Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Health inspector who missed rats suspended NEW YORK, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The New York City health inspector who passed a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant shown on television swarming with rats has been put on desk duty. Advertisement The city's commissioner for inspections, Elliott Marcus, told the New York Times the inspector had been on the job since June 2006 and was average in conducting about 60 inspections a month. He said all of her previous inspections will be revisited. Last week, a television news crew recorded dozens of rats swarming through the restaurant in Greenwich Village when it was closed. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said he didn't suspect any illegal activity, and said he blamed the restaurant owner, not the chain, for the rat infestation. Until Tuesday, crowds gathered at the windows to peer inside, with some playing catch with a football-size plastic rat, and others scribbling graffiti about the chain's food on the city's closure notice, the Times said. The windows have since been covered with brown paper on the inside. Advertisement Airline solves toilet class dispute FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 28 (UPI) --American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, announced it is opening its first class toilets for passengers in all areas of the plane to use. The airline said it is flushing rules instituted in 2003 that made the first class lavatories off limits to coach passengers on all flights, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported Wednesday. "It was difficult to explain to customers sitting in the forward section of coach why they couldn't walk a few feet away and use the lavatory," airline spokesman Tim Wagner said. American's new policy, which takes effect Thursday, applies to all domestic flights and to international flights leaving the U.S. under Transportation Security Administration regulations. However, the change does not apply to incoming international flights. The change makes sense from a mathematical perspective: a Boeing 757 plane has two lavatories for the first class section, which seats 22 passengers, and the same number of toilets in the coach section, which seats 160. Coyotes obstruct O'Hare runways CHICAGO, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Coyotes prowling the area surrounding Chicago's O'Hare International Airport are causing problems for planes when they wander onto the runways. Advertisement Two jetliners were diverted from landing Sunday because coyotes were present on the runways and the animals can do serious damage to the planes if they are sucked into an engine or collide with the windshield, WMAQ-TV, Chicago, reported Wednesday. Controller Jay Moffat said the coyotes pose a serious risk to pilots, who may not spot the animals before it is too late. "If it's at the most critical phase of landing, it could be smashed by the main gear, causing some type of damage and possibly changing the path of the aircraft," he said. "We had another instance last week where we sent four successive arrivals around." Since 1995, planes across the country have collided with tens of thousands of birds, 700 deer, 263 coyotes, 61 turtles, 14 alligators, 11 moose, 7 iguanas and 3 bears. Of the collisions with coyotes, 23 took place in Illinois. Driver jailed for lying about cell phone BANBURY, England, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Judges in Banbury, England, jailed a driver for speeding while talking on a cell phone and then trying to lie that he was a passenger and not driving. Andrew Millward's case came undone when photographs from a speed camera clearly showed him behind the van's wheel, driving 36 mph in a 30 mph zone. Advertisement That also spelled trouble for the 40-year-old's wife, Lisa, who returned the summons form saying she was the one who had been driving, the Times of London reported. Her husband was sentenced to 28 days for perjury and had his license suspended for six months, while she received a suspended 28-day sentence and was ordered to perform 80 hours of community service, the report said.
