By Sarah Masker
Copy Editor
1.) 26-year-old John Jardini takes the cake for stupid dating moves. Jardini faces charges for taking $60 from a woman he approached on the street. Later that day, he called the same woman twice to ask if she had a boyfriend and wanted to go out on a date. The woman called police, who began tracking Jardini’s location through his phone records, but before they could pinpoint his location, he was caught attacking the woman and her mother outside a market. Mary Lou Parker, a neighbor, asked, “How could you be that damn stupid, that dumb?” Indeed. Huffingtonpost.com
2.) Roommates are probably most bothersome when they have visitors. Yeah, those kind of visitors. Lindsay Blankmeyer has filed a lawsuit against Stonehill College, a Roman Catholic college in Boston, claiming that administrators didn’t help her when she complained that her roommate was having too much sex. The lawsuit states, “Stonehill refused Lindsay’s request for a single room and in the following weeks and months Lindsay fell into a dark and suicidal depression requiring her to take a leave of absence from school and undergo extensive psychiatric and medical treatment.” All of that because her roommate was having some fun? Msnbc.com
3.) Usually the upside of cleaning your room is that you end up with a neat and orderly living space. Finding a winning lottery ticket is a rare reward. 19-year-old Ryan Kitchin, of Penicuik, Scotland, was told to clean his room last month and discovered twelve lottery tickets. Among them was a winning ticket worth the equivalent of $83,781. Kitchin plans to use the money to pay off his car loan and take his mom on vacation. See, cleaning your room isn’t so bad after all. Msnbc.com
4.) It’s a little weird that someone with the last name Pink was arrested for stealing from Victoria’s Secret. Tysheka Pink, 29, and Katrina Summerset, 39, were arrested on charges of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud after going on a theft spree that resulted in thousands’ of dollars worth of brassieres stolen from South Florida stores. When detectives questioned Summerset, she told them that she and Pink had been stealing from different stores in Boca and Boynton for months, and that they either kept or returned the merchandise. How much underwear do these girls really need? Msnbc.com
5.) Sometimes people steal just to use the car, and other times the stuff that’s in the car is an added bonus. The thieves that made off with Miss Washington’s car, however, probably don’t have much use for her crown, pageant sash, and four evening gowns. Brittney Henry had pre-packed her car because she had to leave at 5 a.m. for a pancake house appearance, but woke up in the morning to an empty driveway. The stolen crown and sash say “Miss Washington 2011,” so everyone be on the lookout. Msnbc.com
6.) And the Worst Parent Award goes to the people who didn’t even realize their daughter was missing until they saw her on the news. 3-year-old Harmony was left at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, only to have employers realize she was alone when she told a worker she was thirsty. After the manager searched the premises for a parent or guardian, he called the police and waited with Harmony in the restaurant until 9:30 p.m., when she was brought to the precinct. The girl’s mother and father split custody of her and assumed she was with another family member until they saw a news broadcast saying she’d been left at the restaurant hours before. Harmony was accidentally left at the pizzeria when a large family party broke up, but none of the relatives noticed her run inside again after finding a token. Way to go, folks, way to go. Huffingtonpost.com
7.) Jeremy Staat and Wesley Barrientos, veterans of the Iraq War, are alarmed by the jump in suicides among U.S. veterans and service members during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, they’ve decided to do something about it. On Sunday, the men will embark on a cross-continental bicycle race of 4,163 miles to call attention to the startling suicide rate; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that a veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes. Staat said, “We need more support for our nation’s veterans. They deserve our gratitude, and they should get the help they need.” The bicyclers expect to arrive at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. by Memorial Day weekend in May. Msnbc.com
8.) Washington College students, where were you when this auction was going on? A Nebraska woman has sold a three-year-old McDonald’s Chicken McNugget that resembles President George Washington for $8,100 on eBay. The McNugget was sold to raise money to send 50 children to summer church camp in Sioux City, which was enough to make eBay allow the auction even though it violated rules regulating expired food. Speight received an email saying that the site was “willing to make exceptions to help your cause.” So what would one do with an old George Washington chicken nugget? Staring contest? Huffingtonpost.com
9.) Mexico’s legendary chupacabras is at it again. The animal falls under the category of cryptids, creatures like Bigfoot and Nessie that haven’t been confirmed by science. In the Mexican town of Paracuaro, more than 35 sheep were killed by something that left claw and tooth injuries, especially under the neck. Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, said, “Anything mysterious in Mexico is unfortunately labeled a chupacabras.” Many stories talk of chupacabras that attack livestock and drain the animals of blood. Spooky. Huffingtonpost.com