Natalia Harrell, 24, was arrested last July in Miami for allegedly shooting and killing Gladys Yvette Borcela, 28, as they rode in an Uber. Since then, she's been in the custody of the Miami-Dade Corrections Department -- along with her unborn child. Now, Michael O'Brien, the father of the child, has filed a petition claiming the baby has not been charged with a crime and is having its due process rights violated, NBC Miami reported. "I don't want the baby to be born prematurely or low birth weight," O'Brien said. "The conditions (in the jail) are terrible and I feel she's not getting the prenatal care she should be getting." He seeks the baby's immediate release. Officials replied that they are reviewing the care Harrell has received "to ensure that all prenatal care being provided in our custody is appropriate." [NBC Miami, 2/21/2023]

Irony

Police in Glemgormley, Northern Ireland, pulled over a Mini Cooper on Feb. 27 and asked the driver for proof of insurance, the Irish Mirror reported. After cagily searching around for the document, the driver admitted they didn't have insurance -- even though they were sporting a bumper sticker that cheekily asked, "My brakes are good!! Is your insurance?" The car was seized and the driver was issued a penalty for the lack of coverage. [Irish Mirror, 2/27/2023]

New World Order

Tired of your John Hancock looking like a child's scribble? Priscilla Molina of Los Angeles can help with that. The Associated Press reported that Molina's business, Planet of Names, will make over anyone's signature for between $10 and $55. People seeking her service are "not happy with their signatures. They don't relate to who they are. They don't give the message they want to convey to the world," Molina said. She designs up to 300 custom signatures per month, and offers a range of styles, from elegant and artistic to ... illegible. [AP, 2/28/2023]

My Kindom for an Editor

First it was a misspelling of Georgia O'Keeffe's name in New York City's new Grand Central Terminal. On Feb. 26, according to the Associated Press, the state's Department of Transportation installed a new sign in Queens to identify the Jackie Robinson Parkway, established in 1997. Robinson was the first African American player to compete in major league baseball. But the DOT forgot the C, spelling the baseball great's first name Jakie. The sign was quickly replaced with the correct spelling. [AP, 2/28/2023]

Unconventional Weaponry

In a puzzling attempt to draw attention to the climate crisis, three people defaced a woolly mammoth at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria, Canada, on March 1, the Times Colonist reported. A woman allegedly used her hands to paint the mammoth's tusks pink. A group called On2Ottawa has claimed responsibility for the vandalism; the painter, "Laura," says in a video posted online, "If the government does not enact a citizens' assembly to tackle the climate and ecological crisis in the next one to two years, then we will be traveling to Ottawa to demand one." The water-based paint was cleaned off the tusks and three people were arrested. [Times Colonist, 3/2/2023]

Oops

More than 40 high school students from the Barr Beacon School in Walsall, England, were stranded in the U.S. for four extra days after a ski trip to New Hampshire, the New York Post reported. It wasn't weather that shut down their travel, but the fact that the Kancamagus Lodge in Lincoln, New Hampshire, "accidentally" shredded 42 of their passports. Fortunately, head teacher Katie Hobbs, who was not on the trip, was on top of the situation and had the group move to New York City, where the British embassy was preparing emergency documents. In the meantime, the kids toured the city and took in the sights. "The silver lining is that they can have an amazing experience," said one parent. The lodge had no explanation for the destruction of the passports other than it happened by mistake. [New York Post, 3/1/2023]

Perspective

Hicham Argani, a police officer in Boxtel, Netherlands, was patrolling his neighborhood when he spotted an unidentified object in the sky, the Daily Star reported on March 1. He posted on Instagram about the "suspected 'spy balloon'" hovering over the Selissen district and followed it in his car. Finally, he decided to pull over to get a closer look at it -- which was when he realized the UFO was a blob of bird poo stuck to his windshield. Argani updated his post with his findings and an all-clear: "Boxtel is safe!" [Daily Star, 3/1/2023]

Compelling Explanation

A Peruvian man, 26-year-old Julio Cesar Bermejo, is being detained in Puno after police discovered a mummified human in his possession, People reported. Officers approached three men drinking in a park on Feb. 25 and noticed the remains inside a cooler delivery bag. Bermejo told them that he had brought the mummy to the park to show his friends; it had been in his family for decades. He said he named the remains "Juanita" and it was his "spiritual girlfriend." However, officials say the mummy is actually that of a 45-year-old man, and they've turned it over to Peru's Ministry of Culture. [People, 3/1/2023]

Repeat Offender

Rodolfo Santillan just can't stop burglarizing cars. On Feb. 21, he broke into a work van in Chicago while wearing an ankle bracelet for two pending car burglary cases, CWB Chicago reported. A passing police officer stopped and charged him with misdemeanor criminal trespass, and he left the police station at about 4:40 p.m. Two hours later, police were called to another van, where workers said they had found Santillan inside. He was also caught on video taking tools from a nearby car. Santillan was held without bail for violating bond in the previous cases. [CWB Chicago, 2/27/2023]

Cultural Diversity

According to the India Times, a wedding in Bhavnagar took an odd turn in late February when Hetal, the bride, fainted during the nuptials, then passed away at the hospital. Doctors said she suffered a heart attack. As the wedding festivities went on, the family came up with a novel idea: The bride's younger sister would marry the groom instead. City councilman Laxmanbhai Rathore called the event extremely sad and said the family was trying to set an example by not abandoning the groom and his family without a bride. One woman commented on Twitter: "Families cannot afford to let their wedding investment go in vain. Behind all that love and sanskaar is a very practical and businesslike family model." [India Times, 3/1/2023]

The Passing Parade

In Tsuruta, Japan, an annual sporting event was shuttered for three years during the COVID pandemic, but now it's back, Reuters reported. The Suction Cup Tug-of-War, in which pairs of bald men attach suction cups to their heads and pull in opposite directions, took place on Feb. 22, with the city's Bald Men's Club gamely competing. "My head still hurts," said Toshiyuki Ogasawara, 43. "I think I need to ice it!" The club welcomes people who "view baldness in a positive manner" and want to "brighten the world with our shiny heads," its website reads. This year's champion was Mr. Ota, who has won three consecutive times. [Reuters, 2/22/2023]

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LEAD STORY -- Can't Possibly Be True

A newly released report from the U.K.'s Air Accidents Investigation Branch has determined that an inflight incident on June 29, 2022, could have turned out "very different," CNN reported. On that day, a flying instructor slumped over on a pilot's shoulder as they flew a small plane above Lancashire, England. The pilot, who had asked the instructor to accompany him because of wind conditions that day, thought his cohort was "just pretending to take a nap" as a joke, but after landing the plane, he realized the instructor had died. The report noted that the instructor likely "suffered a cardiac arrest as the aircraft took off." [CNN, 2/22/2023]

Unclear on the Concept

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, 65, appeared before Australia's Health Care Complaints Commission in February to defend himself against charges relating to a brain tumor surgery he performed on a woman, ABC News reported. "I took out too much. I took out the wrong bit of the frontal lobe," Teo said. "I actually didn't know at the time. I'm learning from this case. It wasn't negligence. Maybe some ignorance on my behalf." The woman was left in a vegetative state and died several weeks later. Teo said one of the complainants against him had been "hoodwinked" and "coerced" into filing the charge by Teo's "enemies." "I did the wrong thing. Was that my intention? Absolutely not," he said. [ABC News, 2/20/2023]

Least Competent Criminal

Quanisha Manago, 28, of Kershaw, South Carolina, got a special delivery on Feb. 13, but it wasn't from Amazon. WHNS-TV reported that Lancaster County Sheriff's officers were tipped off about a package coming Manago's way with valuable contents: two large bricks of cocaine, weighing over 6 pounds. Working with other agencies, an undercover agent delivered the box to Manago's home, then watched as she stored it in her car and started to drive away. That's when she was arrested. Sheriff Barry Faile said the cocaine had a street value of more than $180,000. "Thanks to all who participated, it will never hit the street," he said, adding the packaged was shipped from outside the United States. [WHNS, 2/20/2023]

Government in Action

-- On Jan. 19 in Austin, Texas, Chris Newby was sleeping when "the whole house shook," he said. "It sounds like a plane hit the house." Instead, according to KXAN-TV, it was a car -- an impaired driver barreled through Newby's spare bedroom wall. "The entire room was just crunched," he said. Ten days later, Newby received a letter from the city informing him that he was in violation of two codes: "One for having a hole in my house and one for having no window," Newby said. The letter was dated the day of the crash and stipulated that he had 30 days to get repairs completed or face fines of up to $4,000 per day. "It felt tone-deaf to me," he said. "I'm in violation for being a victim." But Matthew Noriega, a division manager at the code department, said Newby has time: "If an extension is needed, we will give them that extension," he clarified. Still, Newby said Austin "feels a little less like home every day." Sad emoji. [KXAN, 2/20/2023]

-- In Florida, the state senate Democratic leader and canine fun-ruiner Lauren Book filed a piece of legislation that would make it illegal to let a dog "extend its head or any other body part outside" a moving car window, WTSP-TV reported on Feb. 21. The bill has other pet-related provisions relating to animal safety, including prohibiting pets riding in the open beds of pickups and drivers holding a dog in their lap. If passed, the bill will become law on July 1. [WTSP, 2/21/2023]

Weird Science

Just looking for a few minutes of peace and quiet? You might be tempted to step inside the anechoic chamber at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, Oddity Central reported. However, even if you were allowed to try it, you might find it unbearable -- it is the world's quietest place, at -20.3 decibels. (Calm breathing clocks in at 10 decibels.) "As soon as one enters the room, one immediately feels a strange and unique sensation which is hard to describe," said Hundraj Gopal, a speech and hearing scientist who helped design the chamber. "When you turn your head, you can hear that motion. The longest continuous time anyone has spent inside the chamber is 55 minutes," Gopal said. Microsoft uses the room to test microphones, receivers, headphones and speakers. [Oddity Central, 2/20/2023]

Awesome!

When friends presented tattoo artist Karen Green with a brand-new iPhone in 2007, she never even opened the box, CNN reported. She had recently upgraded her unsmart phone and didn't want to switch carriers, "and I figured it's an iPhone, so it'll never go out of date," Green said. On Feb. 19, Green's still-shrink-wrapped first-edition iPhone sold for more than $63,000 through an online auction with Louisiana-based LCG Auctions. Featuring a 2-megapixel camera and "sharp corners front and back," the phone sold originally for $599. Green will use the funds to support her tattoo business. [CNN, 2/20/2023]

(Not a) Fetish

Don't call Aakash Majumdar's attraction to balloons a fetish. The 28-year-old resident of Mumbai, India, identifies as "objectum sexual," meaning he's attracted to inanimate objects -- but not just sexually. News.com.au reported on Feb. 16 that Majumdar wakes up every morning and "makes out" with his balloons, which he sleeps beside. "I like their presence and warmth, and share intimate feelings with my balloons and vice versa," he said. "When you're in love, you spend a lot of time together and accept all kinds of flaws." Of course, being balloons, they're vulnerable: "One day while inflating a few balloons with a pump, a balloon got popped," he said. "I cried for the loss and after that, I became more careful." [News.com.au, 2/16/2023]

Great Art!

Nick Stoeberl, 33, was awarded a Guinness world record in 2012 for the male with the longest tongue (3.97 inches), United Press International reported, and now he's putting it to good use. Stoeberl, who's been dubbed Lickasso, is making paintings with his organ, selling them for up to $1,200 each. The California man said he wraps his tongue in plastic wrap first, then plies his art on canvas. "Why not express myself through that medium?" he asked. [UPI, 2/21/2023]

Bright Idea

Post-COVID, Carnival parades have resumed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and one unnamed man was ready to PAR-TAY! The Daily Mail reported that on Feb. 19, military police arrested a man wearing a 7-foot-tall penis costume and flip-flops; he had allegedly been chasing women in the city center and "acting suspiciously." [Daily Mail, 2/22/2023]

News That Sounds Like a Joke

Oh, to never be a teenager again. Around 1 a.m. on Feb. 20, a homeowner in Centereach, New York, heard loud noises coming from his yard, Fox News reported. His surveillance video showed six people kicking down several sections of his fence. About three hours later, the suspects, aged 12 to 18, returned and ran through the fence together, apparently in completion of a TikTok challenge mimicking the Kool-Aid man. Officers caught up with the kids around 4:15 a.m. and charged them with several counts of criminal mischief; some of them had also destroyed fences in other parts of Suffolk County. [Fox News, 2/21/2023]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

Tony Toto and his wife, Frances, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, are celebrating 57 years of marriage, WFMZ-TV reported in a feel-good Valentine's Day story. "We have been blessed that we had all these years," Tony said, noting "that one time when we had a rough time." Yeah, that was the time in 1983 when Frances hired teenaged hitmen five times to kill Tony. "I don't think I was thinking straight," Frances said. "It was like it was a love-hate kind of a thing." Of course, the murder attempts weren't successful, and Frances and the young hitmen were arrested. She spent four years in prison, but their love never wavered. A feature film called "I Love You to Death" was made about their troubles, and they became minor celebrities, traveling to movie premieres and giving interviews. Tony and Frances got counseling and committed to better communication, and decades later, have a long marriage to show for their efforts. [WFMZ, 2/14/2023]

The Aristocrats

On Feb. 11, during an intermission at the Hannover State Opera House in Hannover, Germany, ballet director Marco Goecke shocked even himself when he approached the dance critic from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, Wiebke Huester, and smeared animal feces on her face. The Associated Press reported that Goecke was unhappy with a recent review of a production he staged in The Hague. Following the incident, he took off through the crowded theater lobby. But strangely, Goecke seemed to justify his actions in a later interview, saying that after having his work "soiled for years ... Once a certain point has been reached, I disagree." The opera house suspended and banned him from the facility until further notice. [AP, 2/13/2023]

Weird Science

People who suffer from chronic constipation now have a high-tech treatment option: a vibrating pill that stimulates the colon, CNN reported. The Vibrant capsule, prescribed by a doctor, is taken at bedtime and reaches the large intestine about 14 hours later. Vibrations cause the gut to contract, moving food along. Eventually, the capsule is eliminated and makes its way to a sewage treatment plant, where it's sifted out and sent to a landfill. Dr. Eamonn Quigley of Houston Methodist Hospital helped test the new technology. He said most people couldn't feel it working. "A minority could feel it. None of them felt it was being uncomfortable." But we're uncomfortable just reading this. [CNN, 2/8/2023]

Unconventional Weaponry

Christopher Gaddis, 41, was holding a cat in his arms when he was approached by Metro Nashville Police officers on Feb. 8, WSMV-TV reported. Gaddis had two outstanding warrants, and officers were trying to arrest him when he shoved the cat into the face of one of them, leaving several cuts on the officer's hands. Gaddis also kicked the officer. After being treated for his own injuries from the cat, Gaddis was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. [WSMV, 2/10/2023]

It's Come to This

In what prosecutor Owen Beale called an "organized criminal matter," Joby Pool, 32, pleaded guilty to theft and criminal damage in Kidderminster, England, magistrates court, The Guardian reported. His crime? Pool broke into a warehouse on Feb. 11 and towed away a trailer with about 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs, valued at about $37,000. He didn't get very far; when police stopped him, he "walked toward (them) with his hands up." "This clearly wasn't spur-of-the-moment offending," Beale said. "You don't just happen to learn about a trailer with that kind of value being available." The "Easter bunny," as police dubbed him, will be sentenced in March to about two years in jail. [Guardian, 2/14/2023]

Bright Ideas

-- In the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, one gas station is employing a dramatic tactic to try to keep people experiencing homelessness away: blasting opera music over its outdoor speakers. WPVI-TV reported that neighbors aren't fans: "I heard all this music, I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Loud, it was unbelievable that time of night," said Clinton Barnes, who lives close by. "I don't think it's a deterrent," said Karen Clark. "They have to find something else." One neighbor said it was as loud as if someone had "cranked the volume all the way up" on the TV inside their home. Gas station employees refused to comment. [WPVI, 2/16/2023]

-- Austin Bristoe, 26, of Bloomington, Indiana, was sick and tired of people breaking into his 1998 Buick and stealing stuff, Fox59-TV reported. On Feb. 12, when police responded to a car fire, they found Bristoe just standing next to his burning vehicle, and he told them he set it on fire to stop the thefts. "If there was nothing left of the vehicle, then there would be nothing left to steal," Bristoe's logic went. As it burned, the fire caused a small explosion, and Bristoe commented, "I hoped the explosions would be bigger." After arresting him for arson, they searched him, finding several packed syringes and benzodiazepine. [Fox59, 2/14/2023]

Suspicions Confirmed

Police in Santa Cruz, California, are warning locals not to "engage" with the Cookie Monster, KION-TV reported on Feb. 15. A man named Adam Sandler (not the actor), known to dress up as "Sesame Street" characters and harass people, has surfaced in Santa Cruz. Resident Sarah Jones said he entices people "to want to take a photo with him," but as soon as they approach, he flips up his costume head and starts yelling. "Based on how dirty his costume was I knew it wasn't going in the right direction," she said. Sandler has not been charged with any crimes. [KION, 2/15/2023]

Update

News of the Weird reported last August about a 3 1/2-foot-tall, 200-pound bronze statue of Dennis the Menace that had disappeared from a playground in Monterey, California. On Feb. 8, Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto announced that Dennis had been found in Roberts Lake after authorities received an anonymous tip, the Associated Press reported. They were sure it was the same statue because the thief had cut through one of Dennis' feet to remove it, and the recovered statue's foot is damaged. "Today is a happy day!" Nieto gushed. [AP, 2/9/2023]

Weird Fashion

It's about time! Japanese garment company Takikou has developed a wearable bean bag, Oddity Central reported. "This concept was born out of the idea of a cushion that would allow you to totally let go, anytime, anywhere," said the company's Shogo Takikawa. "You can put this on and chill out in your living room or loads of other places." The bean bag is available in different sizes and colors, but it does weigh about 11 pounds (which might make you want to sit down more often). Prices range from $60 to $119. [Oddity Central, 2/14/2023]

Least Competent Criminal

Jose Luis Callisaya Diaz, who is serving a 15-year term in the maximum-security Chonchocoro prison facility in Bolivia, made a bold attempt at escape in February, Fox News reported. Diaz, also known as El Arana ("the spider"), wrapped himself in a sheepskin, got past a wall and crawled through the countryside surrounding the prison in the middle of the night. Juan Carlos Limpias said Diaz "took advantage of the inclement weather to try to escape through one of the walls of the external perimeter of the prison." He was apprehended after guards noticed he wasn't in his cell and photographed on all fours in the grass. Perhaps he needs a new nickname: La Oveja. [Fox News, 2/16/2023]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.