UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

50 hot air balloons cross channel together

LONDON, April 8 (UPI) -- Retired English police officer Ian Sharpe and fellow balloonists crossed the English Channel in a fleet of 50 hot air balloons, trying for a world record.

The mass flight Thursday was believed to have set a record for the most balloons to successfully make the trip from the south coast of England to France, the Croydon Guardian reported. The Guinness Book of World Records had not confirmed the feat.

Sharpe, who lives in Caterham, a Surrey suburb south of London, said he spent 14 months organizing the event. One balloon had to drop out because of technical problems but 50 made it across.

"We have opened several bottles of Champagne in celebration and we are pleased to have made it. It's a great feeling," Sharpe told the newspaper, speaking from a field near the French port of Calais.

The BBC said balloon crews from Germany and Italy traveled to England for the flight.

Andrew Holly, a pilot with Exclusive Ballooning in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, said his balloon took about 3 hours between takeoff and landing.

"We've taken balloons to Buckingham Palace, underneath Tower Bridge and over the Alps, but this really is going to be right up there with the very best I'll ever remember," he told the BBC.

Police: Teen stole TVs for prom funds

GAINESVILLE, Fla., April 7 (UPI) -- Sheriff's deputies in Florida said a high school senior told them he stole two flat-screen TVs so he would have funds to attend his school's prom.

The Alachua County Sheriff's Office said Anton Lamar Williams, 19, was arrested Tuesday after witnesses reported a suspicious man pushing a wheeled trash can at the entrance to the Celebration Oaks subdivision in Gainesville, the Gainesville Sun reported Thursday.

Deputies said they saw Williams remove two flat-screen TVs from the trash can and place them at the back door of a home. He was arrested and allegedly confessed to deputies he took the televisions from a home in the hopes of selling them to afford to attend the Eastside High School prom later in the spring.

Williams was charged with grand theft, burglary and criminal mischief.

Artists paint over alley mural after fine

LOS ANGELES, April 7 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles woman said she had a team of young artists paint over the mural they created on a bare wall beside her house after she was fined by the city.

Barbara Black, a retired studio costume illustrator, said she had the artists create the 75-foot-long mural last month to brighten the alley next to her home, but she had them paint over it Wednesday after she was fined $360 by the city Department of Building and Safety and threatened with additional fines totaling $1,925, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

Inspectors from the Department of Building and Safety said a single word included in the mural, "like," made it into an illegal sign. Black said she had the artists paint over the offending portion, but the inspectors then labeled it an illegal mural and threatened further fines if it was not removed.

Black said the fine was paid by a donation from her church. She said the white paint for the cover-up operation was donated by Home Depot.

Burglary suspect: 'Crime pays'

KEY HAVEN, Fla., April 7 (UPI) -- Authorities in the Florida Keys said they arrested an 18-year-old burglar who posted "crime pays" to his Facebook page.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said a husband and wife who are both Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents reported their Department of Homeland Security vehicles had been burglarized late March 16 or early March 17 and the culprit took a digital camera from one car and a badge, gun belt, handcuffs, baton, pepper spray, bullet proof vest and a wallet from the other.

Investigators said they found a credit card from the stolen wallet was used for a March 17 PayPal transaction and they traced the computer used to make the payment to the Key Haven home where Ryan Tomita, 18, lives with his parents.

Detectives said they checked Tomita's Facebook page and found a posting from March 17 reading, "If you ask me Ima tell you crime pays."

Deputies searched the home April 5 and discovered the stolen property from the ICE agents' vehicles as well as a cache of stolen property from numerous other burglaries. Tomita admitted to multiple burglaries of unlocked cars and using screwdrivers to break into homes.

Tomita was arrested and charged with three counts of vehicle burglary and one count each of theft, theft of law enforcement equipment from an emergency vehicle, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Investigators said more charges are likely as the investigation continues.