Man drives car while 'walking' dog

A County Durham man Paul Railton, 23, of Annfield Plain caught walking his lurcher through the window of his moving car has lost his license.
Railton, admitted breaching two counts of the Road Traffic Act, at Consett Magistrates Court on Monday.
In mitigation, his solicitor, Paul Donoghue, said: "He accepts it was a silly thing to do, just out of pure laziness."
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Just Signs

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Come and Get Us

Thieves mistakenly dialed 911 and gave their location away
Police in Daytona Beach Florida says two teenagers are facing charges after 911 dispatchers heard them talking about breaking into cars when one teen’s cell phone accidentally called 911 during a heist.
Daytona Beach police say 19-year-old Stefanie Vargas and a 13-year-old boy are charged with burglary to a conveyance.
Police spokesman Jimmie Flynt says dispatchers listened as the pair discussed what was worth taking while rummaging though a vehicle parked near a Daytona Beach nightclub early Sunday.
Officers went to the area and spotted the boy inside a vehicle. A police report says the pair tried to flee in a sport utility vehicle driven by Vargas. The report says both admitted to the robbery.
It’s unclear how the number got dialed.
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Bakery voluntarily recalls lemon Girl Scout cookies

They promise to entice the senses with a "hint of cinnamon-ginger spice" and a "refreshingly zesty lemon crème filling," but some batches of Lemon Chalet Crème Girl Scout cookies didn't quite turn out that way.
A Kentucky bakery that makes the cookies pulled some batches Thursday after about a dozen people complained of a foul smell and taste.
Little Brownie Bakers in Louisville, one of two bakeries in the U.S. that makes Girl Scout cookies, said Friday no one has gotten sick from the stinky, bad-tasting cookies sold in 24 states, and they are safe to eat.
The problem is caused by a breakdown of oils in the cookies, the bakery said on its Web site.
The cookies were distributed in Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
"We undertook a thorough investigation and determined that while the cookies are safe for customers to eat, they are not up to our quality standards," bakery spokeswoman Susanne Norwitz said in an e-mail.
A telephone call to the New York headquarters of Girl Scouts of America went unanswered. A message said the office was closed because of the snowstorm in the Northeast. An e-mail sent through the Web site was not immediately returned.
More than 30 different Girl Scout councils in the affected areas received the cookies, Norwitz said. The bakery contacted each council directly, she said.
The bakery still doesn't know why the oils broke down, she said.
Don Davis, vice president and general manager of manufacturer Little Brownie Bakers, said the cookies involved were distributed from a Louisville warehouse.
Customers who have purchased affected cookies can call their local Girl Scout council or (800) 962-1718. A message at that number said customers may receive a coupon for "a Keebler free product refund."
The affected batches have the following lot codes, located on the bottom of each cookie box and on the brown cases: 7455881, 7455882, 7455883, 7456741, 7456742, 7456743, 7457661, 7457662, 7457663, 7458521, 7458522, 7458523, 7459401, 7459402 and 7459403.
The other bakery that makes Girl Scout Cookies is ABC Bakers, a subsidiary of Interbake Foods LLC of Richmond, Va.
On the ABC Bakers Web site, the bakery said there were "no quality issues" with its version of a lemon-flavored cookie called the Lemonade.
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Catching Some Z’s

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Baby Orangutan

Elmo, the 4 day-old Borneo Orangutan.

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No ifs, ands or buts about it. .

D.C. hospital fires 11 nurses, 5 staffers for snowstorm absences
The District's largest private hospital has fired 11 nurses and five support staff members who failed to make it to work during the back-to-back snowstorms that paralyzed the region earlier this month.
Dozens of staff members at Washington Hospital Center face internal investigations, union representatives say, and it is unclear how many employees will lose their jobs.
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Man Trying To Get Unemployment

A man spent so much time on hold with a state unemployment agency trying to claim his benefits that he racked up a $700 cell phone bill.
Ernie Sanchez called the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, a government-run unemployment relief agency over a thousand times trying to get his unemployment money to cover his basic needs, but could not seem to get through. Now, he has to use almost all of the benefits to pay his Verizon bill. "It's almost the same amount for two weeks of benefits that I was trying to get," Sanchez said.
"The bill shows Sanchez made 1,114 calls to the unemployment office in one month. Some days, it took hundreds of calls to get through -- each call costing $0.45. When he would get through, he says he would be put on hold. One time, he was on hold for almost 3 1/2 hours." That one phone call cost Sanchez nearly $100.
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Woman driver caught flossing teeth at 70mph on motorway

Traffic police spotted the driver, 36, on the M4 motorway using dental floss to clean her teeth in her rear view mirror.
She was pulled over, lectured about careless driving and given a fixed penalty notice of £60.
Police say it is the latest example of people risking lives for a moment of high-speed vanity.
A spokesman said: "We've caught women applying lipstick, make-up and checking their hair in the mirror - and even men using an electric razor on their way to work.
"But this is the first time we've seen someone flossing their teeth at the wheel. It was a quite bizarre sight.
"It is particularly dangerous because you need to use both hands which clearly should be used to drive the car."
Experienced traffic police often say some people's driving is mental - but one joked: "On this occasion it was dental."
The woman was caught by Gwent Police near junction 24 of the M4 at Coldra, Newport, during an eight-day clampdown.
Officers in an unmarked police car caught 57 drivers committing offences on a stretch of the M4.
Only one was caught cleaning her teeth - and she accepted the fixed penalty fine instead of fighting the case.
Other offences included driving without a seatbelt, using a mobile phone, vehicle defects and a learner driver towing a load.
Inspector Lee Ford said: "It is very concerning that a number of drivers are driving irresponsibly and carelessly on our motorways.
"The potential risks not only risk the safety of the driver involved but also other road users."
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Down Under

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