan and told me I was in labor. I simply had no idea I was pregnant. I just thought I'd put on a little bit of weight," she told The Sun.
"Then when my ankles swelled up I assumed it was because I was on my feet all the time at the pub.
"I even went to Alton Towers where pregnant women are warned not to go on the rides. I was flung upside down on the Air ride at speeds of up to 50mph and hurled down drops of 53ft. So it was quite lucky I didn't go into labor there!"
Issy, a slender six-footer, was still working grueling bar shifts before giving birth to 6lb 2oz Oscar. Boyfriend Harry Humber, 22, a university student, added: "Issy had terrible stomach pains after coming to my flat. Twenty-four hours later, our little boy was born.
"Oscar is the best Christmas present anyone could ask for. We are very lucky."
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Bailed-out bank pays £1.6bn bonuses
City workers at a firm that benefitted from the US bank bail-out are still to share in a multibillion-pound bonus pot, it has been confirmed.
Goldman Sachs revealed the figure, worth about £55,000 per employee, as it posted its first quarterly loss since becoming a public company in 1999.
A spokesman said the bonus pot, which will not be shared by the chief executive and six senior colleagues who have agreed to give up their perk, totaled £1.67 billion.
The US-based firm, which switched from being an investment bank to a bank holding company in September, lost £1.36 billion in the final quarter of this year.
A spokesman rejected reports that the bonuses could amount to as much as £4.3 billion - or £142,000 for each worker, including the 5,000-plus employed in London.
Salaries and benefits, including bonuses, were paid out of earnings, not capital, he added.
The firm defended the practice of paying out such bonuses, arguing it helped it to "attract and motivate" the best people.
The spokesman said: "We do think the bonuses are justified. Please bear in mind that the firm was profitable for the year. We have one of, if not the lowest compensation ratios in the industry and when the firm does well, our people do well, and the converse is also true."
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