OFFBEAT NEWS
Last Update on March 18, 2010 05:31 EDT
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT
MONROE, Mich. (AP) -- Jennifer Cline has a new pen pal -- President Barack Obama. The unemployed 27-year-old mother from Monroe, Mich., wrote the president. But she never expected to get a response handwritten by the commander in chief. Her three-page letter on notebook paper detailed how her family was battling unemployment and health problems without insurance. She also wrote she was returning to college. The Detroit Free Press reports Obama thanked her for a "very kind and inspiring letter."
NCAA-AUSSIES
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Vegemite could be on the menu, as number-10 seed St. Mary's plays seventh-seeded Richmond today in the NCAA Tournament. Six of the players are Aussies. Five Australians play for St. Mary's, while one plays for Richmond. Of course, Australia is a huge country. St. Mary's forward Ben Allen says he doesn't know countryman Josh Dunker, who plays for Richmond. As for the Vegemite, it's a spread that Aussie kids eat like peanut butter.
MARIJUANA TRUCK
VERONA, Va. (AP) -- Nearly a ton of pot came as a surprise to workers at a Virginia company. Employees of American Safety Razor found 80 boxes in a shipment with bar codes that didn't match equipment orders. Augusta County Sheriff's deputies report the boxes contained 23 pounds of pot each. Investigators don't believe anyone at the company was supposed to get that pot shipment. Authorities think the load of marijuana originated in Mexico and was likely mixed up with a legit shipment.
ADVENTURE EATING
NEW YORK (AP) -- How about a little live octopus for dinner? Maybe some goat kidneys, too? It sounds good to Ben Raisher, who's a member of the Gastronauts. It's an adventure eating club in New York City. At this month's dinner, 50 Gastronauts ate at a Korean restaurant in Queens. They sampled live octopus and freshly killed raw lobster with claws still twitching. In between bites, Raisher said boring food bores him.
DUBAI-SEXY TEXTING
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Sexting is sending a couple to jail in the United Arab Emirates. An Indian couple working for Emirates airlines will spend three months in the slammer. Court documents say the steamy text messages showed the man and woman planned to "commit sin." The text messages surfaced in a divorce case filed by the woman's estranged husband. Earlier this week, a British couple said they will appeal a one-month jail sentence for exchanging a passionate kiss in a restaurant.
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