BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - Have bugs - will travel. That's what a Montana State University dinosaur researcher is offering. Tom Evans is a graduate student at the school. He maintains a colony of bone-cleaning beetles whose day job is to snack on animal bones that are part of his research. But in their off-research hours, these beetles work overtime. Evans rents them out to hunters who want their trophies cleaned. Evans says he puts the bug money toward his research. He's trying to establish better guidelines for how paleontologists determine the age and origin of dinosaur fossils.
WINNIE THE POOH BANDIT
CHICAGO (AP) - Tigger - say it ain't so! Winnie the Pooh is wanted in a
Chicago-area bank robbery. FBI agents are looking for a crook they're calling
the Winnie the Pooh Bandit. The feds say the man was captured on surveillance
video robbing a suburban Chicago bank at gunpoint last week. The FBI released
photos of the robbery yesterday, showing the suspect wearing a Winnie the Pooh
sweatshirt. FBI agents like to give bank robbers nicknames. It's a way for
agents to generate tips about suspects.
GATOR BICYCLIST
BOUTTE, La. (AP) - Deputies got the gator and the bike rider. Deputies in St.
Charles Parish, La., report stopping a bike rider who had 3-foot-long alligator
draped on his shoulders. Authorities charge 38-year-old Terron D. Ingram ran,
leaving behind the bike and the gator. But deputies say they got the gator guy.
He now faces a number of charges, including resisting arrest and cruelty to
animals by abandonment. Animal control officials released the alligator into a
bayou.
RECYCLED JEANS
WASHINGTON (AP) - It's a huge pile of old jeans. More than 30,000 pairs of old
jeans were collected at Washington's Union Station yesterday. That sets a new
Guinness world record for clothing collected for recycling. National Geographic
Kids led the effort. The magazine honored 9-year-old Erek Hansen of Curtice,
Ohio, for organizing a denim drive at his school. The kids collected more than
1,600 pairs of jeans for the project. Erek says he wanted to keep the jeans out
of landfills. The mountain of old blue jeans will be reprocessed into insulation
for homes damaged by natural disasters.
GREEN WEDDING
SOLDOTNA, Alaska (AP) - Here comes the bride - the green bride. When Jen and
Alex Jackson tied the knot they did it in an eco-friendly way. The couple
married at the Alaskan homestead of the groom's grandparents. Both the newlyweds
are chefs at Besaw's restaurant in Portland, Ore. The Jacksons don't own a car
and say their green wedding is their way of living what they believe. All the
vegetables were locally grown and only local and domestic beer and wine were
served. No paper products were used during the wedding and reception. The new
bride tells the Peninsula Clarion newspaper that one person can make a
difference.
FRIED CHICKEN-COKE
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Real men eat fried chicken -- especially fried chicken made
with Coke. At least, according to Esquire magazine. The September issue features
an "Eat Like a Man" cover story. They're "Recipes by Men, For Men." The
Times-Picayune newspaper reports the lead dish is from John Currence, who runs
the City Grocery in Oxford, Miss. He recreates a famed New Orleans secret recipe
called Coca-Cola-Brined Fried Chicken. It calls for a quart of Coke, along with
a tablespoon of the Louisiana staple, Tabasco sauce. Just don't get the amounts
of the two confused.
