Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Mummified woman's daughter runs for office PIEDMONT, Calif., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A California woman named a "person of interest" after her mother's mummified corpse was discovered is running for her local city council. Advertisement Nancy "Sunny" Bostrom, who was investigated by police in February after Patricia Bostrom's corpse was found mummified in her Piedmont home, announced she is running for the Piedmont City Council in this year's election, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Police said Patricia Bostrom, whose neighbors hadn't heard from her in six years, appeared to have been dead for several years before she was discovered in a chair in her unlocked house. They said an autopsy concluded she had died of natural causes but the body appeared to have been moved. "We could never prove Nancy did it because she denied her mother was even dead to begin with," police Capt. John Hunt said. Advertisement Bostrom, who had been seen picking up mail and gardening at her mother's home for years, said she saw her mother alive only six weeks before her body was discovered and she thought the woman had gone traveling. "It sounds very disturbing, naturally," Bostrom said of the story. However, she said the implication she did anything wrong "just isn't true." Medical marijuana conference seeks top pot GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Organizers of Colorado's First Annual Western Slope Cannabis Crown said the medical marijuana convention will include a competition to find the best weed. Bobby Scurlock of Glenwood Springs, co-organizer of the convention with the owners of High Country Caregivers, said the April 17-18 conference in Aspen will award the "cannabis crown" to the grower whose strain is chosen as the top pot by Denver-based Full Spectrum Laboratories, which will analyze levels of active marijuana ingredient THC and how it matches with the needs of patients, the (Glenwood Springs) Post Independent reported. Scurlock said the convention is open to the public but only Colorado registered medical marijuana patients will be allowed to purchase cannabis from vendors, and the sales must take place away from the convention hall. Advertisement "This is not about pot heads running around the streets," Scurlock said. "This conference is to enlighten people and talk about the benefits, and its economic impact." Granny gets tax bill for long-gone company NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A New York man said his 82-year-old mother received a $5,704.70 tax bill for a ceramics shop she closed down more than 20 years ago. Robert Motola, 49 -- an accountant who handled the finances for the ceramics company owned by his mother, Genevieve, until the shop closed down in 1989 -- said the state of New York erred in billing his mother for the long-closed store, the New York Post reported. "I was shocked," Motola said. "I hadn't seen mail for this company in I can't tell you how many years. What are they trying to pull? They must be joking." He said he took all the necessary steps to dissolve the company in 1989 and obtained a receipt but he no longer knows where the document is. State officials said 80 percent of the bill will be waived under the Penalty and Interest Discount program if it is paid by March 15. However, Motola said he and his mother do not intend to pay. Advertisement "That shows you how desperate they are to get money," he said. "My mother wasn't looking to get rich or anything. It was just a hobby." Police confuse candy for crack NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- New York police are refusing to apologize to two men arrested for drug possession and held for a week over what turned out to be a bag of candy. Neal Wallerstein, a lawyer for Jose Pena, 48, and Cesar Rodriguez, 33, said the men stopped at a bodega before going to a party the night of Jan. 15 and police outside the store asked to search their van when the men emerged, the New York Post reported. "I said 'Go search.' I even opened the door," Rodriguez said. He said police discovered a Hello Kitty sandwich bag full of white powder in the vehicle and handcuffed the men despite their protests that the powder was Coco Candy, a popular coconut-flavored confection. The men were charged with possession of crack cocaine and taken to jail. Pena was held for three days and Rodriguez spent five days in jail before police completed testing on the candy and dropped the charges. Wallerstein said police should have realized the error more quickly. Advertisement "That's the reason why they have a field-test kit," he said. The police department said it has no official comment on the case.
