UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

City halts free dog poop bag program

EDINA, Minn., May 11 (UPI) -- Officials in a Minnesota town said free dog poop bags will no longer be placed in dispensers at city parks due to people taking more than their fair share.

John Keprios, director of parks and recreation for the city of Edina, said the $12,000-per-year poop bag program was discontinued at the eight parks that formerly stocked the bags because the dispensers would be empty only hours after being filled, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Tuesday.

"People walk up and take them until they're gone," he said. "And it's not just one isolated incident. It's everywhere and often."

"I would have loved to have kept providing them," he said. "Financially, it's not just feasible if they treat it that way."

Up to 23,000 Calif. energy bills wrong

SAN FRANCISCO, May 11 (UPI) -- Officials with a California utility provider said as many as 23,000 customers with newer SmartMeters received inaccurate bills.

Pacific Gas and Electric officials, who earlier said only a "few" customers received inaccurate bills, said they will be overhauling customer service efforts after failures in dealing with complaints about the SmartMeters, the San Jose Mercury News reported Tuesday.

"While we have confidence in this technology, some of our customers question whether they can have faith in our SmartMeter program, and frankly in PG&E," said Senior Vice President Helen Burt, the chief customer officer. "Restoring this trust is absolutely critical to us."

The company did not specify how many customers were overcharged or undercharged.

California Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, D-Shafter, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on the Smart Grid, said questions remain about the SmartMeters.

"There is still the unanswered question as to why so many customers have seen a spike in recorded energy usage following the installation of a SmartMeter in their residence," he said.

Yo-yo con man appears on 5 stations

MILWAUKEE, May 11 (UPI) -- Four Wisconsin TV stations and a Missouri station said they were tricked into putting a man on air who claimed to be a yo-yo champion.

The stations, including WFRV-TV, Green Bay, and KQTV, St. Joseph, Mo., said they received e-mails purporting to be from a man named Joe Guehrke, saying he represented ZimZam Yo-Yo, "the world's first 'green'" non-profit toy company and a man whose name was variously given as Kenny Strasser, Kenny Strassburg and K-Strass, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Tuesday.

The e-mails claimed Strasser was a runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1995, grand champion at the Pensacola Regional and was nominated for the Walt Greenberg Award in 2000. However, the stations said they later discovered there is no Walt Greenberg Award for yo-yo and there is no evidence to suggest Pensacola, Fla., ever hosted a tournament.

Bridget Blevins, news director for KQTV, said Strasser was not as good with a yo-yo as advertised.

"He did some really lame things. He hit himself in the face and the groin with his yo-yo," Blevins said.

Lisa Malak, an anchor for "Sunday Morning" on WFRV in Green Bay, said Strasser showed up for a segment April 11 and forgot to bring his yo-yo string.

Hitler included in leadership survey

LONDON, May 11 (UPI) -- British ambulance workers say they were given a leadership survey that asked them to rate the "coolness" of German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Hitler's name was included among a list of people workers for the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority were asked to rate on a scale of one to five, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

They were also asked if being gay, funny or black made a leader cool.

"It's the most bizarre work survey I've ever had to take," said one ambulance employee who declined to be identified. "I've never been asked to compare my boss with Adolf Hitler before."

Steve Jetley, a former ambulance worker who campaigned against the closing of an emergency control center in Shropshire, called the survey an "appalling waste of money."

The survey was part of a $15,000 project to help the West Midlands health authority devise a new leadership strategy.