Watercooler Stories

Calif. classes allegedly faked for funds

SANTA ANA, Calif., March 29 (UPI) -- The Santa Ana (Calif.) Unified School District is under investigation for allegedly creating false class rosters and misusing substitute teachers.

Eight teachers, school documents and state officials all back the reports that the school district created false classes to get more money per student per year, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

At one elementary school, documents reveal, school officials created a fake second-grade roster that put real students in a class that didn't exist. The dilution of the number of second-graders in real classrooms allowed the district an additional $1,024 per student per year.

The school kept the class going by hiring a substitute teacher to come in and travel through the existing classes, teaching only the kids on her roster for a few hours a week.

State officials said they believe the school district's actions may be illegal.

Illinois man has 'OBAMA' license plate

CHICAGO, March 29 (UPI) -- A Wicker Park, Ill., man likes Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., so much he has "OBAMA" on his car's license plate.

Bill Slater, 51 -- a self-described "eccentric middle-aged white guy" -- got the license plate last December, when his old tag was up for renewal, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

Slater said the plate on his 1997 Ford Taurus gets a honk or thumbs-up at least three or four times per week -- and once even got a "black power" fist.

Slater will tell anyone that President George W. Bush is a failure; former Sen. John Edwards, d-N.C., is "just a damn trial lawyer"; and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., "wants the job too bad."

Which, of course, is why he wants to see Obama in the white house after the 2008 presidential election.

"The man says things like he believes it and he wants you to believe it," Slater said of Obama. "It's not like he's a used-car salesman and he would go do something else when you weren't looking."

Baby unharmed by road birth

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., March 29 (UPI) -- A baby girl who was born in the road behind the University of New Mexico Hospital was unharmed in the fall from her mother's womb to the asphalt.

The child's mother, who left the baby at the hospital without giving a name, gave birth standing in the road and the infant fell to the ground, severing the umbilical chord. The baby rolled under her mother's parked car, the Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal reported Wednesday.

However, the baby was unharmed when she was removed from beneath the car by a bystander. The child and mother were taken into the hospital and the mother later left without giving her name.

"I'm amazed she's as healthy and content and happy as she is because of the shocking way she came into the world," said Jennifer Darby-Clower, the baby's foster parent. Darby-Clower said she plans to adopt the child.

Romaine Serna, a spokeswoman for the state's Children, Youth and Families Department said the mother would not face charges if located. New Mexico law allows for a baby to be left in a safe place without legal consequences.

Rome trash statues a hit with public

ROME, March 29 (UPI) -- "The Trash People," 1,000 statues made from recycled garbage in Rome, have attracted more than 1 million onlookers since going on display last week.

The Trash People, created by German artist HA Schult, were created from tin cans, computers, crushed plastic and other recycled garbage, ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported Wednesday.

Schult said his intention with the project is to remind people of the waste produced by modern consumerism and the problems that waste creates for future generations.

"This installation invites people to reflect on the importance of our ecosystem for our quality of life," said Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni.

"But it also carries a message of hope because a lot can still be done to give future generations a balanced environment that is intact," he said.

"When art is the bearer of messages of civil and social responsibility, one can only be satisfied. Schult's initiative is an example of this."