Offbeat - News May 12, 2011

Princess Beatrice's wedding hat to be auctioned (2NEWS.TV)
The eye-popping hat worn by Princess Beatrice at Britain's royal wedding is to be auctioned to raise money for charity, Buckingham Palace said Thursday.

Man accused of shooting neighbor's mating frogs (weirdwebtoday)
A German man is heading to court after being accused of fatally shooting his neighbor's frogs with an airgun.

S. Calif. city bans coffeehouse nudity, gambling (Kansas City Star)
Bare-breasted baristas will have to cover up after police officers discovered nudity and illegal gambling going on at so-called lingerie cafes in a Southern California suburb.More than three dozen of the coffeehouses are operating in the Orange County city of Garden Grove, and some waitresses have been slipping out of teddies to serve customers in ...

Japan bra carries messages of encouragement after disaster (WGNO-TV New Orleans)
A Japanese lingerie maker Wednesday unveiled a bra that carries messages of encouragement from overseas as the country struggles to recover from a devastating quake and tsunami that struck exactly two months ago.

Britain's Downing Street admits using bogus names (KOMO)
If you get a letter from Britain's No. 10 Downing Street, don't bother with a personalized response.

The so-called Granddad Bandit, Michael Francis Mara (WWLP)
The graying, balding bank robber who was dubbed the "Granddad Bandit" as he patiently held up more than two dozen banks in 13 states was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.

Hershey, sheriff hopeful spar over campaign signs (KVAL-TV Eugene)
Candy-maker Hershey says a Pennsylvania sheriff candidate's campaign signs are a tasty case of trademark violation.

Google lobbies Nevada to make self-driving vehicles legal (examiner)
It's not clear why they have chosen Nevada, but Google is lobbying that state, trying to get legislation enacted which would make Nevada the first to legalize self-driving cars. We wrote about Google's driving ambition for automated vehicles earlier.

Camera capturing kids in cafeteria (WWLP)
Smile, Texas schoolchildren. You're on calorie camera. That's the idea behind a $2 million project being unveiled Wednesday in the lunchroom of a San Antonio elementary school.

Mystery boom rattles parts of Virginia (WOOD-TV Grand Rapids)
A loud boom rattled Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore but the source is a mystery.

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